Chapter 4
Previously in A Strange Encounter - Chapter 3
7:30, tomorrow night, look nice. Those words were running through your head and suddenly you couldn’t sleep. You spent almost an hour trying to think of something nice to wear in your head. Would you wear a nice top and slack? You thought about the look, realizing it was too Hilary of you. Next was to browse your dresses. You went through every dress you had in your head trying to figure out the perfect combo to go with. It wasn’t long until you got tired of your overthinking and drifted off to sleep.
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You woke up earlier than usual, 30 minutes before your alarm was set to go off. You couldn’t tell if it was because you were so excited to see Stephen tonight or because you were so uncomfortable the way you were sprawled out on the couch. You looked over to Bianca's bed where she was sleeping soundly, a little peeved that she didn’t wake you up when she got home so you could go to your own bed. You brushed it off as you walked over to the bathroom to get ready for what was about to be the longest work day of your life.
You couldn’t concentrate, the whole day was spent thinking about Stephen and the elusive plans, date? You weren’t sure what to call it yet but that didn’t stop you from the excitement. You practically ran home after your rehearsal and jumped straight into the shower, you had an hour and a half to get ready and no time to waste. You checked your phone frequently to see if Stephen would shoot you a text before hand but so far there was nothing. You were starting to get nervous as it got later and he hadn’t texted you, did he remember? Is he going to cancel? You brushed away the thoughts as you picked out an outfit.
Even after almost 30 minutes of thinking about what to wear the night before, it still took you what felt like five years to get ready. You knew you were probably overthinking it, but was it really so bad to want to look your best? You ended up deciding on a navy blue halter bodycon dress that you had bought off some cheap website but looked surprisingly good. You slipped on some black peep toe heels and walked over to the mirror to see how you looked.
You tried a million different hair styles before settling on leaving your hair down, it wasn’t your ideal look but it would have to do. Suddenly you heard your phone buzz, practically sprinting to the other side of the room to see if Stephen had finally texted you.
“I hope you didn’t forget about our little randevu, be there in 30 minutes.”
You squealed as you read the text, hoping that these next 30 minutes would fly by fast, but they didn’t.
You spent your time doing simple tasks, cleaning up around the apartment. You figured it would be a nice distraction and it was also something you had been putting off for a while. As you were cleaning you started imagining what it would be like to have Stephen over. This is when the cleaning turned from leasurly to panicked, realising your apartment was in no shape to have company and the thought of even considering bringing him over after whatever this was tonight was enough to get you into a frenzy.
You were so distracted by the cleaning that you didn’t notice that your phone had buzzed. It wasn’t until five minutes after the missed notification that you heard a knock on the door. You looked up from your current state of being slung over a pile of clothes on Bianca’s side of the room. You yelled out “Just a minute!” as you quickly shoved the clothes under her bed.
You ran over to the door, slightly out of breath, you composed yourself before undoing the lock and opening the door. As you opened the door, what you saw before you was a sight that would make any woman weak. Stephen stood before you, dressed in a slimming black suit and tie with lavender roses in his hand. You stood there speechless until he finally broke the silence.
“Wow, you look stunning.” he said with the biggest smile.
“You don’t look so bad yourself.” you replied, of course lying because he looked damn near perfect.
“Yes well, um… I brought you these, I do hope you’re not allergic.” he said with a nervous laugh as he held the roses out to you. You took them with a smile as you walked into the kitchen to grab a vase from under the sink.
“Well this is quite the little apartment you have here,” Stephen called out from the doorway, “are you going to invite me in?” You looked at him with a smile, cheeks red from embarrassment.
“Yes… yes of course my bad.” you said as you walked over to Stephen, putting the flowers onto the table as you passed it by.
You motioned for him to come in as you closed the door. “Well, this is my apartment, not much to see.” you giggled as he looked around. “How did you know my apartment number anyway? Did Bianca tell you?”
“No,” he responded quickly, “actually I was sitting in my car waiting for you when I looked up and saw you through the window, frantically running like a chicken with its head cut off. I figured you looked so flustered and busy that you hadn’t read my text, so I decided to knock, your neighbor buzzed me in.”
You were both surprised and embarrassed at this turn of events, but you decided not to show it and instead poke fun at Stephen.
“Well well we are quite the detective aren’t we?” you asked him sarcastically.
“Please, I am no Sherlock Holmes, I just noticed the obvious. Now, we should get going, we don’t want to be late.” He said this with a wink as he turned to walk out the door.
“And where exactly are we going that we don’t want to be late for?” you were very curious as to where the night would take you.
“Now now, let’s not ruin surprises.” he said as you rolled your eyes, following him out the door and down to his car.
“You know, I’m not going to get in this thing unless you drive the speed limit, are we clear on that?” you were very stern with your tone, as much as you wanted to go on this date, you did not want to die in the process.
“Don’t worry, you have my word.” he said as he opened your door for you before running around to the other side of the car to get in.
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You pulled up to a small restaurant just under the Brooklyn Bridge called the River Cafe. It was beautiful, flowers and trees everywhere, vines growing all around the entrance of the little white building, it looked like something out of a dream. As you walked in with Stephen, you couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the beauty of the restaurant, this was no cheap dining experience and the thought of how much this was about to cost you started to make your stomach churn.
The overwhelming feeling went away as you sat at the table and looked out at the view. You could see the New York City skyline as the sun was setting and lights were coming on, it was breathtaking.
The two of you looked over the menu as you sat together at the table, Stephen seeming completely unfazed by the prices, you on the other hand couldn’t even look at it.
“Um… Stephan.” you whispered leaning in towards him and propping the menu as a makeshift barricade, not wanting to be too loud and have other people in the restaurant hear you.
He looked up from his menu, answering back in a whispered tone to match yours as he leaned in toward you. “Yes (Y/N) what is it?”
“Well um, it’s not a big deal but… uh… these plates are $138… per person…” you felt embarrassed bringing up the price being an issue with you, but you couldn’t help it. You had always tried to save your money wherever you could, and tonight, as nice as this date may be, was no exception.
“Oh please (Y/N),” he said in a caring tone as he leaned up off the table and placed a hand on yours, “don’t worry about the price, tonight's on me.”
You looked at him with a concerned face, “Are you sure? That’s a lot of money and I don’t want y-”
“Please,” he cut you off before you could even finish your sentence, “I want you to enjoy, not worry about the price, it’s nothing for me really.” he said this with a reassuring smile. You felt your body relax at this and once again opened your menu.
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The night went so smoothly and perfectly you would think it was straight out of a movie. The conversations flowed so effortlessly, the two of you talked about where you grew up, your time in school, talking a lot about his time in med school and all the degrees he had and other random little stories that would come up. At the end of the night you felt like you really knew him, he was no longer the strange man you met at the bar but now a friend, and hopefully more than that if things went well.
As the two of you walked out you thanked him for an amazing dinner and night, but he smiled at you and chuckled. “Oh the night isn’t over yet.”
“It’s not?” you were now really confused, what more could there be to do? It was already 10:30 and you were starting to feel a little tired.
“Just get in the car, you’ll see.”
And with that the two of you were off again.
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You laughed as you pulled up to the parking lot. “Really? The bar from last week?”
“What? I thought it would be a romantic gesture, a nice ending to our date.” He said playfully trying to defend himself.
“Ah so it is a date that we’re on.” you said teasingly as the two of you walked up to the door.
“Of course it’s a date, I don’t spend $200 on all of my friends meals.” he teased you as he stopped you just before the door. “I don’t usually kiss them either.”
“Excuse me if I’m mistaken but I don’t thi-” your snarky comment was stopped by the sudden crash of Stephens lips against yours. Yours eyes widened at the sudden action but slowly closed as you relaxed and sank into it. The kiss started off so gentle and then turned to passionate as he slowly put one hand on your back and one supporting your neck, pulling you in closer toward him.
As you broke apart you were speechless. “Well,” you finally said, “shall we go get a drink?” and with that Stephen opened the door for you.
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Your time at the bar was almost better than your time at the restaurant. You weren’t sure if it was the fact that you were having a drink or because of the kiss, but something was enhancing the experience.
You and Stephen spent two hours just telling stories and laughing together and it felt amazing. Just in this night you really got to know who he was and you were liking it. After finishing your drink you looked over at Stephen with a curious look.
“Hey…” you stumbled over your words, “you’ve only had one drink this whole night.” he laughed at you in your drunken state.
“Yeah, that would be because I am in charge of getting you home safely.” he said with the cutest grin you had ever seen. “And I think that time to go home is about right now… Excuse me?” he motioned over the bartender to get the check.
“Wait no no no,” you protested, “let me at least pay for my own drinks.” you said as you fumbled with your purse trying to get the clasp open.
Stephen placed his hand over yours signaling you to stop as you looked up at him. “Please, I’ve got it this time.” and with that he put down his card and a short while after the two of you were off.
Stephen helped you walk to the car as you fumbled in your heels. He helped you into the car, buckled you in, and placed a kiss on your forehead, you couldn’t help but smile like a fool at the gesture. “Alright, let’s get you home.” he said as he got into the driver's seat and started the car.
“Wait no you can’t take me home, Bianca is gonna KILL me if I come home drunk. She hates when I go out drinking without her.”
“I think she’ll understand this once.” Stephen said to you with a very loving tone.
“No she’s gonna be so mad, can I just crash at your place?” you said with the biggest pout. Stephens face looked shocked.
“Yeah okay you can spend the night.” He said as he pulled out of the parking lot and started his drive home. You smiled at him and slowly closed your eyes as you started to fall asleep.