Stepping out of the car, I smiled at Tony as he opened the door to the restaurant for me.

The scent of Italian seasonings was potent in the atmosphere, and it made me smile at the smell I knew so well. Most of the time guys took me on dates they brought me here, and the place was so familiar that I knew all of the employees by name. At this point, dating was predictable, but I wouldn't be the one to complain. I could never get tired of the food in Italia in Miniatura. Their tiramisu was mouth watering.

As we walked into the lobby, Martina, the blonde hostess grinned at me, her smile faltering when she caught sight of the man standing next to me. Her eyebrows raised in a familiar way as if to say 'again?'

I could only grin sheepishly as she grabbed two menus and gave me a look as she led us to our places. When we reached our table, Tony pulled out the chair for me and pushed it back in when I was seated. So far he had been nothing but a gentleman, and I kind of liked that, but I knew it was all a facade to get into my knickers, and that got old real quick. Martha placed the menus in front of us and gave me another look as she turned around to walk away after wishing us an enjoyable meal.

"you look stunning," Tony voiced out once he was comfortably seated across from me. He opened his suit coat and pulled at his collar, momentarily blinding me when his Rolex caught in the light and flashed in my eyes.

"You don't look so bad yourself," I replied, throwing a playful wink at him and trying my hardest not to cringe afterwards. I don't know what possessed me to do that.

He smiled at me and looked down at the menu.

Good talk.

I looked down at my own menu and started deciding on what to order, not that I really needed to look at the menu since, like I said, men are unoriginal. I finally settled on fettuccine, deciding to play it safe.

'Yes Amaria, do play safe with your food options in the Italian restaurant I'd been to dozens of times before, because the meatballs are such a wild option.'

A waiter came over and took our orders before asking us what our wine of choice would be, to which I responded with rich white, as it would be the best pairing for our orders.

"So Tony... Tell me about yourself," I said after I had finished ordering. I looked at him and smiled. He was really attractive! Muscular, but not super bulky. I bet he has... Wait no.

'Why not? I bet that's the only thing about him that'll entertain you tonight.'

"Well, I'm a lawyer, as you may know, and I work at Johnson & Baker. I'm 26 and I hate seafood," He twisted his face into a weird contortion at the mention of seafood. I started to laugh at his childishness. Mind you, it was a completely fabricated laugh.

Basic, basic, basic. Even the law firm he worked for sounded basic.

"what about you?" He asked me while grinning. I smiled back.

"Oh, I'm head of marketing for Greene Marks, I'm twenty-seven, and I also don't like seafood. I don't really know why, I just hate fish." I pursed my lips at the mention of fish. The smell of it always managed to gross me out to unbelievable levels.

He laughed and looked at me for a few seconds after agreeing with me. At first I pretended that I didn't notice the intense stare, but then I stopped looking around and stared back at him. He was looking at every feature on my face.

'Don't make a voodoo doll. Don't make a voodoo doll. Don't make a voodoo doll, please please please do not make a voodoo doll of me later!'

"What is it? Do I have something on my face?" I started patting my hands to my face. He shook his head and continued to look at me. I furrowed my eyebrows slightly.

'He's totally going to make a voodoo doll.'

"Then why are you looking at me like that?" I asked once again. He smiled at me.

"Do I need to have a reason for staring at a beautiful woman?" He asked flirtatiously. I had to stop myself from laughing and forced a blush instead, opting for the innocent shy girl who hides her face with her hair.

I bet I look like that bitch from Rings. What was her hair? Samara?

"Well it depends. Are you admiring my charming character or are you admiring my charms?" I asked him putting double sense in the word 'charm'. He smirked and lifted an eyebrow.

"you could say.. Both." He said the last part kind of quietly. I gave him a look that basically said 'I like hearing that'.

Not long afterwards, our food arrived, delivered by my good friend Timothy and we smiled at each other as he set our plates down and proceeded to pour our wine.

"You look even more gorgeous than usual, queen." He muttered with a wink. I 'giggled' and subtly batted my eyelashes at him, pouting my lips a little bit.

When I turned back to my date, he was staring at me with raised eyebrows. "Come here often?"

I smiled at him and swirled my wine around in my glass. "Not at all."

~~~~~~~~

Dinner was an absolute drag.

We talked about nothing, just randomly commenting about the weather or sports or whatever we saw on the news and 'enjoyed' each others presence while trying to ignore the sound of chewing.

'Who the hell even talks about the weather, though? It was as clear as it should be on a spring night.'

Disappointed, I grabbed my keys from my purse and started to unlock the door to my apartment, trying my hardest to ignore my looming unhappiness and at least trying to focus my attention on getting laid. I turned to look at Tony to catch him already staring at me again.

'What was it with this guy and staring at me?'

He looked at me for another second looking like he was trying to decide on something, then he bit his bottom lip and I absent mindedly ran my tounge over mine in response, knowing full well I That was wordlessly inviting him in.

He unexpectedly grabbed my wrists and pulled me towards him, catching me off guard and almost making me trip over my own two little feet. I looked up at him, and just stared, trying to imitate his intense look.

'You sure know how to pick 'em Maria. Maybe if you stare hard enough, you'll look like even more of a buffoon!'

His lips then landed on mine and only one thought ran through my head the entire time.

'Stop trying to puncture my lungs with your tongue!'

I tried to kiss back but I couldn't keep up with him. Something wasn't right in this situation, and it wasn't the fact that that he kissed like an electric eel.

'How did this guy EVER get past hand holding?'

I pulled away in a teasing manner and smirked up at him, internally thanking all of Heaven that he allowed me to pull away. He smirked back down at me, probably thinking he was the business and I pulled away from him opening the door completely. I had the feeling that if I invited him in, something very uncomfortable would happen.

'Yeah like he'd try to vacuum you with that black hole he calls a mouth.'

Thank the lord at that moment my phone began to ring and I looked up at Tony, smiling apologetically. "I'm so sorry, I have to take this. It's my aunt."

"Sure thing, it's no problem at all. See you around Amaria. I had fun tonight."

And before he could even turn around, I slammed the door in his face. The way he said my name made me get chills down my spine. Not the kind Jason gives me when he accidentally touches m— nope.

'Because you're desperate and haven't gotten a good lay since your college days.'

I ignored my inner alter ego's voice that was completely correct and answered the phone.

"Sabrina you do not know how much I hate you right now!" Was the first that came out of my mouth

"Well I love you too. Anyway how did it go with Tony?" She asked

"Like senior prom. Good but then something was off and it turned into a hidden disaster. But it would've gone better if you hadn't interrupted."

"Oh, were you about to— oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! Can you call him back?"

"No, I pretty much slammed the door in his face. He's gone by now, or at least he should be," I said solemnly. She giggled on the other side of the line, completely oblivious to my predicament.

"so you do like him."

"Are you kidding me... Brina we just met! He kissed me. I never asked for it. I only kissed back so he wouldn't think I was cold hearted. That would've just been awkward."

'I'm not going to make a comment on his kissing skills again.'

"So will there be a second date? No? Okay, I'll find someone else for you," As soon as she said that I almost choked.

"No. No no no no NO!! You've already hooked me up with a criminal for all I know. I'll find a guy by myself." I stated firmly.

"Awww... Are you sure? I could find you a real looker." I considered that for a minute, but then I remembered that looks weren't everything.

"No thanks, I'm good," she groaned at my response, muttering something about my being a 'spoil sport'. I yawned and put my phone on a stand and put it on speaker so that I could shimmy out of my dress.

"Okay then. Your loss. Oh and by the way Amaria, when is that staff vacation thing again?"

"In a week. by the way, Jason called me this afternoon." I kicked my heels clear across the room as I said that.

"That ass actually called you? Did he say anything perverted?" She asked making me laugh hard. I took off my dress and makeup and then put on my pajamas.

"Brina, It's Jason. It wouldn't be Jason if he didn't say perverted."

"True that. What did he say?" at that I scoffed.

"You don't want to know. I still can't believe he thinks of me as this little infatuated girl for him to call up whenever he's in a mood! That's Delilah's job, not mine. God, he just makes me so furious!" Sabrina snickered at that.

"Why? Because your ex boyfriend-slash-boss thinks you're the best woman ever walk this Earth?"

'I would be offended if he didn't think I was.'

"No. Not because of that. Because he thinks he can manipulate me whenever he wants. Like come on! I'm single, not stupid."

"Of course you're not stupid Ria. It is infuriating though, how he thinks he can just bang you."

'THAT'S BECAUSE HE CAN, YOU DUMBDUMB!'

"Yes Brina. Yes it is. Ooh. I gotta go now. Tomorrow's a work day,"

"Okie dokie. Talk to you later babes." She said casually. Suddenly she giggled and I couldn't help but imagine her with her boyfriend, cringing heavily on my side of the phone.

"Yeah ok. Bye." And then I hung up. I plopped back on my bed sighing. I may be succesful but at what cost? At the cost of my womanhood.

"The things I do to bring a little happines and romance in my life. How pathetic." I mumbled to myself.

I stood up and sat down on the couch in the living room, with all the lights in my apartment turned off. I just sat there in the dark, deep in thought. All the flashbacks of my previous years came flooding into my head.

Suddenly wishing I was a kid again, I smiled at nothing in particular in the darkness. I looked around me at the shadows and suddenly got the strange desire to become one of them. I sighed and shook all the crazy ideas out of my head.

I brushed my teeth and put everything away, then climbed into bed and turned on my side. It didn't take long until I'd slumbered off into a peaceful sleep full of Chris Hemsworth and I trapped in an island by ourselves. With zombies. Even better!