“I suppose there is a reason for it,” she admitted. “Uh…it’s my birthday.”
“No way!” I exclaimed. “Then it’s incumbent upon me to buy you a couple more drinks.”
“I think I’ve had enough drinks for the night,” she insisted. “But thank you.”
I could barely hear her over the loud music.
Irritated to have to shout to be heard, I turned to her and leaned in. “Would you like to go for a walk with me?”
Her face lit up into a bright smile, and I felt myself go weak in the knees for a moment. I took her hand and placed it on my arm as we made our way out of the bar into the cold night air. We had walked only a short distance when I felt strangely uneasy. It was almost as though someone was watching us. I turned around and surveyed the line of trees in the distance, but it was too dark for me to see anything.
“Something wrong?” Natalie asked.
I turned back to her and saw that she had her arms wrapped around her body. “You’re cold,” I said, removing the jacket from my shoulders and placing it around hers.
“Now you’ll be cold,” she pointed out.
“I’m not the one in the strapless mini,” I said, giving her an appreciative smile.
She pulled my jacket close around her, and her dress disappeared from view. Despite being engulfed in my black jacket, she still looked amazing. “Missy picked it out for me,” she told me. “I didn’t think I could pull it off.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, why would I be?”
“Because you look like you were born to wear that dress,” I said sincerely.
She laughed. “Greenfield Lane is nice at this time of the night,” Natalie said.
I realized that we would be walking in the direction of the campus then and I wanted to avoid talking about the university. “It is,” I nodded. “But Prescott Lane leads you by the water fountain.”
“True,” Natalie nodded.
We turned towards Prescott Lane and started our slow walk. I could tell Natalie seemed a little nervous, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. This girl was every man’s fantasy. I would have thought she’d have the confidence that came from knowing she could get any man she wanted.
“So, what’s your number?” I asked.
She looked at me through the corner of her winged eyes. “Guess?”
I smiled. “Twenty-three, twenty-four?”
She shook her head. “Twenty-one.”
“No way, that’s a big one,” I said, realizing that she was almost definitely a student at the university. I also realized that I was unable to care about that fact at that moment.
“Yup.”
“And you’re spending it with me?” I teased.
“Maybe you’re my birthday present…”
Even as she said it, she blushed, and I couldn’t resist taking her hand. “In that case, I hope I don’t disappoint.”
I was distracted for a moment by a sound just behind us, and I turned again to see if there was someone walking along the same path.
“Chance?” Natalie said softly. “Is everything all right?”
“Uh…yeah,” I nodded, feeling slightly uneasy again. “I just thought I heard something.”