The Alpha Dating Game(27)
“Great.” He seemed relieved. “I have work tomorrow and you have classes. So I won’t be able to see you till dinnertime. Pick you up at half seven?”
“OK.”
Damn, damn, damn. Now what would she wear? After splurging on clothes, she had no money left. She would have to make do with whatever she had. She couldn’t even borrow clothes from Lyla – they didn’t fit her.
Damn.
“So I’ll see you. And Jessica?” He hesitated.
“Yes?”
“I had a really great time . . . and I’m not just talking about what we did in my place.”
She swallowed. “I had a really great time too.”
“So see you.”
“See you.”
As she clicked off, she didn’t realize how hard her heart was beating until she heard it thunder in her ears.
THE RIDE
“He’s taking you to meet his father and it’s only been, what, three dates?” Lyla shrieked.
Jessica quailed at the auditory onslaught. “Yes.”
“Wow, isn’t that, like, moving too fast?”
Did she detect a jealous note in Lyla’s tone or was that her imagination?
“I know,” Jessica confessed, “but it wouldn’t be polite to say no. It’s his Dad after all.”
She knew that Lyla had never been asked to meet Stuart’s parents or the parents of any boy she dated. But that was probably because Stuart’s parents lived in Ohio. Still, if you were notching up hits on your personal dating totem pole, she would be one up on Lyla. Not that she was keeping count. Not that she ever would keep count.
But still, a very tiny and hidden part of her – a part she didn’t like too much – was exultant that she had trumped Lyla at this milestone.
“Yeah, it wouldn’t be polite,” Lyla agreed. “So . . . now we have to agree on what you need to wear.”
Jessica felt better. She didn’t like to have suspicions about her best friend.
Together, they decided on a dress Jessica had bought on one of her father’s shopping binges. Her father had meant it to be for formal occasions like Jessica’s graduation. The dress was a deep blue velvet number which made Jessica look much slimmer than she was, and with just a hint of cleavage. Jessica clipped huge dripping diamante earrings on her ears. The whole effect was rather startling.
“You look good enough to eat,” Lyla said.
Again, Jessica thought she detected the envy in Lyla’s remark, but she couldn’t be sure. I’m being paranoid.
A text message beep on her phone told her that Kyle was downstairs.
“OK, I’ve got to go. Bye!”
“Bye. Have a good time.”
Yeah, Jessica thought, if I don’t keel over from a heart attack first.
*
Kyle was a little subdued on the way to his father’s house. Jessica wondered why.
“You OK?” she said hesitantly.
He smiled at her. “Yeah, I’m OK. It’s just that my Dad is . . . well, let’s just say we don’t see eye to eye all the time.”
That’s normal for most fathers and sons, Jessica thought.
“When did you move out?” she asked.
“I guessed I moved out when I went to college. I only came home for holidays, and even then, I took time off to go to Europe.”
Europe. That was only for the rich kids, she thought ruefully.
He stole a glance at her face in the twilight.
“My father’s a good person,” he said. “Don’t worry. His bark is worse than his bite.”
She realized she was bunching her skirt in her fists. Oh, now she had crinkled the material. She quickly put her hands down.
“Nice dress,” Kyle remarked.
“Thanks.”
There was an awkwardness between them today, and Jessica wondered if it was because they were going to his father’s, probably against his will. Or maybe it’s because he’s planning to dump me after this, she thought morosely.
Well, she couldn’t stop someone from dumping her. It was predetermined. If they were meant to be, they were meant to be.
If only she hadn’t fallen in love with him. She would cry buckets after he dumped her, that was for certain.
If only he would tell me what I’m doing wrong.
Her irrational thought thread and glumness continued as the Mustang wove its way to wherever Kyle’s family lived. It seemed to Jessica that they were going deeper and deeper into the woods. Who would want to live so deep inside?
Oh right, a billionaire.
They finally came to a pair of colossal pillars. The lamps on the pillars were unique, Jessica thought. They were a couple of bronzed bears holding up lighted globes. The wrought iron gates were also emblazoned with two bears. The rest of the ‘walls’ were hedges which had to be at least six feet tall. She wondered how far the walls went.