I was in my living room, painting my latest project when I got his text. My painting was of four sisters wrapping each other in a large hug, and the background would be shades of reds and pinks and maroons.
I was smiling as I painted it because as I painted this, I was thinking of love, but a different type of love. The kind between me and Tank. He was such a gentleman afterall. He always took me places like the library or art galleries, and made me laugh until my cheeks were at the bursting point. I was just thinking of him today when I decided I would make a picture about love. But this love would be between sisterhood, since me and Tank weren’t officially dating, and I probably wouldn’t know what true love felt like. As for sisterhood love, I had two sisters. I knew that field quite well. As I took my thin brush I used for small details, my phone buzzed on the coffee table. I leaned over to see who was texting me. Tank. I quickly got up and washed all the paint splotches off my hands and then grabbed my phone.
My text read,
Be ready to go by 8.
The heck!? What was he up to?
I texted:
?...explain what’s going on!
Him:
The whole thing will explain itself. Trust me.
Me:
...Okay, but you better be right! >:(
I loved surprises, but I also loved to know just about every detail of the day. Whatever it was, Tank had my heart racing, and I had to find out what he was up to!
I’ll skip the whole me wondering what his text was about and me getting dressed for 8. I couldn’t paint anymore after that text, I was too excited to see what Tank was up to. I was ready to leave home by 7:30.
I had chosen two colors that go well together: yellow and blue. I put on a yellow sheath dress with light blue leggings that went all the way down to my yellow flats. My ears were equipped with Navy blue earrings for the night.
When I heard the doorbell jingle, I quickly started to dash for the door.
No, no, my innervoice told me. Let’s look like you aren’t so hungry to see him or his surprise. I walked the rest of the hallway down to the front door, still eager to see Tank’s face once again.
Tank was quite handsome, though I never expected this. He had on an all black tuxedo, with a white shirt under it. The shirt had black buttons and a bowtie to match.
My mouth dropped. Then my heart started to race. What if he has a ring in his pocket!? I panicked. But then, common sense returned to my brain. He doesn’t. You two are only 20. And, you aren't even dating!
But then, why the tuxedo?
“Did you get invited to some wedding and you want me to come with you as your date? Because if so the answer is no. You can’t just spring this stuff on me.” I told him immediately.
“What? No! There’s no wedding! I just decided to get dressed up for the night.”
I raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. “You never do that.”
He looked down. “Yeah, I knew that was a stretch. I’m dressed up for where we’re going today. Just follow me, I promise you’ll find out on the way.”
My worry slowly drained away and my excitement fizzled back up as he reached out for my hand and we began to walk down the busy city street I lived on.
We turned off my street and had said nothing so far. To break the silence I said. “Well, since you’re playing the fancy gentlemen, aren’t you going to compliment me on my dress?”
He looked at me and smiled. “You do rock that dress to a T, but you usually always look pretty, and smell like watermelons.”
I laughed. My watermelon perfume worked!
We kept walking. It was a chilly night, but I loved chilly nights. The cool air made me feel like I was super important and in a movie or something.
We finally crossed the street to this brick building called, “The Bunny’s Hole”.
I turned to him. “Ah, I’ve seen people working on this place for like a month now. You’re taking me here?”
He slimed his plain, easygoing smile. “Yep.”
I smiled and stepped up the steps into the restaurant, eager to see what was inside.
It was even colder here than it was outside. The Bunny’s Hole had a neon blue aura that shined across the whole building.
My smile came wide by involuntary muscles. “I can’t wait to see what they serve here!”
We sat at a table by the window. After about 5 minutes, we ordered, and after a while of just talking about how we’ve been lately, our food returned.
I had ordered an Everything Burger, which was supposed to have, well, every topping you can get on a burger here. Fresh lettuce, juicy tomato, cheese melted on the burger patty. Even flimsy bacon! Which I happened to love.
Tank had a Ceasar Salad, which he enjoyed greatly.
See, the thing about Tank is, I feel so… relaxed and normal around him. I don’t have to pretend I’m happy when I’m not, and I can just talk about life to him, and I know he’ll listen. We sat talking and laughing for a while before I saw a red light flicker to life on the side of his coffee brown face.
“Look,” he nodded over to the left of us, and I turned and saw the sign.
I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU, in neon red lights. I turned to him, and then I noticed it all. The tuxedo, the sign, the slow jazz I had just realised they were playing in the background. This was all for a date.
One of my most blissful memories of being 20 was that long kiss with Tank that night.