27 Dinner (2)

Sebastian needed to sober up a little after the amount of food and beer they’d consumed. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to drive them both home. She drank a little too much because she was too nervous and needed to do something with her hands. So she kept on drinking whatever she had, which seemed to be unlimited amounts of beer.

He invited her to take a seat on one of the park benches, so he could clear his head and spend more time getting to know her.

They bantered about her eating habits and food choices for a while before she invited him to walk around the park instead. He was surprised, for sure, he thought he was going to get the boot for keeping her too long. That she was going to tell him this date had run its course and instruct him to take her back to her hotel. But he was glad she didn’t because they got to spend more time together.

He acted like a high school boy going on his first date, trying to find ways to bump into her, put his arm around her, or hold her hand while she was trying to avoid him. But it made her smile that he was pulling off such antics. ‘What, are you in high school? Those boys are much smoother than you,’ she thought, but it made her giddy.

It was such a beautiful evening, with just the right temperature to walk around. Next to the outdoor open market was a park with a man-made lake in the middle that featured a waterfall on one end and a boat dock on the other.

There were a lot of people walking about, families and groups of friends come here to sit on the grass, play sports, and have picnics, while couples huddle in the corners or on the benches making out, and kids run around chasing each other.

She wasn’t in the mood to talk about herself tonight. Her feelings felt so raw right now, especially after meeting her dad for the first time. She wanted to be by herself, but it seems there was no shaking him off, so she asked him things about himself, ‘How were you like growing up?’

He said, ‘As a kid, I was naughty. I would always try to get into trouble, running away from the nanny. I enjoyed being with my mom because my dad was always at work, so I saw him only on the weekends.

My mom would read me stories, teach me to sing songs, and my dad brought me out to go fishing or drink tea somewhere….’ he was rambling on when he remembered she did not have a happy childhood.

She noticed when he stopped. ‘Go on, I enjoy imagining how kids were like when I was growing up. You shouldn’t feel awkward. I asked the question.’

‘I know you know about the orphanage, and it was nice there. So many friends, so many kids, but we had chores all the time. We lived in a small town where you do everything yourself. I think it taught us to be industrious and work harder than everyone else our age. We would get water, feed the animals, water the crops and vegetables, clean the house, get eggs from the hens every day.’

‘Max and Jeremy were the best at getting all of us in trouble. We never intended to get in trouble. It just always happened.’

‘We would always get punished. The caretakers made us kneel in beans or rice. When that did not work because the three of us just kept on laughing, the adults would have us do more chores than a kid could do to make us learn our lesson, but we never seemed to because one of us would get in trouble sooner or later,’ she laughed, reminiscing about all the stupid things they did when they were kids. Climbing up trees, going in and out of the forest at all hours of the day, and disappearing.

‘It was fun growing up with those two. They were my family,’ she said, smiling. She ended up sharing more than she intended, which was why she did not want to talk about herself.

‘I’m jealous,’ he said as he came closer.

She looks at him sideways with a suspicious stare, waiting for an answer. ‘Those two get to see you every day,’ was his reply.

She smiles, ‘You’re weird, you say that ‘coz you don’t know who I am and you don’t know my moods. If you did, you’d steer clear of me all the time and want to run away. That’s what they do.’ she pushes Sebastian’s shoulder away from her.

He catches her hand and pulls it toward him, wrapping one of his arms around to pin her in place. When she tries to squirm away, he just smiles and holds her chin between his thumb and forefinger. ‘I’d be doing this every day,’ and take the liberty of kissing her. And she just stands there dumbfounded.

‘You won’t have time to show me your claws.’ He kisses Clara a little slower but a little more insistently, sucking on her lips until she responds.

‘And you’d be too busy kissing me back,’ he said, planting a few more lingering kisses on her swollen lips.

Clara resisted kissing him at first, or so she tells herself, but flirting with Sebastian had been fun. Plus, after all that flirting, she was curious about how his lips would taste. It was all so new to her, and she wanted to analyze what she felt. Weren’t they moving too fast? She doesn’t even know him, but as she stood there wrapped in his arms with her head on his chest, to avoid him from kissing her again, she felt at peace. As if that was where she belonged.

They stayed locked in a hug for a bit of time, and when he slackens his hold, she pushes him, so he falls on the grass. She laughs out loud and follows him down, laying right beside him. They lay there for a while, looking at the sky.

She was in deep thought, ‘Maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all, but I like what we have right now. We’re friends?!? Well, he’s nice to kiss too, so I could get used to this, kissing friends?’

He happily reaches for her hand and kisses it. ‘I like this. Spending time with you. I hope I can always make you happy.’

She keeps her hand in his, and she nods off.

It came back again, her nightmare. But this time around, Sebastian was getting taken. She whimpers and calls out his name.

Sebastian didn’t even realize Clara had dozed off until she made that strangled sound like she did last time. At first, he thought she closed her eyes to rest them. He tried soothing her with his voice, but she stopped, only when he pulled her closer. Making it seem like Clara calmed down only when he had his arms around her. ‘I can get on board with that,’ he thought. ‘And I’ll gladly volunteer.’ Things are finally going his way.

She woke up because of the recognizable motion of being moved and carried around. Was she being kidnapped? Were they transporting her somewhere? Fear had her opening her eyes as she squirmed herself free. ‘Hold still, so I don’t drop you,’ he says, adjusting his grasp. Sebastian was carrying her in his arms, but where were they going?

Did she fall asleep in the park? ‘Oh, that is so embarrassing,’ she thought as she tried to figure out what to do.

‘You can put me down,’ she says, squiggling in his arms. He says, ‘Nah, we’re almost to the car, and I enjoy carrying you like this,’ smiling and nuzzling her hair.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Nothing, I said, just a little bit more to the car. Don’t worry, you’re not heavy,’ So she relaxes and leans into him unconsciously, letting fatigue take over her. This day has just been one emotional roller coaster after another. If he wanted to carry her, then she’d give him that luxury since the day had turned for the better because of his insistence on spending it with her.