The restaurant is perched sixty floors up on a skyscraper building in Lower Manhattan and the New York City view they offer is spectacular. All the female's eyes are automatically drawn to Joey all the way to our reserved table by the window, yet he doesn't let go of my hand even for a second and it makes me smile to myself.
"So, how does it feel to be Mr. Chick Magnet?" I ask after I caught our pretty waitress obviously staring at my boyfriend a little too long as she batted her eyelashes at him before leaving our table.
He brings his eyes up from the menu to me. "What?"
"Don't you notice every girl here is making eyes at you?"
"Oh, really?" he responds nonchalantly, shrugs one shoulder, then continues reading the menu.
I scoff, setting my menu down on the table. "Don't pretend like you don't notice it."
He narrows his eyes at me with a mischievous smirk on his face. "Are you jealous?"
The truth is, yes, I'm jealous. It hasn't been easy to have Joey Thompson as a boyfriend since he has this charisma so strong that any girl can't resist falling for him. His basketball games are the hardest to keep my cool with his groupie drooling all over him, even worse when he was still the captain of the team. Also, witnessing those cheerleaders unnecessarily swing their hips while biting their lower lips at him on purpose right before my eyes really boils the blood in my head and I have to restrain myself from screaming at them to keep it in their panties.
However, I never admit to him when I'm jealous and just keep acting like I have no care in the world about those girls because I have too much pride.
So, that's what I'm doing tonight. "Nope," I answer without looking at him, picking up my menu again.
He watches me browsing through my menu. "Ash, you know I only have eyes for you."
"Oh, yeah?" I snort before I can stop myself. "I bet if a girl got onto the table and started strip-dancing right now, your eyes would instantly hook to her with your mouth wide open."
His eyebrows furrow and he puts down his menu. When his eyes bear into mine, I know my words upset him. "No," he confirms in a serious tone. "Unless if it was you doing that, I'd make sure I beat up every guy in the room first so nobody is jacking up while fantasizing about my sexy girlfriend, then I would enjoy the show all to myself."
His words somehow turn me on that I can't help imagining him all sweaty, veins bulging in his brawny arms, and his broad chest going up and down with his chiseled abs flexing every time he takes a heavy breath after knocking those poor guys out.
"What's wrong with you tonight?" his question snaps me back to reality. "You've been acting weird. Are you PMS-ing?"
I realize my mood has been a roller coaster tonight, but my period just ended a few days ago which means I'm definitely not PMS-ing. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just feeling insecure tonight."
Joey shakes his head in disbelief then gets up from his seat. Inviting me to stand up by pulling my hand gently, his irresistible stare is glued to me and I can't avert my eyes from him. Without warning, he slithers his arm around my waist and shifts me close to him with a hand tilting my head up so he can reach my lips. The kiss is passionate and torrid and I can feel his smile form against my lips.
After breaking away from each other puffing, we both chuckle. "So, remind me again," he whispers, "how many guys I had to compete with before you finally chose me? Four? Five? Not to mention one of them was a dreamy French UN guy you met at a New Year's Eve party that I absolutely had no chance to win over."
I shake my head laughing as I sweep my palm over his face, noticing that everyone's attention is on us. "Shut up. Everyone's watching."
"I know, because it's hard not to look at you, especially tonight," he says matter-of-factly.
Our anniversary dinner goes beyond well. The food, the wine, and the service are extraordinary. We spend our time debating, laughing, and flirting. He's just so charming that I find myself so close to drowning in the blueness of his alluring eyes, still, I refuse to dive back up to the surface if it means I could keep him like this forever.
"Earth to Ashley," Joey rips my reverie, looking at me intensely. "Your eyes were kind of glazing over. Tell me, what are you thinking?"
It dawns on me that I've literally been staring at him for some time now. "Uh, nothing," I answer, shrugging. "It's just... you're so easy on the eyes that you could be doing nothing and I still want to spend my day just staring at you."
It's really cute to see him look down and let out a shy chuckle. "Do you want to know what I'm thinking?"
"Mm-hm."
"I'm thinking that even in a parallel universe, I would still fall head over heels in love with you," he admits sincerely.
Taking a sip of my wine, I try to hide a silly smile on my crimson face from him. This is so Joey. He's not a guy who plans a romantic dinner complete with a series of sweet words to say through the night. He's hopelessly insensitive that you have to drop hints to him or, heck, just tell him straight to his face what you want then he will start taking action.
He might've been a big Don Juan with various pickup lines before we became a couple, but to be a boyfriend he's plainly clueless. So, he just says and does what's on his mind whether or not you will like it.
One thing I know for sure is when he's being honest and when he's not. And tonight, I'm a-hundred-percent sure that he's been nothing but honest about what he says to me. Out of the blue, an idea pops up in my head. It's crazy and I was taught to be a well-organized planner growing up, but this sudden idea is brilliant. Maybe it's not always a bad thing to do something spontaneous once in a while.
"Do you want to get out of here?" I offer, leaning on the table. "I have a surprise for you."
His lips stretch out into a naughty grin. "I love the sound of it, babe."
"But let me drive," I request as I hold out a hand to him.
Confusion is palpable on his face, but he passes his keys to me anyway. After he insists on fully paying for our dinner, we take our coats and immediately leave the restaurant. His body regulates heat into me through his hand I don't think my coat is necessary anymore.
"Are you sure you want to drive?" he asks when we arrive at his car.
"Positive," I answer shortly then enter the driver seat while he gets into the passenger's seat.
Five minutes into driving, I pull over in front of a diner, ignore the bafflement on his face, and grab quick fries and two bottles of mineral water to go. When I hop back into the car, he's surprised to see a takeaway bag in my hand.
"But we just ate!" he exclaims.
"I know," I pant from running in a rush. "But we have to grab a takeaway from a nearby diner."
"What?"
Again, I ignore the look on his face and just continue driving. Bluntly, I have no idea where to head but I know what I want to do, so I take the toll road instead.
"Ashley, seriously," Joey breaks the silence in the car, "where are we going?"
Tossing him a smug smile, I open Spotify then play a song on the car audio from my phone. When he hears the intro of the song, he turns to me looking dumbfounded. A chill breeze strokes my skin after I hit the button to open the roof of his convertible car.
"...
I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger
Defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stopping me
..."
I sing along with the wind in my face, bobbing my head to the song I know the lyrics by heart even before finding out it's Joey's all-time favorite. During our drinking game on the night we unintentionally had sex with each other, he confessed to me that he always wanted to take a midnight drive with someone special, singing Don't Stop Me Now by Queen at the top of their lungs, then grab a dinner-to-go at a diner and go to a drive-in theater before having a deep talk about life.
When I notice he just sits there observing me with an unreadable expression on his face, I nudge his arm to check if he's upset with me. "Come on, sing with me."
"But it's cold, we can get sick."
I roll my eyes. "I know we're not doing this in summer like you expect, but please, sing with me at the top of your lungs."
He chuckles, shaking his head still in disbelief. "I can't believe you still remember it, you know, after all those tequila shots and the joint."
I smile at him. "You would be surprised if you could open a locker of small details about you that I keep in the back of my mind."
And he laughs, very attractively contagious. Do you ever see someone you love smiling with their eyes and you just can't help but smile, too? That's exactly what's happening to me. Then, he finally gives in and joins me in jamming out in the car. I don't even care if people are thinking we're insane to put the roof down in this temperature. Instead, I initiate to accelerate the car.
"...
If you wanna have a good time
Just give me a call
(Don't stop me now)
'Cause I'm having a good time
(Don't stop me now)
Yes, I'm havin' a good time
I don't want to stop at all, yeah
..."
"I think it's best if we close the roof!" he shouts over all the noise. "It's freezing."
"No!" I refuse, warding off his hand that's about to press the roof button. "Let's just finish the song first."
"But I can't feel my hands!"
"Ditto!" I raise my hand in front of his face. "But please, babe, hang on for one more minute and just enjoy the song."
Persisting to put the roof back up, he grumbles again, "Are you crazy? It's technically still winter!"
In a swift movement, I seize his wrist to stop him. "But tonight's the warmest we've had since last November!" And I decide to turn a deaf ear to him and continue singing along to the song.
As the song fades out to an end, Joey rapidly jabs the roof button and it proceeds to close over us. The cold wind made my face freeze and my teeth chatter, but the only thing that matters to me right now is to grant his so-called dream date and I couldn't be more excited to do more of it.
"That was so fun!" I whoop in a quivering voice. "Okay, next is the drive-in theater!"
"Ash, we're not going to the drive-in theater tonight," he says firmly, setting the heater up to maximum.
A pucker between my eyebrows turns up as I send him a sidelong glance. "What, why? We've crossed two things off the list so far, so we only need to go to a drive-in theater and have a deep talk about life after that to complete the quest."
"No," he rejects sternly. "First of all, the drive-in theaters are closed in winter—you should've Googled it before doing this. And second, it's freezing outside and I don't want us to die from hypothermia."
"But—"
He presses his forefinger to my mouth. "It's settled. No argument. Now, please, pull over for a second."
Disappointed but not wanting to argue with him on this, I obey to pull over. After I put the car in park, he gets a hold of my cold hands and blows them to share the warmth of his breath with me. There's an icy pause in the car in which you could hear a pin drop.
"I'm sorry I ruined your dream date," I try to shake off the silence. "I didn't think it through. I just... wanted to give you a special surprise. You're mad at me, aren't you?"
"No, I appreciate the gesture," he lets out a long sigh. "But I figure you better stick to being a woman with a plan."
His answer screams anger to me and I can't blame him since I was the one being stupid. So much for the fun, spontaneous Ashley.
"Ash, why are you forcing it tonight?" Joey questions.
I raise my shoulders. "I just want tonight to be a night to remember."
"How about we skip to the deep talk part now?" he suggests after another pause.
I sigh, drooping my head. "Okay."
Taking a better look at me, he inhales and exhales deeply before talking. "I closed a deal with the Knicks a few days ago."
I gasp in astonishment and a wide smile spans across my face. "Oh, my God, finally! Congratulations, baby!" I kiss him on the mouth and pull him into my embrace. "I'm so proud of you. You worked so hard for this, you deserve it."
He hugs me back and drowns his face in my hair. "Thank you, babe."
"When are you starting?" I ask, releasing him from my arms.
"Next season, October," he answers as he holds my hands again, trailing his thumbs along my palm lines. "Columbia graduation in May, contract signing and NBA Summer League in July, training camp in September. So, I have a couple of months to start searching for a new place."
"You're going to say goodbye to Harley?"
"It won't be a goodbye," he laughs a little. "He'll always be my best friend. We're just growing up."
Running my hand through his hair, I examine the captivating feature of his face and admire how much he's matured within a year. "Look at you, a great career ahead of you and a place on your own. You're becoming a real adult."
He shrugs his shoulders with a simper on his face and we laugh together. "How about you, though?" he asks. "Have you given your answer to your internship company about the full-time job they offer?"
This is frankly the topic I've been avoiding bringing up with Joey. Little does he know that I haven't given the company where I took my internship last year an answer following their job offer because I received another great offer as a journalist for a fashion magazine last week.
I've always wanted to work in the fashion industry since I was little. I still recall perfectly how I used to play salon with my mother and I would put some makeup on her pretty symmetrical face and do her manicured nails and silky hair as well. When I was twelve, I did my first modeling job for a teen magazine and it led to more jobs throughout my high school days.
My dream was actually to take a modeling school after high school and become a professional international model. So, when an agent offered to help me make my dream come true, I felt like I was on cloud nine. But my father forbade me right away to make a career out of it since he wanted me to get a degree from a top university.
We fought very badly about it and I didn't say a word to him for weeks, until my mother eventually sat us down together and my father and I met in the middle. The final decision was for me to go to college after high school as he wanted, but I would choose my major myself and he had to agree to whatever my choice was. So, after long consideration, I finally decided to pursue a future career as a fashion journalist.
That's why I'm beyond psyched about this new job offer—although the company is still new—but the thing is they're headquartered in Seattle. On the other hand, my internship company is a pretty well-known magazine based in New York, but they're not exactly the kind of magazine I want to work for.
So, here comes my dilemma. To be completely honest with myself, I don't want to lose this good opportunity to help me work my way to build a career in the industry that I adore. But I never trust a long-distance relationship and I love Joey way too much that I don't think I'll ever find someone quite like him if I lose him. It's always a tough choice between love and career and I wish I didn't have to choose.
"Ash?" Joey's voice tugs me out of my train of thought. "What's it?"
Dragging my eyes up to him, I'm aware he's waiting for my answer. My brain urges me to reveal everything about the job offer to him, but my heart that's not ready to lose him pleads for a little more time to tell him. In the end, I listen to my heart.
"Uh, no," I croak once I find my voice, clearing my throat. "No, I haven't."
"Why? Are you expecting another call?"
I purse my lips into a thin line before replying, "Not really, I just need more time to mull it over."
He collects both of my hands in his hands again and places a deep kiss on the back of my hands. Tightening his grip, I can sense there's something he wants to convey to me but it's not easy. Despite that, the way his fierce eyes look straight into my soul always makes my heart skip a beat, and this time I'm afraid he knows that I also have something I'm not saying.
I swallow hard and dare to ask first, "What?"
His mouth parts as if he's about to say something, yet he closes it again and shakes his head.
My eyebrows wrinkle. "Now you're acting weird. What's it, Joey?"
"Uh, can we just go home, please?" he asks. "I need to talk to you about something."
"Can't we just talk about whatever it is right now?"
"No, I don't want a cop to think we're doing inappropriate things here. So, I think we better take off."
I still stare at him for a few seconds to ensure he's being serious, until he finally buckles up again without a word and a surge of jittery feelings raids me to find out he is being serious. As I drive on, my mind can't resist not overthinking what he wants to talk to me about.
Does he know that I've been hiding the news about my job offer in Seattle? Did Jessica already tell him everything? Does he think being apart isn't going to work out between us? Is he breaking up with me?