“Yes, I do. I can barely hear myself think in here.”
“I know, but?—”
He didn’t have to say what he was really thinking. I knew it for both of us. If I said it loud enough, others would hear me. They would know that we weren’t a couple of hockey bros out eating wings together. We were way too overdressed for the occasion. They would see that we were really on a date. The first of many, like I said.
That threatened Kayden. He couldn’t deny that. I’d already decided not to care what anyone thought. Life’s too short for that, right?
“Anyway,” I said, “I’m expecting that this won’t be just a one-off. If we’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing, then we’ve got to keep going out like this. In public. Anyone can see us.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got you.”
“But we can try something smaller, more intimate. Do you know a place we can go that’s a little quieter?”
“There’s always The Italian Village. It’s on Grant Street.”
“I’ve seen that place. It really is kind of small.”
“Yeah, but the food is incredible. I’ve been going there since I was a kid.”
“So, do you think we can have a nicer second date by going there?”
He tensed up again. It was because I’d used the word “date” in front of a room full of strangers with the music cranked up so loud they would almost certainly never hear me anyway. Talk about paranoia.
He just nodded.
“You don’t have to get all worked up just because I used the word ‘date’ in front of you,” I said.
“I didn’t get all worked up. I just asked you to keep it down, that’s all.”
“But why would I need to keep it down?” I found my voice growing louder, just to piss him off. “It’s not like I offered to blow you right here and now.”
Kayden’s eyes shot open like he worried someone really would hear that one. Then he turned and saw our server towering over him with two large plates full of wings in his hands—and a huge smirk on his face.
“Hey, you got a problem?” Kayden asked the server. “Something funny?”
“No.”
“Well, maybe you’d like my friend to blow you right here and now instead.”
The server’s eyes widened. He set the plates down in front of us and hurried back to the kitchen
I’m telling you, Kayden looked ready to have a panic attack on the spot. I covered my mouth but couldn’t stop the laughter. Oh yeah, I could’ve outed myself really easily thanks to that one, but it was worth it to see Kayden about to breathe into a paper bag.
Now Kayden looked like he wanted to kill me. His hands balled into fists, like he would’ve loved to knock me out. The even better part was that we weren’t on the ice, so he couldn’t do it. Would he slug me in a restaurant full of people?
“Sorry,” I said, “I didn’t realize he was coming up behind you.”
“Just shut up and eat your wings, would you?”
I had to admit those wings looked insanely delicious. Steam rose from them the moment I removed the pretzel bowl. When I bit into my first one, I understood why Kayden had insisted on ordering them. But let’s not forget that my real beef was him ordering for both of us, a total no-go. Think of it as a power play. Anything he could do to stay in the driver’s seat for anything and everything between the two of us.
That wasn’t the only thing Kayden did to irritate me during this date. You know what his most infuriating act was?
The way he ate his chicken wings.
Oh sure, he could’ve taken a bite off the sides of each one, eating the meat in three or four bites like a normal human being. Buthe couldn’t do that. Not Mister Kayden ‘Hotshot’ Preston. He had to stick an entire wing into his mouth, making it practically disappear, before pulling it out. The bone would be almost free of meat before he tossed it into the bowl.
If you ask me, that constituted nothing more than showing off. Wait, that’s being charitable. Really, it meant he ate like a pig when consuming anything other than a romantic homemade meal.
