A Step Closer to Love

“This looks like a really fancy place,” Arabelle said as they were ushered to their seat.

“What have it away?” Mark asked with a teasing smile on his face.

“Oh I guess it has to be when the man at the door wanted to take my coat” Arabella said taking up his teasing voice too.

“Hope I did not make you uncomfortable with my gesture. I just wanted you to have a good time” Mark asked and Arabella shook her head.

She could not remember the last time when she had such an opportunity to dine in such an exquisite place.

“It’s funny, I have been thinking of bringing myself here” she added the teasing tone still in her voice and a threatening teasing smile on her lips.

“I guess my shrink must know something” Mark replied.

Arabella was glad that the comfortable air from before returned and they were able to talk to each other like they had known themselves for a while.

She had wondered what would happen at the restaurant if they had nothing to talk about because of the way she dangerously ruined the mood earlier.

“I am Alex and I will be serving you today. Would you like to order now?” the waiter said stopping at their table with a smile never leaving his face.

“Can we have the menu and we will decide in five minutes?” Mark asked stretching his hands to collect the menu.

“Sure,” the waiter said handing over the menu to them. “I would like to suggest today’s special to you, you get complimentary bread alongside” the waiter.

“Thank you for the suggestion, we will look over it and let you know” Arabella said flipping over it. “Can we get water though?”

“Of course,” the waiter said before walking away.

“Should we just get the special of the day?” Arabella whispered as he walked away.

“Let me get it, you are the type who believes that they should not overstress the waiter so they get whatever is recommended to them and don’t give bad reviews?” Mark asked.

“What? It’s easier than reading through all of these” she replied before closing the book in his face and dropping it to the table.

“Do you also give huge tips?” he asked and she frowned.

“What is this? A future reading? What are you? A shaman?” Arabella asked.

She did not like how he was somehow getting her so much. It felt like he was peering into her soul and made her feel a bit exposed to him.

“Well that sounds a lot like me” He said and it somehow made her feel better immediately.

“You do?”

“Of course, I was going to get the special until you said you would take a look at the menu” he said throwing his hands in the air.

“For a moment there I thought you were criticizing me a lot for being a kind person”

“Of course not” Marsk said and they both laughed.

“We are both kind people and we should not be criticized for it”

“Can I take your order now?” the waiter asked dropping their water to the table.

They looked at each other and then smiled with a nod. In one voice they said

“We would get today’s special please”

“Thank you so much for dinner and a lovely conversation,” Arabella said as they walked out of the dining hall.

“I am glad you enjoyed it,” Mark said. He was suddenly feeling so shy that he wanted the ground to swallow him up at that moment.

He had done all the complimenting all night long so it was nice for him to hear some positive reviews about the night from her end.

“I did enjoy it and I won’t be able to eat anything else tonight” Arabella said rubbing her excitement. “I am glad we took the recommendation of the waiter or else we could have missed out on such a good meal” Arabella said and he agreed.

“I mean being a good person kind of has its benefit doesn’t it?” he said and she nodded in agreement.

“I don’t think I will be able to eat Everly’s breakfast and I am not sure she would be happy about it” Arabella said.

“Should we take a walk around the area? It might help with rapid digestion” Mark suggested.

“That’s a good idea” she said and then paused took a double look at his face and then smiled.

“What?” he asked wondering what was so amusing that she had that kind of expression on her face.

“You seem smart, I mean extremely smart. Maybe it’s because you are a doctor”

“You need to be really smart to get into medical school,” he said.

His voice sounded serious but his face was a second away from erupting into feats of laughter.

“I can not tell if you are being serious or not” she said and he burst into laughter.

“I don’t mean to brag but it’s quite difficult not to”

“If I were you, I would have tattooed it to my head so everyone knows what I do” Arabella said which pushed him further into more laughter.

“I don’t think I am that funny,” she said nervously.

They spent some time walking around the block and trying to pass the time. Mark was not ready to call it a night and he got the urge to push his luck and see what Kieran would do when she got home late.

Arabella on the other hand had nothing to do at home so she decided to spend a little more time outside instead. If she went home she would just be held up in her room and the person who instructed he to be home on time would most likely not keep her company.

“My legs hurt now” Arabella confessed. “Thank God I did not wear heels” she added.

“Should we go back?”

“Yes please”

“You were going to wear heels?” Mark asked.

“My sister said I should do so since it was a date,” Arabella said. “She had barged me into doing it but I refused”

“You should not be wearing heels seeing you just hurt your leg?” Mark said.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“That’s even true, I will use that as an excuse next time”

“But you think of this as a date don’t you?”

“Well isn’t it one?” Arabella asked confused he was asking her that question. His face became red as it was obvious he was blushing. She found the gesture cute.

“It is”