I sighed and fell back onto my pillows. “Sure, he was into me, but he clearly didn’t know who I was. He didn’t recognize me as one of his students.”
“Well, can you blame him?” Missy asked. “I barely recognized you last night, and we’ve been best friends for four years. That was the whole point of your makeover.”
“I know,” I nodded. “And I was really into my ‘mask,’ except…”
“Except what?”
“Well, I kind of wanted him to be interested in me,” I admitted. “Not just my mask.”
“Your mask is you, Nat,” Missy insisted gently. “That’s what you don’t realize. It’s part of you – it’s the part you’ve neglected all this time.”
“Yeah, but…”
“No, trust me,” Missy interrupted. “It’s not as though you transformed into a different person. It’s not like we changed your face or your hair color; we just highlighted your beauty – your natural beauty.”
I smiled. “I suppose the fact that he didn’t know who I really was made it easier for me to be around him,” I conceded. “I might have been too nervous if not for that fact. I have to admit; it was hard to look him in the eye. He was just so…”
“Delicious?”
“Handsome,” I said.
“What was he like?”
“He was amazing,” I said. “He was charming and funny and confident. There’s something so very attractive about a man who’s so self-assured. He approached me almost immediately, and he complimented me—”
“What did he say?” Missy asked eagerly.
I imagined the moment he had looked at me. His hazel eyes were on fire, and there were tiny diamond flecks dancing across them.
“He told me I was stunning.”
“Damn,” Missy said dreamily. “I can’t remember ever getting a compliment like that one. Usually, college boys usually go with ‘you’re hot’ or ‘you’re fine’ or some derivative of the same.”
“Well, he’s no college boy,” I pointed out.
“Lucky bitch,” she said playfully. “Go on.”
“We just started talking about stuff,” I said, with a shrug. “I can’t quite remember what… All I remember was that it was easy to talk to him. He was the one making the conversation. I’ll admit, I wasn’t helping very much, but he took the initiative.”
“Another good sign.”
“Then he asked if I wanted to take a walk with him, and we walked towards the fountain on Prescott Lane.”
“The fountain, huh?” Missy said, raising her eyebrows. “What a perfectly romantic spot.”
I smiled. “We did talk a little about our families,” I said. “I told him about my parents, and he mentioned he had a sister and a nephew.”
“Did he share anything personal with you?” she asked eagerly.
“A little,” I admitted. “And, I think he was a little surprised by that. I don’t think he opens up very often.”
“No, he doesn’t seem the type,” she nodded.
“Um…he did seem a little distracted though.”
“Distracted?”
“Yeah, he kept looking behind him as though he were hearing things,” I said.