Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
After our late lunch, he dropped me off at my house to clean up some more. When he came to pick me up, I was in some casual slacks and a green shirt. I was surprised when he showed up in a suit with a tie “Wow, don’t we look nice.” I commented making him blush “Aww…are we blushing?” I teased.
“Well, come on.” He waved me over to the door.
“Wait, I’ve got to change. I can’t wear this, we’ve got to match.” He rolled his eyes as I laughed “Give me a minute, I’ll just put on a dress.”
“You look beautiful in anything!” He yelled down the hall where my room was.
I quickly slipped into a royal blue dress that ended below the knee. It was something I bought when I was on a shopping for clothes and found it on sale. I thought I would never have the chance to wear it but there I was putting it on for the first time. I grabbed my black purse and rushed outside “Okay, we can go now.”
“Wait.” He said calmly. I stood still as he looked at me over and over “Come over here.” He waved to me. I looked down at the dress and behind me, wondering what was wrong. “New?”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“The price tag is still on here.” He pushed my arm aside and ripped the tag from the right side of my dress. “Great, now you look perfect.” He stood back and looked at me with an earnest smile “I’m so lucky.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the comment. He always had a way with words making it appear that we were a couple, yet when he was in front of people, he was as respectful as can be. I often admire that about him. “Come on. Our food is getting cold.” I teased. We drove to the restaurant and when we reached the parking lot, he again rushed out the door to open my car door. I smiled wondering if he would always be that way? “Thank you.” I smiled politely as he put out his arm and I linked it with mine as we walked into the restaurant. “I feel like I’m at prom…” I said silently.
“Really? But you didn’t have a handsome date like me at the prom.” He said it so casually.
“No, unfortunately. But what I meant was that I never get to dress up and go out to a nice place. The last time was at my Prom.” I sighed, just thinking about it made my heart ache.
“Well, we’ll change that too. I’ll make sure we go to a nice place every month.” He nodded firmly as he walked up to the host “Reservations for two. Cheung.”
The host was polite as can be as she showed us to a window booth. The lights were dimmed inside the restaurant and there were white candles in the center of every table. It was more of a romantic theme. I looked around after we ordered and noticed that there was a dance floor in the middle of the large restaurant. “Look at that.” I pointed to the band preparing to play music.
He smiled at me without looking at the band “We’ll get our turn.” He said shortly. He knew about my prom and the fact that I was about to dance with Lance but never got the chance. “You know, I’m not as perfect as you think I am.” He said with dark eyes.
I laughed “Oh please, there is no guy that can come close to how perfect you really are.” I rolled my eyes, thinking that he was trying to get me to feed his ego.
“No, I’m actually, very selfish.” He reasoned. I shook my head and he continued to explain “I knew you never got a chance to dance with him. So I took you here, that way I can get the first dance from the beautiful Niki. See how selfish that was?” He let out a sigh and sat back in the booth.
I laughed at his attempt to make himself sound bad “Oh please! Hey…” I suddenly remembered at the beach “Was that why you looked so upset at the beach? You were feeling guilty about stealing my first dance?”
He looked around cautiously “Yes..” he whispered to me. We had a nice dinner together and he ordered desert, crème brulee. It was my favorite Italian desert. The soft music played in the background making everyone want to dance. I saw a few couples dancing on the floor. “Shall we, my dear?” He stood up and placed a hand out in front of me while the other hand settled behind his back.
“It would be my pleasure.” I acted like a lady as I let him lead me to the floor and we swayed to music. “You’re not bad.” I commented.
“I’m good at everything.” He winked at me with a smile.
“You’ve got a huge ego, you know that?” I teased.
He laughed “I’m only that way with you.”
I nodded “I know.” Suddenly, my heart stopped beating. My face felt cold and I stopped dancing. I saw him. Lance was there with a group of people. Their table was far but I could never forget that face.
“What’s wrong, Niki?” He instantly noticed my pale face. He followed my gaze to the table with the large group. “Is he here?” I nodded slowly. “Well, I think it’s God’s way of saying it’s time to tell him. Go over there. You have to say hi, at least.” He urged.
“I can’t…” I let fear and nervousness take over. “What am I going to say?”
“Niki, don’t do this, you’ve waited five years for this day, don’t you dare let it go like this.” He scolded lightly.
I looked up at him with a scared expression “What if I make a fool out of myself? What if he turns me down? What if he doesn’t remember me? What if he doesn’t care?”
Neil shook his head and grabbed a hold of my shoulders “Niki, listen to me. You have to do this or it will bother you for the rest of your life. You owe it to yourself, to me and him to be honest with your feelings. I will be here if you need me. Go on.” He practically pushed me towards the table.
I knew he was right, but it was all so sudden. How could I do it without being prepared? I turned around to look at Neil and he waved his hand for me to go on. I walked awkwardly to the table with the group of people that looked like they were having too much fun. I didn’t have to say much because when I was within eye distance, Lance had caught me coming. His face brightened “Niki!” He exclaimed as he waved to me.
I smiled and nodded at the people, who I didn’t not recognize. They must have been his co-workers. “Hi Lance.” I said softly.
“Oh, this is the Niki?” I heard one guy say.
“Wow, we’ve heard so much about you!” Another girl said.
I smiled but wondered what he could have possibly told them about me? “Excuse me guys, I’ve got to talk to my girl.” Lance said with a huge grin as he got up and embraced me so tightly. I was a bit shy about the situation, maybe because I knew Neil was there? “How have you been?” he asked into my hair as he rocked me back and forth. I didn’t remember how handsome he was until he pulled away. “Let’s go to the patio.” He took my hand and led me out to the patio where little fireplaces were set up for the guests who wanted a drink and talk.
There was no one outside and a waiter came by to start a fire for us. “I’ve been good.” I answered after the waiter left. “How about yourself? Are they your coworkers?”
He nodded “Yes.” He smiled never keeping his eyes off of me. “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.”
I laughed “I was thinking that about you too.”
“I’m beautiful?” he teased.
I shook my head “You know I mean handsome.”
He took my hand in his “I missed you Niki.” He said solemnly and I knew he was serious. My heart was beating so fast as I knew I had to say what I’ve been dreading. “Life has been a bit slow without you.” He was honest with his words and it left me feeling almost uncomfortable.
“I want to tell you something.” I said after a moment of silence.
He nodded with his eyebrows raised “Sure. Anything.”
“I know it doesn’t make any difference now. Our lives are so different, you like different things and I like different things. But it doesn’t change my feelings for you.” He tilted his head with a serious expression “I had the biggest crush on you since High School when we started talking during our Senior year. I know you only see me as a friend and maybe as sister but this secret has been eating me away for years.” By this time I couldn’t even look at him in the eye, it was unlike me to pour my feelings out “This might sound strange, but I still have dreams about you and it’s nothing bad really…it’s just that I still think about you and wondered if you ever….well…um…like me…cause you know sometimes people are so nice to others that they take it the wrong way…I always wondered—”
I was cut off when he leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. I let him kiss me but I didn’t return the kiss. After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled away “I’ve been waiting five years to do that.” He whispered next to my cheek.
“Me too.” I said softly, trying to catch my breath.
He smiled at me and started to lean in for another kiss when I turned my face and he kissed my cheek instead “What’s wrong?”
I didn’t want to tell him that it felt strange “Nothing, I just want to hear more about what happened in the past five years that’s all.” I said casually, hoping he won’t notice that I was not feeling myself.
He chuckled and moved his chair closer to mine as he put his arms around me “Well, I went to school and I’ve finally finished it last year. I’m working at an architectural company that pays me more than I deserve.” I smiled as I thought about how modest he was “My co-workers are fun, they are such great friends. I tell them about you and they always urged me to call you and tell you what I felt. To be honest, I’ve liked for so long but I never had the courage to tell you. Girls think guys just have it so easy, see a pretty girl, ask her out, she says yes and they’re dating. Not in the real world.” He sighed “I was the shyer guy, believe it or not. I joined all the sports just to be more open with everyone. Still it didn’t help when it came to girls. You were always so sweet to me, but then again, you were sweet to everyone. I never thought it was possible that you would ever like me so I always said you were a good friend or treated you like a little sister. I did give you a more special treatment.”
I shook my head at the irony behind it all “I think we were too worried about losing each other as a friend that we didn’t dare step over the line of possibly dating. Therefore we lost five years from that.” But I thought about if it didn’t happen, I would have never met Neil.
“So what did you do?” he was interested in hearing about what I wanted to say.
“I’m a psychology major.” He raised his eyebrows in shock “Yeah, I know, I didn’t learn much about it. You know I hate any kind of science.” He nodded with a laugh “Anyways, I met a friend, he’s a guy in one of my classes. It’s sad cause he’s the only friend I ever made in college. People were just too involved with their school, they had no time to care about this quiet girl.”
“What’s his name?”
“Neil Cheung. He’s so funny, always making me laugh and well today is his birthday and he took me here for dinner and when I saw you, he made me go over to say hi to you.” I explained quickly.
“Wow, he sounds like a great guy. Can I meet him?”
I nodded “Sure.” Excited that Lance was okay with meeting Neil, I led him to our table only to find it empty. “I wonder where he went?” I said to myself.
The waiter saw us and walked over “Oh, Mr. Cheung left earlier and he said to tell you that he’ll talk to you later and for you to have fun.”
I was disappointed but Lance tried to cheer me up. “Oh well, I’m sure we’ll get our chance one day. Come on, I’ll introduce you to my co-workers.” He put his arms around my waist and walked me over to the group. They were very friendly and warm people and I was grateful that they tried to let me fit in. But I still felt awkward, like I didn’t belong. If it wasn’t for Lance’s presence I wouldn’t know what to do.