Page 63 of Falling for You
The bell rings again and I look up in alarm, suddenly worried I’ve ignored another guy for a solid two minutes, when I notice the man in the flat cap has started speaking.
‘Let’s have a drink break; I can see too many empty glasses.’
I get to my feet before the next guy can sit down and march towards Tanya, only to see that she’s still in full flow with a red-headed guy with a topknot. I stand stupidly on the spot and then my eyes find American Boy, on his phone. Fuelled by half a bottle of wine, I charge over.
‘Sorry, but where were you on Halloween?’
He looks up at me from his phone, amusement playing on his face.
‘Am I going crazy or has your voice changed?’
‘Were you at a masquerade ball?’
It feels like a lifetime passes whilst I wait for him to answer. Embarrassment flares up my body as I fight the urge to run away and pretend none of this ever happened.
What are you doing? Even if this is the right guy, he left you. He literally ran away! And now you’re confronting him? In person?
He turns his body to face me.
‘Were you?’
‘I asked you first.’
I see his eyes spark. ‘Were you dressed as a bat?’
Something inside me glows. It’s him. I was right.
I was right.
‘Were you the person with the worst costume in the room?’
He raises his eyebrows in mock offence. ‘Were you the person who stabbed me with their costume?’
I put my hand on my hip, fighting the urge to grin at him. ‘Were you the person who rudely left halfway through a conversation without even saying goodbye?’
He rubs his chin. ‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘That was me. I’m sorry about that.’
‘You didn’t even tell me your name.’
He meets my eyes and my heart pulls. ‘It’s Nate.’
I smile at him. ‘Hi Nate. I’m Annie.’
‘Is it too late for me to ask you on a date?’ He holds my gaze steadily.
I pause, looking around the room. Tanya is still engrossed with ponytail man, looking pretty happy.
‘Right now?’ I ask.
‘No, not now!’ Nate laughs, and then reads my expression. ‘Unless you want to? Yeah, now is good. Not here though, right? I want more than two minutes this time.’
‘Okay,’ I say, pulling out my phone and sending a message to Tanya. ‘Let’s go. I know a place.’
‘I can’t believe this is where you’ve taken me for our first date.’
‘You said you’d never tried British cuisine!’
‘Yeah, butthis? Is this really the best London can do? What about Gordon Ramsay?’
