The Dinner

You soon find a nice but not too expensive looking Italian restaurant and pull in. As you park your phone rings, it was your mother.

"Mom's worried about us." You smirk. You shut off your phone, Elsie does the same as she gets out of the car. Offering her your arm you walk into the restaurant arm in arm. You could see your reflection in the glass of the door, you looked like quite a handsome young couple.

As you walk in the person at the front asks. "Do you have reservations?"

You look at each other, you hadn't been expecting the question. You answer. "Umm...sorry, no."

"Sorry, we are booked for the evening." The woman informs you.

"Oh, that's too bad." You say, disappointed. The pair of you turn to leave. You suddenly hear a bellowing voice behind you.

"Wait!" Turning back you see a huge bear of a man walking out from the back. Flour coated his thick hands. He is a balding man with gray black hair and he had a thick Italian accent. "You two." He points at you as he approaches, he towers over you both.

He has a warm grin across his face. "Ah, young love. I know it when I see it. For young love we always have a table."

He puts his arm around you, careful not to touch you with his flour coated hands though flour still gets on you, and takes you to the side. "Young man, is this your first date with this lovely young lady?"

Seeing an opportunity at a table you play along. You nod. "Yes sir."

His grin spreads even wider, you swear you could see a tear in the corner of his eye. "You don't have much money either, am I right?"

You squirm a bit. "Well, I mean I have some."

He gives you a wink. "Forty dollars and we'll look after you. Deal?"

"Deal." You answer. He holds out his hand and you fish out the money and hand it over. "Don't you worry about anything. Let's impress your young lady, hmmm?"

He turns to the nearby waitresses. "These two are my guests tonight. Bring them what they want. They can have the corner booth, they may want their...privacy." He winks at you once more. What an old romantic!

The waitresses give each other a knowing look. "You got it Sebastian."

"Thank you sir, thank you very much." You say. He waves you off as if it was nothing.

You are shown to the corner booth, it was indeed very private.

Elsie is having a hard time hiding her guilty smile. "They think we're out on a date!" She whispers.

You laugh. "I know! You'd think they'd notice the resemblance. Lucky break for us."

As you share a laugh your eyes lock across the table. Your smiles slowly fades as you are entranced by her deep beautiful brown eyes, she returns the intense gaze. The moment is broken as a waitress leans in to light your candle. Another brings a traditional antipasti appetizer platter and sets it between you. Taking your order they leave the two of you in peace.

You reach across and take Elsie's hand. "Hey, thanks for coming out with me."

She nods. "No, thank you. I don't do this enough, it's good for me to get away from the house."

Unconsciously you are rubbing her hand slightly in yours. "Yeah." You agree. "You know, until you get a boyfriend, maybe we could go out like this. Once in a while. You know, just to get out."

"Yeah." She says. She nibbles her lower lip a little as she continues her long soulful gaze. "That would be nice." You sit in silence for a time. The soft music, the other customers, everything, melts away into the background.

You finally blink and shake your head. "Oh, um, I guess we should taste some of this." You don't want to but you pull your hand back and serve you both out some of the thin cut meats and dressed vegetables. It was delicious.

The salad course follows then the main course then dessert. Everything was absolutely spectacular. Sebastian and his people go out of their way to make your evening absolutely perfect. You definitely get way more than your money's worth. The conversation is as easy and comfortable as ever, but also very different. You delve beyond general interests and the petty day to day of the family into deeper topics of hopes, dreams, and beliefs. You learn more about Elsie during these two hours than you had in the past two years. She was an amazing and intelligent girl. Any man would be so lucky to have her.

Numerous times you each go to say something but stop yourselves or get interrupted. You would both laugh at nothing in particular during these moments. There is a nervous energy between you.

Always, constantly, you keep getting caught in her eyes. She was just so damn lovely tonight. How you had never noticed what a stunning woman she is was baffling to you now. It was so obvious! You were definitely excited about eventually getting to 'round 3' with her, but that seemed just an afterthought now. She was exciting you in far deeper and more important ways.

Neither of you wanted the meal to end but knowing you couldn't stay all night you eventually say. "How about that movie?"

She smiles and dabs her lips with a napkin. Just this little moment is bewitching. She is delicate, lady like, in her movements.

As you leave you thank Sebastian and his staff one last time. He hugs you both in a big bear hug and kisses you each on the cheek. "Remember my young friends. Love is the most important thing in all the world. What is this life without love? Nothing. Seeing you two makes me feel young again." He grins. "Remember. Love. Only love. Nothing else matters."

With that he lets you go and heads back toward the kitchen. His words echo in your head. 'Nothing else matters.'