Twenty-Five
Once I’ve showered off the dirt and grass, I inspect my closet for what to wear next. Theo said the second part of the date requires a more formal attire, so I decide on a pale pink dress with a scalloped collar and fake buttons sewn down the middle. I slip my feet into matching flats just as the doorbell rings. I frown down at my phone. He’s early.
My breath catches in my throat when I open the front door. Theo’s dressed in black slacks and a pale blue button-up that is loose at the collar, with sleeves rolled to his elbows. The last time I saw him so dressed up was at the engagement party, but that was with an added suit jacket and tie. It’s like being thrown back in time to when this whole thing started.
There’s one added difference: the bouquet of flowers in his hand and the nervous way his eyes dart around the living room. It must only be a coincidence that the roses are as pink as my dress.
“Are those for me?” My heart beats erratically, and I hardly trust myself to say anything more.
“Of course.” He offers me the roses. We both avoid eye contact as he places them in my arms with shaking hands. “I hope you have some kind of vase for them or something, I didn’t even think about that.”
“I do,” I assure him. “I’ll go put them in some water.”
My own hands shake as I rifle through the cabinets before finding a glass vase big enough to fit the bouquet. I’m not sure what he has planned for tonight to seem so nervous, but it’s making my own anxiety ratchet up to the highest setting. I shouldn’t want this, and definitely not with Theo. Is it my own fault for letting this thing with him go on as long as it has? Are we just leading each other on by entertaining this date night?
He can’t seem to keep his body still when I return to the living room. His long legs pace the length of the couch, head bent as he mumbles something under his breath, but it snaps up when I approach him. I’m taken back to the night of the engagement party all over again, stumbling upon his drunken form, talking himself into confessing to Alice.
Only, he’s not drunk and I’m not Alice, so I’m not sure what to make of his nerves.
“You ready?” His voice pitches an octave higher than normal.
I nod and smile, but it has trouble sticking to my face. He seems appeased for the moment, stepping forward to link my arm in his so we can walk through the door. I hope he can’t feel how fast my heart is beating.
The car ride is tense with our silence, both of us locked inside our own heads until he pulls into the library parking lot. My brows furrow as I chance a glance at his face. The library closed an hour ago. For the first time tonight, his eyes light up with mischief, lips curling up in that familiar wicked grin. I look back up at the library, but the lights are off inside. Theo comes around the car to open my door, ever the gentleman.
“Are we breaking and entering?” I ask, as we head up the sidewalk.
“It’s not breaking and entering if you have a key.” He looks down at me expectantly as we reach the glass double doors. When I just stare up at him, dumbfounded, he gestures for me to open the door. Finally, I reach into my purse for the key, my fingers slipping until I find the right one and stick it inside the lock.
Inside, the darkness is almost stifling except for a distant, golden glow coming from deeper inside the shelves. I glance up at Theo again questioningly, but all I can make out is the rise and fall of his shoulders as he shrugs. As if he wasn’t the one who planned this entire night to begin with. The start of a self-satisfied smile edges the corners of his mouth as we make our way through the general fiction shelves.
I still can’t determine where the light is coming from, let alone the source of the light itself. I swear to god if he actually lit candles in a building made up entirely of kindling, he’ll make it easier for me to dump him. Especially if I lose the most important job I’ve ever had because of an elaborate date gone horribly, horribly wrong. If there are as many candles as it looks like there are, we’ll be ending the night at the fire department. Or worse, in an ambulance dying of third-degree burns and smoke inhalation. There’s nothing romantic about that.
We pass the first candle when we reach the back wall’s low shelves, where an entire row is lit up in the shape of an arrow pointing right. I rush forward to blow them out, but the lights won’t budge. On closer inspection, where there should be a wick is the artificial shape of a flame. My hand touches the plastic with a sigh of relief that deflates my whole body.
They’re not real candles. They’re battery operated.
“Did you actually think I’d make a fire hazard at your place of work?” Theo shakes his head in mock disappointment. “Oh, Marce. Ye of little faith.”
“You can’t blame me.” I hit his arm. “You’ve been full of surprises today.”
“Please. You haven’t seen the biggest one yet.”
The arrows lead to the YA section, where hundreds of tea lights sit on the shelves to light up the space. I let out a gasp when my eyes settle on our dinner setup. In the center of the surrounding shelves, where the YA book club met, the retractable tables and plastic seats have been replaced with a smaller, square wooden table covered by a white tablecloth and two matching wooden chairs. A dinner is set up on place mats, in front of two long-stemmed candles that also turn out to be battery operated.
It’s like something ripped out of my wildest dreams. Something my teenage self desired so badly, something I resigned myself to accept would never happen the older I got. The low, golden glow against the wooden bookshelves captures my favorite section of the library in magic.
Theo steps in front of me to hold out a chair, his smile growing at whatever shocked expression must be plastered to my face.
“Milady?” And just when I think I’ve seen it all, Theo grants me a new kind of smile. Two rows of white teeth glitter, as his mouth spreads as far as it can go into a grin that’s nothing short of victorious. A hero’s smile, captured in gold.
“You did all this for me?” I can barely get the question out past the emotion choking my voice. When I try to clear my throat, it doesn’t quite work.
I glance up at Theo, and then the dancing shadow of his silhouette when looking at him becomes too hard. It’s not just the setup that’s been ripped out of my wildest dreams, but Theo himself, too. He’s something plucked out of a fairy tale, or better yet, one of my favorite romance novels. The glittering eyes of a hero, the determined stance of a man who would topple kingdoms to be with his beloved. The vulnerability of a man about to get down on one knee.
“You planned an elaborate dinner surrounded by my favorite books of all time?”
“Does that mean you like it?” His smile softens as tears begin to sting my eyes. Even still, there’s something twitchy about the way he gestures to the table. Like those nerves I first noticed in my apartment haven’t gone away yet. “Angela helped me plan it. I wanted the second part of the date to be planned around you, since the first part was all football. She helped me set this up while you were getting ready.”
“It’s perfect.” I try to smile, but I’m sure it comes out watery. “Why would you go through so much trouble for me?”
I don’t know why the question comes out now of all times, but I suddenly have to know. We’re only supposed to be rebounds, but this entire date is the most romantic thing that’s ever happened to me and we’re not even together. Not really. This isn’t the kind of date rebounds go on with each other, if they even go out on dates at all. Dinner and a movie. A nighttime stroll along the River Walk downtown, at the most. Not something that requires enlisting the help of a best friend to plan.
“Let’s sit down,” he says, not answering my question as he ducks away. He gestures to the chair he pulled out for me earlier, before walking to the other side and taking a seat himself. “And there’s another surprise after dinner, so don’t go getting teary-eyed on me yet.” He lets out a nervous laugh, and it’s all too much. I’m on the brink of a mental breakdown, and we haven’t even eaten a single bite.
“Another surprise?” His smile turns sheepish as my mouth falls open in shock for the thousandth time tonight. “You’re too much.” My voice comes out in a rasp. I have to clear my throat twice before I can speak normally again. “The pasta looks good.” It’s a lame observation, considering the circumstances.
He smiles at me over the tea lights, and then we dig in. “So, what’s a day at the library like?” he asks mildly, as if my mind isn’t already reeling in a thousand different directions.
“Depends on the day,” I say, my thoughts distracting me from really answering. Finally, I shake my head and ask what’s really on my mind. “Theo, what is all this for? We could’ve just gone to dinner at an actual restaurant and maybe seen a movie after. You didn’t have to do…” I gesture all around me with a sound of disbelief. “You didn’t have to do all this.”
“Maybe I just wanted to do something special for you.” His brows crease as he gauges what exactly I’m asking. His mouth sets in a slight frown, but I can’t help but keep questioning why he would do this for me. I’m ruining the moment, but I have to know. “Is that really so hard to believe?”
“Well, yeah!” I burst out. “This is the kind of date you plan for someone right before you get engaged. Hell, Ben didn’t even plan something this elaborate for Alice. You don’t just do something like this for the girl you’re seeing casually.”
“Okay, then let’s talk about that.” He sits up straight in his seat. “I don’t want to do casual with you anymore.”
For a moment, my heart stops. This is it. The end of whatever we are. But when he opens his mouth to explain, he surprises me all over again.
“Relationships aren’t exactly my strong suit. I’ve never been in one before, not a real relationship anyway, but…” He looks over at me, eyes softening in a way that makes me feel like the vulnerable one. “Marcela, I don’t feel this way very often about someone, but I want more with you. I don’t just want to be the person who helps you get over Ben. And I don’t just want to be the guy you stopped from destroying Alice’s engagement party and mistakenly hooked up with. Maybe it’s naive or hopeless to want something deeper with you, but I do.”
I want more with you.
He’s not ending this. He’s… asking me something. Asking for us to be more than casual. My tongue feels like sandpaper. I don’t trust myself to open my mouth, because if I do, I’m not sure what will come out. But my throat is so dry, I’m not sure anything would be able to come out at all.
Those dark blue eyes are rimmed in gold as they watch me carefully, waiting for the impact of his confession to land. But I’m frozen solid, trapped in his gaze.
“Marcela,” he says when I’ve been silent for too long. “Is there any chance you feel the same?”