CHAPTER 19
Ryan opened his eyes. He quickly realized that he was asleep with Calleigh in his bedroom. He looked down at Calleigh who was sleeping herself, still wrapped in his arms. "What time is it?" He thought to himself as he lifted his head to look at the clock. The time read 6:23 p.m. "Oh my God, It's almost 6:30." Ryan spoke out loud to no one in particular as he removed his arms from Calleigh, which caused her to stir. "What are you doing…put your arms back around me." Calleigh mumbled, still half-asleep. "Cal, wake up." Ryan said as he shook her. "It's 6:30. We need to get ready." "6:30?" Answered Calleigh, who was now fully awake. "We were asleep for that long?" "I guess we were." Ryan replied as he sat up and climbed out of the bed. "I didn't think I-we were going to fall asleep. We need to get going. At this time of the night, it's going to take us almost an hour to get-" Ryan stopped in mid-sentence, not wanting to reveal where he was going to take Calleigh to. "Get where, Ryan?" Calleigh was curious at what Ryan was going to say. "I told you, it's a secret." Ryan said as he walked over to the closet to take a look at what kind of dress Calleigh brought, hoping it would be an appropriate one. Lifting the protective covering off, he let out a little gasp: Calleigh had brought a black dress that was similar to the one she wore on their first date except this one was strapless. He couldn't wait to see it on her. "This dress will do just fine." He thought to himself as he slid the cover back on.
Suddenly, he felt Calleigh's presence behind him. He turned around to see her standing there wearing nothing but a pair of underwear. She had undressed as he was looking at her dress. He couldn't help but stand there and stare. Calleigh gave off a little smile, knowing that he was taking in her image. "Ryan, I can't get dressed if you're just going to stand there and not hand me my dress." "Oh, um sorry." Ryan muttered under his breath as he realized that he was still holding her dress. He handed it to her. "Thank you." Calleigh said as she took the dress. "Can you also hand me my bag?" "Sure." Ryan answered as he reached down into the closet to grab it. Calleigh lifted herself to give Ryan a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll be in the bathroom getting ready." As she walked out of the bedroom, Ryan opened up the other side of his closet to grab the tuxedo that he had hanging behind his work clothes. He never wore it much; he never really had any reason or occasion to wear it. He took off his clothes and threw them into the hamper. After he got dressed, he went back into the closet and pulled out a pair of black dress shoes. He took a look into the mirror. Feeling satisfied with the way everything looked, he grabbed his suit coat off the back of the chair and headed towards the bathroom. He poked his head inside the bathroom doorway. "Everything ok in here?" He asked Calleigh. "Everything's just fine." She replied as she started putting on her makeup. "I should be ready in about 20 minutes." "Ok," Ryan answered. "I'll be in the living room if you need me." Ryan walked into his living room and sat down, looking through the magazine that he left sitting on the coffee table.
About 30 minutes later, Calleigh walked into the living room. "I'm ready to go." Calleigh said as she looked over to where Ryan was sitting. "Oh, my!" Calleigh squealed as she saw the way Ryan was dressed. She thought he was sexy enough in the suit he wore at their first date, but now the tuxedo he had on seemed to make him more desirable. Calleigh quickly bit her lower lip to stop the rush of naughty thoughts that were invading her brain. Ryan stood up and walked over to her. "Wow," Ryan exclaimed as he looked at Calleigh from head to toe. "You look absolutely breathtaking." "Thank you," Calleigh replied. "You're looking very breathtaking yourself." "In this?" Ryan said as he gestured at his tux. "I didn't think tuxedos were very breathtaking. They're sort of geeky." "Well, Ryan…Your own geekiness causes the geek-like look of the tux to cancel each others geekiness out, leaving a very hot guy." Calleigh could not keep a straight face at her comment and started to laugh. Ryan pretended to recoil in shock over her words. "Ryan! I was kidding about the geek comment." Calleigh reached up with her hand to pull Ryan down to kiss him. "I know you were." He answered as he kissed her. She playfully tugged at his bowtie. "Is this a clip-on?" She joked. "Enough." Ryan chuckled. Calleigh pulled out a kleenex and wiped her lipstick off of Ryan's lips. "You better hold on to this." Calleigh said as she placed the kleenex into his hand. "I'm sure we're going to need it again very soon." Ryan folded up the kleenex and placed it in his pants pocket. "Let's go."
Calleigh didn't recognize the area of Miami that she was being driven through. Occasionally, she would look over at Ryan, who was looking at a piece of paper every few minutes as he drove. Thankfully, traffic wasn't as bad as they both thought it was going to be and after a half-hour of driving, Ryan pulled into the parking lot of his destination and drove up to the curb. A man approached the car. "Shall I take your car, sir?" He asked Ryan. "Yes, please." Ryan responded as he turned to Calleigh. "Are you ready?" "Where are we, Ryan?" Calleigh looked at Ryan with a mix of bewilderment and curiosity on her face. "I'll show you in a brief moment." Ryan answered as he got out of the car. He walked around to the passenger side and opened the door for Calleigh. He reached in and took her hand as Calleigh stepped out. The valet took Ryan's car as the two of them stepped onto the sidewalk and headed for the front door. As they approached, the doorman reached out and opened the door for them. "Sir, Madam." The doorman said as Ryan and Calleigh walked by. "Good evening." Ryan spoke back at the doorman. They walked down a hallway towards the sound of music playing. Calleigh couldn't make out what kind of music it was, but she could tell it wasn't modern. Ryan placed his arm around Calleigh's waist as they walked into the main room. Calleigh gasped at what her eyes could see: Ryan had taken the two of them to a ballroom that had a full orchestra playing as couples danced across the floor. "Ryan!" Calleigh said, somewhat stunned. "I didn't think we would be coming here to dance!" "Are you surprised?" Ryan asked as he let go of her waist. "Yes, I am." Replied Calleigh. "I didn't know that this was your kind of dancing. I'm very impressed."
The orchestra finished playing their current song and started up a new one. "I was hoping that you would like my taste in dancing." Ryan said as he reached down and took Calleigh's hand into his. "Shall we take the floor?" He looked at Calleigh as she nodded her head. He leaned down. "I hope you know how to do the waltz." He whispered into her ear. "I sure do." She answered. They walked out into the dance floor. Ryan lifted his and Calleigh's hand up to shoulder level as he placed his other hand into the small of her back. Calleigh wrapped her other hand around his waist as they slowly moved to the music. They danced to the waltz that the band played. Calleigh couldn't believe how good of a dancer Ryan was. She never knew about this side of him. The fact that this was another secret that he shared with her only made her fall more deeply in love with him. The band started up another song. As they moved around the dance floor, Calleigh looked up at Ryan. He smiled at her as he mouthed the words "I love you." She grinned, her eyes giving off that certain gleam that he always loved to see. Calleigh laid her head against his chest as they kept dancing. Suddenly, Ryan pulled back slightly. "What's wrong?" Calleigh wasn't sure why Ryan moved away from her. "Nothing's wrong." Ryan leaned forward slightly. "I'm going to dip you." He tilted her back over his arm as he held onto her. As she was coming back up, he quickly kissed her on the neck. The action caused Calleigh to swoon slightly. It was not lost on Ryan. "A little weak in the knees?" He said half-joking. "Mmm-hmm." Was Calleigh's reply. They danced a few more songs before they decided to take a break and sit down.
Calleigh looked at Ryan. "Where on earth did you learn all of those dances?" "I took dancing classes in high school," Replied Ryan as he motioned for a waiter to come over. "However, I never really had the chance to use them unless I was at a wedding." Calleigh laughed. "Well Ryan, you're one up on me. The only way I learned how to dance was by going to weddings and learning the dances there. I stepped on quite a few toes over the years trying to get them right." "You might want to add a few more toes to that list." Ryan grimaced as he reached down to rub his feet, pretending that he was in pain. Calleigh playfully shoved him as he laughed. Calleigh moved a little closer to Ryan. "So tell me…what interested you into learning to dance like this?" Ryan thought the question over for a moment. "I, um thought that knowing how to dance would impress women." Ryan admitted sheepishly as he looked down at the table. Calleigh reached up and turned Ryan's face towards her. "Well, it worked." She said as she leaned in to kiss him. The waiter finally came over to their table. "Would the two of you like something to drink?" "I would like a glass of red wine, please." Calleigh said. "And you sir?" The waiter looked at Ryan. "I would also like a glass of red wine." The waiter left and they returned to their conversation. "So how did you find out about this place? Have you been here before?" Calleigh asked. "No, I haven't been here before." Ryan answered. "I found out about this place through Eric. His friend works here." "That was nice of Eric." Calleigh replied. "He may be a little distant at times, but he'll be there for you if you need him."
The waiter came back over with their drinks. "I can't help but feel awkward around Eric, Cal." Ryan reached for his wallet to pay for the wine. "Sometimes, I think he blames me for being Speed's replacement." "Ryan, I wouldn't take it personally. He would have acted that way towards anybody who replaced Tim. He's making an effort to be nice to you. He did set you up on that date with his girlfriend's roommate." Calleigh picked up her wine to take a sip. "Yeah, but look how that turned out." Ryan replied in a flat monotone. Calleigh placed her glass down and stared at Ryan. "Ryan, look how it did turn out." Calleigh reached over and placed her hand on Ryan's forearm. Ryan understood what Calleigh was getting at and smiled at her. They sat there and drank their glass of wine while they continued to talk, occasionally giving each other a quick kiss. Ryan looked at his watch. "We better get going if we want to make our dinner reservation." The orchestra started playing a slow number. "One more dance before we go?" Calleigh pleaded. "But of course." Ryan answered as he got up and slowly extended his hand out to Calleigh to take her back to the dance floor. They danced in a tight embrace, their arms around each other. Ryan rested his head on her shoulder as they slowly shuffled around to the music. As the song ended, he moved his head over to kiss Calleigh, who warmly responded to the touch of his lips. Without a word to each other, they walked off the dance floor. Hand in hand, they left the ballroom and headed towards the valet station to pick up the car.
to be continued...