The Personal Shopper

Parker and I get to the apartment at the same time. He says he’s going to change quick and is back in my apartment before I even finished using the bathroom. He walks back in just wearing jeans and a hoodie. I take a look at his outfit and ask. “So just casual then?”

Parker winks at me. “Yeah, I figured you’ve had enough fancy dinner dates with all the usual douches you date.”

I just laugh. “You don’t even know who I’ve dated.”

He raises his eyebrows at me. “The hedge fund manager’s son?”

I open my mouth and stare back at him. “How did you know about Eric?”

He laughs. “Hey, just because I’m older than you, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to log in to all those social media accounts you stalked me on.”

I scoff. “Me? Sounds like you were the one stalking.”

He just smiles and bites his bottom lip. “Hurry up. Go get changed.”

I turn and head toward my room with a huge smile on my face. I don’t know why I care that he was checking up on me while he was gone, but it makes me feel all happy inside to know he was thinking about me just like I was thinking about him. Before I walk in my room, I turn back around. “So just like jeans and a hoodie like you?”

He smiles back. “No way. Something more easily removable. Wear your yoga pants. Panties are optional.”

I roll my eyes at him, but I do just that. I pair them with a very low cut tank with a zip up sweatshirt. Super bummish but still very sexy. I take a few minutes to touch up my makeup and do some personal grooming in case I don’t have time before anything goes down. I look myself over a couple of times and shake my hands at my sides, trying to shake off the nerves.

When I walk back out into my kitchen, Parker is sitting there eating a snack.

I wave my hand at him. “Go ahead and just help yourself

to my food.”

He grins at me with his mouth full of food. “Sorry. I didn’t know if you were going to take another 2 hours like last time.”

I roll my eyes but then grab his arm and pull him toward the door. “C’mon let’s go. I’m hungry too. Where’d you say we are going again?”

He reaches down and holds my hand. “I didn’t, but nice try.”

He pulls my hand up to his mouth and places a kiss there. I smile back at him. I stand on my tip toes and place a kiss on his lips then lean over to his ear. “Let’s get this over with so we can get to the good stuff.”

Parker pushes me back and makes an offended sound. “Going out with me is the good part.”

I laugh then start walking out. “You’re right. Let’s postpone that other stuff for a night when I don’t get to have so much fun going out with you.”

Parker grabs my elbow to stop me. “Whoa there. I didn’t say that.”

I grin back at him and run my finger up and down his chest. He looks down at my hand on his chest. “Please don’t tease me. I’ve already been losing my mind this whole week.”

I laugh. “Hey, I don’t usually sleep with a guy on the first date.”

He grins back at me. “We’re counting Sunday dinner as a date then.”

I laugh. “C’mon for real. I’m hungry.”

???

We are driving for about 15 minutes when I notice the area looks familiar. It looks like we are going somewhere near the pier. We used to all go to this little food shack on the water all the time in the summer. It kind of became a tradition after Parker dragged me there the first time.

It was a couple weeks after my mom died. I had been pretty down and hadn’t really left the house at all. My dad would make me go out to our pool and swim every few days since I basically was just laying around in my pajamas every day.

Parker was over with Doug and Becca for dinner one night when he said instead of ordering in we should go to this place he knew on the pier. We all drove down together. The little restaurant that’s more like a food truck on the pier was about a 10 minute walk from where you can park.

The fresh air and being surrounded by my family helped me feel better. We walked past all the little shops and could see the sun setting over the pier. It was exactly what I needed.