Page 48 of The Confidant
I made my gaze move back up to the upper half of his body, and then I noticed that his reddish-brown hair was shorter than it had been this morning.
“Did you get a haircut?” I asked, inspecting the short, trendy new hairstyle he had. He never let his hair get too shaggy—he had sensory issues with his hair touching his face—so there wasn’t a huge difference. But since I’d been staring at him all week, it was noticeable to me.
And it looked good.
Hot.
Dare I say, sexy?
Okay, no, I wouldn’t dare say the wordsexyaloud since I was still afraid of getting my mouth washed out with soap for saying no-no words like that. But he looked good. Really, really good.
“I thought it would be nice to clean things up a bit.” He pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, seeming bashful. “Does it look okay?”
“It looks great,” I said. And because I wanted today to be different from just two best friends hanging out, I added, “You look really handsome, actually.”
“Handsome?” The word sounded as weird coming out of his mouth as it had from mine.
“Too old-sounding?” I asked, scrunching up my nose.
“Just a bit.” He chuckled. “But I’m glad you think I’m handsome.” He let his gaze travel the length of me, and after making my body grow warm everywhere his gaze went, he said, “You look really good tonight, too.”
Even though this wasn’t the first time he’d ever complimented me on how I looked, butterflies took flight in my stomach with the way he said it and with how he was looking at me.
“Shall we go?” he asked after I continued to remain speechless.
“Y-yes,” I said.
“This way then.” He gestured to the sidewalk outside the church gates.
And as we strolled down the sidewalk toward The Imperial Grill—my favorite Indian restaurant within walking distance—Hunter slipped his hand into mine.
“This okay?” he asked, looking down at our intertwined hands briefly before meeting my eyes.
“It’s perfect,” I said, feeling breathless for some reason.
Tonight was going to be perfect.
* * *
“That was so good,”I said to Hunter after we left the restaurant with our stomachs full.
“They always get me with the naan, so I felt bad that I couldn’t finish my entrée,” Hunter said. “But it was amazing as usual.”
When we’d first gotten to the restaurant, I’d been slightly anxious since a couple from church were sitting just one section over from us—I was worried I might get caught on my forbidden date with Hunter.
I didn’t think most people at church knew exactly how strict my dad was about me steady dating anyone while in high school, but if they happened to see me and Hunter together, they might mention it to my dad at church tomorrow and I would be in so much trouble.
They left about halfway through our dinner without seeming to notice us though, so I’d been able to relax and just have a good time chatting and laughing with Hunter after that.
“So, what movie are we going to see?” I asked as we walked toward the movie theater down the street. “Did you already have one in mind? Or is it supposed to be a surprise?”
“I thought about ordering our tickets beforehand, since you know I can read your mind and know exactly what type of movie you’re in the mood for.” He winked. “But I wasn’t sure how long dinner would take and I didn’t want to feel like we were in a rush, so I figured we could just pick a movie when we get there.”
“Works for me.”
We walked into the movie theater on the corner a few minutes later. And after scanning over the list of showtimes, we decided on the latest Justin Banks movie.
“How can I help you?” the guy behind the ticket counter asked when Hunter and I stepped up.
