Page 39 of Unforgettable

“Like you said, it’s a special occasion. And I’m not a crazy health nut. I enjoy a burger and fries just like anyone else. It’s all about balance.”

“Sure.” She shrugged. “I’m still surprised.”

“Speaking of surprises…” I said, cringing at the ungraceful transition. But we were only an hour and a half from midnight, and similar to Cinderella, we had to be out of there by then. Otherwise, there’d be pumpkins or something. “I have one more for tonight.”

She gave me a quizzical look but took my hand when I offered it, lacing her small fingers between my own. “Do we just leave this here? Or…”

“Yes, I paid one of the maintenance guys a hundred bucks to put everything back the way we found it. But bring your champagne,” I said, grabbing my empty glass and the nearly full bottle before leading her back out into the main entryway.

“I understand we have to be out of here by midnight, but why are we running?” she asked breathlessly next to me. I hadn’t even realized that I’d been walking nearly twice my normal speed, eating up the distance between one exhibit and the other at a pace Amanda couldn’t keep up with without almost jogging.

“Sorry, I’m just excited,” I said truthfully and slowed my pace. But along with excitement, there was a nervousness buzzing through my veins, just below my skin, that wasn’t there before. I knew at any second Amanda would recognize what our final exhibit was—it was her favorite part of the museum and I’d made sure we would have access to it.

I thought about asking her to close her eyes or fishing the tie I’d used as a blindfold out of my pocket, but it was too late.

“No way,” she muttered quietly. I chanced a look back at her and was proud of the genuine excitement on her face.

“Yes way,” I said as I pushed the doors open to the planetarium.

Once inside the room, it appeared that the screen went on infinitely. Displayed on the screen was what appeared to be a video of the night sky as seen through the strongest of telescopes. It was filled with hundreds of individual stars, some organized in detailed constellations. Between the stars were colorful galaxies of blues, pinks and yellow, each of a different shape and size.

But my focus was pulled from the massive screen around us to the woman who was craning her neck to take in each minute detail. Amanda was glowing in the dim light, the colors of the stars bathing her in a rainbow and reflecting off her hair.

It was a sight I knew I’d remember forever, but the image in my head would never live up to the real-life thing. And neither would a photo, but it was the best I could manage since it was impossible to bottle a point in time to replay it over and over again.

I held my phone in front of me and focused it on Amanda, who was peering up and to her left. I snapped a few photos, then once I’d felt confident I’d captured the moment to the best of my ability, I switched to video and recorded her quiet dance. As she spun in place to analyze each astronomical object with a look of pure enchantment and wonder, I committed the moment to memory and film.

The last two seconds of the video were of when she turned back to me, a wide grin spreading across her face and when she’d caught me videoing her.

“Are you recording me?” she asked, confused but with the smile still in place.

“Yes, I am. I’m not even going to try to hide it,” I said as I came up with a ruthless yet brilliant idea. Clicking on my text messages, I pulled up the chain with Josh and sent him one of the photos I’d just taken of a starstruck Amanda. It was sure to make him jealous and irritate the ever-loving shit out of him. Just the way I liked it.

“Okay, now what the hell are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, still peering down at my phone, waiting for the dots to appear and let me know he was typing.

“You have a maniacal look on your face.”

Instantly I pocketed my phone and scrubbed a hand over my mouth to wipe the smile from my face. “I sent one of the photos I just took to Josh.”

She raised her eyebrows at me, and without a word, I knew what she was thinking. That I was being overly competitive and that it would cause an issue.

“A little bit of competitiveness never hurt anyone. And it’s all in good fun.”

“Yeah, until I pick one of you over the other,” she muttered, which stopped me midstep. I felt my face drop before I could control my expression. Of course, Amanda saw the hurt, and although I quickly corrected it and closed the space between us, she had an apology poised on her tongue.

Instead, I took her hand and led her to two random seats in the middle of the sea of hundreds.

“It’s the truth,” I said when she attempted to apologize again. “Anyway, isn’t this amazing?” I asked, hoping to move the conversation back to the extravagant date I’d planned and not the reality-TV-show-type scenario we found ourselves in.

Amanda contemplated for a moment, deciding whether or not to accept the subject change. “So, we’re seeing one of the shows?” she finally asked, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

When around Amanda, it was easy to forget that this could very well be temporary. She could suddenly decide after her date with Josh, or hell, even before the date, that I wasn’t the one. That our connection was one-sided or only relied on sexual chemistry and wouldn’t be anything more. And whether I liked to admit it or not, I was a guy who was used to getting what he wanted, especially with women. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d pursued a woman and been rejected.

Each of them seemed meaningless, though, with the possibility of losing Amanda looming over me. The possibility of losing her before I ever really knew what it was like to have her seemed even more terrifying.

“Yes, we’re going to watch something calledUnseen Universe. It sounded the most interesting,” I said in my best attempt to feign casualness while my insides twisted with every possible outcome.

---