28. Zeke's Date
1419 Words
I should never have said anything about asking Zeke. I could have kept my mouth shut and gone with Tre. He doesn't care that I'm f****d up. It's not like I'm his problem. By Saturday, I decide not to ask him. I'll tell everyone he's busy. Nobody will know the difference.
The knock on the door comes at 10 till 4. I open it and he smiles at me. "You look beautiful."
I spin in a circle and his eyes darken. "You do like this dress."
"Yes, I do. You are unbelievably sexy."
I wonder if he would think the real me is pretty. I take his arm, and we walk over to the village.
He buys us some ice cream, and we sit in the park. "What's on your mind?"
"Not much. It's good ice cream. I love this flavor."
"Try again. I can tell something is bothering you."
"Just ice cream."
"I want to get to know you. But you have to let me."
"This isn't me."
"What?"
I shrug my shoulders. "I'm hungry."
He kisses my head. "Who are you?"
"Star. This is a disguise."
"I can understand you wanting to be in a disguise, sweetheart. This would bring a lot of attention to the real you."
"But what if you don't like me?"
He chuckles. "You're still you."
"But..."
"Let's go back and fix this. Then we'll try again. I want to take the real you out."
"Really?"
"Yes."
We get to my apartment and I turn off the disguise. I stand in front of him in a human dress with my hair in a ponytail. No makeup. No fancy jewelry. "My name is Whisp."
"You're even more beautiful."
I run and hug him so tightly. He wraps his arms around me and makes me better. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Not running away screaming, I guess."
"There was no chance of that."
"What if I was a boy?"
"Maybe a small chance of that."
We laugh and he leads me down the hallway.
"No. Try again." Dipak points to my apartment.
"But."
"That's not a red dress. That's not Evie."
"He knows who I am."
"I'm happy about that. But what happens when the rumors fly about him having something going on with someone from the castle? You will become the enemy of the men in those games. There will be so many rumors about you. I won't even be able to stop them. They will tear you apart. He will have no chance. Evie can't keep someone in the game who's trying to get with her friend. How horrible of a friend would you have to be? I wouldn't be able to help you. Out there, with him, you are Evie. You cannot change that."
"I'll go change."
"Thank you."
I change back to Evie in the red dress quickly. I use the box.
"Much better. I was telling Zeke about the ball next weekend. He'll have to be fitted."
I glare at Dipak and he walks away laughing.
"You're going to ask me? I'm surprised you'd pick me."
I point at Dipak. Then I point at him. Then I jump up and down screaming like a crazy person.
"Let's not have a meltdown in the hallway." He walks me back into my apartment. "Start at the beginning."
"Will you go to the ball with me?"
"I would love to. Why such a big issue?"
"No issue. I want to leave it early though. They're quite boring. All we have to do is eat, then watch speeches and a few dances. We'll leave after that."
"Do you want to stay and dance?"
"Not at all. I want to leave. I already want to leave, and we're not there yet."
"So, it's a very fancy dinner."
"Yea. They'll tell you when to be here by. Make sure you're not late. And you'll have to get fitted for the formal uniform. Not a big deal, just make sure you do it early in the week."
"I can do that. What made you think of asking me?"
"I like you. You asked me out. I think I'm supposed to ask you too. And you said you wanted to go to dinner once a week. I wasn't going to tell you it was a ball until after we got there."
He cracks up laughing. "Maybe I wouldn't have noticed it was a ball. I would have thought it was a very fancy restaurant with speeches and dancing."
"Exactly." I lay my head on his shoulder and laugh. "I was going to tell you the uniform fitting was something to do with the mate games."
"You are going to keep me on my toes. That's for sure. Do you feel better now? Anything else bottling up inside you?"
"I've had enough for today. I feel a little better now."
"What else? I haven't ran away screaming yet. I want to know you."
"I don't even know how to start that conversation, and I'm moving past hungry to starving fairly quickly."
"We can save some for later. But I'm not going to run away. I'm really here." He helps me up and kisses my head. "Let's try going to a restaurant again."
"I'll get us there faster." I make us a door.
He chuckles. "You are hungry."
I pull him through it. We have a nice dinner, then check the theater. One of the guys from the mate games is there on a date. I watch him kiss her.
I motion a brain over. "Is he in the mate games?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Remove him."
"Yes ma'am."
Zeke looks over. "Why?"
"He's on a date."
"Not necessarily. She could be in his family."
"Why do I always get the guys who make out with their sisters?"
He cracks up laughing so hard. Then he glances again. "Ok, you're right. So, no dating other people?"
"No. That's fine. I'm getting to know a lot of you. Nothing wrong with them dating other people."
He scratches his head. "Then why did you remove him?"
"I don't know his name. He doesn't get to... I don't understand yet."
He kisses my head and leads me in. "That's fine."
I snuggle with him through some poetry reading. Then he walks me home.
"I think I figured it out."
"What is that?"
"He didn't put any time into me. I don't think he introduced himself even. He puts his time into other girls. UGH. I don't know."
"Other girls are what he wants."
"Yea, I want to get to know them. He didn't want to get to know me. He never asked me out. I like the theater and going places. He asks other people out instead. It would be different if he tried to get to know me. But he didn't. I don't like that."
"That makes sense." He twirls me outside my door. "I'll be back on Monday for the fitting. Will you be here?"
"What time?"
"3."
"I'll probably be in my office. You can come up."
"What do you do in your office?"
"Bang my head on the desk and take naps."
He laughs. "Sounds about right."
"I do my homework in there. I also track down wine and food for the resorts. I love wine."
"Me too. You ever tried black wine?"
"No. Is that blood wine?"
"It's made from black berries. I'll bring a bottle, and you can try it."
"Ok. I'm excited now."
He kisses my cheek. "I'll see you Monday, Whisp."
"See you Monday, sir."
I go in and plop on the couch. I have a really strong feeling he's not coming back.
Collin doesn't show up until 12:30, and he's exhausted. I rub his shoulders and snuggle him.
"What's wrong baby? Date not go well?"
"I don't think he's coming back."
"Why is that?"
"I don't know. I showed him who I am. He said I was pretty."
"You're beautiful, baby."
"Still no kissing."
"I like him."
I laugh and poke him in the rib.
"Honestly baby, you need to leave the physical stuff alone. Get to know the guys you have a connection with without anything physical. It's going to mess you up if you're running around kissing 30 different guys."
"That's probably true. I'll just kiss you." I kiss his marking spot. "Right here."
"I have a couple of other places that love your kisses too."
I move to my knees in front of him. "I bet I can guess one."
His eyes turn black.
- Writer
