Page 64 of Revived

The refrigerator suddenly seemed to be full of only things I could make if someone else planned to join me for dinner. It was fucking depressing. I closed the door, went back up to my room, and got dressed in some baggy jeans, a bulky sweatshirt, and a baseball cap, pulled low over my eyes. Then I headed out, in my truck, to the local grocery store. I figured I blended in well enough that I shouldn’t get recognized easily.

I’d made it down two aisles before I spotted Melanie. My heart kicked into overdrive just at the sight of her. She was wearing black scrubs with little blue guitars all over them. It made me chuckle at the thought that maybe she wasn’t able to get me off of her mind as well as I had thought. I moved to where she was examining a package of chicken while trying to stifle a yawn. Then I devised a plan.

“Hey,” I called out as I stood next to her, appearing to check the prices on the meat there.

“Hello,” she called back without even glancing my way.

“I don’t suppose a beautiful lady like yourself knows anything about how much meat it takes to do a lonely, one-person taco night?” I asked her nonchalantly, but she had turned then and was checking me out. At first, she didn’t recognize me, but then I saw understanding dawn.

“I was thinking chicken tacos though. I’ve been on this anti-beef kick lately.” I tapped my chest. “Thought it might be heartburn, but the ache is constant.” She gasped, and I knew she caught my meaning well enough. Still, I pressed on as if we really were strangers meeting in a grocery store. Sticking out my hand for her to shake, I smiled. “I’m Gabriel, and you are?”

“Melanie,” she answered as she took my hand and shook it. Her fingertips felt cold to the touch, thanks to the poultry she had just been examining. “I think you could get away with just chopping up a breast or two, depends on how much you eat,” she suggested.

I hummed a noise in the back of my throat as I pretended to think about it. “Maybe. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” she answered, somewhat hesitantly.

“Are you married?”

She chuckled and held up her empty ring finger. “Not for a long while now.

“Boyfriend?” I asked. She shook her head. “Well, that’s great news.”

“Why’s that? Sounds like I’m lonely to me.”

“I can change that for you though. How about you let me take you out to dinner tomorrow night? Then neither of us has to figure out what to cook for a single person, and we can keep one another from feeling so alone.”

“Wait,” she called out in lieu of an answer. “You need to answer the same questions, Mr. Gabriel. Are you married?” I shook my head and held up my finger the same as she had done.

“Never been,” I admitted.

“Girlfriend?”

“Hopefully, if this date goes well tomorrow,” I suggested while Mel laughed in response. The sound was music to my ears.

“I see, you’re the charming type.”

“Shall we exchange numbers?” I asked. Her goofy grin told me she was enjoying our little charade.

“I’m pretty sure you’re charming enough to figure it out yourself,” she tossed back at me.

“You’re probably right. How does seven tomorrow night sound?”

“Perfect,” she whispered.

“Okay, see you at seven tomorrow, Ms. Melanie Perfect.”

Her giggle followed me out of the aisle where I ended up abandoning the grocery cart that only had a loaf of bread in it. Suddenly, I was feeling full and satisfied. There was literally nothing else the grocery store had that could compare to what I’d just found in their meat department.

~*~

The following evening, at seven on the dot, I knocked on Mel’s apartment door. When it swung open and she greeted me with that bright smile of hers, my heart thumped and then stopped for a minute. She literally took my breath away. “You look amazing,” I told her as I took in the fact that she was wearing a little red dress. The sleeves of the thing just barely covered the caps of her shoulders and the neckline plunged just enough that her cleavage was enticing, but not obscene. She was the epitome of class and sexiness. The heels were a bit much though, because if I were being honest with myself, all I could picture were those gorgeous legs of hers wrapped around my back as the heels of those shoes dug into my ass.

“You look pretty handsome yourself, Gabriel,” she answered in that sassy way of hers. “So, where are you taking me?”

“I thought we’d go get some dinner and take it from there. Did you need a copy of my license plate, driver’s license, or anything else to send to a friend, just in case you go missing?” I teased her, knowing she had been on the receiving end of those types of texts from her friend back in New York.

“I think I’ll take my chance this time,” was her shy response as she grabbed a sweater to carry with her.

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