Chapter 7 - The Kiss

 TORI's POV

He took me to a restaurant in the Meatpacking district. I've never been here before considering my long residence in the big apple. Zach sure knew how to impress a girl, I give him that. Knowing he dated lots of girl, he sure knew the tricks.

The waitress started flirting with him before we've even been seated. Zach, on the other hand, was busy ordering. He sure knew the food here. I wondered if he had any idea that the waitress was flirting with him.

After he completed the orders, the waitress winked at him, but gave me a head-to-toe look. I then smiled in amusement.

"What's so funny this time?" Zach questioned.

"Nothing. I find it very funny." I answered straight away. He raised his brow at me, clearly wasn't satisfied with my answer. "I just find it hilarious that the waitress was hitting on you and you acted as if it was nothing. She even winked at you. If that is not funny enough, I don't know what is."

He looked surprised. "You're not bothered by it?"

"No. Vastly entertained? Yes."

He laughed. "You're unbelievable, Tori. Most girls hate it when Natalie does that." So the waitress has a name. I shrugged.

If this was another ploy to make me jealous, he was failing big time. "It's fine. I don't see any reason to act hysterical over that. After all, I'm the one seated across from you." I said, beaming.

"You're quite interesting, Tori. I'm not usually wrong. I guess dating you won't be one of those decisions I'll end up regretting," he said, grinning. My heart started to beat furiously. I looked away, feeling flushed. I wondered why I kept on having this feeling every time he says nice words to me. I didn't even like him. "Are you embarrassed?" he teased.

"Of course not!" I retorted. I forced myself to look at him but failed.

"Zach? It's you! You're still handsome as always." Just then, we heard someone call Zach's name. I looked up to see a very pretty girl standing beside him. She was tall and blonde and had the body of a supermodel. Was she one of Zach's ex-girlfriends? If she was, he was a fool to have played with this girl's heart. She was gorgeous!

"Stella? What are you doing here?" Zach asked, surprised.

"I was having lunch at that table, alone, care to join me? We have lots of catching up to do." She said excitedly, beaming at him. Great. Who would say no to that? Guess I'd have to eat here all by myself.

"Sorry, Stella. Maybe next time."

Wait, what?

That totally caught me off guard. Honestly, I wasn't expecting that response from him. Did he just turn her offer down? Shocking! "I'm here with my girl. By the way this is my girlfriend, Victoria Peige." He added.

I figured that was the first time Stella even realized I was there.

"You have a new girlfriend?" Stella asked rudely. "You've never introduced a girl before as your girlfriend." She stared at me while her right brow raised.

Okay. What was that all about?

"Hi," I greeted with a smile. She looked away and turned her attention back to Zach.

"Just promise me you'll call me soon, okay?" She leaned closer and gave him a peck on the cheek. She turned to me and nodded almost imperceptibly in my direction.

"Bye," I said with a weak smile.

"Seriously? After all that, you're still smiling?" Zach asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"Why? I thought you don't want a nagging girlfriend." I reminded him.

"Something's wrong with your sense of humor. I'm starting to think you really don't like me at all." Well, that made me nervous. Maybe I'd gone a bit overboard with the permissiveness. He might realize that I was just faking it.

And I wouldn't want him to think that way. I'd have to think fast to turn this around!

"Look, Zach, you turned her down and introduced me as your girlfriend, and that's enough assurance for me. Didn't you see how she looked at me when you said it?" I hope this excuse was enough to convince him.

There was a pause, which made me more nervous, and then finally the suspicious look on his face faded. "Fair enough. Maybe I'm just not used to that type of reaction."

"I told you I was different," I said, beaming at him happily. That was close!

Finally, our food arrived. I was happy because, aside from the fact that I was feeling hungry, this was the perfect opportunity to change the subject.

But then I realized that Zach had only ordered a garden salad for me. "Excuse me. I think there was a misunderstanding in here. It's not that I don't like this salad, trust me, it looks yum, but I prefer the steak and spaghetti in marinara sauce, please. Thank you very much." The waiter smiled and nodded.

When the he left, I noticed Zach was staring at me with a bemused look on his face. "You're ordering what?" he asked me.

"Steak and spaghetti. Why?"

"A girl ditching salad for steak and pasta? Aren't you watching your weight?"

I glared at him. Something about what he said made me feel angry. What an unbelievable guy!

"What's wrong with steak and pasta? I'm starving, Zach. It's way past lunchtime and I haven't had anything for breakfast or lunch. Why should I starve myself if I have money to buy decent food? And for your information, I'm not fat. I'm perfectly fine."

Zach stared at me for a moment before letting out a laugh that drew everyone's attention to our table.

"Stop laughing so loud! Everyone's staring." I shushed him, and he stopped after a moment.

He wiped the tears on his eyes and turned to me. "You are really interesting. You know that? You're actually fun to be with and... normal."

"And what normal supposed to be mean?" I asked irritably.

"You're not like the other girls I've dated. They starve themselves to death and keep complaining about how fat they are, despite me telling them that they're perfectly fine. They try to impress me with their petty talk and achievements. I hate those pretentious girls. But you're different.

You don't give a damn about what other people might think about you or your actions. I like that about you. I'm glad we had this date."

That declaration gave me pause. He liked me? Well, he didn't say it directly but he still said the word like, right?

He was smiling too, with no hint of the smugness or condescension I've started to expect from him. It was like he was a totally different person. Different from the smug guy I usually see at the cafeteria surrounded by girls and what I constantly hear from the rumors.

Maybe this was one of the so-called Anderson moves? I wasn't sure, but I should be cautious.

"What can I say, I'm normal." Those words didn't have any sense at all.

Zach and I chatted as we ate our lunch. Once we were done, he paid for our meal and escorted me back to his car, making sure to open the door for me. He was cocky, that was true, but he was showing that he could be a gentleman too.

"How was your day so far?" He asked while he started up the car.

"I'm full. Thanks. By the way, it was fun." I replied wholeheartedly.

"I had fun too. Although this should've been the first thing we did before you asked me to be your boyfriend, right?" He was back to teasing me.

I bit my lower lip, embarrassed by what he'd just said. "I-I know, okay? I didn't exactly do this the right way. But what's done is done."

He just laughed.

Talk about awkward. This was probably the first in the history of dating; a girl confessed to a guy before getting to know him. Totally embarrassing.

Anyway, the sooner we could be together, the better the plan would work.

We finally arrived at my apartment. He looked at me and leaned closer. "Thanks, Tori. I had a really nice time today. Let's do this again soon."

For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me and was relieved when he didn't.

"I-I really had fun too, Zach. Thanks a lot." On impulse, I leaned closer and kissed him on the cheek. The moment I did, I was shocked by my actions. I could see that he was surprised, too. I mustered up a smile and bid him goodbye before hurrying into my apartment building.

I tried to calm myself and reasoned out that it was just a kiss on the cheek. But we're talking about Zach here—his cocky and arrogant self might think that I am head-over-heels on him.

I was the first one who confessed to him, and now I initiated the kiss!

What's next, Victoria? What embarrassing act you plan to do next time?

---END OF CHAPTER SEVEN---