Their first date was that night. They'd agreed to meet at a chain restaurant downtown. Tabitha wasn't exactly a big fan of their cuisine, or the corny uniforms the staff wore, but everyone knew where the place was so she was sure he'd be able to find it.
She was inexcusably late.
"I'm so sorry," she said rushing up to where he sat at an outside table.
Wes stood and seemed surprised to see her. "You look amazing," he said.
"Thanks." Tabitha ran a shaky hand over the blue and green trapeze dress she wore. The satin material cascaded from a choker style collar to hang just above her knees. She'd pinned her hair back and actually put on make up. She'd even bought a pair of gold strappy sandals to complete the ensemble.
She sat when Wes pulled out her chair and started in on the apology again.
"Don't worry about it," Wes said with a shrug.
"Did you already order?" She picked up the menu and pretended to look over it.
"No, I didn't really see anything I wanted so I thought I'd just wait for you and take your lead."
"To be honest with you, I don't really eat here. I mean, the choices are a salad, a burger, or a crappy cut of steak. I might as well tell you up front that I'm not one of those girls that pick at a salad in front of a guy and then go home and shovel ice cream into my face."
His loud laugh surprised her and a few diners at neighboring tables. She couldn't help but giggle when they turned to look.
"Sorry," said Wes leaning into her. "You just caught me off guard."
Tabitha blushed. "That's okay."
"Hey, why don't we get out of here?"
"Excuse me?" she asked pulling back a bit.
"We don't want to eat here. There's no sense in choking down crap and making small talk when we could be out doing something fun." He grinned at her, his gold eyes flashing mischief.
Tabitha hesitated.
"Here comes the waitress, it's now or never."
"Let's go!" she said grabbing her purse.
She hesitated again at his car door. The charcoal gray Honda Accord didn't look like a serial-killer-mobile. She gave Wes the once-over. He wore a pair of faded jeans and a collared shirt under a black leather jacket. His hair was the same color as the coat and had the same sort of shine. Now that he wasn't at work, it wasn't as coiffed and fell into his eyes and around his face. Her hands itched to push it back, but such an intimate touch wouldn't exactly be appropriate on a first date.
"Where are we going?" Tabitha asked.
He crossed his arms and studied her a moment. "There's a private concert in the park tonight...interested?"
"What kind of concert?"
"It'll be good, trust me."
Tabitha frowned. "You don't even know what kind of music I like, what makes you think I'd like this band?"
"They're good, if you like music, you'll like them."
"What's the name?" she asked as he opened the passenger door for her.
"Sickly Sweet," he said shutting the door.
Tabitha was immediately worried. Her taste in music was pretty tangential. She listened to every genre, except Polka. Her CD collection ranged from symphonies to present day; from Jimi Hendrix to Keyshia Cole. If she didn't like this band, she'd have to tell Wes and that meant no chance at a second date. If she even wanted a second date...
The ride was short, as the park wasn't far from downtown. They stopped just outside the entrance and bought hotdogs from a concession stand that was about to close. They walked along the path slowly, not really in a hurry. They made easy conversation and Tabitha thought that it had been a long time since she'd felt this comfortable with a guy.
The band was amazing. It was an eclectic mesh of styles; Hip-Hop with a Rock n' Roll chaser. The lead singer had dark features, and a good voice, but the other singer, a woman was incredible. She sang the chorus of four out of the nine songs they performed. During one song, the band dropped the beat and she sang a-capella. She had a voice that wouldn't quit, a cross between Mariah Carey's voice—back in the nineties—and a bit of Janis Joplin's heart wrenching melodies. It all depended on the tempo of the song. The instrumentalist, all males were easily just as talented as both singers and looked like they were actually enjoying themselves.
"That was awesome!" Tabitha said when they band walked off the rickety stage and started shaking hands with people in the crowd.
Wes just smiled.
"I can't believe there aren't more people here!" She glanced around at the thirty or so people around them.
"Wes, dude!" the lead singer said grasping Wes in a man-hug, "Glad you could make it. I thought you had a date!"
"He did," Tabitha said propping a fist on her hip. "He still does."
The singer's gaze turned to her and he smiled. Tabitha's breath hitched a little. He was beautiful...there was no other way to describe him. His hair was black, but short and spiked on top. His blue eyes were so pale; they were practically transparent in the moonlight. He had a silver lip ring in the corner of his bottom lip with a large ball closure. When he smiled the vertical dashes in his cheeks made him even more attractive...it was almost painful. "Feisty," he said, "I like you already."
"You don't even know me," Tabitha said rolling her eyes.
"I can fix that," he said, making the dashes deeper by smiling bigger. "I'm Clay Hanover."
"Tabitha Riley," she said extending her hand. "You were really great up there." She jabbed a finger toward the stage, now being dismantled.
