Throughout my life, I always thought about what my first date would be like. Would we be at a fancy restaurant where I would wear a nice dress or would we be casual and walk through a park holding hands and laughing the whole time? Would I feel like a princess at the end of the night who would get her Prince Charming or would I end up being disappointed and never speak to the guy again? I always hoped it was the first option. That was what my fairytale dream was all about. Pretty, fancy, easy, and stable. But ordinary, very ordinary and basic. No passion or desire for more. It's what I thought life had to be like for me. But once I got a glimpse of what other people's lives are and got a taste of what else was out there in the world, my entire life changed.
It first started when I traveled to Botswana two summers ago and instantly knew I wanted to be a great doctor. I knew right then and there that I wanted to change my life and make it the best life I could. I didn't want to end up like my parents and be stuck in my town forever. I don't want to be basic anymore.
The next time was that Wednesday night at the UT party during first week. The night I first locked eyes with the guy with brown pools standing by the wall exhaling smoke. I don't know how I could see his eyes so clearly in the dimly lit room, but something in his eyes spoke to mine and I have been hooked since. After that night, Tre always filled my mind. And that brought on a lot of thoughts and feelings that I have never experienced yet.
I wished that I would eventually meet someone, but I didn't except it to be the first week of my college life. I know it's still too early to think of anything happening between us, but I can at least hope. Although, that hasn't always worked or for me in the past. I just don't want Tre to let me down, but I also don't want to let Tre down. He seems like he has so much more experience and I'm just me, who doesn't have any. I hadn't even held hands with a guy before, let alone anything else. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when it comes down to that stuff.
"Where are we going?" I ask Tre as we walk towards Main Street.
"What's your favorite food to eat?" He turns his head towards me.
I think for a moment for answering, "Pasta."
He nods and puts his hands in his jeans pockets. "There's a really good authentic Italian place around the corner."
"You'd know better than I would," I reply. "I don't really come downtown very much."
"It's not the best place to be at, especially at night." He looks around the street as we walk like he's making sure nothing is out of the ordinary. I've noticed he does that a lot. No matter where he's at, he always glances around the area multiple times before he grows less tense and relaxes more.
"Well at least I have you here to protect me," I joke and nudge his side lightly with my elbow.
He chuckles and moves away from my elbow. "I got you, don't worry."
I know he really means those words. I have learned so far that Tre is a man of his word. His loyalty with words is hardcore. He takes them and promises extremely seriously. He's very careful of what he says, like he is always thinking of the right word to say at the right time. Sometimes it seems like he takes his time with his words because he's afraid to say the wrong thing. He makes sure that every word that comes off his tongue is true and genuine.
We walk to the end of the street and then turn the corner and the restaurant is right there. It's a small, quaint little restaurant with the Italy flag handing outside on the light banister. The building looks like it was transported back in time to the early ages of Italy.
Tre opens the door for me and once I step inside, my sense are hit with the smell of garlic and umami. A stout man approaches us and welcomes us to his restaurant. He takes us to our table and Tre grabs my chair and pulls it out, gesturing for me to sit down. I smile at him being a gentleman and sit down, smoothing a stray hair behind my ear. Tre sits across from me and my butterflies come back. Seeing him across from me surrounded by dim lighting and quiet chatter, makes this feel like a date. I don't know if he considers this one though.
I avoid eye contact for a few minutes while we both silently look over the menu. I find what I want and slowly look up at Tre. He looks up from his menu and ask, "You know what you want?"
I nod. "Yeah."
Our server comes up a few moments later and takes our order. Once he leaves, Tre looks back at me. His gaze is intense and I unconsciously cross my legs.
"What?" I ask.
"Nothing," he replies.
"You keep staring at me."
"I'm trying to figure you out."
He's trying to figure me out? I thought he had already done that.
"I thought you had me all figure out, Tre?"
He smirks. "I did, but I keep finding more things about you that I can't seem to figure out."
"Like what?" I thought I was an open book to him. We both knew that he could easily read all of my pages that I laid out for him. I don't know what the change now is.
"I can figure out why you do some of the things you do," he starts. "But I don't know what's the deeper meaning behind them all."
"I'm an open book." Is all I reply. I don't know what else to say to that. I feel like he's trying to invade my mind and gather all of my secrets and dreams for him to look through.
"You're a partially open book, I can read some of you, and then there's other stuff I don't know."
"You trying to play mind games with me?" I ask. "Cause I can't keep up with you."
"I wish I could read minds so I could know what you're thinking."
"What am I thinking right now?" I quiz him and he's silent, thinking of the careful words he wants to say.
"You keep playing with the table cloth so I know that you're nervous right now. I know you probably have never been to dinner with a guy before. You've never been on a date before and you're feeling out of your element." He leans back in his seat and takes a sip of his water, keeping eye contact with my eyes that widened with each thing he said.
I swallow hard. "See, I'm still easy to read." I didn't even know that I was fiddling with the table cloth before. I now move my hands away from my lap and rest them on top of the table.
Tre's silent and then it registers to me that he said date.
"Did you say this was a date?" My body goes warm and my nerves are in a wave throughout my whole body.
"Do you want this to be a date?" He asks me instead of answering my question.
"Yes, now answer my question." I quickly state. I hate when he doesn't answer my question and instead fires one back at me.
"I asked you out to dinner," he shrugs. "I don't normally ask girls out."
Oh I wonder why that is. Probably because he's closed off and never gives someone a chance to actually get close to him. Tre didn't seem like the type to bring girls on dates. He liked looking at them and fooling around with them when he wants to, but nothing that'd be any emotional significance to him.
"Why did you ask me out then?" This is the question I've been wondering. Why me? Of all people.
He rubs the back of his neck and I think I can see a hint of red come to his face. "I just wanted to do something nice for you. You're always alone, staying in your dorm and keeping your face buried in some book. Nobody really talks to you and you should have someone treat you the way you deserve to."
At the end of his spiel, our server arrived with our food and the serious conversation now sat heavy over both of our heads. I stare down at my plate of spaghetti, speechless at what Tre just said. I can't wrap my head around everything he said. Everything was so observant like he had noticed all of those things about me and remember them clearly. It was all true, but hearing those words come out of his mouth made them all the more true for me.
Tre silently eats and I twirl my noodles around my fork. I don't know how to respond to him. What do I say? Thanks Tre for being so observant and making me realize how pathetic I am?
"Do you not like it?"
I look up from my plate and Tre's staring at me.
"No it's fine." I put my fork down and take a sip of my water. "I'm just not that hungry anymore."
I have lost my appetite in my whirlwind of thinking about what he explained. How can I finish eating when he said what nobody has ever said to me before? I don't know if I should feel offended, or amazed at how much time he's taken to observe me.
"I didn't mean to make you upset," Tre starts and I interrupt him.
"You didn't Tre. I just don't know what to say. It's like you know everything about me and I can't believe you took notice to all those things."
"It's not that hard to notice," he shrugs.
I turn my head down at my plate of noodles that's probably getting cold. "You make me sound so boring and pathetic."
"Evangeline." I look up at him when he says my name softly.
"I want to get to know you."
I shake my head and look at him quizzingly. "You already know me. You've literally laid me all out on this table already."
It's his turn to shake his head now. "Those were all simple things. They weren't hard to figure out. They're on the outside. I want to know you from the inside too."
"Really?" I ask, but it seems like it's more of a whisper.
Tre nods.
I take time to think about what to say next. "Nobody's ever wanted to get to know me, like really know me."
"Well I do," Tre states, his eyes again locking on mine and I feel like melting under his gaze.
"You're the first." I simply say.
He's the first for a lot of things.
His mouths turns up slightly in a small smile. "I'm glad."
I bit my lip to try and hide my smile that wants to make a big appearance. "Me too."
There is no one else who I would want to have this with other than him. He wants to get to know me on a deeper level, a level where I can start to read his pages and he can read mine. I don't understand why he wants to, but I am happy that he does.
"You want me?" My eyes widen at what I said because I didn't mean to say it that way, but the words are already out there. He said he wanted to get to know me more, not that he really wanted me. Wanting someone and wanting to get to know someone are two different things in my eyes. I feel like I just dug myself into a hole that I really don't want to know the answer to it so I can get out.
He chuckles under his breath and then leans forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Yeah, I do."
"What? Really?" I ask surprised and Tre laughs.
"Stop always asking 'really'. Yes, I want you Evangeline. I want to spend time with you, I want to know everything about you. I want to be there for you and I want you to be with me."
I'm jumping up and down on the inside screaming that he said all the right things to me. I know I always doubt myself and overthink, but Tre has a way of reassuring me that makes me truly believe everything he says. I know that he's a man of his word and I can see in his eyes that he wants what he said.
"I've never done this before," I explain to him.
"It'll be a first for both of us," he says. "But I wanna try with you."
"I want to try with you too."
He reaches across the table and grabs my hand in his. He brings our hands up to his face and he lightly presses his lips against the top of my hand.
"Here's to trying then," he mumbles against my hand and I beam.
Here's to trying.