The Way You See Me

Chapter Thirteen

The rest of his shift went by pretty fast. I had decided that I'd wait out back. Dom would peek his head out the door every couple minutes, to make sure I was okay. 

I couldn't with this guy.

I hummed the tune to the song I had heard on the bus earlier. Checking my watch, I see that he should be done in a few minutes, depending on if he cleans up or not. 

Ten minutes later, Dom walks back out. This time, he isn't wearing his hat for the cafe. 

"All done?" I ask and look up at him. He nods, so I smile slightly. 

"Ready to go?" He asks me in return.

"Yep," I reply. With that, he takes my hand in his and leads me to his car, a black 2015 Ford Mustang. He opens the passenger's door so I can get in, which I do. As I buckle my seat belt, I watch him walk around to the driver's side, and I can't help but smile. 

I'd never had something like this before. Have someone care about for who I really was- not who they wanted me to be. Someone put their own life, their own wants, aside to put me first. It was... strange compared to what I was used to. 

Most guys I'd ever met didn't last till the second date, or sometimes not even to the second text conversation. Once they realized I wasn't as normal as I may seem, they left. 

Dom wasn't like that. 

But I also couldn't help but think he was a bit too good to be true.

My mind flashes back to the conversation with the elderly lady at the bus stop. I was going to give him a chance. He deserved at least that. I also made a promise to him. A promise to not live this life alone. That I'd let him try. So, that's what I'd do. 

"Cali? You alright?" He asks me. I snap back to reality and look over at him. I must've gotten lost in thought since he's looking at me with a worried expression. 

"Yeah, I'm good, sorry," I say, smiling over at him. He seems satisfied with that answer and pulls out of the parking lot, taking the familiar route that leads back to my apartment. 

"Why do you always apologize?" He asks me after a minute or two of silence. 

I take a moment to think about that before I answer him. "I don't know, I just feel bad for doing something that made your life more complicated, even if it was small or only for a second," I say, shrugging my shoulders a bit. "You've been nothing but good to me since the day that we met, Dominic. I don't want to mess it up by doing something stupid, you know?" I add. "It's also a bit of a habit," I say with a smile as I glance over at him again.

His thick, defined eyebrows raise slightly as he listens, his gorgeous eyes focused on the road in front of him. "You don't have to worry about messing it up, Cali. I'm almost positive if anyone is going to 'do something stupid', it'll be me," He says jokingly, using his fingers as quotes.

I shrug again. "Thank you, for driving me home," I say. "I could've taken the bus, you know." 

Dom shakes his head. "I'd like to see you more often and I can't do that if someone kidnaps you since you took the bus," He teases. 

"I think you're overreacting a bit," I reply, smiling as I glance over at him, rolling my eyes when I look back out my window.

He shakes his head again, frowning. "No, no, no. I know that could happen. I'm up-to-date on almost all of my crime shows, thank you very much." He states. 

With that, I laugh, smacking my palm to my head lightly. "Every single one of those is scripted. The ones that are real, or at least based on real stories, they're probably still scripted. Plus, I doubt any of that would ever happen in a place like this,"