Rumspringa

Chapter 4: Exes

A week had gone by since our date. Things had been quite awkward and we had only really talked a couple times. Most of it was just small talk. I was being polite. The rest of the time was spent in near silence as we continued working. We didn't hang out much outside of work and I had only been to his apartment twice, once to drop him off and the other was because he wanted to show me. He was excited about being in his own for the first time. I couldn't really blame him. I remember mine and Emily's first apartment and how excited we were.

"Hey, can we talk?" Eli had approached me at work for the first time in three days. I wasn't avoiding him, I was just focusing hard on work.

"What's up?" I was eating my lunch looking up at him for a split second, then right back down.

"I'm sorry about our date. Things are much different where I'm from and the way I was raised. I am still learning the ways of the English. May I take you to dinner?" It was sweet of him to apologize. Not very many men had the guts to do so.

"Sure." I had been giving him and everyone else one word answers for a few days now. Even Emily. I just wasn't feeling myself for some reason.

"I'll pick you up Saturday at eight." He took a bite of his sandwich and then looked up at me. He gave me a smile without saying anything else. I wasn't sure about a second date, but I figured I'd give him a chance to fix things. The way my life was going, it couldn't hurt.

Saturday came around pretty quickly. I got dressed up and chit chatted with Emily about everything for a little while. No matter what either of us were going through, we always talked to each other. The next thing I know, I hear a black truck pull up outside. I had never seen it before and had peeked out the window to see who it was. It was very loud, and quite annoying. What shocked me the most was I seen Eli get out of the front seat.

"When did he get a car?" Emily was just as surprised as I was. "At least he's moving up in life."

"No clue." I waited until he knocked and then answered. I tried not to answer to fast because I didn't want to seem eager. Deep down, I was excited.

"Are you ready?" I grabbed his hand and out the door the door we went. I looked over shoulder to see Emily peeking out and giving me a thumbs up. She always had my back.

"Where did you get a truck at?" I couldn't hold it in any longer, I had to ask.

"I bought it for Five hundred bucks from some guy down the road. He just bought a new car and wanted it out of the driveway. He said there was nothing wrong it." He was proud of himself. I wasn't going to ruin it by telling him that it looked like it had seen better days. It looked like five hundred was a bit to much for it, but I had no room to talk. My car wasn't the greatest.

"I'm proud of you." He opened the passengers door for me like the true gentleman that he was. No matter what happened between us, that is one thing that was consistent. A little bit of rust fell off as he opened it, but not enough to worry about.

"Thank you. I know it's not the greatest, but it's a vehicle." It started up on the first try. For not looking so good. It ran pretty well. Maybe I was wrong about it's value.

We rode in almost complete silence all the way to a nice restaurant on the outskirts of town. The place was called La Bernadin. It was probably the nicest restaurant in all of town. Very fancy and quite expensive. I've never been there, mainly because I couldn't afford it. Once we got inside, I took a look around. Nice lighting, a granite countertop bar and tables made from real cedar wood. Before this, the nicest place I have ever been to was red lobster. "You know, you didn't have to go this big, I would've settled for McDonald's or the local diner." I was being honest. I wasn't hard to win over.