Strings (1 of 2)

His eyes bore into mine, demanding an answer. I open my mouth to say not long but no words come out. I just gape at him. Why is he being so harsh?

Before I can answer him he sighs and runs his hand through his hair. I take the opportunity to look away from his intense gaze.

"Sorry... I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just got here." I finally respond and look back towards him. He looks much more like himself now. His eyes soften back to brown and he smiles, calming me.

"No. I'm sorry. My brother just agitates me. I shouldn't have spoken like that to you."

Okay, he has a brother. That might be the only thing besides him first name that I know about him.

I look around at people passing by, in and out of the cafe, to avoid the awkward tension between us.

"You look beautiful." he says softly making me turn back to him.

"Thank you." Maybe I should just relax and let it go. He apologized for getting mad and seems better now. I know how much a brother can irritate someone.

I smile to myself, thinking about all the silly fights I had with Matt growing up. They were so life and death back then. Every time I swore I would never speak to him again. Now, I wish I could fight with him.

"Ready to go for dinner now?" Nathan's voice pulls me back to reality.

I look at him hesitantly weighing my options. As long as his brother doesn't call again he should be fine. I like this Nathan. I can do dinner with this Nathan.

He raises his eyebrows at me and smiles, extending his hand towards mine.

Okay, if we are doing this, it's on my terms. I'm not going to let his attitude before intimidate me anymore. And I am also not getting on that bike in a dress. 

I look at his hand and back to his face and take a step closer to him. His smile grows and I grin back. I walk closer towards him and right when I know he thinks I'm going to take his hand, I walk right past him towards the Italian restaurant next to the cafe. I hear him laugh behind me.

"Are you coming?" I call back over my shoulder chuckling. He quickly catches up and falls into step beside me, staying silent.

As we walk I decide I'm going to have fun with this dinner. That's what I wanted from this night and before isn't going to ruin it. He holds the door open for me and I "accidentally" glide my hand across his abdomen as I walk through. "Thank you," I smirk at him. He tenses underneath my touch and grins at me. His eyes darken for just a second before he nods.

The host leads us to our table and I feel Nathan's eyes on me from behind as we walk over. He presses his hand to the small of my back right before we get to the table and my stomach gets butterflies reminding me of his touch on my skin last weekend in the same spot. I feel my face blush and I can sense him smirking at me, clearly proud that two can play at this game.

I sit down and clear my throat, turning my attention towards the menu without glancing up at him across from me. I take my time dramatically looking it over, even though I knew what I was ordering before I walked in the front door. I come here all the time with my family and sometimes alone when I want to get away from them.

"Emily, welcome back!" I hear Jake's voice greet me, forcing me to end my ruse and look up. Jake is my usual waiter here. We went to high school together, he was in my brother's grade, but we never really associated outside of the restaurant since we were in different social groups. His father owns the restaurant and he is going to take over soon.