Crazy In Love (A Shayne Topp Romance) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 16: A Big Step

On Saturday morning, I received a text from Shayne. "Would you be interested in going to dinner again?" I smiled to myself. "I'd love to. Any place in mind?" I asked. "There's this great seafood restaurant down my the beach. Do you want to go there?" He wanted to know. "Sounds great." I agreed. "Around 7:00?" "That'd be perfect. I'll see you then." He said, and the conversation was over. I ate breakfast and got dressed in jeans, a baggy t-shirt, and flats. I decided to go to the mall and do some shopping. My apartment could use some more decor. I took the 30 minute drive to the mall and started browsing all the different shops. As I walked down the main path, I saw Courtney looking at a small kiosk shop. I stealthily came up behind her and whispered, "Boo!" She squealed and quickly turned around. "Vivian!" She exclaimed, hugging me. "Hi! How are you?" I asked. "Fine. But you should know that. You just saw me yesterday." Courtney replied. I giggled. "So how did your date with Shayne go? I never heard about it." She asked. I then told her the whole story. "And we're going out again tonight." I finished. "Wow. I'm so happy for you!" She said. "Are you going to try and...do something?" "No!" I exclaimed. "I have no intentions of being romantic with him. Just friends." I told her. "It sure seems like he wants more than that?" She pointed out. I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess I'll find out." "Well, I gotta go. I'm meeting Olivia for lunch in an hour." Courtney said. "See you on Monday!" "See you!" I told her, walking away.
My whole mall shopping spree lasted about 2 hours. I got several decor pieces for my apartment, and a stunning new outfit that I planned to wear on my date tonight.
I returned to my apartment and rearranged my decor, and added the new things. I also did a through cleaning of the whole apartment, took a little walk down the block, and played on my phone. It was now 6:00. I took a shower, then pulled out my new outfit from the closet. It was a pale pink pantsuit with bell bottom legs and a lace back. I paired it with with high-heel sandals, a brown decorative belt, and little gold earrings. A curled my hair and put it in a ponytail, and my makeup was hot pink lipstick, burgundy eyeshadow, and a light coating of blush. I took a picture of myself when I was finished to show Melissa tomorrow. Just then I heard Shayne's car horn at the curb outside. I grabbed my purse and went downstairs, out the front door, and at Shayne's car. At least tonight he had put in a little more effort into his appearance. He had on a clean white t-shirt, brown khaki shorts and sneakers. It also looked like he had freshly shaved and washed and combed his hair. He looked me over, clearly stunned. "You look...beautiful." He said, smiling coyly. "Thank you. You don't look too bad either." I said. "Thanks." He replied. He then pulled out into traffic and we took the 20 minute drive to the beach, where the restaurant was located. It looked like a tiki hut, standing right on the beach. "I know it doesn't look like much, but the inside is nice and food is delicious." Shayne assured me, leading me across the beach and into the restaurant. It was indeed nice, with soft glowing lights, shiny tables with cushioned chairs, and a bunch of pictures of the beach back in the old days and pretty seashells on shelves. "I like it already." I said, giggling. Shayne smiled as we approached the counter to order. "I don't really eat seafood. So just pick out what you think is the best." I told him. Then I suddenly remembered what a weird taste in food he had (I watched all the eat it or yeet it videos). I hoped he would pick something decent. "What can I get for you?" The cashier asked. "2 fish supremes, please. And 2 large drinks." Shayne said. I frowned, wondering what a fish supreme was. Shayne paid the cashier, then after handing me my cup, we went to the soda fountain and filled up our cups. We chose a table with a great view of the ocean. We started just chatting, and our food shortly arrived. Both our plates were filled with all kinds of different fish, cooked in different ways. "It's like a sampler?" I asked, poking it with my fork. "Yeah. But it's really good." Shayne told me, immediately digging in. As we ate, I thought 'This date is going pretty well. No embarrassing moments yet'. We were just chatting, laughing, and enjoying a good meal. But that's when Shayne's hand suddenly landed on too of mine. But it wasn't an accident like on our last date. I just looked at our hands together, shocked. "Sorry." He said quietly, moving his hand away. "Who said I minded?" I asked, smiling. He looked at me, surprised, as he cautiously placed his hand back over mine. I smiled, and he smiled back. 'What am I even doing?' I asked myself. 'No romantic relationships'. 'But it's just holding hands' I thought. 'What's the harm in that? Nothing overly romantic'. We then continued talking like never had even happened. I began to relax. Lots of people who are friends just hold hands, right? After a while longer, we decided to take a stroll along the seashore. We walked separately, but a sudden impulse made me take Shayne's hand again. He smiled. The refreshing breeze blowed our hair gently, and I felt at peace. Like nothing could go wrong, and I nothing to worry about. I inhaled the salty air deeply. "I guess you really like the beach?" Shayne asked. "Yes. I always have. But we of course we don't have beaches in Tennessee, so I only got to see them on family vacations." I said. After a moment of silence, I said, "Look at all the stars coming out." I pointed up at the sky, as they started appearing against the blue and yellow background. The sun was almost behind the horizon. "And the sunset is beautiful." Shayne added. We then both sat down on the sand, enjoying nature's natural gifts. I turned to look at Shayne. Just sitting there that close to him, I felt an attraction that I didn't recognize. My heart wanted more than just friends, and I tried as hard as I could not to blurt anything out. I think it was love I felt, but I wasn't sure, because I'd never been "in love" before. My thoughts were interrupted as Shayne turned to me, noticing I was already turned to him. "Everything okay?" He asked. "Yeah." I replied, though there was so much more I wanted to say. He then raised his hand to my cheek and tucked a hair behind my ear. 'Oh god, he's going to do it. He's going to kiss me!' I thought. My mind started racing, and my heart pounding. "There. Now you don't have any hair making your face itchy." He told me, moving his hand away. 'That was it?' I thought. I decided it was my turn to do something...somewhat romantic. I scooted a little closer to him, to which he didn't notice. I cautiously leaned my head down, onto his shoulder. He looked at me. "Sorry." I quickly apologized, jerking my head back up. "That was too far. I'm sorry." 'Why did you do that?!' My mind screamed at me. "Who said I minded?" Shayne asked, repeating the same thing I had said earlier. I smiled coyly, before carefully laying my head back on his shoulder. A moment later, I felt his arm wrap around me from behind. I snuggled into him, signaling that I liked it. We sat there like that for a while, watching the sun set and all the stars appearing in the almost dark sky. People walked by us, probably staring, but I didn't care. I felt loved, happy, and just all around satisfied with the results of this date. If we went this far, what would our next date bring?