First Date, Last Chance

Beep Beep!” I look out my window to see a sexy matte black Mercedes GT 36 S with all black rims and dark tinted windows proceed slowly into my driveway.

I look at my phone to see the time. “Wow! 7 O’Clock on the dot, he’s on time for once!”

I begin to gather my things and stuff them into my purse. I hear the song “What’s Next” by Drake blasting through the speakers of the beautiful automobile and I start bouncing to the song:

“I'm makin' a change today, liquor been taking' the pain away, I heard you was giving' your chain away, that's kinda like giving' your fame away” this song always gets me moving."

I lock my front door and walk towards the car, I stop in my tracks to stare at the Mercedes “Wait, what kind of teacher makes that kind of Mercedes money? I hope he's changed!”

I quickly take myself away from my thoughts. Jay steps out of the vehicle wearing a black dress shirt, black fitted jeans and taupe colored loafers; His caramel skin glowing in the 7pm sunset lighting and his white teeth glistening in all its whiteness, as he grinned from ear to ear.

Now those teeth could be in a dentist commercial!

I looked down and noticed him carrying red roses. “Hey Beautiful, these are for you.” he says. My cheek muscles automatically start to move in an upward direction, I open my mouth and say “Hey You! Nice car!” in a giddy tone. Jay chuckles and says “Thanks Ma.”

Damn! Too eager girl, don’t let him think he has you sweating I say in my head. I clear my throat, lower my tone and say “What is this, a GT 36 S?”

He stops and stares at me in shock "What?! You know cars now?” he asked. I shrug and tilt my head to the side “Mm I dabble” I said.

“Well you were never that typical girl, we both know that!” he says as he hands me the roses. I take the roses and say “Thank you!” Jay, opens his arms and leans in for a hug. I take a whiff of his lightly high quality scented cologne.

“Mm, you smell good.” I say as the masculine scent lingers in my nose. His eyes analyze me in an up and down fashion “Thanks, well you look and smell fantastic” as he grins and pulls the car door handle, nudging his head as a signal to get into the car and smiles.

His dimples become increasingly adorable at this point “Thank you, Dimples” I said “My pleasure gorgeous!” Jay replies as I sit in the passenger seat, and he closes the door.

Dimples was the nickname I gave him when we dated 7 years ago. We dated for two years, but he wanted to focus on his basketball career. So you know how that story goes, with the fame comes the groupies and that was one thing I wasn’t going to sacrifice. So it didn’t work out.

He randomly found me on social media last week and slid into my DMs and here we are.

He was someone I once loved, so I said why not. He wasn’t ready for something serious back then, so I just hope “Mr. Dimples” does it right, cause this first date might be the last date he ever gets with me.

Jay sits in the car, and says “I hope you like what I have planned tonight, I’m thinking Dinner and a movie, How does that sound to you?”

Ugh, another regular dinner and a movie? He couldn’t come up with anything better? I look over and smile, “yeah sounds good to me.” I said as we drove off.

We arrive at a classy restaurant playing an R & B melody, the vibe was low-key but vibrant. The guests were fashionably dressed, polished and pleasant. Just my kind of spot, this dinner and movie might not be as boring as I thought.

We walked into the restaurant and the hostess says, “Your table is ready upstairs Mr. Jay, follow me” the waiter announced. I look at him, and he says “Thank you, Sandra” she smiles and leads us to the table.

We walk to an elevator and ride up to the 15th floor. We are met with candles and roses leading to a romantic table in a room with ceiling to floor windows overlooking the city of Toronto.

When I entered the room my eyes took hold of the scenery and my jaw dropped in awe. I was speechless, this was the most magnificent dinner set up I’ve ever seen in my life. It looked like this man was about to pop the question tonight!

Before my mind wandered off, I took a deep breath. “Wow, this is incredible! I said to him, and he smiles and replies “I’m happy you like it.” “Like it? I love this!” I said in an excited tone.

Jay pulls out my chair “Thank You” I said while smoothing my dress to sit down in the seat. “So, how do they know you here?” I asked in an unsure questioning tone. “I own the restaurant“ he says. My eyes grew wide in amazement.

The waiter walks over with some wine, menus and bread. “Here you go Mr. Jay a bottle of our finest, 2017 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana from Tuscany Italy” the waiter announces while pouring the wine into our glasses “And this is our Traditional Baguette garlic bread.” I’ll be back to take your food order.” “Perfect! Thank you, Oliver.” dJay says as the waiter walks away.

“Wait, I thought you said after basketball you became a basketball coach and gym teacher?” I asked “I am, but you know I’ve always been interested in cooking. So I purchased my own restaurant after my uncle George died, he left me part of his insurance claim. So I took the money and invested it into my own empire! This is the first location and I have another in Mississauga.” He says, flaring his hands up in achievement.

“I’m sorry to hear about your uncle George, I know you guys we’re close. But look at you Mr. Big Shot.” I said.

“It’s all good, everything happens for a reason, he’ll always know I’m his favorite nephew.” he chuckles. “He knew my dreams, and he wanted to make sure I fulfilled them” he said in an appreciative tone.

I’m so happy for you, this place is gorgeous! I said

“Thanks, I wanted to show you before I told you. You were always one of those women that wanted me to show you how you should be treated. So this is me showing you and I just want to make it all up to you. I want us to start over because I think you were definitely the one that got away, I’m ready for you now.” He proclaimed to me.

I had no words. What could I say after 5 years, I was shocked.

I look down at the menu and noticed “Italian — *specialties picked for Mya*” What? A personalized menu for me? This guy has tonight planned to every last detail!

I smile and look up at him, “I notice you have a special portion on the menu for me?!” I ask. Yeah, like I said, I’m making it up to you. This is the first date after not seeing you for 5 years, I want to make sure this is a memorable dinner.

I clear my throat and smack my lips together and say “Well Mr. Jay, you ain’t skipping a beat, so far” I chuckle and look back at the menu.

I take a sip of the wine from my glass, the flow was velvety smooth with medium body and bold taste. The alcohol slid down my esophagus with the most elegance and left an after-taste with notes of rich black cherry and plum.

“Oh my goodness this wine is amazing!” I say loudly “I know right, I knew you’d like it.” He replied.

“I think this might be the best glass of Merlot I’ve ever had, definitely my favorite now!” I smile at him and say “you’re full of surprises tonight aren’t you?!” as we lock eyes and smile at each other. The waiter comes to take our food orders.

Jay looks at his watch, and says come over here, I want to show you something.

He gets up from his chair and walks over to me. He pulls my chair from under me as I got up then grabs my hand lightly and leads me to the edge of the large floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Toronto Skyline.

It looked like a scene out of a movie. It was the most beautiful snapshot of the skyline I’ve ever seen. “Honestly Jay, this view is magnificent.” I say in astonishment.

“I know your 30th birthday is in 6 days so, I just wanted to give you a little early present, look over there." he lifts his hand and points to the left of the CN Tower.

All of a sudden the sky exploded in fireworks and my eyes drift off into the direction of the illuminated sky.

Jay slowly sneaks up behind me and wraps me in his arms embracing my excitement. He whispers in my ear “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, I’m going to make it right this time Mya, I love you.” He kisses me on my cheek.

My heart pounds as if it were going to pump out of my chest and my hands start to get sweaty as my body heats up in emotion. I smile and lean my head into his chest as a tear streaks down my face and I look out into the lit sky.

I don’t know if it was this romantic high but these were the most beautiful fireworks I have ever seen in my existence of 30 years. The vibrancy of the colors flying across the sky was breathtaking. It all felt like a dream.

Once the fireworks were over we made it back to the table to see our food awaiting our arrival. We sit in our seats and the waiter pulls the large curtain revealing a giant projector screen.

“What’s this? I asked “your favorite movie? Jay replies. I proceed to say hesitantly, Save-the-last-dance!?”

“You know it, I could never forget that!” he says. “Ooo! I can watch this movie over and over again” I squealed loudly in excitement.

“I want you to know, I want to make you my future and I want to work on this. I miss what we had, and I want to make you the happiest girl in the world. I’m not losing you a second time.” Jay says to me.

Those words were like music to my ears. Wow, this guy is serious. Every woman wants to hear these words from someone she’s interested in.

I get out of my seat and walk up to Jay, grab his face and delicately kiss him on his lips. As I’m pulling away he pulls out his chair and pulls me into his lap. “Where are you going girl?” and grasps my waist tightly and pulls me in for a passionate kiss. He lets go of his tight grip and says “now you can go” while lifting my chin up. I get up off of his lap and take my seat.

This was definitely the best first date I’ve ever been on, but I won’t tell him that.

The rest of the night was filled with a good movie, food, laughter and incredible conversation. I don’t think I would have imagined it any better.