Chapter Twenty:

When Friday came, it had started out uneventful, but gradually a bad feeling started to creep in on me as the day wore on. The feeling came and went, but toward evening it stayed longer and became stronger.

It nagged enough at me that it almost seemed a herald of things going down hill for us. After that strange nightmare Angel had experienced, I should have gone with my gut feeling, that it wasn't a wise idea for us to go out tonight… as illogical as that sounded to a normal reasoning mind.

Angel had still insisted that we not change our plans, and that we should go out tonight to dine and not let a little dream ruin our special plans.

I again pointed out that she didn't eat human food anyway so we could put it off until another time. She counter argued that since I did need to eat regardless, that there wasn't any point for both of us to sit home every single night, and that going out to dinner would be a nice break in our daily routine.

And besides… I had already given my word and promised her.

Knowing I was beaten in this particular debate, we chose a moderately priced restaurant with a view of the lake and went out like normal couples do for a night… just like Angel wanted.

Angel also insisted that we dress for the occasion in our new clothes. I knew she was itching for a chance to wear some of the new outfits she purchased recently, but I also secretly suspected her real prime motive was to get me to wear that damned sports coat she bought me. She had diabolically gotten me to promise to the dinner date before she sprang that one little condition on me. Essentially being a man of another era – where a man's word was his bond – I was stuck after making her that pledge.

I had managed over the decades to adapt very well to the changing times and customs of society, but that one small personality quirk, I had never been totally successful at stamping out.

The next time I promised Angel anything, I'll be wise enough to ask to first read the fine print!

Once there and seated at the restaurant, and wearing my cursed new sports coat, I ordered the NY Strip Steak – rare, which was unusual for me because I had always preferred my steaks done well. Tonight however, the thought of one prepared that way made my mouth water, so I ordered it.

Given the odds things that have been happening to me since Angel's arrival, I didn't overly concern myself with the strange change in tastes, and merely chalked it up to my date's extraordinary effects on me.

And given the fact that the tiny vampire girl looked absolutely ravishing in her black silk dress, I had much more important things to focus my thoughts on at the moment.

Angel had ordered herself a plate of Angel Hair Pasta – the pun intended obviously by the way she had a small grin on her face for most of the dinner. I knew she was waiting for me to take the bait on her choice of dishes and make an attempt at some witty comment. I was just as equally sure that she had a snappy comeback just waiting to be sprung as soon as I did. However, I was still smarting slightly from being conned into wearing the dreaded sports jacket, so I wasn't about to play straight-man to her sense of humor… at least not right now and not without making her work for it.

So I innocently paid no heed to it and pretended total ignorance of the joke, though I did smile back at her across the table from time to time for purely other reasons. Soon, it became an unspoken contest between us as to who would break first, and either snicker at the silliness, or blurt out their thoughts on the matter.

I was determined to win and gain some of my self-respect back, so when I felt even the slightest bit like snickering, I bit my tongue.

To blend in with the rest of the dinners around us, Angel moved things randomly around on her plate, and fed portions of it to me occasionally to hide the fact she really wasn't eating much of anything. She did try small tastes of things on both her and my plates, but was careful enough not to over-do anything despite her practicing this week, as she was well aware that she would still have to get rid of it later.

Even if the night and dinner date almost seemed like a normal one that any other couple might have had, and we were having fun with our impromptu childish game, I still had that warning itch at the back of my neck, that same one that kept me alive during 50-years of fighting vampires. Despite the pleasant evening and the picture perfect company I had, I wasn't able to totally shake that bad feeling.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened throughout our meal, and while glad it was peaceful, that feeling of dread wouldn't leave me, staying just below the surface of my consciousness.

I smiled anyway as Angel filled me in on her entire day as we ate. I found that I loved the sound of her voice; even as she picked apart the plot to some TV soap opera she had watched that afternoon. I loved even more how her hand naturally reached across the table to find mine, and the way her thumb and fingers gently caressed my hand as she talked.

Watching her lips move as she spoke only filled me with the desire to kiss them, and I found myself thinking that we might not even make it to the parking lot before I had to taste her again. It must have been easy for her to tell what was going through my mind, because she abruptly stopped talking for a moment and lightly squeezed my hand. When I gazed at her, she gave me a look that seemed to say to me that she was having similar thoughts of her own.

With all this unspoken communication going on between us, how could this night turn out to be anything but nearly perfect I silently asked myself… hoping that this feeling of uneasiness, caused mainly by a silly dream, would take the hint and go away.

I was still a little relieved when we finished dinner, and declining the desert cart, we decided to maybe extend out date a bit longer and find something else to do, before calling it a night and heading for home.

Angel said she'd be up for anything, a trip to a art gallery, a movie, or even a nice walk…anything at all would be fine with her as long as she was doing it with me. To hear her say that, gave me a thrill that I hadn't experience in nearly one hundred years.

Without any awkwardness on my part, I told her I felt the exact same way about her. The smile that lit up her beautiful face warmed me, and I had no doubt again, that I was falling in love with her.

At that instant, I made myself the promise that I was going to make this right with her… no more secrets. I was going to find a way – somehow – to tell her everything, and to make it work.

Soon.

As we stood up, Angel excused herself to visit the ladies room, claiming a need to touch-up her make-up just in case we decided to stop somewhere along the way where there were other people.

At first, I automatically baulked at the notion of letting her out of my sight, especially with being slightly on edge as I was with that annoying feeling I had. But when I voiced my concern, Angel regarded me with one good-naturally up-raised eyebrow that plainly said I should have been smart enough to read between the lines in her excuse for using the restroom.

It was then with a flash of insight I figured it all out for myself. Without a doubt Angel would crucially inspect her make-up and clothing for any defects during her restroom visit. But it also suddenly occurred to me that she also wanted to discreetly get rid of what she had sampled from our plates during dinner.

I guess I've never been one for taking into account the complicated fine details of being a member of the fairer gender, but Angel seemed willing to forgive my genetic male flaw for the moment. She bid me to go have the Ford brought up to the main exit, saying she would be perfectly fine without me near-by for the few moments she would need to make herself presentable to the public eye.