Bex closed her eyes for a small moment, like she was hoping that she’d open them and all this craziness would be gone. It was what Roman was wishing, for sure. “Roman, everyone, this is Enzo Parks.”
Justin held out a hand. “Past flame of Bex’s?”
The guy nodded. “Went on three dates. You, too?” After Justin nodded back, Enzo looked around the table. “What are we celebrating?”
“A first date between Bex and me,” Roman said, hoping they would all get the hint.
They didn’t. Enzo even flagged down the waitress and ordered a drink. Roman just happened to glance over at the hostess’s table, where the hostess was looking at their table while a man pointed at it, then waved at Roman. As smooth as could be, the man grabbed an extra chair at a table along the way, then set it down right between Roman and Darshan. “Hi,” he said, tipping his head at Roman. “I’m Carlos. I used to date Bex.”
“Roman. I’m currently dating Bex. As in right this moment.”
The guy nodded, and they both looked at Bex, who hadn’t seemed to even notice that Carlos had joined the table, because she was talking to a guy who had just grabbed the waitress’s attention and asked for a chair. Then he asked Bex to scoot over to make room.
“Roman, this is Vaughan. Oh. Carlos. I didn’t see you come in.” She looked baffled at the seven people now crowding around their table for two. “You all just happened to be here eating at the same time I am here on a date?”
“Saul!”
Roman turned around to see who Bex was looking at, just as another man grabbed a chair and carried it to their table, squeezing in between Roman and Justin. He said hello to Bex, then started introducing himself to everyone else around the table, and each of them told him their names. If all these guys wanted the table, they could have it. They could have the rest of the food, too. He just needed to free Bex from her adoring ghosts of dates past and go find somewhere quiet to finish their date.
“Stop!” Bex said. “Okay, someone tell me what’s going on here. This was definitely not a coincidence.”
Everyone was silent for a few moments, and then Justin leaned forward. “Check your Twitter notifications.”
She pulled her phone out of her purse and tapped a few things. Her eyes scanned the screen for a moment, and then her hand flew to her mouth. She turned to glance at all the people in the restaurant at the other tables, who all seemed to be getting a kick out of watching this go down. Several even had phones out, video recording or taking pictures. Then she looked at Roman.
“Apparently someone—I don’t recognize the name—saw Derek come over. The guy recognized us, though, and tweeted about it.”
“What did he say?”
She hesitated a moment before she passed the phone to him and he read the tweet.
At dinner w/gf & see @TheRealBexSterling eating with #NudgeOut's Roman Powell. Her old bf pulls up a chair & the look on Roman's face is priceless! Please, Twitter, send anyone Bex has dated to #Kitchen712 to do the same. RT & tag or text anyone you know. I'll update w/results.
He scrolled through the thread—the guy had tweeted a picture every time a new guy showed up, complete with some commentary on how Roman reacted. He looked the direction the guy must’ve been seated to get the pictures he did, and saw a man in his upper twenties sitting in a booth across from a woman Roman could only assume was the guy’s girlfriend. The man saluted Roman. Roman gave the guy a nod back. Not to thank him in any way. As more of an acknowledgment of a game well-played.
“Well, guys,” Darshan said, standing up, “I think that’s our cue to leave. Bex, it truly was good to see you again.”
Everyone else followed Darshan’s lead and stood as well, returning their chairs from where they got them. Another guy walked up, and said, “Aww, am I too late? Did I miss the party?”
“Hi, Jack,” Bex said. “And yes, you did.”
“Bummer. Hey, anyone want to join me at the bar, since we’re already here?”
About half the guys stayed and joined Jack at the bar, but at least they weren’t around Roman’s and Bex’s table anymore.
“What do you say we get dessert to go and get out of here?” Roman asked.
Bex smiled. “I would love that.”
Thirty minutes later, they were wrapped in a blanket Roman had in his trunk, and sitting on a bench at his favorite place in the city—in the Tsuru Island part of Main City Park. Beautiful plants and pathways surrounded them, a creek was close enough that they could hear its gurgling, the sky wasn’t cloudy so they could actually see the stars, and Bex was snuggled against him.
“You need to try one of the pears with the sauce,” Bex said, holding her spoon out to him.
He ate the bite and was surprised at how great it tasted. He had never been a huge fan of pears, so he’d never ordered the dessert before. It was good enough he’d have to order it for himself next time.
“Okay, then you have to try a bite of mine.” He got a forkful of his volcano cake, making sure to get some of the molten lava center, and fed it to her. He smiled when she closed her eyes in blissful contentment on her face. This was definitely better than staying at the restaurant.
She set her dessert on the bench beside her. “I had fun tonight.”
“Even with the craziness?”
“Especially because of the craziness.”
He set his dessert aside and raised an eyebrow.
“I liked seeing you ruffled.” She snuggled back into him. “You handled it well.”
He liked that she hadn’t taken responsibility for them all showing up, or felt like she needed to apologize for it happening, since she’d had no control over it. She just saw it as a mutual issue they needed to tackle together. It was refreshing.
Bex sat up straight and turned to him. “The Eddie Awards are coming up soon.”
He brushed a lock of hair back from her temple with his fingertips so he could see her beautiful eyes better. “And you are going to knock them dead.”
“No, I’m talking about the ceremony itself, where they present the awards. It’s in a different major city every year, and this year it’s in Portland, so it isn’t even far. Will you go with me? I probably won’t win, but it’ll be fun to get dressed up all fancy for it.”
He didn’t like the fact that people had been taking pictures of their date and tweeting about it. He had been excited to be able to spend time with her without cameras, but it seemed like they followed her wherever she went. He wasn’t sure he could handle that. Luckily, his dad had people to handle their company social media presence and stayed far away from it himself. He was sure to hear about this from his brothers, though.
So, the thought of a date where people would be taking pictures not so surreptitiously didn’t sound appealing at all. Had it been anyone else asking, he would’ve told them no. But this was Bex, and she was different. And he cared about this award because she cared about it.
“I would love to go with you.”
She smiled at him a smile so brilliant that the stars above couldn’t compete. Then she kissed him, and all his worries about their date becoming public knowledge faded away.