We drove down 105th and then made our way along the side streets until we came to a small restaurant in an old brownstone building, the storefront with a table in the window. It was quaint, all in red brick and black trim, and looked like a family business, white tablecloths and empty bottles of Chianti with candles lit in them.
The music was Italian and the smell inside was wonderful.
A waitress greeted us and pointed to the entire restaurant, which had only a few customers.
"Let's sit in the window," Luke said and so we sat at the tiny table, the candle lit between us, and examined the menu. The waitress took our drink order, and I turned down anything but ice water. Luke did the same.
I had to admit that my stomach was filled with butterflies because this felt like a real date. We didn’t have to come out for supper. He could have taken me home and gone his separate way, but he asked me to go to dinner with him.
That was kind of a date, right?
I checked over the menu and when the waitress took our order, I settled on some spaghetti with meatballs, which was the house specialty. Luke ordered the same and then when the waitress left, we turned to each other.
"So," Luke said and smiled at me, his blue eyes twinkling with humor. "How did I do as your fake boyfriend?"
"You were fabulous," I said, grinning back. "Can I use you anytime I need you to fend off my fellow students who can't find a clue?"
"Anytime," he said and took a sip of ice water. "I excel at empty meaningless relationships. Usually, there's lots of empty meaningless but very enjoyable sex involved, but I can do straight fake boyfriend if needed. However, I expect you to do the same for me, next weekend. Remember?"
"I remember. I'll be the very best fake girlfriend you ever had. I'll smile and gaze lovingly in your eyes, listen raptly to everything you say and I'll never disagree with anything."
"Oh, no," he said and mock-frowned. "You must disagree. Disagreements are key to a good fake relationship. Makes the fake sex spicier."
He grinned at that, and I couldn’t help but smile back. He was such a cute man, plus very handsome in a boyishly devilish way, with that tiny hint of evil in his eye. Mischievous, like he was holding back in order to pretend he was nice.
I wondered if he really was a bit kinky like he said when we first texted, and what that meant. It made me a little breathless to imagine what empty meaningless but very enjoyable sex would be like with him. I couldn’t help but think about riding him like he was a bucking bronco and squirmed a bit in my chair.
Down, girl…
I told myself that he was not for me. He was going to be sailing around the world for a year, and then wanted to go to frickin Mars or the Moon or something. He did not want to spend his time being married to me and living in Zurich or Copenhagen.
Still, I couldn’t help but imagine it. Maybe I could do meaningless sex. I'd done very bad sex. I'd done loveless sex. Maybe good but meaningless sex would be a whole lot better.
"So, about the weekend," I said, after our food was brought to us and we dug in. "What's expected of me? What will we be doing?"
"We'll be hanging out with the family at our beach house. It's right on the beach, so I intend to spend as much time as possible lounging around on beach chairs, drinking beer and catching the sun. We could surf. We could get some great fresh seafood. We'll have bonfires. We'll talk with those members of my family that I don't hate, like my sister."
I thought about his pregnant sister and her cheating husband. "It must be hard for you to be around Eric."
He took in a deep breath and shook his head. "You don't know how hard. I want to plough him every time I think about it but I don’t want to ruin her experience of childbirth and being a new mom."
"That might take a year, from what I hear."
He shrugged and twirled some pasta on his fork. "That's okay. She can live in ignorance for a while. I'll see what Eric does in the meantime."
"Will you tell her eventually?"
"What do you think I should do? You’re a woman. Would you want to know if your husband cheated on your when you were pregnant?"
"Oh, God, I don't know…" I took a drink of water and considered. My parents had such a great relationship. I couldn't imagine how my mom would have felt if she learned my dad cheated on her. "I'm not one to talk about relationships," I said and shrugged. "But I do think it's important to know the truth."
"I might wait until I think she's capable of dealing with it or until Eric convinces me he's repented. But if he doesn't, if I catch him straying again, I’ll bring the hammer down. It won't be pretty."
"You're close with your sister?" I asked but I already knew they were.
"Very close," he said and popped a meatball into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment. "It was hard when my adoptive parents moved us to separate schools. They thought it was bad for us to be too close. Like they were afraid we'd become incestuous but that was nuts. I think both of us were traumatized by it."
"It must have been hard. I can't imagine. My parents are still married and they've been together for thirty years. I'm sure they're still in love. They say they're each other's best friend. That's what I want in a relationship. In a marriage," I added.