Trent pulled over to the curb right at eight o’clock the next evening. He had been nervous the entire time while he was getting ready. Before Madeline he didn’t have anyone to think of but himself and not that he was promiscuous because in fact he could count the number of sexual partners on one hand. It was the mere fact that he didn’t have to worry about bringing someone home even if he thought that the relationship wouldn’t advance longer than a few months. Now he had to think of Madeline and the example that he needed to set for her.
He had stared into the mirror checking his reflection. He had chosen dark blue jeans and a grey silk button up dress shirt. Madeline had walked in before the babysitter arrived and sat on his bed watching him with his final preparations.
“Uncle Trent, are you going out on a date?”
“Yeah Maddie, do you think I look okay?” Trent had asked.
“Yeah, I think it’s time that you find someone. You’re not getting any younger.” She said with a giggle.
Trent looked over at the eight year old and smiled at her sense of humor for a girl her age. He liked to think she got some of it from him. The two had always been close.
Trent opened the door to his SUV and put on his jacket to shield him from the cool winter air that had arrived with nightfall, and walked up the path that led to Jake’s apartment.
“Hi, you must be Trent,” a woman stated answering the door.
“Yes, is Jake here?”
“Yes he’s almost ready. Come on in. I’m Cassidy Franklin, Jake’s best friend and roommate.”
“Well nice to meet you,” Trent said extending his hand and shaking hers.
“Hey!” Jake said walking out of the hallway that Trent assumed led to his bedroom. “Don’t let Cassidy scare you.” He said smiling.
Trent smiled, “She didn’t. Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah let me grab my coat.”
Trent and Jake walked down the path and Trent reached for Jake’s hand leading him silently back to his SUV. Like a perfect gentleman Trent opened the passenger door for Jake.
“Thank you,” Jake said getting in the car. He had been on several first dates before but none had acted like a gentleman in the first five minutes, but then again in college most guys aren’t like that, and it isn’t until they graduate or reach their mid-twenties that they get the urge to settle down into something more permanent.
**
Jake sat in one of the nicest restaurants that he had ever been in. The atmosphere was romantic with silk curtains that surrounded booths to provide patrons with privacy and tea-light candles to provide a soft glow over the table.
“I hope this is okay and not too much for a first date,” Trent said looking over the table.
“It’s wonderful.” Jake said with smile.
Jake had a wonderful smile that could light up the room, and Trent was drawn in by his sincerity. “So Jake when you’re not working at the mall what do you do?”
“Well the mall job is just a seasonal job, but my passion is photography, and I had just finished an amazing internship, and I have a chance to get a full-time position but I won’t know anything until after the holidays.”
“Photography is so awesome. I never had the eye for it. I also seem to get my finger in the shot.” Trent said laughing. “So is that what you went to school for?”
“Yeah it was my major and I minored in journalism just in case I wanted something to fall back on. I graduate at the end of this week.”
“That’s great. Congratulations!” Trent said lifting his glass of wine toasting the news. “So how old are you?”
“Wow, no beating around the bush for you, is there?” Jake laughed.
“You don’t have to answer.” Trent said blushing.
“It’s okay,” Jake said reaching across the table to reassure him that he wasn’t offended. “I’m twenty-five. What about you?”
“I’ll be twenty-eight next week, but for now I’m twenty-seven.” Trent answered with a grin.
“So what do you do for a living?”
“I’m in advertising.”
“I thought you said you didn’t have an eye for photography.”
“I don’t,” he laughed. “I can see the image and tell the photographer what I’m looking for, but for me to try and get the shot…well I can’t do that.”
“You just need a good teacher.” Jake said with a grin.
“For the lovers on their first date a chocolate raspberry cheese cake for two,” the waiter said setting down a single plate with two forks and walking away before the two could object.
“Why don’t you have the first bite?” Trent said picking up the fork and putting a piece and feeding it to Jake. “Good?”
“Delicious.” Jake said licking his lips. “Your turn,” Jake said returning the gesture and feeding Trent.
Jake had never felt like this on a first date. It was only through the meal and he was already planning on seeing more of this man. Maybe there was such thing as love at first sight.
**
“This is crazy.” Jake said staring at Trent who was standing next to the carriage.
“Why is it crazy? What’s a more way to end a great evening then a carriage ride in downtown Austin looking at the Christmas lights? Plus it would give us time to talk without the rush of the crowds.” Trent said pulling Jake close when he saw the man shiver from a cold wind.
“You have hot chocolate in that carriage?” Jake asked with a grin.
“And a blanket,” Trent said holding up the thermos and blanket.
“Okay.” Jake agreed.
The busy streets of downtown Austin seemed to fade into the distance as the carriage made its way along the streets. The lights of the capitol shined behind the cast-ironed fence post. The two men sat under the blanket and sipped at the hot chocolate.
“So you seem to be a pretty amazing guy.” Jake stated.
“I do?”
“Well I guess it could be that it’s the first date and that the second date you turn into a pumpkin or something.”
“So you’re already planning for a second date?” Trent asked putting his arm over the man’s shoulder.
“Well if you continue to play your cards right,” Jake nudged with his shoulder. “I’m really glad I gave you my number.”
“Me too, I noticed you while Maddie and I were standing in line and my stomach did a flip.” Trent confessed.
Jake tilted his head and looked up into Trent’s eyes and leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. Jake was unsure how Trent would react by the public affection, but he shifted and pulled Jake in closer for a deeper kiss that seemed to last for hours, but was only mere minutes.
When Jake pulled away he leaned his head against Trent’s shoulder. He had always watched the romantic movies and always wished for a moment like this, and hoped that he would meet a guy as amazing as Trent seemed. He was afraid that was just a fairy tale and was unattainable, but this was his moment and he had to grasp it while he had the opportunity.
“So do you see Madeline a lot?” Jake asked staring out onto the street entering the historic part of downtown.
Trent knew the conversation would happen eventually, but wasn’t sure that it was a date conversation; however, Jake had asked and he knew he had to be honest. “Yeah, I see her everyday actually. She lives with me.”
Jake leaned up and turned to look Trent in the eyes, “Really? Where are her parents?”
Trent was silent at the question. It was a topic that was still hard to think about, but was reality. He knew that it was a conversation that he would have to have with anyone that he every wanted a lasting relationship.
“If it’s too personal you don’t have to tell me.”
Trent wanted to tell Jake. He knew that the two had just met and that this was their first date, but he felt a connection, and his body never reacted to someone just by looking at them. “Madeline came to live with me six-months ago…after her mother, my sister and her husband, were killed in a car accident.”