“But seriously, Annie, what am I going to wear!?!”
“Did you already try on the purple dress?” her sister asked.
“Yes and it makes my butt look gigantic! What about the pink blouse with the black skirt?” Kate countered.
“What, are you going to a business meeting or something? No, none of these will work. You dress way too conservatively. Let me see.” Annie put down Boo and got up, pushing past Kate into her closet and started going through everything hanging up.
“No. No. No way. Of course not.” Annie started scoffing as she flipped through hangers.
“Jeez, when is the last time you cleaned out this closet? Throw this out right now!” Annie tossed a blazer out of the closet.
“My blazer? Why? This is perfect for work! I’m not throwing it out!” Kate exclaimed.
“It’s perfect if you just aged a hundred years overnight.” Annie laughed at her, “Okay, Kate, nothing in here is going to work. We are going to need to go shopping tomorrow for sure. But, I have one idea for tonight.” Annie left the closet and walked out of the bedroom.
“What do you mean nothing in here works?” Kate called after her, “I have some very nice clothes in here, you know.”
“Work clothes, not date clothes. And even saying nice work clothes is a stretch.” Annie said, walking back in, “Here, try this on.” Annie tosses a red dress at Kate, as she strides back into the room and plops down on the bed.
“Whoa, I can’t wear this, Annie, are you kidding me? I might as well stand on the street corner now and flash everyone!”
“Uhm . . . rude, that is my dress, so I am going to just pretend you didn’t say that. Just go try it on before you judge it and give me a new career.” Annie motioned her towards the bathroom.
Kate rolled her eyes and trudged into the bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her.
“This isn’t even going to fit, Annie, you are much smaller than me.”
“Oh please, look in the mirror. Just try it on, let the dress do the talking. Your mouth needs a break.” Annie joked.
Kate laughed and finished getting dressed. She emerged a few minutes later wearing the dress, her hair out of the towel and lightly tossed over her shoulder in descending tresses. It was dry with the smallest amount of mousse tussled into it in order to keep her curly locks from turning into a frizzy nightmare. The red dress perfectly hugged her body, cutting just low enough in the front to show just a small hint of cleavage. It ran to a little above her knee and she paired it perfectly with black stilettos that Kate had owned forever and never actually taken out of the box until today.
“Kate, you look beautiful!” Annie exclaimed, looking her up and down.
“Are you-“ Kate started, but the door buzzer interrupted her. Both girls jumped in surprise.
“Well, you better be sure, because there is no time to change now!” Annie said to Kate as she handed her purse.
“Oh god, he is early! Do I look okay? What do I do?” Kate nervously rushed around the room getting her things together.
“Well, I would say answering the door might be a good next step, don’t you think?” Annie said, amused at how nervous her older sister was.
She couldn’t even remember another time that she had seen her sister this excited about a man or about anything at all. Kate was so subdued and there just always seemed to be a cloud over her.
“Oh! Good point! Okay, well I will see you later tonight, wish me luck!” Kate said rushing towards the door, “Don’t forget to call me in like an hour, just in case he does end up being a homeless man scamming me for coffee!”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Annie called after her as Kate exited through the apartment door and headed down the stairs to meet Derrick.
***
As Kate walked through the doors of her apartment building, she was immediately struck by how alarmingly handsome Derrick Kane was towering there on her doorstep. She remembered how intriguing he had been yesterday, but somehow she still was surprised. He was wearing a navy blue striped shirt with the collar left undone and dark slacks, holding a single pink rose in his right hand.
“Is that for me?” Kate asked, smiling at the sight of the flower. Pink roses were her favorite. For some reason, she had always hated red roses, too traditional for her taste, which is strange considering that out of the two sisters, Kate would definitely be called the traditional one.
“What, this?” he motioned to the flower, “Of course not, can’t a man like to walk around with a flower?” Kate laughed as he handed it to her.
He stepped back for a moment and looked at her, finding himself amazed for a moment at how different she looked from her professional, businesswoman style from yesterday morning. She was truly one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in her beautiful red dress, black heels, and the most intoxicating mane of curly, brown locks he had ever seen tumbling down her shoulders.
“Are you just going to stand there and stare or are we going to dinner?” Kate asked, blushing in embarrassment at the attention. She shifted her weight uncomfortably and looked up at him. Kate was not used to getting this type of attention from men since she often liked to skate under the radar. When she was growing up, her sister had always been the center of attention when it came to physical looks and so Kate had always just shrunk to the background. Derrick was looking at her in a way she had seen countless men stare at Annie and it was intoxicating.
“I’m just going to stare, give me a minute,” Derrick smiled and paused, looking her up and down. Kate balked and made a motion to smack his arm but he dodged out of the way in time. They were both grinning at each other.
“Okay, I’m done, now we can go.” Derrick held out his arm for her as Kate continued to laugh. She slipped her arm around his and shivered at the feeling of his warm skin against hers. He led her to his car parked a bit down the block against the curb and the two got in and set off for dinner.
***
“How did you pick this restaurant?” Kate asked, as Derrick pulled her chair out for her. The two sat down at a beautifully decorated table, with white tablecloths, two thin and white burning candles, and two bright white china place settings. The restaurant was in the heart of downtown Washington, DC near the National Mall and extremely popular, based on the number of people swarming the restaurant entrance.
She had never had much luck getting a reservation at places like this and had only been to this particular restaurant once for her birthday a few years ago. It was a fine dining, French restaurant where a meal for two cost as much as her monthly car payments. She felt a little intimidated looking down at the four different forks, not knowing why there were so many when she really only needed one. At least, she had always thought that she only needed one.
“A friend at work suggested it to me, said it never fails to impress the ladies,” Derrick grinned at her.
Kate rolled her eyes, grinning back at him, knowing that he was joking. She loved his sense of humor but a small part of her wondered if there was a deeper side to him than that. So far, she had only gotten to see the joker and she loved it, but she knew that eventually she would want more.
Just then the waiter came over, dressed in a tuxedo, and presented them with their menus. He began his large speech in French while Kate and Derrick just looked at him surprised and confused. Finally, the waiter paused and asked them a question in French, the couple looked at each other wondering if the other one knew what he had asked.
There was an awkward pause for a moment as the couple stared at one another hoping that the other understood what was going on, until Kate finally broke the silence.
“You know what sounds really delicious right now? A chili cheese dog.” She said, looking at Derrick. He burst out laughing and the waiter looked at her in shock as if she had just spit on him. He made a noise of disgust and turned up his nose at them and said,
“I will come back when you are ready to be serious.” With that, he turned on hi
s heels and waltzed back to the kitchen. Kate raised her eyebrows at Derrick and put her hands up in mock surrender.
“Oh, now he can speak English. Pardon me!” The sarcasm rolled off her tongue like darts towards the waiter.
Derrick had his hand over his mouth trying to keep from bursting out laughing as he leaned back in his chair, but it was pretty clear that he was having a hard time containing himself. After a moment and a few deep breaths, he shook his head at Kate in bewilderment.
“You’re my perfect woman. I know the best place to take you, come on.” Derrick said to her as he stood up. Kate took her napkin off her lap and quickly followed suit, exiting the restaurant. They were soon on the street outside the restaurant and turned left, strolling down the sidewalk heading south on the DC avenue.
After about two blocks, they saw an orange neon sign with an arrow pointing into a small, dingy storefront selling hotdogs and burgers. Derrick stepped up the counter and placed an order for two chili-cheese dogs and two sodas. The clerk scooped giant heaps of chili onto two hot dogs and sprinkled some cheese on top, then handed both items to Derrick.
“Your hot dog, madam.” Derrick handed her a hotdog with an exaggerated bow and she smiled as she took it from him.
She examined the hot dog for a moment trying to figure out if there was a graceful way to eat this on a date without embarrassing herself, but after a moment she decided there really wasn’t and so she gave up and took a big bite from one side. The chili and cheese squished out the opposite end of the hotdog and she had to adjust the plate underneath to keep it from spilling.
“The perfect meal.” Kate joked, after swallowing her giant bite. Derrick laughed at her goofy grin and took a bite of his hot dog.
“I couldn’t agree more.” The two continued down the sidewalk and took a right toward the National Mall which was a very long stretch of grass sitting in the heart of Washington, DC separating different monuments and museums.
They soon finished their hotdogs as they walked in silence, enjoying their food and came upon a grassy area with benches. The couple sat themselves on a bench facing the Washington Monument, his arm wrapped around the back of the bench seat behind her.
At that moment, Kate’s phone began buzzing and she pulled it out, seeing Annie’s name on the front display. She quickly picked it up and whispered into the phone to her sister.
“Not a homeless man,” Kate whispered quickly as she heard her sister laughing on the other end, then she hung up and slipped the phone back in her purse. Derrick looked at her, puzzled.
“Wrong number,” she lied, grinning bashfully.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” Derrick laughed, putting his hands up, then kindly decided to change subject.
“So, Kate, how did you decide on office furniture?” Derrick quizzed her as the two sat side-by-side on the bench gazing at the monument, lit up by lights at the base against the darkening evening sky.
It was a beautiful sight but it was covered in scaffolding as construction was being done to ensure it would stay the strong American tribute that it had always been. An east coast earthquake and other natural disasters had weakened it over the last few years.
“My uncle actually owns the company and gave me the job after I was unemployed for awhile. Well, we call him our uncle, but he was my dad’s best friend growing up. When I came out of college, I couldn’t find anything in my field. This economy is rougher than I had expected.
So, I just took the first job I was offered by my uncle- couldn’t afford not to actually. Then the years went by and I kept getting promoted and now I don’t think I would find a job in my field that pays the same as this.” Kate sighed, slightly frowning at the thought of all the big hopes and dreams that she had had when she graduated college.
“What would you rather be doing?” He looked quizzically at her, moving his arm a bit tighter around her back to give her a little squeeze of comfort that he sensed she needed right then.
“I’m not even sure anymore, maybe graduate school? Maybe working for a mental health clinic or doing social work? I really can’t decide, all I know is that I want to help people. I want to make a difference in someone’s life. I guess that sounds kind of silly.” Kate told him, leaning back into his shoulder.
“It’s not silly, that’s why I got into law. My law firm works in conjunction with prosecutors to help bring criminals to justice and defend victims.” Derrick said.
“Wow. That sounds pretty noble. So you represent the victims mostly?” Kate asked, curiously.
“Yeah, and there are a lot of horror stories out there. I didn’t really think that one through before I got into this field, whether I could stand to hear all these sad tales from victim after victim. I guess I was still thinking like an idealistic young kid, thinking that there was no evil in the world.” Derrick sighed. Kate nodded her head, understanding the feeling of being let down by the world.
“And now? What do you think now?” She questioned him.
“That this world is a terrible mess and sometimes even the good guys get swallowed up by it. Even the victims are rarely innocent. Nothing’s ever clean cut or black and white.” Derrick said, quietly.
Kate looked at him, head tilted slightly to the side, considering what he said. She couldn’t help but pick up something in his voice, a story that he wasn’t telling her. His eyes were cloudy and there was sadness in the sag of his head that she knew only came from personal experience with pain.
“Sometimes I think the only way not to get swept up with the mess, is by having someone by your side to remind you what good looks like.” Derrick said gently, as he turned to Kate and reached out and pushed a few locks of her hair away from her face.
Kate blushed and looked down at her hands, fidgeting nervously again. She couldn’t help it but every time he touched her, her stomach flip flopped. Derrick let his hand drop from her face and paused for a moment, and then he slowly leaned towards her and touched his lips to hers.
Kate closed her eyes as her focus turned to her lips and the tingling sensation shooting throughout her entire body. Feeling her lips hint into a smile as he kissed her, Derrick slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him so that they were no longer sitting side by side on the bench but rather Kate’s legs were draped over his and the two were entwined together.
After what seemed like a lifetime, Derrick pulled away and softly smiled at her. His eyes were no longer cloudy or sad but instead smoldering and dark. He looked even more handsome now than when he had first arrived at her doorstep just a few short hours ago.
She blushed and smiled as she pulled herself together, sliding off his lap. He stood up and extended his hand down towards her. She gladly accepted it since she wasn’t sure she could stand very steadily on her own right now.
“It’s getting late. I should probably be getting you home.” Derrick said wrapping his arm around her as they headed back to his car.
Her head was swimming and she couldn’t stop smiling. She was even happy that he was taking her home because he was volunteering to go slow and not push her, which was not a common trait she saw among men anymore. She had been on many first dates, but her relationships had never lasted very long. She had never felt that spark that she had just felt in his kiss and she knew that she had never been treated so preciously before. Just the way he looked at her was like he was looking at a treasure to be carefully held and valued. She felt important in his eyes. She hadn’t even realized that she had never felt that way before until he made her feel it then.
Chapter Three
It was about eleven o’clock at night when Kate waltzed into her apartment door after her first date with Derrick. Annie was curled up on the couch sleeping with Boo, Kate’s fat cat, when the doors abrupt closing woke her up. Kate’s front door tended to slam shut no matter how you tried to close it and the slamming sound ricocheted throughout the entire apartment.
“Kate, you are home! I was almost thinking you weren’
t going to come back tonight!” Annie sat up on the couch and stretched, knocking the cat off balance making her plop to the floor with a thud.
Boo looked up angrily at Annie and hissed before sashaying towards the bedroom, her fat belly swinging from side to side with each step. Both sisters watched the cat’s dramatics and giggled in response, rolling their eyes at the diva behavior. Kate turned back to Annie to respond to her earlier statement.
“Oh please, Annie, I may be wearing your dress, but I’m not as easy as you,” Kate joked and Annie rolled her eyes, pulling her face into a fake pout, as she stood up and followed her sister into the bedroom.
“It’s only eleven o’clock, that’s not late at all for a date. He was the perfect gentleman, he didn’t even try to take me home or imply anything like that. In fact, he initiated coming home at this time and not doing anything. He was so romantic, it was just. . . . just amazing!” Kate sighed, walking into her bedroom and collapsing on her bed, still fully dressed.
“Ooh, sounds perfect, where did you guys go?”
“We had chili-cheese dogs down by the National Mall and went for a walk around the monuments, sitting on the benches.” Kate smiled, replaying the evening in her mind.
“What?!” Annie balked at her in confusion, as she sat cross legged on the bed next to Kate.
“I got you all dressed up for a nice evening out and he takes you for a hotdog and a walk? You could have just worn sweats, for Christ’s sake.” Annie groaned, “Let me guess, it was your idea?”
“Yep!” Kate smiled as Annie threw her hands up in a show of defeat, “Don’t judge, respect your elders.” Kate laughed and tossed a pillow at Annie that landed right on her face.
Annie returned fire and soon, the two women were laughing as Kate went on to tell Annie every detail from her evening.
***
Kate sat on the metro car Monday morning, still thinking about her date last Friday night. She had not heard from Derrick yet, but she knew he would call soon. There was no way he wouldn’t call after such an amazing date like that. At least that is what Kate kept telling herself, but there was an insecure part of her that began to have doubts anyway.