It's A Date

Ben

I drove to Mila’s apartment just before noon. She had texted me her address this morning, and I wanted to pick her up instead of meeting her at a restaurant. I was only being a gentleman. I knew I couldn’t pursue Mila the way I would have liked. With Jerrod being as protective as he was and with him as my best friend, Mila wasn’t exactly available for me to go after.

But we were friends. We had spent a lot of time together before I had left for New York. She was my best friend’s little sister, after all. We’d had lunch together plenty of times.

Sure, it had never just been the two of us, and it had usually been at the Castle residence where Mila had still lived back then. But for us to hang out as friends wasn’t strange, and I wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes by taking Mila out to lunch. We were just going to hang out together like we used to.

The moment Mila stepped out of her apartment building door after I buzzed up to let her know I was waiting for her, I knew I was wrong. This wouldn’t be like old times, hanging out with nothing between us.

I wasn’t the same person I had been back then. I had learned a lot about who I was and about the life I wanted to live. I had more money in the bank than I ever dreamed of having, and I knew where I was headed.

Mila had changed even more. She had grown up. Gone was the high school girl who used to tag along when Jerrod and I would go somewhere under-twenty-ones were allowed. In her place was a mature, confident young woman.

And my god, she was beautiful. Every time I saw her, I was stunned by how much more beautiful she was than I could imagine. She had an elegance about her that I hadn’t noticed before. Maybe it was something that had come with her maturity. Or maybe, now that she was at an age where I could see her as a dating prospect, I looked at her differently.

Her shoulder-length brown hair was pulled back in a short ponytail which made her big brown eyes stand out. They were hazel, changing color with what she wore. Today, she wore a mint-colored tank top with jeans, and her eyes looked almost green. Her jeans were tight enough that they looked painted on, and she wore ballet flats with it.

“You look beautiful,” I said when I hugged her.

“Thanks,” she said with a shy smile. She seemed a little more closed off than when we’d been at The Cottage together, but she’d been drinking then.

“It feels good to wear normal clothes for a change and not my scrubs.”

I opened the car door for her before walking around to the driver’s side.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“I was thinking of driving to a seaside restaurant. To get away from our neck of the woods a little, clear our heads.”

“That sounds amazing,” Mila said, and I pulled into the road.

Mila and I were together in the car for about half an hour to get to the coast. Being in a car together was strangely intimate. With little eye contact because we were seated side-by-side, it made it easier to talk about things that would have been awkward when facing each other. I enjoyed talking while driving.

“How is your first week at the station going?” Mila asked.

I nodded. “It’s been hard. I have a lot to get used to, but I love it. It’s exactly what I wanted to do my whole life.”

“I guess you can say that with certainty now because you tried corporate. What was that like? Horrible?”

I shook my head. “Not horrible. Just different. I wasn’t cut out to be in an office all day. It bothered me because I didn’t get out as much as I would have liked. And to be responsible for that many people working beneath me … it wasn’t hard, but I didn’t enjoy it.”

“I think you did the right thing,” Mila said.

I glanced at her. “I don’t know. My dad wanted me to follow in his footsteps, and with him gone, I feel obligated, in a way, to realize his dreams.”

Mila hesitated for a second. “I’m sorry your dad passed away. I know that has to be hard. But can I be insensitive?”

I chuckled. “I don’t know if I’ll get offended, but asking it that way makes me curious about what you’re going to say.”

Mila flashed me a gorgeous smile. “What I want to say is that even though I understand you want to honor your dad and his legacy, he had his chance to live out his dreams. Now, it’s your turn to chase yours. Otherwise, you’ll end up feeling unfulfilled, and nothing else would have changed.”

“You mean despite trying so hard to impress him, my dad will still be dead,” I said.

“I didn’t mean it so straightforward.”

“No, you’re right. Nothing will change, and I won’t be happy at the end of it. I’ve never looked at it so plainly.”

“It’s not easy to distance yourself from something when you’re emotionally involved,” Mila said.

I glanced at her again. Her eyes were on the road where mine should have been too. But she surprised me with her wisdom. When she looked at me, her eyes were deep, and she smiled at me.

I turned my eyes back to the road. Mila and I clicked on a level I hadn’t expected. I liked spending time with her. We got along perfectly, and she was so sage, it was refreshing.