Chapter 22: The First Date
Ember Corbin
I woke up with the smell of coffee. I glanced beside me and found my bed to be empty. Lance decided to stay last night, and he kept on insisting on sleeping on my tiny couch. But I somehow convinced him to stay in the same bed with me, otherwise, I would chew his brain with my talking. We cuddled a lot. Nothing else happened, though.
"Lance?" I came out of my room, and there I saw Lance brewing coffee while making breakfast. I hope he was making one for me too.
"Hey, good morning." He immediately looked up at me and smiled. My heart fluttered. Who knew there would come a day when Lance would be smiling so freely around me?
He walked to me as I started to say, "Good morning. The breakfast smells so greatâ" My eyes widened when he kissed my forehead. That was unexpected.
"Coffee?" he asked softly, his fingers brushing away from my messy hair strands from my face.
"Yes, please," I mumbled.
He nodded at me and went to the kitchen to bring a mug of steaming coffee for me. My heart fluttered once again.
Gosh, would I ever be used by this different side of Lance?
"Here, eat this too." He handed me a plate, but I didn't look at the breakfast properly. I was too absorbed in his newly found sweet side. "I'm going to take a bath now. I can use your bathroom, right?"
I giggled at him as he asked for permission to use my bathroom but didn't do that when he used my kitchen.
"Of course, but I only have vanilla-flavored products in the bathroom," I informed and sat on the chair at the dining table, suppressing my smile as I took a sip of my coffee.
Lance just shrugged his shoulders like it was nothing and left for the bathroom.
When I looked down at the omelet on my plate, I almost choked on myself when I saw that it had heart-shaped pancakes.
"Oh, my God, Alena needs to see this." I jogged into my room and grabbed my phone to take a picture of it.
Me: Look what he made me.
I immediately put my phone down when I saw Lance get out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped over his waist.
"Why are you smiling creepily?" Lance asked suspiciously.
I didn't realize I was smiling. Maybe because I was happy that my eyes were blessed with this view early in the morning. My eyes traced every drop of the water that was running from his chest to his abs down to his towel, and there was a surmount of joy in knowing that I was allowed to stare as much as I wanted.
"That body is now mine, right?" My eyes widened when I unconsciously uttered those filthy words. Embarrassment flowed through my veins when I saw how Lance arched an eyebrow, feigning innocence as if he didn't just understand what I meant.
"Well, maybe..."
I squinted my eyes. "What do you mean by maybe?"
He laughed when he saw my reaction. "You are crazy, Ember." With that, he walked into my bedroom. He made sure he had a few sets of clothes in my house last night so that he could stay over anytime he would want to. Sebastian brought them over on short notice.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden vibration of my phone.
Alena: Aww and Eww both.
Me: Why?
Alena: Aww, because Lance is being so sweet, and it's something new. Eww, because he's my like my brother and I don't wanna picture him being romantic.
I burst into laughter reading Alena's reply.
"Hey, Em? Can you pass me the paper bag on the couch?" Lance asked from my room.
I looked at the bags where his clothes were. I guess he forgot to keep them in the bedroom.
"The black one?" I hollered, and he hummed in response. There were five paper bags in here, so I was not really sure which was which.
"Hey, be quick. I have work!"
I handed him the bag when he slightly opened up the door.
It was my time to take a bath and to get my clothes. I had to go inside my bedroom which meant I had to wait for Lance to get out of the room. Usually, I would change clothes outside the bathroom, but I wouldn't model myself in front of him with just a towel wrapped around me. Though I was sure, he was going to like thatâ
"Oh, my God, what am I thinking?" I stopped myself from having further wild thoughts.
This was all because of Lance. My hormones were always more vital when he was around.
"You can take a bath now while I wait for you."
I jumped when Lance suddenly got out of my room. My eyes traveled down to his exposed chest as his black shirt was buttoned up halfway.
"Hey, stop drooling. You have little children waiting for you."
I snapped out my thoughts and glared at him in vain to hide my embarrassment before I went to bring my clothes from the room.
# # #
Later that night, I stared at Lance confusedly when he drove us to a familiar restaurant.
"Why are we here, Lance?" I asked with a hint of panic in my voice.
This was the place where Lance stood me up on our first hang-out as friends, and this was where I was highly insulted. And he had the audacity to bring me here on our first date?
"Hey, we're just going to eat. Why are you panicking?" Lance asked me confusedly, but I didn't respond.
Of course, he wouldn't know what happened that night, so I was okay as long as no one noticed me.
I had to do this for Lance.
Be strong, Ember!
"Iâit's nothing. Let's go." I gave him a tight-lipped smile.
I never thought that I'd have trauma in a restaurant. I had never felt so little like that night.
"Good evening, Mr. Storm and Ms. Corbin. Let me guide you to your table," an old man appeared and said to us. Despite his age, he looked extremely posh and professional.
"Thank you," Lance said with an expressionless face, and I stared at him. "Let's go." Lance casually snaked his arm over my waist while guiding me over to our table.
"Please wait here," the old man said politely once we were seated, and I smiled at him in response.
"What's wrong? You look so tense." Lance noticed, and I just shook my head.
"How did he know me? I get it if he knows you, but me? Iâ" I was about to continue talking until Lance's gaze suddenly darkened while staring directly into my eyes.
"What do you mean 'but me?' If they know me, they should know you, too," he said sternly, which made me reconstruct my words as he narrowed his eyes.
"What? Stop staring at me like that. You are scaring me," I said, trying to lighten the mood.
"You're scared of me?"
I saw how pain suddenly crossed his eyes.
"H-hey, I'm just joking. Do you really think you can scare me? Just like that? I am Ember Corbin, your friend who became your girlfriend," I said, trying to convince him. "I wasn't scared of you even when we first met."
He simply ignored my words.
"Menu, please," he whispered, and I was shocked when I saw a waiter coming to us.
What? How did the waiter hear him? Wow, did Lance have any kind of superpower?
___
Lance Storm
My eyes were hurting from staring too much at Ember, but I couldn't help it. My mind was always traveling to what she said earlier, that she was getting scared of me. It was visible from the way she was talking less.
I just couldn't take the thought of Ember's eyes in tears just because she was scared of me. I didn't want her to hate me more than she already did. I knew she hated me deep inside because I stood her up that night.
From the moment she saw this restaurant, I could clearly tell that the incident from that night left a traumatic effect on her. And it was my fault.
"Wow, that's a lot of food," Ember said while seeing almost all kinds of food that we had on our table.
"I told them to make the portion extra big since you have a big appetite," I teased her, and I smiled as I saw her lips forming into a pout.
"Wait, you told them?"
I immediately nodded at her and placed some food on her plate. "Yeah, I actually bought this restaurantâ" My words died in my mouth when Ember started coughing.
I grabbed a glass of water and immediately handed it to her. "Are you okay?"
Ember nodded after she calmed herself. "You just casually said that you bought this place like you bought a piece of cake," she said and started laughing out loud like the crazy woman that she was, but she instantly cleared her throat when she noticed the other customer staring at us. "Sorry," she said and even bowed her head slightly to them, which made me chuckle.
She lowered her gaze and started digging into the food in peace as I did the same.
"This is so good," she commented after a while.
"I am glad you are enjoying this meal."
"Lance... can you help me with something?" Ember asked me hesitatingly, which made me furrow my eyebrows.
"Anything," I assured her and gave her my full attention.
"You are a mafia leader, so you have a lot of connections, right?" she asked, and I nodded, not really knowing where this conversation was going.
"Can you help me find the reason why my mom was killed? And why did Dad do that? Please?" she almost pleaded, staring at me with eyes full of hope.
"Of course, I can. You don't need to say please. You can ask me anything, anytime, okay?" I said, assuring her that I'd be with her no matter what she asked me to do.
"Thank you, Lance. Thank you for coming into my life." Ember smiled brightly, and that warmed my heart.
I didn't come into her life. She came into mine. She knocked on my windshield out of the blue one day, as if she was announcing her grand entrance in my life, and ta-da, we were here tonight. That's why I was the one who was grateful. I was proud to say that I had a person like Ember Corbin in my life. She dyed my dull life with her bright colors.