Dream Date (25 page)

Grecia stared at them with her fists shaking.

How dare you do this to me?

Ashton ran his hand down Judith’s back and rested on her buttocks. She didn’t seem fazed by the contact.

Deciding to watch no more, Grecia turned and dashed away. She was unable to hold back the tears that started running down her cheeks.

Grecia didn’t linger long enough to see Judith push Ashton again and slap him before straightening her clothes and leaving.

Nathan and Kayla arrived at Cayuga Place Apartments. They had just visited Campus Hill, but they were booked. Nathan walked over around the front of the car and opened Kayla’s door. She stepped out.

“Thanks.”

Hand in hand, the two of them walked towards the apartment complex. The building had lots of partitioned windows, and the outside walls had wood accents. In Nathan’s opinion, the design of the building was cool. A sign above the first floor read “URBAN OUTFITTERS.”

“I see why you picked this place,” Nathan said to Kayla, who arched her eyebrow. “You’ve got a clothing store right below.”

Kayla laughed, and led him through a door to the side of the building. They walked up to a receptionist.

“How may I help you?” the woman asked.

“We’re looking to rent an apartment for two,” Kayla said, looking at Nathan. The woman looked at their hands, which they were still holding, and smiled.

“Okay. Have you completed the rental application?”

“Yes,” Kayla replied. She and Nathan had done that last Sunday. Cayuga Place had certain requirements for its tenants, including financial stability. Luckily, Kayla had plenty of money thanks to her books, and stellar credit at such a young age. Nathan wasn’t as well-off, but he was financially sound and had good credit.

“Names?”

Kayla and Nathan gave the woman their names. She checked them on her computer. When she verified the information, she clicked and typed some more, and then she looked at them.

“Right now, we have no two-bedroom apartments free. However, there are two single-person apartments side by side on the fourth floor. Is that okay to you?”

Nathan and Kayla looked at each other.

“Yes,” he said.

“We’d like to see the rooms first.”

The woman nodded.

“Very well.” She waved to a man who was standing next to the elevator, who walked up to them.

“These customers want to see their rooms on the fourth floor,” said the receptionist, giving the guy their room numbers and the keys. The man nodded, and he motioned for Kayla and Nathan to follow him.

It was a different atmosphere when they emerged into the fourth floor. The place felt cozy and inviting, and there was no sign that any businesses operated in the first floor below. The man turned left, walking past a couple of doors before turning right into a longer hallway. Kayla and Nathan followed him. The three of them stopped halfway down. The man inserted a key into the door and opened it, standing aside to let them pass.

Nathan let Kayla walk in first. She surveyed the room, checking what it had.

“Kitchen,” Kayla said to herself, walking up to and examining it. She then walked farther into the room. There was a large sofa next to a small one, facing a TV. In the middle was a simple coffee table. To the right of the TV was a window divided vertically in thirds, which took up its entire wall. Behind the large sofa was a door that led to the bedroom. Nathan followed Kayla inside.

A closet was to their right when they entered. The bed was right in front of them. It was neatly made with plain, gender-neutral covers. Next to the closet was a door that obviously led to the bathroom. Kayla checked it by herself, and then came back out with a smile on her face.

“It’s got a tub,” she whispered to Nathan, who raised his eyebrow. He could tell the kind of ideas Kayla was getting.

Nathan and Kayla then checked the other room, which was identical except that it was flipped like a mirror reflection. Nathan chose to keep that room.

“We’ll take them,” Kayla said to the man. “Only, we’ll have to move in later, if that’s convenient to you. Could you hold on to these for us?”

The man shot Kayla a serious face and shook his head.

“All right, we’ll reserve them now.”

After making the payment and obtaining their keys, Kayla and Nathan walked back to the latter’s car.

“It’s worth paying for those rooms now,” said the former once Nathan got into his seat. “The place has this air of exclusivity and refinement.”

I wonder why Amanda didn’t pick that place.

Nathan didn’t even know where Amanda lived, but Cayuga Place seemed like one of the most—if not
the
most—upscale apartment building in Ithaca. A perfect fit for someone like her.

“Did you like the rooms?” Kayla asked him as he drove back to Cornell.

“Yes, baby. Too bad we couldn’t get a room to ourselves, but at least we’re right next to each other.”

“You know, I’m having fantasies about the tub.”

Nathan smiled wryly. Dating a romance author came with its perks. One of them was her imagination. Kayla wasn’t reluctant to try new stuff.

“Now you’re tempting me.”

Kayla giggled.

“If you ask, we could move ASAP. Who cares that our dorm privileges won’t be dropped until next week?”

“Poor Ashton and Grecia, they’ll be all alone.”

Kayla rolled her eyes.

“
Poor
. Knowing them, I would bet they’re waiting to move together the moment we leave.”

“Imagine what Ashton could do with twenty-four hours of access to a gorgeous woman.”

“She isn’t just a gorgeous woman. Grecia’s the one that I hope he loves.”

“Has she spoken to you lately?”

“Yes. She’s supposed to surprise Ashton today.”

“Hmm. Maybe I’ll surprise
you
.”

Kayla looked at him.

“What do you have in mind?”

“I don’t know. You’re the one with the best ideas. What do you suggest?”

Nathan stopped at a red light while Kayla thought.

“Cosplay,” she said, grinning.

Nathan tried to keep from staring at Kayla the rest of the way back to campus. He was already imagining her in a Catwoman costume. She would pull of the look.

When they entered campus grounds, Nathan’s thoughts took a different turn. He remembered Amanda, and couldn’t help himself what she would look like if she cosplayed. Maybe Princess Zelda or a French maid.

Whoa, whoa. You can’t be having these thoughts with Kayla here.

Nathan looked over at Kayla, who was oblivious to what was going on in his head.

Dating Kayla’s really rubbing off on me. A year ago, I wouldn’t be having these crazy ideas.

When Nathan entered his dorm, he spotted a glum-looking Ashton sprawled on the sofa. The TV was on.

“Hey, bro,” said Nathan. Ashton didn’t look up.

“Hey.”

Nathan curved his eyebrow, but said nothing. He wondered if anything had happened between Ashton and Grecia. Then he entered his room.

Opening his backpack, Nathan pulled out his tablet and powered it on. After logging in, he fired up his Web browser and surfed to Amanda’s Tumblr. He had the site bookmarked.

There were hardly any new photos since the last time Nathan had seen the blog. And it had been two weeks ago. Amanda wore more clothes now, as she was modeling fall and winter apparel, but she was still to die for.

Nathan wondered if he was missing something in his life. He was twenty-two. That sounded young, but Nathan already wanted a steady girlfriend, a true love. He had plans to marry between twenty-five and thirty. He was only three years away from that.

Leaving the Tumblr blog open in a tab, Nathan opened another one and went to his search engine. He searched for Amanda Tilley, adding “Tumblr” to the end of the search string. Nathan wanted to know if there were any fan blogs dedicated to Amanda.

Sure enough, there were a couple of fan blogs. Nathan clicked on the first. It had a lot of photos, but the blog had last been active eight months ago. Nathan left it open and browsed to the other blog in a new tab. That one was still active, though it reposted some old photos. Nathan added “Archive” to the end of the URL address and scrolled through all the photos.

Do I honestly think I stand a chance at a happy life
without
Amanda in it?

Nathan ran his hand through his hair, thinking about what he should do. He reminisced about high school, and of the first day he saw Amanda. Nathan remembered that vividly. No one forgot the first time ever they saw the most beautiful woman in the world.

What do I do? Can I move in with Kayla knowing that I don’t love her the way I should? I wish I could.

Nathan saw a particular photo of Amanda and blew it up to take the full size of his screen. Someone had taken it at a beach. The photo had been shot from bird’s eye view, looking down at Amanda. Her body spanned almost the entire length of the shot. Amanda was looking up at the lens with her arms on the ground above her head. She was wearing a cerulean blue bikini that brought out the color of her eyes, and she appeared to have come out of the water recently. Amanda looked so dazzling with her hair and her body damp like that.

Nathan saved that photo and then scrolled to another one. In it, the camera had caught Amanda in midair as she jumped somewhere in a city. She was fully clothed, but her attire was colorful. Amanda’s hair was stylishly disheveled, and her mouth was open as if she were whooping. Her eyes definitely suggested she was happy.

As Nathan looked at Amanda’s beautiful, angelic face, he came to the realization that it was
her
he couldn’t live without. It was Amanda whom he still loved with every cell in his body. He wasn’t doing Kayla any good by still being with her.

Amanda was brought back into my life for a reason. We were meant to be together, no matter how difficult the journey is. Even with such overwhelming odds, I have to take this second chance.

Nathan thought about how he was going to tell Kayla that he wouldn’t be living with her after all. She was probably going to be heartbroken, but Nathan hoped she would understand.

There was one person that could help him: Claire. She would be able to tell him what to do.

Amanda had lunch in her dorm with Judith the next morning. The former didn’t want to go to any restaurant and risk Nathan seeing her. It was better not to be with him. He would be in too much danger.

After finishing, Amanda was the first to get to the college campus. Judith had gone back to her dorm to retrieve her bag. After Kellan opened her car door, Amanda stepped out after thanking him. Her intention was to go and wait outside her classroom until the instructor got there. Amanda texted Emmy to let her know where she would be.

Just as she walked past a row of cars, Amanda found herself almost walking into a man in a suit. She stopped herself in time.

“Sorry, sir. I didn’t…” Amanda said before the man turned to look at her. She froze.