"Must you keep reminding me
Of the lips I long to kiss
And the love I miss since he went away.
Night and day they play.
But, broken hearted melody
That he used to sing to me
When our love was young and bright
As he held me tight;
Suddenly I found: I was out of bound."
- Sarah Vaughan

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"I was just wondering if you'd like to go out for dinner with me tonight." April's palms started becoming sweaty as the words she heard left his mouth. She wanted to say something but it seemed like no words could come out. Do I tell him I'll be ready? Do I make an excuse as to why I cannot go?

"I- Sure, that will be great, I'll see you soon." stupid. April mentally slapped her own forehead. She couldn't help but wonder why couldn't se simply say no.

"Perfect, just send me your address and I'll pick you up at 7 pm, I promise we'll have a good time." with that, all April could hear was a beeping sound coming from her phone, meaning the call had ended. Sigh. What am I gonna do now?

In desperation she threw myself back onto the mattress off her bed, staring at the ceiling as the thoughts in her head began getting louder and louder. She wondered why did it have to be like this? Why couldn't she simply just say yes and be happy about it or just say no and not regret it.

"Everything okay?" April heard some footsteps go into her room and saw her best friend standing at the door, a concerned look on her face.

"Apparently, I have a date tonight." April sighed one more time squinting my eyes, just wanting to bury herself right here, right now. Suddenly a loud gasp was heard, then the excited girl jumped into her bed shaking her furiously.

"You need to get ready!" April didn't even have the opportunity to say any other word when she was being dragged into her bedroom and sat at Holly's vanity, where a bunch of makeup sat. "Just stay still and no one will get hurt okay." Sure. April closed her eyes and all she could feel were the texture of brushes and sponges going all over her face.

April loved wearing makeup, but she was not used to wearing a lot since she never put too much effort into it, but still everytime she wore it she felt so beautiful as she looked at herself in the mirror. And she saw the look on Holly's eyes, like she was sending her daughter to prom or something, she could not say anything to her, and just like that she was ready for the date.

After having her makeup done, April borrowed one of Holly's dresses, and after being all dressed up she slowly started feeling excited about this date.  The thoughts of something going wrong dissipated and the nerves and excitement were getting bigger.

It was finally 7 pm when April heard a knock at the door. She ran twords the door nervously and opened it, the first thing she saw was a small bouquet of different types of flowers. "These are for you." she looked up at his eyes and saw a small shimmer in them, and a small smile forming, trying to hide her blush was useless.

"Thanks Andrew, should we go now?" she closed the door behind not before mumbling to Holly 'wish me luck' earning a bunch of fangirl gestures from her best friend

The couple walked down from the apartment complex and made their way to his car. The atmosphere was quiet, like the both were careful with what they would say around each other. April walked towards the passenger's seat and he managed to get there first opening the door for her. How cheesy. Her heart slowly started beating faster.

"Where are we going?" April glanced to her side curiously as she had no idea where he was taking her.

"Be patient, I promise you'll love it." April giggled softly covering her cheeks making sure he wouldn't see how red they were. Curiosity was eating her alive, but soon enough it would all fade away.

April stared out the window as Andrew  drove towards wherever was the place. Driving by a few streets, she could see some couples walking together holding hands, and she couldn't help but think, could that really be Andrew and her? The way things were going made her wonder if they were always meant to be together? They say if something is yours and it leaves, it will come back, but if it doesn't then it never was.

The two finally arrived to what it seemed like an Italian restaurant, the outside decoration seemed very dainty and elegant so she was immediately drawn to it.

They were greeted by one of the waiters which led them to a table with had a reservation under the name Andrew Finney and sat at the table.

"I don't need to tell you this, but you look absolutely stunning." April was definitely caught off guard by the sudden compliment. She looked at his expression and it was completely different from before, it was still that smile, but bigger and his eyes seemed darker.

"Thank you, you're not to bad yourself." she gave the compliment back. It was was she was supposed to do, or so she thought.

They were given the menus and she ordered a shrimp pasta primavera along with some red wine, and while  waiting they engaged in some small talk.

"I'm happy everything is going good at the Cafe. Managing a business is not for everyone so I'm very surprised, but congratulations. You absolutely deserve the success." And he was right, it was definitely been a hard task for April, but either way, she felt very happy of the response they have been getting. It also made her heart flutter how he seemed so interested in the cafe's success, there was something that seemed off to April, but she decided to ignore it.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it. And I have to say you have great taste for restaurants, this place is absolutely beautiful." April couldn't stop looking around, every piece of furniture, decoration, paint, flooring, ceiling, was planned with so much detail and it was truly stunning.

" Well we're both interior designers so I could not just take you anywhere." They both laughed and kept chatting until their food was brought up,  April  didn't even want to bite into it from how good it looked But after taking the first bite, all she felt was pure pleasure, definitely one of the best pastas she had ever tried.

The both ate or dinner, sharing some stories, laughing together and drinking some wine. But for some reason the mood was changed in a second.

"So, April I'm just going to say this. I really don't want to hide anything from you, and I just want to be completely honest with you." What is he going to say? "I really like you, I never once stopped thinking about you, and I regretted every single moment that we could not even be together, I really want to have that opportunity, I don't care if you don't love me, I will make sure you do, but I just want to be with you, please."

That's when reality hit me.

April could see the look on his eyes, he was practically begging, his lower lip was slightly trembling and it made her realize how messed up it would be if she took advantage of that. Even if she couldn't deny there were still some feelings lingering around, it didn't feel right.

There were a couple minutes of silence, where she was just left speechless. So many words wanted to leave her mouth but nothing came out, everything felt like it was spinning and her heart was beating too fast.

"I- Andrew, I- don't know... What happened in the past really hurt me, you just left without even telling me anything!" April couldn't even dare to look into his eyes. She could already feel her vision becoming blurry from the tears forming in them. She clenched her fists. Be strong April, stop crying.

"I know April! And trust me I regret it! How many times will I have to say it, I promise I'll prove to you it'll be worth the try, hm? I'm never leaving you again, ever." the last word came out as a breathless sigh, making her look up at him, seeing that same look he gave her years ago.

The silence was eating her alive, she knew she had to give an answer but no words seemed right." I... I'll have to think about it, Andrew. " With that, April grabbed her purse and made her way out of the restaurants.

April walked towards the nearest station, trying to keep her tears from falling, but it got to a point where her vision was so blurry, she couldn't even take another step.

"April?" she heard a masculine voice approaching towards me. The voice was quiet, almost careful as if she was a fragile vase about to break. She still could not look up to see who the person was. Is it Andrew? She couldn't believe he had actually followed her.

"April are you okay?" there it was. That voice again. April quickly wiped the tears before they rolled all the way down and looked up at the man standing infront of her.

"Eli? What are you doing here?" fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She started to panic, her cheeks flushing from the embarrassment of this man she just met seeing her like this.

"I was just going back home after jogging for a little bit, I live nearby." There was a small pause between his sentences. April looked into his eyes and tried to read his expression, she couldn't exactly tell what was going on through his head, all she could  think is for a way to get homr. "Want to go for a drink?" his expression changed within a few seconds from serious to a warm smile. April felt thankful when he did not ask any more questions.

"Um. Sure, let's go do you know any good places around?" Why is it so hard saying no?

"Just follow me." a smirk appeared on his face as he turned around and began walking April following right behind.

After finally catching up to his large steps they finally made their way into a restaurant which seemed a bit small, but had a really cozy vibe.

"So, do you live around here? Or were you, out and about?" he made emphasis on the last words trying to imply something, which April was not confirming or denying.

"I was out with some friends, but I wasn't feeling to well so I just decided to go home."  She knew she had just lied right to his face but there was no way she was telling this person she barely knew what just happened at the date.

"Sure.. Okay, so you were not just on a date with some weirdo and had to make-up an excuse to leave?" Wait what?

"w-why would you even say that?" April knew he was just trying to be humorous, but for some reason the thought of him referring to Andrew as a weirdo made her defensive. He was anything but that.

"Woah, calm down, I was just messing with you. But by your reaction, I guess you did you go on a date with someone and it didn't go too well. Sorry about that." he started laughing loudly leaving her feeling stupid.

"Hey don't feel bad, that can happen to anyone." Why did it seem like he's reading her mind?

"Would you stop that, it's weird." April laughed nervously, but in reality it made her feel seen, and not in a good way.

"What are you talking about? You're just very expressive with your face. There's nothing wrong with expressing freely what you feel. " he finished giving me a soft reassuring smile.

If only I actually knew what I am feeling.

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EDITED

Well, that date went pretty well haha.

For now please give this chapter lots of looove