Friday. It's the big day I've literally had dreams about. Stars, all the ways I've imagined this going, even before I met her, and when I finally did, I pretty much dismissed the idea of ever being anything more than her friend. But here we are. Tonight I go on a date with Eden. I just gotta get through school first.
Wait, where are we even going?
I panic a little bit and sit up in bed, fumbling in the morning twilight for my phone. I find it on my desk, pull up the messaging app and send Eden a text.
Destiny:
'Good morning!'
'Uh- Please don't hold this against me, but I'm not sure where we're going tonight'
'Did we even decide on a place?'
I don't expect her to answer immediately, so I get out of bed to start getting ready for the day. Normally I'd shower in the morning, but today I'd prefer to do that after school so I feel nice and clean in the evening. Instead I just put on my school uniform, fix my hair up into a loose ponytail with bangs, and right as I'm about to head downstairs, my phone buzzes to show Eden's response rolling in.
Eden:
'Yeah, I realized the same thing yesterday!
I wasn't going to say anything and just surprise you when I picked you up, but I have a reservation at Élémentaire.
My treat!'
Destiny:
'Sounds good! See you tonight~'
I send her my address, but then stop in my tracks. The name rings a bell, so I search it up on the internet and browse their website for a moment.
Destiny:
'Uh, Eden? This place seems kind of fancy'
'I've never been somewhere like that'
Eden:
'It's a little fancy, but you'll be fine!'
'I've seen the way you dress.'
'You won't even have to try to fit in.'
Her reassurances make me feel a little less nervous about going to a place like that, and I don't think much about it during school, but once I'm finally home and showering, I'm already mentally going through my closet to pick out a good outfit that's both first date-worthy and fancy enough to not make me stick out like a sore thumb. Eden might think my usual style is close enough, but at a place like Élémentaire, tights kind of have to be accompanied by a dress of a certain length and heels, at the very least.
Again, I let Little Destiny help me pick out what I'm going to be wearing. She's not exactly a fashion expert, but over the course of our time together she's picked up some good bits here and there, and has gained a good sense of what my preferred style is, so she can tell me if anything looks completely out of place. And she's almost as nervous about this date as I am on my behalf, so I'm pretty sure she'll do her best. In the end, we pick a sleek little black, strapless dress that ends at my knees, sheer black tights and elegant silver heels. To tie it together, I put on a simple silver necklace and matching earrings. I paint my nails a blue shade close to that of my hair, which I put up with a silver pin in the back. A neutral lipstick and otherwise simple makeup.
A little before eight, Eden texts she's almost at my place. I hurry down and yell to my parents I'm going out. I told them about the date earlier, so they both know where I'm going, and they wish me luck. Dad also reminds me of the curfew at 11:30. I toss on a long, grey coat and bring my smallest purse, with my phone and wallet in it. Eden arrives quickly after I reach the curb. Her car is a wine-colored SUV. She leans over to open the door and greets me with the widest, brightest smile I've ever seen on her face. "Hey hot stuff~ What's a girl like you doing here?" she jokes and I can't help but giggle before I get in. The anxiety I've felt all day is already dissipating.
"Waiting for someone to come pick me up," I mumble back with a wink. Her makeup and hair are both way more elaborate than mine, but I bet she just kept it from her shoot like she mentioned she might. Much like at her party, she's wearing a suit, though this one is a little more proper, with a jacket of proper length. The pants are just the right length to show white socks inside her polished black shoes. The more masculine appearance of her clothes next to the decidedly feminine hair and makeup makes for an interesting juxtaposition that I'm absolutely digging. Maybe it's because she's as gorgeous and lithe as she is, or maybe I'm just that into her. I lean over to kiss her cheek and she squeezes my shoulder in return. "This feels much less weird to say now than it's done in the past, but you look absolutely stunning!"
"Me? How about yourself? Jeez, Destiny, you look like you could share a magazine with me."
"No, no. I wouldn't want to anyway. But thank you." She shakes her head at me, smiling softly as she pulls back into traffic, and after that we have a little bit of small talk about how our days went, and I ask a few questions about her shoot.
At least Élémentaire isn't one of those places with a valet service. That might have been a little too much for me on a first date if I'm being honest, but it does feel nice when Eden parks nearby and tells me to stay for a moment, then walks around the car and opens the door for me, helping me out like a proper lady. I can't help but grin as I thank her and she takes my arm, leading me to the front entrance. The source of this chapter is novelping . com.
"Eden Sinclaire, party of two," she informs the hostess, who confirms the reservation and shows us to our table. The restaurant's interior is dimly lit and lined with dark wood panels, though each table is placed in its own little cubicle with separate lighting, giving the sense that you're somewhat alone, despite there probably being fifty other people here tonight. Our table is near a window letting us overlook the pretty garden behind the establishment. The hostess helps us both into our seats and hands us our menus before leaving to let us consider our orders.
"I've never been anywhere like this," I say with a wide smile on my lips while I open up the menu to start perusing. "And now I see why!"
"Don't worry about that. Like I said, my treat," Eden assures me. "I'm here to treat you like the lady you are~" I already had a feeling she was doing this, but honestly, it's nice.
"Well, thank you. It's very sweet of you, Eden. So, uh, any recommendations?" I'm sure I can come up with some way to repay the favor some time.
"I like the crab and the duck a lot. I usually get roasted veggies on the side and water."
"The salmon sounds good too. Never had fancy seafood before." We make a little more small talk back and forth, talk about our favorite foods - Mine's fries, and surprisingly Eden prefers a simple burger - until our waiter comes back and asks for our orders. She gets the duck with roasted veggies and a glass of water. Predictably, I order the salmon, also with roasted veggies and a diet soda.
The food takes a while to arrive, but it gives us a chance to talk while we wait. The positioning of the chairs puts us close enough together that we don't have to reach much to touch each other, and it doesn't take long before I feel Eden's hand on my knee and look over to see her leaning in with a smile. "What?" I grin at her, figuring I already know what she's angling for, but I decide to try to get flirty. "Don't tell me the mood's getting to you, Ms. Sinclaire?"
"Maybe a little bit. Maybe I just want to know what it's like to kiss you sober. Who's to tell?" I give a slight huff and shake my head slightly before I lean the rest of the way in, suddenly feeling a surge of nerves at the idea of kissing Eden without a little bit of liquid courage in my system. Lucky for me, she's more decisive and makes our lips meet. It's soft and tender at first as we test boundaries and get to know each other in this way too. Her hand squeezes my thigh, causing me to sigh and lean in a little more, licking her lips for a second before we part. "Yeah. Just as good as I remember," Eden whispers with her forehead still leaned against mine and her hand creeping up my thigh just an inch more while her thumb caresses me.
"Mhm~" I concur. My whole face feels warm, and I notice my own hands have made it over to her as well, one on her shoulder and the other on her wrist. "We should definitely do more of that at some point." If I'm being honest, keeping my hands off her right now is difficult, but I also don't want to spend the entire date making out. I have so many questions and things I want to talk about with her, so instead I give her one more small kiss that only lasts a few seconds before I detach more fully and lean back in my chair. "I've been curious for a while now. How did you get into fashion?" I ask softly, almost whispering as if I'm worried speaking too loudly will break the magic of the moment.
"Same way anyone else does, I suppose. It always interested me when I was a little girl and I played dress up both with my own clothes, my mother's and my dad's, so when I one day saw an ad online about a local store looking for children to help model clothes for their displays and advertisements, I had my parents take me, and I got the job. Then as I got older, some agents started noticing I had some actual talent and flair for it and I started getting contracts with bigger brands too. Mom's been a pretty good agent so far. She only took enough of a cut from my earnings to support herself while dad continued working, gave me an increasing allowance and put the rest into a savings account for me. That's where the money for the new car came from," Eden explains.
"Nowadays she's got more clients than just me, too, and I've gotten more autonomy in return. So I guess that's kind of the entire story of my career, but I bet you already knew a good chunk of that." She winks, teasing me a little bit about the magazines I have with her in them. "How about yourself? Design is a bit of a different angle, but it's still a shared interest, so I'm curious too!"
"I mean, of course my interest started early too. I always liked putting outfits together, even if I, of course, had a little kid's sensibilities about it to begin with, but I started drawing my own stuff around the age of nine or ten. Imagine how much all the drawings of myself in dresses started making sense when I finally found the words to express who I am a handful of years ago?" I say it all with a little bit of a chuckle and a hint of nostalgia in my voice. She nods, a soft smile on her face and a crease in the corners of her eyes that tells me she knows exactly what I'm talking about.
"My mom's always been good with her hands and a sewing machine, so when I started expressing interest in bringing some of my drawings to life, she taught me her craft, essentially, and the rest has sort of just been practice. I think what I'm hoping for is to just have some of my designs out there even if they wind up a little basic sometimes. But of course, isn't it every little girl's dream to have a celebrity wear her dress to an event?" I wink, teasing a little back at her, in reference to that first movie night where I got a little too enthusiastic.
Eventually our food arrives and we stop the conversation briefly to start tasting everything, and I have to admit, it's probably worth every penny. The salmon has been seared and seasoned perfectly, and the slightly acidic tinge to the sauce it's served with is a good complement to its overall taste. Even the vegetables taste amazing and provide a little bit of saltiness I appreciate next to how light the rest of my meal is. Eden seems similarly pleased with her duck, and when we taste a little of each other's protein I gasp with how good that is too. Heavier, earthier tastes, but by far the best duck I've ever eaten. Not that I've had it often.
A few minutes later, I find myself staring at Eden without fully realizing I'm doing it, half in contemplation, half because she's just nice to look at. She catches me staring and grins. "What?" she asks. "Got something between my teeth?"
"No, no," I start, feeling a little foolish. "I've just been wondering something."
"What's up?"
"I've been thinking, and I apologize if I'm out of line, but every time we've been at an event or somewhere fancy you've worn a suit. Even at our movie nights, you mostly dress in pants and full shirts, while in your shoots you're almost always modeling something decidedly feminine, so I guess I was just wondering if there's a reason behind that?" She nods again, taking a moment to think before she responds.
"Makes sense that's something you'd notice, yeah. It's mostly a matter of taking control of how I dress and look when I can," she explains, leaning forward a bit. "I don't think of myself as anything other than a woman, but as you say, my shoots mostly see me in a certain kind of outfit, and I like expressing myself through my clothes outside work as well, and I like the way I look in a suit and pants."
"Yeah, I do too."
"I noticed!" I blush and we both laugh a little at each other, probably both feeling silly. "While we're on a similar topic, I've been doing all these gentlemanly things for both of our sake all night too." That surprises me a little bit and I purse my lips and quirk my head in question. "It's only been a couple of years since I realized why I was so uncomfortable dating boys. I've always wanted to treat another girl like a proper lady, and now that I was finally going on a date with someone who deserves it, I guess I kind of just threw myself at it head first."
"Makes sense to me. And it's working, by the way, makes my knees all weak~."
"Perfect, because I don't plan to stop~." We kiss again, this time longer and more deeply than before the food arrived, and we only stop when we start worrying the food might grow cold. By the time we're done eating, our chairs have moved to practically be touching and our knees are almost on top of each other.
"So," I ask, having just looked at my phone to check the time. "We've got a little bit of time before we gotta head out. You think there's access to that garden out there? We could go for a little walk?"
"Matter of fact, it's open to all guests of Élémentaire, so if you wanna go, we can just pay and... Do that?"
We've spent a couple of hours inside, so despite the mild early spring weather, the temperature has dropped quite a bit and we've got our coats on. In contrast to her suit, Eden's coat can be cinched at the waist, giving her a more feminine figure, while still keeping the suit jacket and button down on display with a couple of buttons undone up top. We take each other's hand almost naturally, fingers intertwining as we start down one of the paths outside, listening to the gravel crunch underneath our feet with each step we take. I'm already blushing a little, at least partially because of the chilly air.
All evening, the heavy topic of Renata and what we're going to do in the eventuality that it's her messing with us and the monsters has been hanging in the air around us, but we've both been refusing to talk about it, and it seems like neither of us wants to start now, so we're silent on the walk long enough for me to feel a little awkward. Luckily it doesn't last much longer as Eden pulls us to a halt in a slightly more open area of the garden, where we're surrounded by flowerbeds, sectioned into colors that gradually fade into each other, and spaced evenly throughout them are little bushes that have been trimmed into various shapes. You are reading on NovelPing, the official source.
I don't know much about gardening, but I hope whoever takes care of this place is properly compensated and has all the time they need to actually do their job. Eden points to one of the bushes, asking "Hey, what's that one look like to you?" Pulled out of my reverie I take a moment to consider.
"Hmmmm... A duck? Or maybe a pigeon?"
"I was just going for bird. Anything other than an ostrich would've done. How about that one?"
"A cat?"
"And that one?"
"Bear?"
"And finally, what about this one?" When she asks the next time, I hear a slight hint of mischievousness in her voice before she points to a bush with a slightly more ambiguous shape. I purse my lips and look at it for a while, not really connecting the dots- And then it clicks!
"EDEN!" I squeal and push her gently. She practically cackles at me over knowing my mind went right into the same gutter she wanted it to.
"Oh come on, we've both been thinking about it! How could we not?" She's still cackling when she defends herself, squeezing my hand reassuringly and giving me a soft shoulder shove back before she leads me over to a bench where we sit down."But it does bring me to a different thing I wanted to talk about. Or a couple of different things, I guess."
"That's making me a little worried. The way you say it, I mean," I admit with a nervous smile.
"Sorry, yeah- I hear it now. Don't be! Actually, I've had a great time tonight, and I would like to keep that good time rolling, if you do?"
"Are you kidding me? Of course I do!"
"Okay good start. That sort of naturally brings me to something related to the bush, I guess, if we keep going with this, I'd like to, well..." She squeezes my hand again, and there's a little twinkle in her eye.
"I follow. I would, too. Eventually. But I've never done any of that before... With other people, you know?"
"Y-Yeah, I getcha. I'm not exactly experienced myself. And certainly not with someone like you... Not that that's a problem! Just- I wouldn't know what to do?" Right. Of course she'd be particularly nervous about that. Gotta admit, I am too, and magic or not, I've not had any surgeries yet. Nor am I even sure I want one.
"I know. Don't worry, I know. But we can figure it out! I don't know what to do either. We just gotta take it slow and talk things through, right?"
"And we don't have to do anything until we're both ready. But I wanted to make sure you knew I would like to get there?"
"Me too. But maybe let's get a third date under the belt first. Isn't that what they say the golden number is?" I wink and nudge her a little, trying my best to dispel the awkwardness. This time it's her turn to blush and shake her head with a little grin.
"Good call. Makes sense to give it some time before we make big decisions like that. Or others, of course. And maybe let's not tell the others yet. I don't want Faye or Ida snooping in our private affairs while we're still figuring things out."
We sit and chat for a little longer before it's probably about time to get going so I can be home before curfew, so we get up and finish our walk around the garden, still holding hands and clutching each other close. I point out a few of the flowers I actually know the name of and talk about how I used one of them as one of the ideas for the design of my new Knight uniform. Back at the car, Eden once again helps me in, keeping up the gentlewoman part, before she shrugs into the driver's side and gives me a smile as she turns up the heat. "You know," I say as we pull out into traffic and get going. "I've always been curious what a fashion shoot's really like. I know you can watch videos online and stuff, but that's gotta be a sanitized version or something, right?"
"Yeah, I mean, they always clean those up a little. Even if just to cut out the parts where nothing happens. You could always just come with me to one some time?"
"Huh. Yeah I guess I could. Like a family and friends welcome thing?"
"Yep. Not always an option, for example if I'm shooting for a collection that hasn't been announced yet, but most other times it's fine."
"I'd like that very much, yeah. Also because it's an excuse to see you more without the others." She smiles and reaches over with one hand, taking mine and squeezing it.
"Yeah we gotta start finding time for that, don't we?" The rest of the way home, we talk about how and when we can find time to hang out just the two of us in a more casual environment without it being a date necessarily. We arrive back at my place a couple of minutes past curfew, and I can already see dad in the window, looking out to the street. He gives a little wave and then disappears, his worries no doubt settled now that he knows I'm practically home and safe.
I feel Eden's hand on mine again and turn to her, seeing she's leaning in, and I do the same. "Already past curfew, right? I'm sure they won't mind waiting a minute longer," she teases and moves her other hand up to cup my cheek, starting to pull me the rest of the way toward her.
"Careful, Eden. You're starting to sound like a bad influence," I flirt back and kiss her for the third time tonight. There's a bit more passion from us both this time around, tongues pushing out a little and exploring, wrestling with each other. I bite her lower lip, mewling when I feel her hand move from my cheek to the back of my neck where her grip tightens a bit and her fingers twine in my hair. My own hand moves over, slipping beneath both her coat and her suit's jacket to find her hip and give it a squeeze. I hear her give a soft grunt and push forward with her whole body, leaning against me as much as the limited space in her car allows.
The mood's clearly getting to us both. I can certainly feel it myself at least, so I pull back before I figure either of us would be disappointed by stopping and put both my hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. Her hair's a little bit messy from where my hand was in it, and I'm sure the same is true for mine too. "Let's- Uh, let's save that for when we have more time. Yeah?" Eden nods and pulls her hand out from beneath my dress, wipes the corner of her lips with a knuckle, grinning like mad at me.
"Probably a good call. Let's just hope we can keep our hands off each other at movie night tomorrow." I shake my head and start undoing my seat belt.
"You're a dangerous woman, Eden Sinclaire," is the last thing I say before getting out of the car, waving her off. She waves from inside the car, blowing me a kiss and then drives off. I wait outside for a few moments to make sure I've calmed down and then head inside, mentally preparing for the interrogation I'm about to be on the receiving end of.