Chapter 17
Juliana
When I reach the lobby, I see Kurt standing near the front desk area and talking to James once again. This time, his little doggy, Roger, is with him.
“Hi, James,” I greet him first then stoop to greet Roger, earning myself full body wiggles and lots of kisses from the sweet dog.
James chuckles at his dog’s reaction. “Good evening, Juliana.”
“And hello, my fiancé.” I smile cheerily at Kurt. When I come closer to him, I throw my arms around him. I am genuinely excited to see him but I’m also playing up the part a little. Kurt laughs and catches me in his arms.
“Hey, honey,” Kurt says back to me before releasing me and leading me out of my building to his car. “How have you been?”
“Great! And I am so hungry right now.”
“Good. The restaurant is about 15 minutes away, hope that isn’t too far?” Kurt teases me and I love how easily we slide into this pattern of playful teasing.
“Hm, maybe. But as long as the food is good, I think I can forgive you.” I smile at him as we get in the car.
Kurt gets us to the restaurant in under 15 minutes since most of the traffic has died down. We chat smoothly during the whole ride and before I know it we are pulling into the cafe parking lot. I admire the cafe on the walk to the front door and take in the crowd of people inside. There aren’t too many people but it seems like a popular place for a Wednesday night.
I’m surprised I haven’t been here before. Though I suppose I do have my favorite restaurants that I tend to stick to. But this place looks cute so I am excited to try it out.
Once we are seated at a table along the front window, we place our order, and our waitress brings us a basket of bread. I munch on the bread and Kurt pulls out his phone, opens his calendar and scrolls through it, getting right down to business.
“Okay, so the engagement party is now at my parent’s lake house. In a week and a half basically. I have no way of knowing how many people will be there but I am going to assume; family, church friends, anyone else we’re close to.” Kurt seems like he’s going to continue talking but I interrupt him.
“Hey, do you remember that summer when your family had all of us church kids spend like a week at the lake house? That was crazy. I think I ate like five s’mores the first night but they were delicious.” Kurt leans back in his seat, remembering that week.
“Oh yeah. Those s’mores were good. I can’t believe you tried to skateboard for the very first time while eating one. That was not the brightest idea.” The waitress returns with our food and I dig in, my stomach growling a bit at the amazing smell.
“Hey! They were so good, why would I put it down to roll down a hill. Although it was not fun getting chocolate and marshmallow rubbed into my cuts.”
“That was not fun to clean up,” Kurt comments before he takes another bite of his meal. “Well, it wasn’t horrible. But you were not happy at all. Understandably so since you were a bit hurt.”
“What? Oh my gosh. Yeah, you were the one who helped clean me up.” I smile up at Kurt and remember how he took care of me during that time. I’m sure I had tears running down my face and dirt all over me from the fall but I remember Kurt helping me remain calm while he cleaned all the dirt and s’mores off of me. “Also ‘a bit hurt’? I had multiple injuries.”
“Well, you were mostly covered in dirt and s’mores, you barely had any injuries. Just a few bumps and bruises. And yes I was the one who helped you. I was one of the oldest kids there and since it was my family’s house I knew where the safety supplies were. Plus you really would not calm down for anyone else. I guess you had a soft spot for me even back then.” Kurt teases me and I blush.
“No? Really? That is so embarrassing.” I duck my head and busy myself with eating my delicious meal.
“Yeah, honestly, a couple of other people tried to calm you down and help you out but you were not interested. I stepped in and got you to calm down and we finally got your leg cleaned off.” Kurt sits back and watches me and I can see he is amused by my embarrassment.
“Okay, okay, I remember that. No need to embarrass me further. Maybe you were just really good at getting crying girls to calm down… Hmm, that didn’t sound right.” Kurt belts out with laughter. “You know what I mean.”
“Oh no, please elaborate. I would love to know what you meant by that.” Kurt sets his silverware down, finished with his meal, and is intent on giving me his full attention.
“Ugh, fine. Fine, yes, you were definitely the best at calming me down. Everyone else was just sort of grabby and trying to make me stop crying whereas you let me cry and just talked to me through the pain and the embarrassment I felt.” I set my fork down and look up at Kurt as the waitress comes over to collect our plates.
“Yeah, I did notice you were not a fan of people hanging over you and dwelling on what happened,” Kurt speaks again when we’re alone.
“Exactly, like I said, it was embarrassing. So I was grateful that you just helped me out physically and talked to me normally. Anyway, that was a long time ago.” Refills for our drinks arrive at the table and although neither of us wants the dessert that’s offered, we stay at the table longer, chatting with each other.
When the waitress returns with the check, she sets it closer to Kurt, who automatically picks it up.
“Oh, here let me pay. You paid for our coffee date the other day, let me get this one.” I offer, reaching into my bag to find my wallet and credit card but Kurt waves me off.
“What kind of fiancée would I be if I didn’t treat my ‘future wife’ to a dinner here and there?” Kurt smiles and hands his card and the check to the waitress, who I can see looks a little disappointed to hear Kurt call me his fiancée. I smile a bit.
“Well, thank you. Next meal is on me.”
“I might just take you up on that offer.” Kurt gets his card back, signs the check then we both stand up to leave.
“Are you free on Friday? I have dinner with my parents but I might need a pep talk beforehand if you’re available to hang out earlier in the evening?”
We reach Kurt’s car and he holds the door open for me. Before he shuts the door for me he responds. “Yeah, I just have a lunch meeting on Friday then a pretty light day, so I can take off early if you want to meet around 4?”
“Sure, that sounds good. I have the day off Friday so I’m free any time.” Kurt nods and closes the door for me then walks around to the driver’s side, getting in as well. “I really liked that coffee house you took me to last time, can we go there again?”
“Sure, I can come pick you up. I’m glad you liked the coffee place. It’s one of my favorites.” Kurt drives now 25 minutes back to my apartment. Traffic has picked up in the later hours of the evening for some reason. A lot of people are going out on Wednesday, I guess.
“Thanks for dinner and driving me back.” Kurt pulls up to the front of my building and I hop out before he can exit the car, I lean back down and talk to him through the door. “I’ll see you Friday.”
“I’ll text you if anything comes up to change the time.”
“Sounds good. Bye.” I shut the door and give a wave then turn to head into my building. I look back when I reach the door and Kurt is still idling, I pull open the door and wave once more. He waves back and then pulls out of the parking lot.
When I get the apartment door open, Tatyana is waiting for me inside the door. I jump a little when I see her right in front of me. My heart beats fast.
“Oh my gosh, T! You scared me.” I move past her and into the kitchen to set down my purse.
“Sorry, I’m just so excited. Where’s Kurt? I thought he was coming up. Oh, never mind! Tell me everything.” Tatyana bounces alongside me.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve hung out together, why are you so excited for this one?” I haul myself up on the counter and Tatyana hops up on the counter facing me.
“This is your first dinner date! Not just a coffee get-together but a long dinner-involved date. Don’t get me wrong, I am always excited to hear about your coffee dates but a dinner date? And that cute cafe? Wow. Tell me, did he pay?” Tatyana swings her legs, her heels hitting the cabinets.
“He did but,” I say before she can interrupt. “I offered and I said the next meal is on me.”
“Smart, show him you are his equal.”
I groan and lean my head on the cabinets behind me. “I am definitely not his equal.”
“True but don’t let him know that.” I lift my head and narrow my eyes at Tatyana. She grins at me. I shake my head and she just laughs. “Hey, I am teasing.”
“I know I know, but let’s be real, he is so much better than me. He’s a great guy. We are going back to that coffee house on Friday.”
“Don’t you have dinner with your parents on Friday?” Tatyana stalls her kicking of the cabinets. She eyes me.
“Yes, Kurt and I are going to hang out earlier in the day. I told him I might need a pep talk before seeing my parents.” A yawn escapes my mouth and I blink, starting to get sleepy.
“Ooo, getting a pep talk from your man now? I guess you’ve replaced me.” Tatyana smiles and wiggles her eyebrows at me. Then she switches up her expression and puts her hand on her heart, making a sad face as well. “I am so offended.”
“Oh shush, but you know, now I need you for pep talks when going to hang out with Kurt,” I reassure her and hop off the counter and pat her leg.
“Even better. Boy talk is still stressful but much more fun.” Tatyana hops off the counter after me and we both head down the hallway to our bedrooms. We disappear into our own rooms for a few minutes then reemerge and enter the bathroom together to get washed up for bed.
“So how is the fake fiancé bit going for you two?” Tatyana asks while brushing her teeth.
“I told you about his parents planning our engagement party, right? Crazy. But it’s going to be at his parent’s lake house and we got to talking about the lake house this evening.” I lean my hip against the counter, brushing my own teeth and keeping out of Tatyana’s way. We take turns spitting then go back to brushing. “We actually have a couple of memories. Good memories. Well mostly good. I did hurt myself at his parent’s lake house but our interaction was good.” I chuckle and Tatyana gives me a weird look. “What? It was just good to reminisce about old memories. We completely forgot to discuss our current situation.” I blush at the thought, mostly embarrassed we forgot the goal of the dinner.
“Mhm, see? It was a real date.” I ignore her and finish getting washed up for bed. Tatyana finished close behind me. We both head back to our rooms. Tatyana stops before she shuts her door, she leans out into the hallway. “Goodnight future Mrs. Michaels.”
I can’t keep myself from smiling but I roll my eyes letting her know she is ridiculous.
“Goodnight, T.”