Chapter 9: The Big Date

Kirsten had finished getting ready for her big date with Jimmy a little earlier than she had initially planned and was seated on her window seat and watching for him out her window that faced the driveway. She was wearing a knee length halter sundress that came up high in the front and tied around her neck, exposing her entire upper back. The dress was a bright blue and teal pattern that complemented her blonde hair and blue eyes nicely. She had curled her hair in the usual spiral curls, but managed to make them more spiraled and formal looking than they did when she went to school. The stitches had been removed from the back of her head earlier that day, and she managed to cover up the section with the missing chunk of hair without too much of a problem. Her makeup had been applied a bit more heavily for the evening than it ever was during the day, but it was not over the top by any means. A blue designer purse sat beside her on the window seat with a bathing suit in it in addition to its normal contents. Jimmy had told her to bring a bathing suit with her, but he wouldn't tell her why. Kirsten was a little suspicious of his intentions, but decided to go along with it anyway.

Her attention from her window was turned away by Hailey swiftly opening the door and slamming it closed. "Wow, Kiks! You look so pretty!"

"Thanks, Hailey," Kirsten told her.

"I bet Jimmy will think you look pretty too," Hailey continued.

Kirsten blushed as her sister said this and Hailey began talking again, "I bet he wants to kissss you."

"Hailey, stop it!" Kirsten said defensively.

"Kirsten and Jimmy, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Hailey taunted.

"Hailey!" Kirsten was yelling now. These were the times when she hated having a sister who was 10 years younger than her.

"First comes love, then comes marriage, then com-" Hailey suddenly stopped as Kirsten started chasing her around the room and managed to tackle her on the bed.

Naturally, right at this moment, Caleb entered the bedroom and yelled, "Girls! What is going on in here!" Kirsten jumped off Hailey at the sound of her father's voice. "Kiki! What on earth are you doing tackling Hailey!"

Kirsten said nothing for a second, while Hailey's face had turned from a teasing one to a scared one. Then, finally Kirsten said, "She was making fun of me." Just as she said it, she knew how it sounded. So incredibly immature. But somehow Hailey knew exactly how to push Kirsten's buttons to piss her off, and at times Kirsten couldn't stop herself from fighting with Hailey.

"Kirsten, honestly, you know Hailey's only six and you are sixteen…you have to act more mature than that!" Caleb chided her. Just then the doorbell rang. Kirsten went to grab her purse and Caleb continued, "We'll have to talk about this later." Kirsten said nothing and continued walking toward the door. "Have fun, Kiki," he added at the last minute.

"Thanks," Kirsten mumbled as she exited the room. She walked down the stairs carefully in order to avoid tripping in her platform sandals. Kirsten pulled open the large door, which revealed Jimmy Cooper with a small bouquet of white roses in his hand. He was dressed in khaki pants with a blue button down shirt, and a small grin on his face. "Hey!" he managed to say at last. "These are for you," he said and handed the flowers to her.

Kirsten smiled brightly at the gesture, forgetting all about the confrontation with Hailey. "Thank you so much, Jimmy. I'm just going to go put them in some water really quick. And then we can go."

Kirsten was back in a flash and Jimmy put his arm around her and led her to his black Ford Mustang Cobra. He opened the door for her, and she got in the car while he went around to the driver's side and got in himself. He backed out of the driveway carefully and drove down the street on their way to their first destination.

"So where are we going first?" Kirsten asked him.

"If I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise, then would it," Jimmy told her.

Fifteen minutes later Jimmy pulled his car off Pacific Coast Highway, into the valet entrance for Villa Nova, a fine dining Italian restaurant right on the water of the Newport Bay. When Kirsten realized they were eating there, she was thrilled. She remembered eating there once, a long time ago with her parents, before Hailey was born. But contrary to popular belief, the Nichols didn't really eat out that much as a family. Sure they would throw the most extravagant parties, but those were all catered. And for their everyday meals, Kirsten's mom would usually cook, as she had the talent of being quite a remarkable chef.

The pair entered the restaurant after the valet took the car to park it. As they approached the front counter, Jimmy spoke to the hostess, "Hi, I have a reservation for two. Jimmy Cooper."

"Okay, here you are," the hostess said, checking them off the list. "If you'll follow me this way, I'll show you to your table."

As Jimmy and Kirsten followed the hostess, Kirsten glanced around the restaurant to take in her surroundings. She instantly loved the Italian decorum of the restaurant. The design was romantic and elegant, but not overly fancy. The hostess seated them at a table with a fantastic view of the harbor. Perfect, Kirsten thought. This is so incredibly perfect. Perfect, the thing that Kirsten often found herself striving the greatest to be; the thing everyone, especially her father, expected her to be.

Jimmy looked over at Kirsten. She looked as though she was enjoying herself immensely already, which put him at ease a bit. Honestly, he had been a little nervous about taking Kirsten out, seeing as she was the daughter of the richest man in Newport, but her actions thus far confirmed to him that she really did want to go out with him.

"So, I've been meaning to ask you…have you been feeling better since the accident," Jimmy asked her.

"Yeah, you know, it's getting better…got the stitches out of my head this morning…um, can we talk about something else," Kirsten sighed. She was really getting sick of talking about the surfing accident, especially when the memories were still haunting her in her sleep.

"Yeah, sure…I'm sorry…didn't mean to bring that up," Jimmy told her.

"No big deal," Kirsten told him. Just as she finished her sentence, the waiter arrived at the table to take their orders. Kirsten decided to order the chicken fettuccine alfredo, while Jimmy opted for linguine with pesto sauce. He was pleasantly surprised that Kirsten had ordered such a large meal instead of some salad that all girls seem to order with the excuse of needing "to watch their weight."

"So, I was thinking…since you have met my family and all…I was thinking you could tell me a bit about yours," Kirsten inquired of Jimmy.

"Well, I guess it's only fair…my parents names are John and Aimee…I think I mentioned that he works in the insurance business…um, my older sister, Ashley, is 23 and engaged to be married to a guy named Michael Shepard. The wedding is going to be in the spring. She's is the epitome of a girly-girl. My older brother, Jack, is 21 and is starting his senior year at USC. He likes to joke around a lot and is really into sports and stuff. And my younger sister, Allie or 'Al' I guess she wants to be called these days, is 13 years old. She's in eighth grade and kind of going through this punk phase right now…but she's a good kid…we get along pretty well. I'm sure you will get to meet them all eventually."

"It must be so nice to have siblings that are close in age with you…I always wished that I had an older brother or sister, or even a younger one that was closer in age with me than Hailey is…I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Hailey, and I know as we get older the age gap will lessen, but she's so young…it's not like I can really have a serious conversation with her or anything," Kirsten said.

"Yeah, I bet that would be hard. I'm guess really lucky…to be close with my siblings…and that my family gets along so well together…it's great," Jimmy told her. Kirsten grew slightly jealous as he told her about how great his family was. Why can't my family be as close as Jimmy makes his sound, she thought. She decided it was time to move to a new subject and get off this family talk.

"So, Jimmy, big football game next Friday…do you think you guys are ready?" Kirsten asked him.

"Oh, I think we're pretty good to go…a few touch-ups here and there, but I think we're pretty set. We should have a good team this year…Matt at quarterback, Brian and Scott at wide receiver…"

"Aren't you starting at running back," Kirsten asked.

"Yeah…and I think I'm also going to play some at strong safety on defense," Jimmy told her.

"I look forward to seeing you play," Kirsten said.

"So are you cheerleaders ready to put on a good show for the first game," Matt returned the question.

"Oh, we're always ready to give a good show," Kirsten stated.

"Can't wait to see this great show…with you in your little cheerleading outfit."

"Be careful there Casanova…you better be paying attention to your game and not to us to make sure you win…otherwise, there won't be much cheering going on," Kirsten joked.

Jimmy laughed at her comment and promised, "Okay, focus, game, check. I can't promise you I won't try to sneak some looks though."

"I guess that can be overlooked."

A minute later, their food was brought to them by their waiter and the pair continued to talk about everything from Jimmy's life down in San Diego, to the best places to go surfing, to disastrous family trips. There wasn't any silence at the table, save when they both happen to be taking bites of their pasta at the same time.

After their meal was finished and paid for and the valet had brought the car back to them, Jimmy and Kirsten got in the car and headed to their next destination.

"That was really great, Jimmy…the food, the atmosphere, everything," Kirsten told him.

"I'm really glad you enjoyed it."

"So now where?" Kirsten asked.

Jimmy started laughing. "Do you not know the definition of 'surprise' or something?" he joked.

"Well, thought I'd give it a try anyway."

After driving for about ten minutes back the way they had driven to the restaurant, it seemed to Kirsten like Jimmy was driving back toward home. After turning into the gate of their community, Kirsten's suspicions were confirmed.

"Jimmy, are you taking me home already? Did my dad pay you or something to get me back early, 'cause if he-"

"Kirsten," Jimmy interrupted, "We're not going to your house." Kirsten gave him a suspicious look. "I promise," he reinforced.

As the car approached Kirsten's street, she half expected him to turn in, but instead he kept going up and slowed down to turn onto a street two up from hers called Elmgrove. He pulled into a long driveway and Kirsten noticed a fancy sign stuck in the front yard that read '5 Elmgrove.'

"So, I take it you live here," Kirsten said.

"Great detective work, Captain Obvious," he joked.

Kirsten gave him a playful slap and said, "Okay, okay, it was obvious. You enjoy giving me a hard time, don't you?"

"Immensely," Jimmy chuckled.

Jimmy led Kirsten out of the car and into his house. His house wasn't quite as big as hers was, but still quite large and extremely nice. It had vaulted ceilings, great big beams and moldings and Kirsten instantly loved it.

As he started to show her around the house, Kirsten asked, "So do I get to meet any of the family members?"

"Ah, well, no one's home right now…my parents went down to San Diego to have dinner with some friends and my sister is at a sleepover tonight."

"You better not be trying to pull anything, Jimmy Cooper," she said.

"Nothing that isn't normal first date stuff," Jimmy said. She gave him a look and he said, "I swear!"

"Just giving you a hard time…see how you like it for a change," she said laughing.

"Okay, point taken," he laughed. "Here, let me show you the backyard."

Jimmy led Kirsten through the back door to the backyard, and an utterly gorgeous sight was revealed to her. Like her own backyard, Jimmy's had a pool. However, Jimmy's also had elaborate tropical landscape surrounding it and the pool was equipped with it's own water slide and water fall. The path up to the top of both of them was lined with large rocks and the slide tunnel itself looked as though it had been carved out of the rock. To the right of the top entrance to the water slide was the top of the waterfall. Kirsten's eyes traveled down the falling water and realized that the jacuzzi was underneath the waterfall. The scattered palm trees surrounding the pool were the center pieces of the tropical scenery.

In addition to these permanent fixtures, there were small white twinkle lights hung all around the backyard and in the palm trees and plants. Five tiki torches were strategically placed to provide proper illumination. It looked like something out of a dream, a sort of magical, romantic place that almost took Kirsten's breath away.

"Oh, Jimmy…it, it's beautiful," Kirsten told him. Then she chuckled, "So this is what the bathing suit was for."

"Yeah…now isn't this so much better as a surprise," Jimmy told her.

"Definitely. I'm going to go get changed," Kirsten told him.

Kirsten and Jimmy swam in the pool for a good hour, jumping off the top of the waterfall, going down the slide, and laughing the entire time. Kirsten thought that it was possibly one of the happiest moments she remembered experiencing. She was having such a great time with Jimmy and she couldn't help but becoming increasingly excited about what the future would hold.

"Hey, Kirst, why don't you go in the jacuzzi…I'll be right back," Jimmy told her.

"Okay," Kirsten replied.

A few minutes later Jimmy returned with two bowls in his hand. They each had a warm homemade brownie topped with three scoops of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. Jimmy handed her one of the bowls.

"Oh my God! This is soooo good!" Kirsten exclaimed between bites.

"I'm glad you like it," Jimmy told her.

After finishing the ice cream, Jimmy move closer to Kirsten, placed one arm around her petite body, and pulled her closer to him. Kirsten closed her eyes for a second, taking in the moment. She opened them again, and turned her head towards Jimmy and said, "I had a really good time tonight, Jimmy…everything was just perfect…I couldn't be any happier."

As Kirsten spoke, their faces seemed to move closer together, and after she was finished, Jimmy replied in almost a whisper, "I'm glad…I had a great time too."

At this point, Jimmy closed the gap between them and their lips met in a soft kiss. Then Jimmy placed his hand behind Kirsten's head, stroking his hand through her wet locks of hair and pulled her even closer, deepening the kiss. After what seemed like an eternity, they broke apart, although their faces were still close together. Kirsten had a slight grin on her face and she was staring into Jimmy's eyes. He kissed her again and then they just sat in the jacuzzi, Kirsten resting her body against Jimmy as he held his arm around her…

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I do not own Villa Nova, an actual restaurant located on PCH in Newport Beach.

I know Kirsten and Jimmy had their first kiss at Jimmy's house on Elmgrove (from The Model Home) so I hope having it in the jacuzzi counts.

Hope you all still like it and I will try to update soon!