A Summer to Remember

chapter 12





After Lily dropped me back off at my house, I had a few hours to spare before my date with Adrian. Perfect, that left me just enough time to get ready without having to rush. I was beginning to get a little nervous and the last thing I wanted to be worrying about during our date was how my hair and makeup looked.

Around six-thirty, I decided it was time to slip into my new dress. After slipping it on, I admired it in the mirror for a few minutes. It was gorgeous. Royal blue has always looked good on me. It’s sleeveless with a scoop neckline and the hem falls just above the knee. I loved the way it hugged my best features. The low cut back was to die for. I slipped on a pair of black stilettos and I was ready to go. I heard a knock on my bedroom door and then saw my mom crack it open.

“Adrian is here.”

“Okay. I just have to grab my bag.” I grabbed my black clutch off my vanity and went downstairs.

When I got downstairs, I was surprised to see Adrian sitting on the couch across from my dad and brother. Well, he didn’t look too nervous, so it must not be going too badly. He saw me enter from across the room. I tried not to blush when I noticed the look on his face. I thought his jaw was actually going to drop to the ground. My dad and brother both turned around and looked at me.

“Hey, how’s it going?” I asked.

“It’s going great! Adrian here was just telling us how he played football for Brant!” My dad was a huge football fan so that was definitely brownie points for him.

“Oh, is that so?” I raised my eyebrows. “Well, if you’re done interrogating him, I’d like to be on our way.”

“Of course, we don’t want to keep you guys.” My dad stood up and shook Adrian’s hand. “Nice to meet you. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of you.”

Did I just hear that right? I gave Adrian a shocked look. What the hell happened while I was getting ready? He couldn’t have been down here that long.

He came up beside me and I hooked my arm through his. We said our goodbyes to the family and walked out to the black truck in the driveway. It wasn’t a new truck but it was nice, you could tell he took good care of it. It was lifted so it was a little difficult to get into with high heels on. Adrian walked me around to the passenger side and held my hand so I could steady myself as I climbed in. As he walked back around to the driver’s side, I took the time to admire him. He wasn’t wearing a tight gray t-shirt like I had hoped for, but he still looked damn good in his button up and slacks.

“So what was that all about?” I asked as he got in and shut the door.

“What?” he asked with a smirk spread across his face.

“You know what! The ‘hopefully we’ll be seeing more of you’ stuff!” I’ve never seen my dad act like that with anyone I’ve brought to the house.”

“I told you. Parents love me.” He winked at me and I hit him playfully on the arm. “You look absolutely gorgeous, by the way.” I tried to play it off like I get compliments all the time, but I was flattered.

“Thank you. You look pretty good yourself.” He reached over and grabbed my hand. Just when I thought my nerves had settled, the minute he touched me I could feel them stirring up again. “So, where are you taking me?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Can you at least tell me how far away we are?” I ran through a list of all the nice places in town to eat. They’re all great places but I’ve been to almost all of them with Jason. Crap! Why was I thinking about Jason? Stop thinking about him!

“We’re about five minutes away.”

The next five minutes were quiet. Not the awkward kind of quiet, just the kind of quiet where we’re just enjoying each other’s presence. We pulled into the parking lot of one of the nicest and biggest hotels in town.

“We’re here.” He pulled up to the front door and got out while the valet came over and opened my door for me. Then it hit me where we were going to eat. A couple of months ago, a restaurant opened up on the top floor of the hotel. It was supposed to have one of the best views of the city in the whole town. I remember my dad was telling me he read in the local newspaper that this place was booked three months out. I don’t think I even knew anyone who’d eaten there yet.

We walked into the lobby of the hotel. I’d been here a few times before, we’d had a couple family members stay here. It looked a lot more elegant at night, though. We went to an elevator that was separate from the other elevators. Apparently they had a whole new elevator installed just for the restaurant.

“Are we going where I think we’re going?” Adrian pushed the button and I turned to admire the large chandelier in the middle of the room.

“If you think we’re going to the Rooftop Terrace, then yes.” The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside. He pushed the RT button.

“How did you even get us in? I heard the reservations are like three months out.” The corners of his mouth curled up into a smile. He could tell I was impressed.

“My uncle is the manager. I talked to him and he was able to fit us in.” The elevator doors opened and we stepped out. He whispered in my ear, “So are you surprised?” I couldn’t manage to get any words out so I just nodded my head up and down. I didn’t even know something this beautiful could exist in our little town.

The room was extravagant. We were surrounded by floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the entire city. The view was absolutely breathtaking. The lighting was dim and jazz music was playing from the overhead speakers. The ceiling was black and had small twinkle lights evenly spaced throughout the restaurant with a crystal chandelier above each table.

“May I help you?” a young blonde girl asked us. She was dressed in a black cocktail dress and black pumps. She must be the hostess.

“Yeah, I have a reservation under Adrian Louis.”

“Oh! Yes, of course! Follow me.” She took us away from the tables and down a small hall beside the elevators. “Your uncle told us you’d be coming tonight. One of our VIP guests called and cancelled at the last minute, so lucky for you! You get one of our VIP dining rooms.” We stopped in front of a door on the left as she scans some kind of card and pushed the door open for us. “Here you go.” We walked past her and into the room…both of us were in awe. “Enjoy!” She left the room and shut the door behind her.

“Wow, this is amazing!” I looked around the room and took in everything. There was a small round table with a half circle couch around it. It faced the window so we could admire the view while we ate. The ceiling was the same as the one in the main dining area. “Now I know what all the hype is about.”

“Yeah, this place is pretty crazy.” He looked around and admired the room.

“Is this your first time up here?” I walked up to the window to admire the view and Adrian followed.

“If you’re asking if this is where I take all my dates, no, you’re the first. I had no idea they even had these rooms.”

“Sure. I bet this was part of your plan the whole time!” I joked.

“Oh, believe me, if it was, I would take full credit for it. It was only my idea to come here. The rest of it is all thanks to Uncle Ted.”

There was a knock on the door and the waiter entered. “Hello and welcome to Rooftop Terrace. My name is Jeffrey and I will be your waiter for the night. If you would like to take a seat, I can go over our specials and take your drink orders.” We both sat down on the couch around the table.

The waiter handed us menus as we listened to the specials and Adrian ordered a bottle of wine. When the waiter left to get our drinks, Adrian and I discussed what we wanted to eat. After we were both decided, the waiter came back in to take our orders.

“You two just sit back and relax, your food will be out shortly. If you need any refills or anything, please feel free to push the button on the small remote in the middle of the table.”

“Thank you, Jeffrey,” Adrian said as the waiter walked out the door.

“This is really amazing, Adrian. Thank you for this.” I scooted closer to him and he put his arm around me.

“No, thank you for agreeing to come with me. I don’t think you know how amazing you are. Really.” I was going to open my mouth to argue with him on that, but I decided to keep my thoughts to myself and let us both enjoy our evening together.