I went on a date.
My first date ever.
Yes I know it was not an official date. I insisted on calling it a four friends going out to celebrate the weekend just to be on the safe side incase 'someone' has the hidden talent of reading minds. But in the mind of my mind, it was damn sure a date in bold letters. And it was perfect.
Adam Stone is perfect. He's the most handsome stallion I've ever seen and he is the definition of gentleman. What else can a mare dream of? He opened doors for me, pulled chairs and paid the perfect complements, all with a perfect smile. I could see my future babies jumping up and down every time I stared at his beautiful blue eyes and those killer dimples of his when he smiled.
We sat next to each other in the darkness of the theatre. Sophie insisted her and Ricky needed privacy. I swear she's the best friend I don't deserve. I shared popcorn with Mr. Perfect all thanks to her. Our fingers occationally brushed in the process. I thought the first and second time was a coincidence but you have to be a fool to not take advantage of it the third time around. The darkness was the perfect cover.
I made sure to stay away from him in public view even refusing his offer of dropping me home. I need all his bones and cartilages intact for the future I dreamt for the both of us.
Oh and to end the night perfectly, I received a goodnight text from him right before I went to sleep.
Perfect.
__________
"Abigail Forest" I said tapping on the first picture on my tab.
I'm at the Leoline office once again. The bastard took a week to respond to my calls for an appointment. He is seriously so self-obsessed and haughty. He thinks I'm so beneath him that I need to beg for his time. I had to swallow my pride and say please three times. Only then did Keith allow ne to visit his precious employer.
"Hmm..." the lion responded, lazily rubbing his stubbles taking his own sweet effing time.
I took the opportunity to scrunch my face and silently mimic him.
"I saw that" he muttered as he continued to scrutinize Abigail's picture.
I cleared my throat uncomfortably "So....." I drawled "What do you think? Doesn't she look like the first page of a magazine?" I asked hopefully.
What better than getting it right with the first one? They call it beginner's luck.
"Hmmn....." He breathed audibly and then zoomed on her face and pointed "big nose, thin lips, dull eyes" he then zoomed on the hair "Damaged hair" he pointed out and then looked up at me "I knew I couldn't trust you"
It took me a moment to compose myself "You are objectifying her" I gritted out.
"I thought that was the purpose of this" he nodded at my work sprawled across the little glass desk "I'm simply participating with all my heart. Do you want me to lie about my opinion?"
"No"
"Good" he said "It's you objectifying these women anyways. You are the one who categorized them alphabetically for me to pass my judgment on"
"What do you want me to do? How else am I supposed to do my job?" I sighed. Ten minutes into this and he has tired me to death.
"Let's do it in reverse. Start with Z" he replied "The letter Z is sexy as it is"
"That's objectification in reverse" I pointed out.
"Sure" he nodded "Let's objectify women in reverse"
I held my anger in and browsed through the list to reach the Z.... Zendaya Evans.
"Now that I think about it" he continued "You should probably omit all the A's from the list. I don't like people with that initial"
"Your name starts with an A, Arthur" I pointed out.
"Oh!" he pretended to be shocked by the revelation "It's a gender based discrimination" he explained "I have found women with such names are universally unattractive. They look masculine, like a horse you know"
"I guess we have something in common" I stretched my lips in a hard smile "I think men of A names aren't worth a second glance either"
"How original"
"Now that we have established my originality" I pointed at Zendaya "She's Zendaya Evans"
Zendaya went through the same scrutiny as Abigail so my expectations aren't high about her. I think there's something inherently wrong with the lion.
"I'll meet her" He finally declared much to my surprise.
"Wh...what?" I needed a confirmation.
"I said I'm ready to meet her" he pointed at the picture.
"You said yes" I muttered in disbelief "To my choice?"
"I didn't say yes yet" He scowled "I just agreed to meet her because she is hot. I might not like her personality and change my opinion"
"That will make two of you" I said pulling out Zendaya's profile "Here's her details. You can read through it while I set up date for you guys. We will take one at a time"
He nodded studying through her file.
"I really hope it works out for the two of you" I heaved a sigh of hope.
"Really" he shook his head "how desperate can you get?"
I pursed my lips together and fixed him with a final glare before walking out of his office. He didn't have to kick me out this time around.
__________
"How are things looking up in the city?" dad asked over dinner.
I nodded with a mouth full of pie "All glitters dad"
"That's wonderf...... ooww!" he winched midway. I rolled my eyes at my mom's not so subtle attempt at kicking dad's foot under the table "I meant" dad cleared his throat "Work is a part of life. There are other things you should concentrate on now that your business is stable"
Mom smiled overenthusiastically at that, clearly hoping our discussion drifts the way she wants it to. Harvey snickered and Harold put his fork down and sighed.
"Mom has been a pain over the summer," my fourteen year old brother declared "Just get a boyfriend already so she can stop buzzing around our ears like an irritating bee"
"Harold" dad and mom said in unison.
"When did I do that?" mom feigned innocence "I never said that. However now that we are on that topic, don't you think it will be nice to settle down before your hair turns grey?"
"My hair will take at least another half century to grey mom" I pointed out.
I don't think I'm ready to talk about Adam at this point. We went on another 'date' as friends after the first successful one with Sophie and then we met up with our friends another time. If I count that in where we did cuddle up a little....nothing more, then I went on a total of three dates with the hunk. I still insist those aren't dates of course. I just want to know him better so I can think of a future with him once I'm free. But that's a story I'll dictate to my mother another time.
"So are you saying you wouldn't settle down for that long?" she demanded.
"That's not...." My phone went off at that moment. I could almost kiss the caller "....what I meant. Excuse me" I finished, pulling out my phone and sliding out of my chair.
It was an unknown number which I would have normally avoided picking up on my personal phone but right now, I will do anything to escape mom.
I answered the ring walking out to the porch in the silence of the night. My parent's place overlooks the forest. Our town is traditional that way. We are a settlement of lesser technology and more nature. The forest, the lake, the hills, they form the core of our lifestyle or it did when I used to live here. I sometimes miss it. At other times I thank the spirits that I'm now miles away from memories I would rather forget.
"Yes" I said professionally. High profile clients sometimes sneak your personal details out.
"Where the f*ck are you?" I was surprised to hear the devil's voice from the other end.
"Where did you get my number?" I asked
"That's not important" he roared "Where are...."
"Amy is someone bothering you?" Harvey said from the door.
"Is that him?" the lion demanded.
Who?
I decided to put Harvey's overprotective self to rest "It's a friend" I lied to my brother who nodded with a frown and walked away.
"Is that the bastard?" he repeated.
I walked to the furthest end of the porch making sure my family isn't disturbed "Who? That was my brother you caveman. Now, why are you yelling my ears off in the middle of the night?"
"You think I believe you?" he yelled. I had to pull the phone away from my face.
"You aren't making any sense Leoline" I sighed "Maybe you should start from how you got my personal number?"
"Maybe you should start by coming home right now or risk a death" he retorted.
"I can't come right now" I said "I'm at my parent's place. And what do you mean home? You are making it sound like we live together"
"At your parent's place huh?" he ignored bits of my questions totally "Let me check. Wait for me. I'll be there in an hour"
"What? No" I whisper yelled "You can't come here"
"So you are lying" he gritted out.
"Why would I lie? I am in the town and you can't come here. You promised never to set foot in my town again" I held him to his promise; he can't do that to me.
"And you promised to not let another man touch you until I break the bond between us" he seethed "You didn't keep your promise. Why should I?"
"I didn't...." wait is he talking about my date?
"I'm going to check on your parents" he said.
"No I'll meet you" I replied hurriedly.
"I'm waiting" came his reply.
"Now?" Seriously? It'll take me over an hour to reach my place and I hate driving through the dark secluded forest land.
"Yes"
"Where do I meet you?"
"At your place" he replied.
"You know where my place is" It is an observation. I'm not surprised.
"Hurry up"
"Give me an hour" I said and hung up.
I quickly made up an emergency and explained it to my parents before walking up to my car with determination. I'm so pissed off right now. I think I could kill a person.
.
.
.
I slammed shut the door to my car and walked up to the silhouette leaning against my door.
"Let's settle this today once and for all, Arthur Leoline" I yelled not caring about my neighbors.
"Took you long enough" he glared.
"What do you want?" I am not in the mood of playing games.
"You know what I want Amelia"
"I didn't do anything" I replied "I didn't break any promise I made. I didn't let anyone touch me"
"It's not just about touching. You fool" he gritted out "I feel what you feel. I felt your stupid crush and your happiness over the last couple of months but shrugged it off. Now that it intensified and I had to dig deeper, look what I found out"
"What did you do to him?" I asked, alarmed.
"He's not important" he took one step towards me and I took one away.
"Why did you hurt him if he isn't important?" I said grimly "Leave him alone. I wouldn't let anything happen until we break the bond. So please don't ruin it for me"
"I sometimes wish you had a dominant animal" he said out of nowhere.
It took me a few moments to grasp the change in his tone.
"Are you.....are you falling in love with me Arthur?" It was my turn to ask.
"Never" He swore without hesitation "I can never love someone like you. My animal will desire you until the bond ceases, but you will never be in my heart, in my life" He repeated what he has said numerous times over the years "I don't want a woman who doesn't want me. I don't want a woman who is repulsed by my touch. I don't need a woman that weak. I want a strong predator, not a weak prey"
"I'm not weak" I said "Just because I'm not a predator doesn't mean I'm weak"
He took another step towards me without a word.
"What are you doing?" My eyes started to widen in fear.
"Proving how weak you are" he said as he took one final step towards me before pulling me towards him by my arm and pushing me against my front door, caging me with his body.
My body started shaking at his proximity. I quickly closed my eyes and moved my head as far away from him as I could. I tried to concentrate on my breathing to keep myself from losing my senses.
I heard him chuckle dryly "At least you didn't faint this time"
"M...mo...ve" I managed to whisper.
"What?" he pretended not to hear "You said something about not being weak, my strong mate"
"Please" I breathed out.
He let me go with a jerk and then took a step away. I quickly moved to the edge of the garden and emptied my stomach of my dinner. I opened the garden tap to wash my face.
I then leaned against a wall and closed my eyes in exhaustion.
"Do you now understand why I can never love you?" he asked.
I said nothing, still concentrating on my breathing.
"Because you make me feel ugly" he continued "When you call me ugly, I know what you see me as and I hate it. I hate you for making me feel like filth when it wasn't even my fault. It wasn't my f*cking fault" he glared at me "Do you understand it?"
"It doesn't matter what I think about you" I finally found the strength the talk "Even if we didn't hate each other, we wouldn't have been together. We belong to two different words. Yours and mine don't meet at any point. So it's useless to play the blame game here"
"The bottom line is that I don't want you and you don't want me" He agreed.
Thank spirits we can both shake hands on that.
I nodded "You have a date with Zendaya on Friday"
_____________