I've reached twenty followers! I'm very honored that a good number of you have chosen to read the rest! The action's going to pick up soon too, so hang with me! :D
Bruce and Dani went on a couple more dates privately throughout the next few weeks. With each one, Dani became less nervous and conversation was always easier than the previous date.
On one Saturday, Dani headed over to the Manor.
"Good afternoon, Miss Molina!" Alfred greeted her after she rang the bell. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I was hoping to see Bruce today. I wanted to ask him something. Is he here?"
"Yes, I believe he's just in his room. You can go on upstairs. It's down the hall, third door on your left."
"Okay, thanks!" She walked up the stairs and took a look around, convinced that she needed a map to get through this place.
"Bruce?" she called, hoping he would answer. "Hello?"
She came to the only closed door in the hall and assumed it was his room. After knocking on the door, and hearing no reply, she slowly twisted the knob and opened it.
"Bruce?"
"Dani?" she heard. Apparently, he had been beside the bed for whatever reason. He stood up at the sound of her voice. Her breath hitched in her throat and she turned a very bright shade of red as she realized he was shirtless! And he was ripped! His huge biceps bulged out so much, she was pretty sure he could break a steel pipe in half by putting just the slightest pressure on it. His pecs were well defined and he had a really nice set of abs.
Dani nervously cleared her throat and turned around. "Uh, sorry."
He just laughed as he put an old t-shirt on. Most girls would've killed to see a guy like Bruce shirtless, and yet here Dani was, being modest and waiting for him to clothe himself. Just one of the many reasons he had fallen for her.
"All good," he responded before she turned back around. He noticed she had put her long brown hair into a couple of braids. "You look cute."
She laughed as she fingered her braid. "Thanks."
"Come on, let's go to the kitchen. I'm starving."
She followed him back downstairs where Alfred appeared to be preparing a plate for him.
"Would you like anything, Miss Molina?" Alfred asked.
"Oh, no thanks."
"Are you sure? I made some chocolate chip muffins. They're Master Wayne's favorite."
"Well, I will never say no to anything with the word 'chocolate' in it!" she grinned as she took a muffin from him. She peeled back the paper and took a bite. "Oh my goodness, Alfred, this is amazing."
"I'm glad it is to your satisfaction," he smiled. "I'll leave you to it."
He left the room and Dani watched him go before turning back to Bruce. "So, I wanted to know if you're busy tonight. I thought we could stay in and watch a movie or something."
"Yeah, sounds good. I'm not watching The Notebook though."
Dani smiled at him. "I hate chick flicks. I was thinking we could watch The Prestige."
"Perfect," he smiled back.
"Okay, well then, I will see you tonight," she said as she took another bite of her muffin. She smiled at him with those beautiful eyes of hers and left the Manor.
Dani returned around 8:00 that night and Bruce answered the door for her. She held up the movie in her hand with a smile. He looked at her, admiring how beautiful she was even though she didn't wear make-up, was wearing her hair in a couple of braids, and was dressed in just a t-shirt and jeans. She was such a far cry from so many of the women he had gone out with, and that made him fall for her all over again.
"Shall we?" Bruce asked as she stepped inside.
Bruce set up the movie in his screening room. The TV was huge, almost the size of a movie theater. There were a few couches and seats scattered all throughout the room. Bruce sat down on one of the couches and Dani crashed down next to him.
"Have you ever seen this before?" Bruce asked her as the previews started.
"No, I haven't. But my friend said it's really, really good, and apparently the ending is fantastic! I've been wanting to watch it for a really long time."
The movie started and after an intense opening, a man called Borden appeared on the screen.
"He looks a lot like you," Dani remarked.
"Nah," Bruce replied. "I am much better looking."
Dani laughed. A while later, they learned his name was Alfred. "Well, isn't that a coincidence! The guy looks like you and shares the name of your butler!"
"I told you, I am better looking than this guy!"
"Maybe so, but he has a much hotter accent!"
Bruce laughed and pulled her closer to him. He felt her tense up next to him as one man shot another and took off a couple of his fingers. "That's gotta hurt," she mumbled.
Dani snuggled closer to him, taking his hand in hers and resting her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her, which made Dani realize just how close they had gotten. She had never expected in a million years that Bruce Wayne would fall for her one day.
They reached the end of the movie a couple hours later and Dani sat up, still holding onto Bruce's hand. "Oh, man, that was intense! My friend was right! That ending really is great!"
"You picked a good movie!"
The couple smiled at each other.
"Look, Dani," Bruce said to her. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
Dani's stomach lurched. She had enough knowledge to know that most of the time, when guys said that, what usually followed wasn't good. "Okay," she said slowly.
Bruce laughed, noticing her worried expression. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad! I was just thinking, we're getting kind of serious. It's only going to be a matter of time before the press gets wind of us. Maybe that time is now."
"You're saying you want to go public?"
"I think we should finally have a date outside of our residences. And if the press get a few pictures, so be it. I'm perfectly okay with the world knowing I'm with you."
Dani smiled at him. "Alright. Say next Friday night?"
"Sounds great to me."
They looked into each other's eyes and began to draw closer to each other. Before they could close the gap, Dani pulled away. "I should go. I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow in preparation for Monday."
Bruce escorted her to the door. "This was fun. We should do it again."
"Yeah. Thanks for a really nice night," she smiled.
Bruce leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead. She smiled wider before waving and going down the many steps. Her mind was reeling at a thousand miles an hour.
When Dani got back to her apartment, she turned on the TV and sat on the couch after changing into pajamas. There was only one thing going through her mind.
I almost kissed Bruce Wayne. I almost kissed Bruce Wayne. I almost kissed Bruce Wayne. I almost kissed Bruce Wayne. I almost kissed Bruce Wayne.
And now he wanted to go public with her. She had never really thought about ever doing so, but now that he had brought up, she knew that after their public date, they would officially be a couple. It was so strange to her. And she was perfectly okay with that.
Having the two of them watch The Prestige was a little inside joke because Christian Bale is in that movie too. That's why Dani said a character looked like him. Because it was him! I'm so funny...
The Prestige is a fantastic movie and I highly recommend it. I mean, it stars Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, and was directed by Christopher Nolan. Nuff said!
