“Orange or red. Maybe green. No, I think gold would be best. Ugh, none of these are good.” I said as I flopped onto the bed. Picking out an outfit for my date with Matthew was turning out to be harder that I initially thought. Well, I might as well narrow them down to one.
“Orange takes out all of my colors,” I say tossing the orange dress to the ground.
“Red is the color of sex, but the zipper is broken.” Sighing, the red dress joins the orange one on the ground.
“The green dress is cute, but I don’t have any shoes to go with it.” Tossing it over my shoulder, I look to see my last option is way too stretched out to fit. Now, what am I going to wear? Disappointed, I walked over to closet to see if to see if there are any other options.
“What to wear, what to wear?” I say as I reach my hand into the black hole that is my closet. My hands reach a soft cloth material. Clenching my fists around the fabric and pulling, I managed to reach the buried material. The “treasure” was a lace blue dress I had not seen since I bought it years ago. This dress had a sweetheart top and lace sleeves but flared out at the bottom. I believe I had bought this dress to wear to Naomi’s birthday party but had ultimately decided not to wear it.
It was my last option, so I went with the flow and wore it. Really, though, it wasn’t that bad of an option. Blue was Matthew’s favorite color, it was brand new, and the dress was flattering on me. I paired the dress with nude pumps with my hair in flowing curls. I was a little overdressed, especially since we were just going to a Deserted Desserts, a new dessert shop downtown, but it was my last option.
I made my way outside my room and to the top of the steps, where my prince charming, Matthew stood. His ocean eyes sparkled as they looked at the dress upon my body. A blush dashed across my cheeks in embarrassment. Matthew usually relished in my appearance, but something about today made his gaze heavier. Walking down and seeing Matthew at the bottom of the steps made me feel like a girl meeting her date for prom.
Matthew met me at the bottom of the steps wearing the same goofy smile that emanated from his face on the daily. His smile always managed to make me laugh.
“You look beautiful today,” Matthew said, his smile widening. I leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. Matthew looked down towards me with his endearing smile.
“You need to stop being so adorable.” Matthew then started to tickle me, resulting in a wave of giggles and snorts from me. Sadly, our PDAs were cut short, as the Uber driver pulled up and honked his horn.
"Guess we should get going," Matthew said, entangling his hand in mine.
The Uber ride went smoothly. Matthew and I chatted about anything and everything that came into our minds. For once, the driver was normal and didn’t try to murder us. But what made the drive amazing was that Matthew held my hand throughout the whole ride.
The pastry shop was in an antique looking shop in Wicker Park. While it was small, the place had a homey feel to it. There were two sets of pink tables, surrounded by two white chairs each.
Once you step into the shop you hear the faint sound of the bell on the door above you and are hit with scents of cookies, cakes, macarons, and donuts. The sounds of classical instruments are running through the air. Workers running all around to deliver each order perfectly. This was every foodie's dream, and dang do I like to eat.
Moving with fast feet, I kept my hold on Matthew’s hand and dragged us up to the front where a very tall man in a pink and black polka dot apron was waiting.
“Hello, welcome to Sweet Petite Treats, are you looking to sit down or to take some to go?” Only then and there did I realize all of the foods were mini. I looked up to Matthew with a growing smile on my face. I must’ve looked ridiculous because Matthew chuckled before answering the attendant’s question.
“We would like to sit down,” Matthew said looking down at me, looking as if he wanted my approval. I nodded, understanding his request.
“Inside or outside?” The worker said a smile plastered on his face.
“Outside would be awesome,” Matthew said, exaggerating the word awesome more than usual.
“Outside it is.” The man from behind the counter led us back outside and sat us at the table to the right of the door. He handed us two small pink menus. Even their menus were small!
After a short while of looking through the menu, I had finally decided what I wanted. I closed the menu and placed it at the edge of the table.
“What are you getting?” Matthew said, looking down at his menu as if he wanted a suggestion from me.
“I think I will get the luscious lemon tang bars. Have you decided what you want, yet?” Matthew looked up at me, his eyes as colored as blue irises blooming in a field.
“Uh, the slice of strawberry cake sounds good.” He smiles the smile that warms my heart on every occasion.
“Why does that not surprise me?” I ask teasingly.
“What can I say? I like strawberry cake, so it’d make sense if I got it. Wouldn’t it?” Matthew asked. I stifled a giggle as our waiter came outside.
“Good afternoon, my name is Noah and I will be your server. Have you decided what you will order yet?”
“I will have the slice of strawberry cake and she will have the lemon bars,” Matthew said before I could open my mouth to reply. Noah sloppily wrote in his notepad, nodding every few seconds.
“Is that all?” Noah asks, looking up from his notepad with his hazel eyes that sparkled with mirth to match the wholeheartedness of his smile.
“Yes, thank you,” I said before Matthew could cut me off. Matthew’s eyes glanced over at me, obviously realizing what I just did. His brain finally clicked as something else washed over his face. He suppressed a laugh with his hand, but when Noah finally walked back inside, something inside he broke. Matthew giggled beyond content. I looked at him with a confused expression, which only made him chortle harder.
After some time, Matthew finally caught his breath and calmed down. He opened his mouth as if to explain something, but the howl of the wind cut him off. An obvious quake ran through my body at the sudden bitterness in the air.
“Here, have my jacket,” Matthew says, passing his jacket over the table to me. As I put on the jacket, I was hit with the sweet aroma of his cologne and the warmth of his body heat on the jacket. The weight of his eyes on me causes me to blush and look down towards the concrete. Matthew chuckles lightly, making me look up at him embarrassed of how I must look.
“I love the way you look in my clothes,” Matthew says while stepping on my foot. I know it must’ve been an accident, but I couldn’t resist the urge to step on his foot back. He smiled slightly before tapping my foot again. I returned the favor with a light tap of his toes, grinning so much my mouth hurts. While playing footsie, we didn’t notice how dark the sky had gotten.
“Huh, I checked the weather earlier and it was supposed to be clear,” I said looking up at the sky in confusion.
“Maybe it’s just overcast,” Matthew said. I hope so because we were sitting outside and I had nothing to protect me from the rain.
“I don’t know, it’s getting kinda dark,” I said, slightly worried as the clouds darken with every second that goes by.
“We’ll be fine.” He said, smiling to reassure me of his words. His smile faded as a raindrop lands between his eyes. I giggle a bit but am stopped when rain continually falls from the sky.
“Maybe we should ask for a seat inside.” Taking Matthew’s hand, I stood up and lead us into the bakery. Our waiter spotted up with a confused look on his face. He looked around us and out the window, and with a nod, he took us to another table. Instead of being outside once again, he lead us to a table by the window. The light pitter patter of the rain was strangely calming.
Since there was no longer any whistling wind inside the building. I was getting a little overheated. Slipping the comfy sweatshirt off of my shoulders, I passed it over to Matthew. Surprisingly, he didn’t put it back on, instead, he put the outerwear in his lap. Sadly, I was no longer enveloped by his sweet smell, but the sadness was soon replaced by pure mirth as the smell of lemon filled my nostrils.
I inhaled deeply, my mouth watering with the intention that our food would arrive shortly. For once, my senses didn’t lie to me. Our waiter gently placed a plate of 5 lemon bars in the shape of a flower around a lemon on my plate. I haven’t even touched the food yet and I was in love.
Shortly after mine was placed, the waiter placed a slice of strawberry cake with a little half strawberry on top. Just from presentation, this bakery was great. The waiter then looked over to me with a smile.
“The extra lemon is for the decoration of course, but it can also be used to squeeze juice onto the bars if they are not tangy enough for you.” And with that, our waiter was gone. I did not hesitate to dig into my lemon bars. The moment the lemon bar hit my lips I released a moan. Matthew did his best not to laugh, which resulted in him releasing a bursting sound once he couldn’t hold it any longer. I shook my head as if I was disappointed, but I could not hide the smile on my face.
“You’re adorable, you know that?” Matthew said, placing his hand on the table, silently asking me to place my hands in his. I accepted, the palm of his hand was warm. We sat there with our hands intertwined, eating our pastries.
After a while, we managed to finish our desserts. My stomach hurt from the amount of food that was stuffed down my throat. Our waiter came around with our bill, which I offered to pay for, but Matthew objected to that in less than a second.
“I read it in a book once that the guy is supposed to pay, so that’s what I’m doing.” Matthew expressed, his crystal blue eyes staring into mine.
“You don’t have any money!” He explored the town during the day and cuddled with me at night. There’s nothing in there that includes making money.
“We’ll split the bill!” Matthew said, placing a stack of money on the table. Okay, maybe I was wrong about the not having money thing.
As the rain slowed to a pitter-patter on the roof, our waiter took our bill. Matthew took my hand and lead me out the door, but he didn’t call the Uber.
“Matthew, call the Ub AH!” My sentence was cut short due to Matthew taking my other hand and swinging me around in the rain. A laugh escaped me at simpleness of our fun.
Matthew spun me around, only to then dip me. I giggled and placed a kiss on his nose. He was just too much of a lovable cinnamon roll. Once he let go of my arms, the dance battle commenced. Matthew started with the classic moonwalk, and I followed suit with a little ballet. But because all good things must come to an end, my heel gets stuck in one of the cracks of the brick walkway, making me practically tackle Matthew to the ground. This, therefore, proves the theory that it’s kinda hard to dance in heels.
I push my chest off of his so he could actually breath, making us look like I’ve straddled him. My face immediately flushes a dark shade of tomato, mortified to be in this position in public. He obviously sees my discomfort and grabs the back of my neck, pushing me down into a kiss. All of my worries fade away into the thrusts of his tongue. I must look pretty disoriented, because when he pulls away, he flashes one of his cute smiles.
Matthew pushes some of my stray hairs behind my ear, gently caressing my face in the process. I practically melt at the feeling of his hand. A loud car honk brings me to the realization I’ve been staring at the perfection that is Matthew for quite some time. Awkwardly laughing, I help Matthew up off the ground. Releasing my hand, Matthew reaches up to ruffle my hair. I quickly look towards the ground, hiding my giddy smile.
After arranging our ride to come pick us up.He grabbed me by the waist pushed me against his side gently. I looked up at him in slight confusion.
“I love you.” He said, kissing atop my head.
“I know,” I said grinning from ear to ear. Matthew rubbed his knuckles into my scalp, making me duck into his chest. He laughed that captivating laugh of his, holding me tight until the ride came. It was at that moment I realized, it was going to be a long ride home.
