"Oh sweetie, you look absolutely gorgeous," Macy complimented that evening when Fallon came down, ready for her date. Taylor had been delayed a bit in LA and was to arrive in a few minutes. They had been texting the entire day until Gina, who was doing Fallon's hair and makeup had threatened to dunk her phone in the water.
"You look really nice Alloy," Berin said and then noticing her hair she gasped, "Wow, you trimmed your hair."
"Do you like it?"Fallon asked.
"You trimmed your hair," Berin repeated. "You haven't touched your hair since mom..."
Fallon swallowed the big lump in her throat, "Well, I am going to be a mom really soon and I figured she would want me to move on."
"It looks really nice Al," Berin said softly.
Taylor soon arrived, dressed in a crisp blue suit and white shirt. He opened the door and stared at Fallon for a few seconds, momentarily speechless.
"Hey?" Fallon said shyly as she approached him.
His eyes darkened and his hand adjusted his pants subtly, but enough for Fallon to notice, she grinned, pleased.
He gently reached for her and brought her to him, crashing his body against hers and connecting their lips, his hands roamed her bare back and he began to undo the straps of her dress at her neck.
"Ahem!"
They both came back to their senses putting an end to their kiss. He retained her firmly in his hands, against his body.
"It took me two hours to get that together idiot," Gina said glaring at her brother.
He looked down at her, tucking a hair behind her ear, "You look beautiful."
"Thank you."
He bent down and kissed her again.
"Aaargh! Guys, your date remember? Taylor, you will have plenty of time to do that tonight," Gina said.
Taylor broke free, took her arm and led her to the car outside, once they were inside the car and he was driving outside the Villa's gates, he looked at her legs and swallowed.
"God, did you really want to go on this date or you just wanted me to make love to you all night?"
"Both."
"Well, I want to start doing the later right here, right now. Emerald green? Are you kidding me?"
"Well, I figured that since I am going to get as fat as a whale in the coming months, it will be fair of you got to see me in your favorite color when I am still beautiful."
"You will always be beautiful."
"That's not true."
"I have seen you covered in puke, remember? And you were still the most beautiful woman I had ever seen."
Fallon placed a hand delicately on his knee, "So, where are you taking me?"
He suddenly looked nervous, "This is going to sound weird but I thought on our first date, I should take you somewhere that means something to me. I hope you will like it."
"I hope so too."
Fallon really really hoped so but she now felt quite nervous. Taylor was weird. Weird good but weird still. Fallon felt uncertain, he was so unpredictable, you could think you were getting a nice dinner in a restaurant and end up in an animal rescue shelter helping dogs give birth. Not that that would be bad but...
She felt his gaze on her and turned to give him a reassuring smile, "You okay?" He asked.
"Never better."
"That's a lie."
"Huh?"
"That's a lie. Your voice just went an octave higher."
Great, he was beginning to read the octaves in her voice, they were definitely becoming that couple, the one who asked for only one spoon for their dessert.
"Relax, I am just taking you to a nice meal in a restaurant. Here we are."
Fallon looked around and realized they were parked outside a small restaurant that she may have drove or walked by several times without giving it much thought. It was painted bright and looked a bit serene in the cool evening air.
He walked around the car and opened the door for her. He looked down at her feet when she stepped out of the car and smiled at her six inch silver heels, Fallon knew he was going to scold Gina later for letting her wear them. In the shoes, he was only an inch taller than her.
With his hand on the small of her back, he led her inside the restaurant, Fallon was grateful that he was a B lister celeb, no one seemed to be paying any attention to them. They entered the restaurant and Fallon let out a small gasp. The inside was warm and welcoming, a merry tune that made her feel as of she was in a 19th century English ball was playing. There was a stage where an instrumental band was playing and a few dancers step-dancing while some people clapped. It felt so cheerful.
A waitress welcomed them with a shy smile towards Taylor and led them to a normal looking table, which surprised Fallon a little bit. Even though Taylor was humble, sometimes, the way he treated her made her feel like he was one to book a private table or empty out a whole restaurant just so he could go on a date.
When they sat down, he nodded to the music, tapping his foot a little and grinned at her, "Do you like it?"
Fallon found herself mirroring the grin. For the first time since she had started staying at the villa, she felt like a normal girl, enjoying a date with her boyfriend, not a pregnant girl pampered by a rich doctor.
"I love it."
He picked up the menu and went through it, "What are you going to have?"
"Whatever my OB recommends."
He smiled and signalled to the waiter, "We shall be having the chicken wings and gravy sauce, plain water and fresh apple juice for the drinks."
Fallon blinked. Did he just order chicken wings? She had expected him to order the dishes that were always printed in foreign languages and five courses, the simplicity was another nice surprise.
"You said this place meant something to you?"
"Yes. Very much so."
"What?"
"It was the place where I first fell in love with dance."
"I thought you started dancing when you were two or something?"
"Four."
"So you came here when you were four?"
"Twelve."
Fallon felt confused, "Twelve?"
"Before that, dance was a duty, something that I did to please my parents because my older brother..."he stopped himself, "Never mind."
Fallon reached for his hand on the table and covered it with hers, "Hey, you can tell me."
He looked like someone had just ripped him apart and Fallon felt his pain from across the table. She was no stranger to grief after all and she immediately understood that something had happened to his older brother, something bad. Since she had not seen him mentioned anywhere when she had googled Taylor, she assumed he had passed on. He looked at her hand on his, and took in a deep breath.
"His name was Aidan. He wanted to be a surgeon and he would have been. He was only a year older than me. It was always the two of us, he taught me the first steps of ballet and everything else a child learns. We were homeschooled so he was often my teacher in everything. When I was twelve, we came to Miami for a fancy doctors convention with my parents, Gina was only five then. We were supposed to eat dinner at the hotel and go to sleep but he sneaked me out and brought me here. For the first time in my life, I felt the music, I wanted to move, to dance. We asked if we could join the dancers on stage, we were allowed and I remember him jumping so high up, kicking higher than everyone else. I remember the challenge in his voice as he pulled me to the stage and asked if I was good enough to learn Irish step-dancing in a minute."
He paused for the waiter to serve their drinks, Fallon ran circles around his hand using her thumb.
"A few days later, he killed himself," he finished and took and drained his glass of water in one go.
Fallon did not know what to say except, "I am so sorry."
Taylor refilled his glass of water and took another long sip, "He left me a note, 'Dear Taylor, I am gone where you cannot follow this time round. You and you alone know why I must go, and I trust you will keep my secret. Bye.'"
"That's awful. I am so sorry Taylor. Why did he do it?"
"Remember when I told you I had a transgender friend who passed away in childhood? That was him. He kept on telling me he was meant to be a girl. He kept on saying it. He said he could not stand going through puberty and seeing himself change. He told no one but me. He thought mom and dad wouldn't understand. He knew they will have him in machines, checking and probing him if he said anything. I should have said something, they could have gotten him help but I..."
"Oh Taylor! You were just a kid then and you are doing so much for his cause now."
He sighed and forced a smile, "Look at me, wallowing in self pity when I am supposed to be making you feel special. Mom was right, I suck at dating."
Fallon laughed, "Well you kind of suck but it is only because you ordered chicken wings, in a Scottish restaurant."
Fallon felt the hand of the waiter who was serving their food go stiff, he gave her the the stinky eye and Taylor lifted his glass to his mouth to hide a smile.
"What did I do?" Fallon mouthed to Taylor.
Taylor was silent until the waiter had left before he spoke, "Ireland and Scotland are two different countries."
"Oops."
Fallon had never been more ashamed of cutting Geography classes in high school to smoke joints behind the old library.
"You really thought it was the same country huh?" Taylor asked, curious.
Fallon groaned, "I have heard of both of them, I have just never learned the difference. But they are close, right?"
"No," said the waiter who was back with their sauce.
"Oh. Sorry," Fallon said quickly. She promised to go through her Atlas and learn the difference as soon as she could.
"They are separated by a fucking sea. Enjoy your meal Mr Cahill."The waiter left, giving her a dirty look as he went.
"What's his problem?"
"American ignorance."
"I am not ignorant. I just made an honest mistake. I bet a lot of people don't know the difference. Do you know how many people have no idea that Persians are Caucasian?When I tell people I am half Persian, most always say they thought I should be darker."
He half laughed half shrugged, "But you have got to admit, there is s deficiency of knowledge in the average American person, especially on other countries and cultures. I wouldn't like that to be true about you." His hand reached under the table and rested lightly on her thigh,
"Give me a chance to change that."
Fallon almost choked on he chicken wing as she felt the heat rush through her body, "Chance given."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. What did you have in mind?"
"I want to show you the world as I have seen it. I want to experience it again through your eyes."
"You mean a world tour or something?"
"Yes," he sounded excited, "Have you been to Persia?"
"No."
"Oooh. We are going to have so much fun."
Fallon had to smile at his enthusiasm, "When are you planning to do all this? It better be years from now because I am not travelling with two toddlers in tow."
He tapped his foot and grinned at her, "I agree. Would you...oh never mind I don't think you would."
"Try me."
"Would you consider finishing your school remotely?"
"What?"
"Told you, you wouldn't agree."
"What do you mean finishing school remotely? I am graduating in less than three months."
"Never mind."
"You can't just say something like that and then refuse to discuss it. You have to tell me what you mean and what you want, it's a two way relationship, it isn't always about me."
"Well, you are pregnant now, and by the time you graduate, you will be like 5 months on, then you will have the babies and we will be stuck changing diapers and hooked to caffeine for the next three years or so. By the time they are old enough to leave behind, they are so adorable that we don't want to leave them behind and that will be the end of our world tour plans."
Fallon looked down at her plate, "I am so sorry. I wish...I wish we had met sooner."
"But if you agree to finish your last semester remotely, we could actualize it starting now. We could tour Europe in the next three months and fly you back in time for your graduation. We could then continue to Asia, and South America for the remaining time and be home in time for you to rest and have the babies, then we could pick up from where we left, you will be used to travelling so it won't be such a nightmare with two toddlers. We will show them the world then, teach them their geography so they don't become ignorant Americans."
"You are crazy."
"You asked for it."
"You actually want me to be traveling while I am pregnant? I thought flying was a safety risk."
"I will be with you."
"You are crazy."
"Then be crazy with me. Let's just throw caution to the wind and just be with each other. For the next few months, let's just live for us. Travel, have fun, make love and get to know each other."
"I can't have wine. That won't be any fun."
"We will skip France and Italy then, go there when you can have wine."
Fallon smiled, "As tempting as that plan is, I can't."
He mirrored her smile, "I know. Had to try though. But irregardless Fallon, we are going to make this thing work, right? Me and you?"
"Yes."
He leaned in and kissed her.
After they broke apart, his eyes were smoldering. He took out his wallet and placed some money on the counter.
"Next time, if you want a longer date and dessert, don't fucking wear that dress."
Fallon was all smiles as he led her out of the restaurant.
"I have to admit, the date was not what I was expecting," Fallon said as he drove them back to the villa.
"How so?"
"Tiny restaurant, chicken wings and you paid in cash. I thought you were a fancy rich kid."
"Oh. I do fancy all the time and it's overated. I like to think I can fit in with the average person. You know, just be a normal person and experience how the other 99 per cent lives."
"I liked it."
His head whipped to look at her,"You did?"
"Just told you."
"Thank God," he says, sounding relieved.
"You didn't think I would?"
"I was nervous. I wanted to take you to a fancy place but then I figured fancy without wine is just not fancy anymore. Plus you always clam up under pressure and I wanted you to talk to me."
He eased the car into the villa garage and gave her a mischievous smile, his eyes undressing her in one quick motion, "So, let's talk about the dress," he said as he leaned in to undo the straps at her neck.
Fallon tried to stop him, "We should go in."
He looked at the villa, the lights we still on, "Or we should just stay here and do something about that dress."
The dress was already sliding down and exposing the white material of her strapless bra. He bent down to take her nipple into his mouth and all coherent thought Fallon had left flew out of the window.