I looked in the full length mirror to review the final product.
My short dark warm red hair was parted to the side and allowed my natural curls to fall freely to my shoulder. My ears were decorated with gold dangly diamond earrings. My make up was light with just a touch of neutral eyeshadow and soft pink lipstick.
The dress was a solid warm cream color with only one shoulder strap that came down at an angle. It was a slightly thicker fabric that hugged my curves displaying my almost hourglass figure that I would generally hide. The skirt of the dress was angled to match the angled neckline giving it a simple design that suited me.
On my wrist was a gold diamond bracelet and I held a plain silk cream colored clutch that matched the dress. The look was complete with a pair of low 2 inch nude heels.
"Girl, you should dress up more often," said Ariel with an approving look.
"You look amazing!" Ester praised.
"Thanks," I smiled weakly. All day I had been fine but when I looked at myself in the mirror it suddenly became real that I was about to go on a date. My stomach clenched into a knot.
"You'll be fine," Ariel commented seeing my face. "Even if that date goes bad, and it wont, you got an amazing outfit out of it so you lose nothing."
"Just start off talking about books again and you'll be fine," said Ester.
_______
6 pm. My Apartment.
Knock knock
Someone knocked on my front door. I took a slow breath and stood up from the kitchen table we were sitting around to answer the door, but Ariel beat me to it. As the door opened the man standing behind it was revealed.
He looked amazing.
His hair was styled the same as the day before. He wore a cream colored suit with a black shirt and a cream tie with a gold tie clip. His leather watch had been exchanged for a gold one and he wore light tan leather dress shoes.
I raised an eyebrow at his look as I looked back up to meet his eyes that were slightly widened.
"Oh my gosh!" Ester exclaimed excitedly. "Y'all match perfectly!"
Ester's voice drew Kishan's eye. "This is my friend Ester," I explained, "Ester this is Kishan."
"Nice to meet you," Kishan said casually shaking her hand.
"Likewise. How did you know?" Ester asked the question I wanted to ask as well. Though I already had an inkling.
"You're welcome," Ariel said with a cocky smile. "I told mom to text him after we bought the dress so he could coordinate."
"Thanks for that," Kishan said to Ariel before turning back to me, a soft smile on his face. "Should we go then?"
"Wait!" Ester interrupted as she walked back over to the table to grab her phone. "I have to take a picture to show your mom."
After the picture was taken we finally left. Kishan would not tell me where we were going except that it was somewhere on the south shore in New Orleans. Once again the conversation became about books as we rode across the Causeway over the lake.
________
7 pm. The Restaurant.
We parked in the parking garage of a 5 star hotel and took the elevator directly up to the restaurant.
Ding
The elevator doors slid open to reveal the lavish French inspired décor and live soft jazz music could be heard playing in the background. My eyes popped at the beautiful sight of the extravagant chandelier that hung in the lobby alone.
If it was not for the fact that Kishan had my arm wrapped around his, I probably would have forgotten to take a step forward before the elevator doors closed again. As we walked towards the host stand I appreciated how easy it was to walk arm in arm with this man.
His height was perfect, not so short that I could not wear heels but not so tall as to make me feel like a dwarf. He was also walking at a pace that allowed me to be distracted while looking at the authentic oil paintings that hung on the walls.
Kishan gave his name that was on the reservation and the host promptly led us to our table. What was nice was there was actually enough space between each table for us to be able to continue to walk arm in arm.
As we went we turned a few heads thanks to our matching outfits. That caused me to blush a little. I really do not like attention. My hand unconsciously tightened on Kishan's arm causing him to glance over.
At least I assumed that was what happened because my eyes where directed at the floor. Kishan casually took his other hand and placed it over mine, giving it a gentle squeeze. I looked up and met his eyes that had a certain sparkle in them I did not know how to identify. But he was smiling warmly.
When we reached our table that was against the wall the host pulled out a chair and Kishan led me to it. Once we were seated the host left and Kishan cleared his throat gently.
"I forgot to say this earlier because your friends where there, but you look beautiful tonight."
Shhoook. The unexpected blow caught my heart off guard and my cheeks instantly felt hot. I hate how I blush so easily sometimes.
"Thank you. You too," I said awkwardly grabbing the glass of water in front of me and sipped it nervously. Kishan on the other hand was all calm and gentle smiles as he opened up the menu.
'Calm down!' I silently chided myself. 'You'll make a fool of yourself if you don't.' I took a deep breath and opened my own menu.
"So I talked to your parents earlier today. They seem nice," Kishan commented casually as if it was the most natural thing in the world. I looked up at him eyes wide.
"Why?" I could not help but ask.
He looked up with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Because I am going out with you tonight. Actually, I should have introduced myself before I asked you out but I got ahead of myself last night. Thankfully your parents accepted my apology."
"Um, you know I'm 26 right?"
"And?" he asked confused.
'And???' I thought to myself. 'I'm an adult. Why would you need to talk to my parents before asking me on a date? We aren't in high school.' I was so confused.
It was also at that moment I realized I had not told mom that I had a date so it was a good thing he had called. Thankfully at that moment our waiter appeared ending the conversation.
As the waiter was recommending some things to us I was distracted by a sudden shout.
"B****! Get back here!" I turned to the next table over to see a young woman walking away from it and a young man angrily looking after her.
"We're done!" she shouted back without turning around. The young man was about to say something else but our waiter quickly walked over to intervene.