Blessed by Night

341  This Isn’t a Date

- Four Days Later…

If there was one thing Celeste didn't know if she would ever get used to, it was the buzzing of New York.

It didn't seem to matter what time of day it was, there always seemed to be a natural energy to the streets that was dangerously infectious.

If this was the so called 'big city living' that she had always heard about, she could understand why everyone was such a fan.

Celeste paid the cab driver and then took a deep breath before heading towards the man waiting for her.

"Wow… You look amazing..!"

Celeste smiled politely. "Thank you, Joe. I wasn't sure if this old dress of mine would even still fit.."

The man waiting outside for her was a decidedly neat, clean-cut and objectively handsome individual.

Joseph Kent is a colleague of Celeste and a fellow member of nightfall. He is warmly referred to as 'Superman' by his co-workers due to his likeable personality and resemblance to a certain comic book character.

Though he does not have the glasses to match.

"Is everyone else already inside?" She asked.

"Should be, since the group does take these welcoming parties pretty seriously."

Celeste almost felt nervous. It had been a long time since she actually got to do something normal like a group dinner.

Granted this steakhouse was a lot more fancy than she was expecting… but it would still be fun. And it would help take her mind off of the fact that she was going home to an empty apartment.

It's funny, after living at the nightfall base for over a year, she had come to rely on that feeling of community more than she initially realized.

The two of them entered the restaurant together and endured a few minute wait.

They made polite small talk about the weather, what it meant to go to a restaurant with Michelan stars and the like.

But when they were shown to their table, Celeste immediately noticed a problem.

"No one else is here?"

Oddly enough, Joe looked just as surprised as she did.

He pulled out his phone and checked his messages and quickly found an answer. "Seems like everyone's running a bit late… Should we just start enjoying ourselves without them?"

For some reason, Celeste was slightly uncomfortable with that idea.

But she couldn't exactly put her finger on why no matter how long she thought about it.

"I guess that makes the most sense, doesn't it..?" She smiled nervously.

Together, the two of them sat down and started looking over the menu.

As Celeste was beginning to feel a bit more conscious of the scenario, she planned to order some wine to help mitigate her anxiety.

That is, until she saw the prices.

"This is… definitely something that I did not miss about civilization." She said.

"Ah, don't worry about a thing." Joe smiled. "Since you're the newbie, I couldn't in good conscience let you come out of pocket for this."

Now, Celeste was beginning to feel doubly uncomfortable.

"Well that wouldn't be proper, would it? That'd feel a bit too much like a date." She laughed nervously.

Joesph scratched the back of his head. "I mean, we're both single adults, right? A date might not be too far out of line… unless I'm overstepping and you already have someone?"

Celeste felt a knot in her stomach growing.

A face kept appearing in her mind no matter how much she tried to push it out.

And she was beginning to understand what the source of this unease had been.

She absentmindedly traced her finger over the menu in front of her as her eyes took on a glossy look.

"I… that is the million dollar question, isn't it?" She smiled hopelessly.

Joe double checked her hands to make sure that there was no wedding ring present.

Since she didn't wear one, he assumed again that things must not've been going well.

He decided to push his luck- if only just a little bit.

"Well I… I can't imagine that any man would want to leave things in a gray area with a woman like you. He must not be very sure of what he wants."

Celeste grimaced slightly. Joe realized that he might've made a mistake.

"Or are you the one who doesn't know what they want?"

Celeste's grimace turned to a helpless smile as she prayed that the water in her glass would turn to hard liquor.

Maybe this conversation would have been easier if it did.

"I… want a man to be kind to me. I want him to be responsible, respectful… patient with not only me but also others around him. I want him to sing to me softly under moonlight and make me feel loved down to my very bones.."

"I see… And the man you were seeing isn't like that?" n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Celeste rested her elbows on the table and held her chin.

"No, he is exactly like that… but there are some extenuating circumstances that make me feel as though a future with him may not be an attainable thing."

The more he heard, the more Joe began to develop a certain picture of the man Celeste may have been alluding to.

"I'm sorry… but is the man you're talking about-"

"Sorry we're late!!"

Six of Celeste and Joe's co-workers came running up to their table; equally frazzled and apologetic.

"Hope we didn't keep you two waiting long!"

"This traffic is murder nowadays… it's like everyone has forgotten how to drive."

Celeste's mood showed an instant improvement. If she released a sigh of relief at that moment it would have been so powerful that it blew away all the tableware.

"You guys are just in time. I was really starving over here." She smiled.

-

Despite claiming to be hungry, Celeste didn't actually eat much of anything.

She slogged her way through both her meal and the conversation. Neither of which was particularly appealing to her on this night.

Too much of the prior conversation had been about her relationship status to just move on from it.

Now she was thinking about silly things that she just didn't have the space in her mind for.

Honestly… she just wanted everyone to choke down their desserts so that she could go home quicker.

When the time finally came, she couldn't get out of her seat fast enough.

She paid, and practically bolted out of the door before anyone, especially Joe, could call out to her.

As the cool night air enveloped her body, she was faced once again with the dilemma of how to get home.

She honestly should have called a ride several minutes ago, but again, the wine had gotten the best of her.

She really didn't want to stand out here in the cold while waiting for a car.

As she pulled out her phone, she saw a very familiar black Escalade roll to a stop right in front of the restaurant.

To make matters even more infuriating… she felt her heart speed up dramatically as soon as she saw it.

This feeling only got worse as the window slowly rolled down and a face she knew all too well smiled back at her.

For some reason, she didn't even make him say anything.

She opened the car door, and got inside before he could even hold his hand out.

"What took you so long?"

I’ve never felt the urge to gatekeep until solo leveling started popping off because I remember reading ts during lockdown and my friends called me a dork AnathaShesha

Creator's Thought