Chapter Nineteen
Cade
December 20, Wednesday Evening
“Please, Sir, let me show you to my seat.”
As the waiter gave me a pointed look, I knew he was aware of who I was. This restaurant was one of the hottest in the city, with a waiting list of six months, but the amount of money I had at my disposal meant I’d managed to secure us a place. It wasn’t so much the luxury of the place that drew me in, or even the chef, although it was awesome that he specialized in molecular gastronomy and trained under Ferran Adria in Spain. No, it was just because I knew that Alissa would love it. I could picture her enjoying it.
In her red swing dress and her lovely high heels that elongated her legs, I felt like the luckiest man alive. I didn’t even need to look around to know I was the one with the best-looking woman on my arm.
“Wow, this is a great table!” Alissa commented as we took our place on the balcony. I could’ve told her how much that privilege cost me at such short notice, but I wasn’t going to. “But isn’t this place super expensive?”
That was sweet. Even knowing who my father didn't make her want to take advantage of the wealth my family had. She really was something else.
“Don’t worry about the price; I’m paying.”
I buried my face in the menu, hoping that would be the end of it, but it wasn’t. “I don’t like that. I can’t have you spending a fortune on me. It isn’t right.”
I needed to give her a reason why all of this was okay, or she wouldn’t let it go. Of course, this would have been the perfect time for me just to be honest, but I decided against it again. I didn’t want Alissa to start looking at me differently when everything was going so well.
“Oh, well don’t worry about that.” Shit, what could I say? I couldn't have said nothing! “I got really lucky with a Bitcoin speculation during a business project I did in school, so I have some cash laying around doing nothing. It really isn’t an issue.”
“Bit...coin?” she asked cautiously. “What the hell is that? Some business thing?”
The fact that she hadn’t heard of it before worked in my favor. I felt so bad lying that I didn’t want to go deeper into it, so now I could be vague with the details. “Yeah, a bit like an online investment...boring stuff, but worked out well for me.”
“Is that not your passion?”
“Erm, I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve ordered a taster menu so we can get a bit of everything. I hope that’s okay?” I needed us both to focus on the date, rather than a fake investment thing. “You don’t mind, do you? I thought it’d be the best way to see everything. The chef here is spectacular.”
“Yeah, of course, that sounds perfect.” She rose from her seat. “But I think I’m going to run to the bathroom first.”
I let out a deep sigh of relief as she walked away, giving me a moment to recover from the lie. It felt so awful not to be able to share this one massive piece of my life with the woman I felt a lot for, but I just couldn’t. It’d complicate the family thing between us even more, Alissa would probably assume that I only liked her because of the money, and I knew she’d start looking at me as just another rich prick. She would see me as someone who couldn’t relate to her at all, rather than someone she has something in common.
No, for now, lying was the right thing for both of us. It kept things so much easier.
“Would you like me to start bringing over the food now?” the waiter asked me in a cool, professional tone of voice. “Are you and your guest ready?”
“Yep, sounds good, thanks.”
I just hoped that all this effort was worth it, and the food was as good as its reputation suggested!
“Oh, my goodness, look at that!” Alissa excitedly declared as she came back over to the table. “That’s wonderful.”
We had meat dishes shaped like fruit, fish dishes with some kind of dry ice floating off them, desserts that looked like mains... It was a crazy, chemistry-like experiment. Getting the selection of tasters was a great idea. It looked even more impressive in that way!
“Dig in,” I told her with a grin. “It all needs to be eaten, and I want to know what you think.”
Almost right away, we were in heaven. Eating food that didn’t taste how it looked sent my senses into a bit of a tailspin but in a great way. That meant I tasted everything that much more intensely. The food also provided a great chance for flirting as we could feed one another the small portions of food. It was a highly sensual experience I hadn’t had before, and I liked it much more than I thought it would.
“This stuff is delicious,” Alissa agreed with me. “I honestly don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything this good! Where did you say the chef trained? Spain? I need to go there!”
“Have you never been?” I knew from our chat the other day that she hadn’t seen much of the world, but to me, Spain seemed an obvious place that everyone went to at least once. “The food doesn’t taste all like this in Spain, but I do think you’d love it.”
“Mmm, I would love to go.” She got a faraway look in her eye, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she imagined herself sunning her skin on a Spanish beach, or if she could see herself wandering down the authentic, rustic streets. I could see it, too, and I really wanted to be there alongside her.
“You know that Christmas is coming up?” I asked, innocently enough. “And, I don’t think you have any plans, do you?”
Her face tightened, but she quickly relaxed it again. I had a feeling she was well-practiced at doing that. “No, I don’t have any plans.”
“I had a thought.” I suddenly felt really nervous. When I was planning this, I felt confident that it was the best idea ever, but now I wasn’t so sure. What if she hated it? “Maybe we should do something crazy.”
“What do you mean?” She narrowed her eyes at me as if she was trying to figure me out.
“Well, instead of getting gifts this year, I thought I could take you on two experiences. One for Christmas, one for New Year.”
Instantly, she panicked. “Oh no, you don’t have to do that, I can’t really afford to get you anything, so I’d much rather you didn’t.”
“I don’t want anything,” I laughed. “I want to spend the rest of the Bitcoin money before it runs out.” Lucky again that she knew nothing about it. “It expires soon, and this seems like an excellent way to spend it, don’t you think? It’s kinda like free money!”
I could see the cogs in her brain turning – she wanted this just as much as I wanted to give it to her. The idea that I wasn’t spending anything on her appealed massively, I could see it in her eyes. “I mean, are you sure? It feels quite huge to me.”
“Of course, I’m sure. I wouldn’t have said it otherwise.” Thank God, she was all for it. “Trust me, you’ll love what I have planned, and it beats a traditional Christmas, right?”
“I don’t know, to be honest. I haven’t ever really had one. But it certainly beats hanging out in the apartment by myself! I’m sure Elle will have plans, so... Yeah, it could be fun.”
I wanted to jump up and cheer, but I didn’t. I needed to hold it in, for now, to make it seem like it was more of a spur of the moment idea, rather than something I already had planned. “Sounds great. Are you finished eating? Do you want to go for a walk?”
***
I dropped Alissa at the door with only a tender kiss goodbye. I could tell that she wasn’t very experienced and it was clear that she’d been hurt, so I wanted to make it obvious that I didn’t expect anything from her just because we’d had sex once. I wasn’t like that – not anymore.
“Thank you for tonight,” I texted her as I walked to my own home. “It was awesome as always to spend time with you. I look forward to seeing you again.”
I wasn’t sure what the best part of the night was – the meal or the walk afterward. We ambled through some of the quaint backstreets of New York talking about all sorts of things. We steered away from our family, but no other topic was off the table. We discussed our years at school, our trouble with finding suitable work, our likes and dislikes. I knew more about her now than I did before.
At one point, we stopped to take a selfie together. I’d noticed that I didn’t have any pictures of us when Matt commented on it, and I felt compelled to get one. Luckily, Alissa did, too, so now we both had a sweet picture of us to look at when we were apart. I loved the image of Alissa; it highlighted everything beautiful about her including those incredibly sparkly eyes of hers. Just looking at it had my heart beating faster. I wasn’t sure that I’d ever be able to see it without grinning like an idiot.
We even found a little coffee shop that neither of us had ever gone in before and went for a drink. There was a fantastic selection of cakes available, but we were both far too stuffed for that. Honestly, the drink was just a way for us to extend our evening. It seemed that neither of us was anywhere near ready for it to be over.
I grabbed my phone quickly when it beeped, eager to see what Alissa had said. I didn’t ever need to speak to anyone this badly, especially since I’d just spent all night long with her.
“Thank YOU, that place was amazing...the coffee shop, too. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to eat again, though.”
I smiled brightly to myself as I imagined her lying across her bed in her “messy” bedroom. She was just too perfect.
It was easy to see now that the money had nothing to do with me hanging out with Alissa – I couldn’t even pretend that to myself. Even if my father took the money back, I’d still want to see her. She illuminated me in ways that I didn’t think possible.
And now I would be able to spend even more time with her during our Christmas and New Year experiences. One day, I would properly thank Matt for the idea, when he was in a better mood about what had happened.
I couldn’t resist sending Alissa one last message, just to let her know that I was thinking about her. I wasn’t sure how, but she’d managed to turn me into the sappiest kind of idiot. The sort of man that I never thought would be me.
“Sleep well, sweet dreams; I’ll text you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight”