Burned (Beautiful Mess) (4 page)

“What’s so funny?” I asked. I thought she was watching a funny video on the Internet.

“Oh I am video chatting with my boyfriend,” she did not look up and giggled some more. They were probably talking about something only the couple could understand. Her boyfriend had made her forget completely whatever unpleasant issue she had with her roommate. She looked absolved into the world that was just the two of them. 

I walked quietly upstairs, leaving their magical moment undisturbed. I wondered when I would have my moments like that.

I opened the door to my room. Thank goodness Vicky was not back yet. I wasn’t ready to hear another of her “guess which hot guy I met last night” story.

It was 6:00 p.m. already. I should really get something ready for tomorrow’s date.

Ethan’s phone number was safely tugged in the contact list in my cell phone. I had emailed him my number. He hadn’t called me yet. I haven’t heard anything from him since Tuesday when he sent me the email.  Maybe he didn’t receive my reply? Or he simply expected no communication before we meet?

I paced back and forth. I was getting anxious again. If there was such thing as dating anxiety disorder, I must have it.

Right.
I could just call him.

But what was I supposed to say? “Hi Ethan, I am so afraid you are going to just ditch me tomorrow because you haven’t called or texted me!” Yeah right, that would work perfectly.

Now I wished Vicky was back already. I opened my cell phone and dialed Vicky’s number. She wouldn’t care if I was clingy.

“Hello. Huntress hotline, how can I help you?” Vicky used her seductive voice.

“First, can you help stopping my goose bumps after you use that voice?” I winced. 

“If you are the opposite sex, you will ask me to do something else.”

“Good thing I am not,” I chuckled. I imagined she was right. Guys’ brains worked differently-the reason why I didn’t know how to flirt with them. “Okay, serious question. How can I make sure Ethan is still up for tomorrow’s date without sounding anxious, Vicky?”

“Easy,” Vicky said.
“Text him.”

“Text him about tomorrow’s date?”

“No, Dana,” Vicky was now using her mothering voice. “Text him something unrelated. Some random specific question about him.”

“Random and specific don’t go together.”

Vicky sighed on the other end. “Anything but ‘how are you?’ Easy enough?”

“Why?”

“Boring girls are not hot.”

“Okay…” I still didn’t get it.

“If he gives you a quick and interesting reply, your date is still up. It’d show he is still interested in you,” she explained.

“Vicky, you are so smart,” I was finally getting the idea.

“You’re welcome,” she said proudly and hung up.

Now I just needed to cook up a question to text Ethan. This was more difficult than writing my history paper.

I started to pace around the room again. Maybe I would ask Ethan’s favorite color? No, no, we were not in preschool.  Well, he liked traveling. I could ask something about that.

I took out my cell phone and carefully typed: “Hey Ethan, do you have any travel plans recently?” I read it twice, making sure there were no misspelling and grammar mistake. A guy from law school probably would treat grammar mistake like a fly in the soup. I hit “send” and my heart started pounding.  Who knows sending a text could be so stressful.

Two seconds later, I realized that I forgot to tell him who I was. What if Ethan didn’t save my number to his contacts? And the whole question was sent to him out of nowhere. This made no sense. I must be doing it wrong. Darn it! I started to pull my hair. At this rate, I would be bald by next week.

My cell phone buzzed. I opened it in a hurry. Please be Ethan!

I selected the message and it was really from him.

“Miss proper, indeed I have. I am travelling to Westgate mall tomorrow afternoon to meet a smart girl.”

My heart skipped a beat. All my anxiety was gone. I could breathe again.  Slowly, I felt a smile grew wide on my face. I hit “reply” and sent him a smiley face.

Chapter 7

I arrived at Westgate Mall almost half an hour early. I knew generally the guy should be early on dates. But somehow I still wondered if I had day-dreamed Ethan’s perfect form into existence. I worried that if I was not there soon enough, he would vanish into thin air.

I walked toward the fountain in the center of the Mall. Westgate Mall was the largest mall in the city and the University had a bus route to here every half an hour. This was my second time here. The first time I was here, Vicky went to shopping and I made myself at home at the bookstore.

Today was Saturday, it seemed like everyone and their grandma were out here hanging out. I sat down on the bench near the fountain. The little boy next to me eyed me with suspicion while he devoured a large ice cream cone as if I would rob it from him. 

After a while an elderly lady sat next to me and began to talk about her grandchildren. Apparently she had 15 grandchildren and they were in the mall for a movie. I had time to listen to her going over each of them-if she took one minute per grandchildren.

“Oh, look at that young man over there. How handsome! I haven’t seen that gorgeous blonde hair for ages. My old man had it, but it’s all gone now,” she shook my arm with excitement.

I looked toward the direction she was pointing. Ethan was standing there, like a Greek demigod. He scanned the crowd and spotted me. He walked toward my direction with grace.

The elderly lady did not take her eyes off Ethan. As he walked closer, her grin grew wider as if she was a young maiden with a huge crush. I could totally relate to her. I felt my cheeks burning at Ethan’s presence.

“Miss proper,” Ethan held out his hand to me. “There you are. Sorry I am late.”

Reluctantly, I took his hand, still feeling this was unreal. I stood up from the bench and turned to the old lady to say good-bye. She was already scanning me with a slight frown of disproval.

“Lucky girl,” she mumbled and waved good-bye.

“Come,” Ethan didn’t let go of my hand after I stood up. He took my hand and wrapped his hand around it. I felt the warmth from his palm instantly. Oh! He was going to hold my hand as we walk down the mall.

I had never done this before-holding hand with a guy. Not to mention this gesture made such a public display. I always envy couples holding hand and seemed so intimate with each other. The way they held their hands tightly together was like saying “nothing can break us apart” to the world. But now my nerves were cracking. Ethan and I were not even a couple. This was only our second date. What did he intend to do by holding my hand? I just hoped my palm didn’t start sweating. Darn, I definitely had dating anxiety disorder. 

We walked a few steps. Ethan looked at me and gave me a smile. How did he always manage to look so confident? He was wearing a designer shirt and some fancy jean that made out the perfect shape of his hip – thanks for Vicky’s never ending fashion education.

Maybe I was griping him too tightly with my hand. I felt Ethan winced a little.

“You okay?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, I am just excited,” I said quickly. I took a deep breath and lose my grip on Ethan a little.

“Oh yeah?” Ethan looked at me with amusement. “I think you will like what we are going to do here.”

I nodded at him with a tight smile. I could feel the warmth from Ethan’s hand. I couldn’t shift my focus from it. I almost ran into a little girl while trying to catch up with Ethan’s pace.

People casted glanced at us. Most people were at awe watching Ethan doing his sexy-model-walking-down-the-street walk. Some girls looked at me with envious eyes. Some people eyed me with disproval. I could almost hear them thinking “why is this hot guy dating this plain chick?”

Well, I wondered that too. I was wearing a simple white shirt with a blue jean I had since high school. I did put on a sliver bracelet to decorate myself. But that was nothing comparing to Ethan’s totally sexy, fresh out of the runway-oven hot look. Of course, I didn’t even expect a gorgeous guy like Ethan to date me, ever. The ideal match in my mind would be dressing as simple as me. Ethan was just above and beyond my ideal, look wise.

I straightened my back and lifted my chin. Since I was walking with a hot guy, I might as well enjoy it. Ethan turned his head and gave me another smile. It looked like he approved.

I was too concentrated on the keep-clam-and-walk-normal. I didn’t realize Ethan took me to a designer store.

“Let’s look around?” Ethan asked.

“Okay,” I said automatically. So we were not having ice cream?

We walked around the department store and Ethan stopped at a purse section. He picked out a shiny purse made out of some kind of green animal skin.

“This fits you Dana,” he handed it to me.

It felt like alligator skin.

“Well, I am nothing like an alligator,” I said plainly.

“Really? Miss Proper never bites?” Ethan laughed.

“You don’t want to find out about that,” I made eye contact with him, making my point clear. My dad was in the Special
forces. He sent me to judo classes since I was eight.

“Now I am really temped to,” Ethan smiled and stepped closer.

My gosh. Did I unintentionally flirt with him? I cleared my throat. “I bite when I eat…food, okay?” I looked at him. His green eyes were so focused on me.

“Right,” Ethan smirked. “You really look cute when you blush.” He took the purse from me. “It’s a nice purse. I will get it for you.”

“What?” I glanced at the price tag. That’s almost a quarter of my scholarship this semester. “No, please. I don’t really need it.”

Ethan looked at me like I just threw a bus at him.

“I mean,” I shifted my feet nervously. “It’s very nice of you…but…”

“You don’t like it?” Ethan asked
, his eyes widened for a brief second. I must look really weird to him. What kind of girl I was to not like fancy purses? Vicky would jump through the ceiling if she got one.

“I…” I looked down at my shoes.

“We can look at something else,” Ethan put down the purse and held my hand. His grip was firm and determined. He hadn’t given me up yet?

We walked to another section of the store. There were several women there. They were all wearing beautiful dresses. They started to pose when they noticed Ethan. I was declared an outcast the moment they shifted their eyes on me. Somehow I supposed I would be better judged if I was naked.

“See any dresses you like, Dana?” Ethan asked.

I liked all of them. But that was beyond the point. “They are very pretty,” I said. “I didn’t know you like shopping, Ethan.”

“I usually shop online,” Ethan said, picking out a red dress. “This color fits you.” He shopped online? Then why were we here? He couldn’t be doing this for me, right? I didn’t think that I did anything to deserve such a treat. Maybe he didn’t know that just standing next to him had made me a happy girl.

“Really?”
I looked at the dress and frowned at the color. It was very bright and attention-seeking. But I had enough attention for the day.

“Yes, oh,” he picked out two more. “And this, and this...here why don’t you try them on?” he handed them to me.

“Well,” I hesitated. The nice dressing women with perfect hair around us were sending me glares, like I was stalking in their territory. Or they were trying to flush out their competition to get the male. Maybe I watched too much animal documentaries. I didn’t need to be dress like them to be proved worthy of the attention of the males of our specie. “It’s going to take a long time to try on cloth,” I said, wanting to get out of the store. “Is there anything else you’d like to do, Ethan?”

“Ha, I can think of a couple,” he teased. “Please tell me there is at least one dress you like?”

“Let’s see,” I looked around. I didn’t think Ethan would let me leave if I didn’t pick out something. I randomly picked a dress of my size. “How about this?” I asked him.

Ethan took it and checked its label. “Ah, this is of a famous designer from Paris. You have good taste, Dana.”

“I do?” I said. Ha, I just got unexpected compliment from randomly selecting a dress.

“Let me go check this out,” Ethan seemed pleased, taking the dress and heading toward the checkout desk.

“I can check it out,” I said quickly. I didn’t feel comfortable having him paying for me. I already owed him an expensive dinner.

“Please, let me buy it for you,” Ethan insisted.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly.  I was dating a handsome guy who took me shopping. I was either super lucky or there was a catch. I remembered Vicky’s pencil and pencil sharpener talk and started to get a little concerned.

I stood beside Ethan as he paid for the dress. The cashier was admiring the dress while folding it carefully into the bag.

“Yes,” Ethan replied her and looked at me. “I am sure this will look beautiful on her.”

The cashier girl shifted her eyes on me. I was prepared to shield myself against the look of disapproval that I had been having all day. But she simply smiled at me.
“Yes, sir. She will look beautiful in this dress.”