The sun was just beginning to set over the San Jose sky. The Ferris wheel, Tilt-a-Whirl, Super Shot, and other various carnival rides and booths were slowly being lit up: perfect for a romantic and playful date night after a long week at St. Bonaventure. As Melendez looked for a place to park, he glanced over at Lim and said, "We should take a spin on the Ferris wheel, maybe do some kissing at the top, and let the world know we're together," he grinned. Lim glanced over at him with a 'WTF' look and he smiled, "I'm kidding, Lim."
Lim couldn't help but laugh as she grabbed his hand, "I know, but I never know what Mr. Romantic has planned sometimes," she squeezed the hand she was holding.
Melendez parked his Tesla and turned to face her, "In all seriousness, I was thinking a few rides, some games, and a corn dog and funnel cake."
Lim laughed and shook her head, "I'm dating a cardiothoracic surgeon, yet I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack just watching you eat."
The couple strolled hand in hand through the fair, watching all of the other couples and families enjoying themselves, "Do you think that'll be us someday?" asked Melendez as he watched a few couples with children play games and ride rides.
Lim smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder, "Maybe someday," she agreed, "You'll be a wonderful father. But, I will admit, it's nice to be just the two of us for right now."
"Agreed," nodded Melendez, "So what did you went to do first?"
Lim gave him a cheeky grin and said, "You know what? Maybe we should take a ride on the Ferris wheel…" Melendez nodded, but he knew there would be a catch, "If we ride the Zipper as well."
Melendez looked toward the mentioned ride and said, "Wait a minute? That's the one where the whole ride spins, and then, the individual cars spin?" he asked, twirling his hands around each other for emphasis.
"What's wrong, Melendez?" Lim nuzzled his neck with her nose, "You scared?"
Melendez swallowed nervously, "No," he lied, a slight quiver in his voice.
Lim laughed and grabbed his hand, "Come on, Chicken. It's not that bad."
Much to Melendez's surprise, the Zipper wasn't as bad as he thought, though he didn't want to go a second time, much to Lim's dismay. They rode the Ferris wheel and played a few of the games, and as usual, got a little too competitive with each other.
Melendez was determined to win the ring toss game to get Lim the plush Spiderman. Lim laid her hand on Melendez's shoulder and said, "I'm going to get some hot dogs and drinks. Meet me over by the food stands once you've either won me that thing or run out of money."
Melendez chuckled and kissed her, "Will do."
Lim went over to the hot dog stand and ordered two hot dogs and two Cokes before going over to the condiments stand to put mustard on them. There was a group of three girls sitting nearby. Lim didn't recognize two of them, but the blonde making her way over to the stand was easily distinguishable, "Dr. Lim?"
Lim shot her head up and plastered a grin on her face, though her heart began to race knowing that Melendez would probably be over any minute now, "Dr. Reznick. What a pleasant surprise."
"Yeah, just here with a few friends from med school," Morgan said, grabbing a few straws and salt packets, "How about you?"
It took Lim a few moments to come up with a story, "I'm here with my friend too, and her daughter. Though her daughter is only a couple months old, so she can't ride anything yet. We're just walking around," Lim lied.
"Well, have a good weekend," said Morgan, walking back to join her friends.
"Shit," Lim cursed to herself and sat as far away from Morgan as possible.
When Melendez came into the area, he glanced over the tables before he found Lim. He smiled and sat down next to her, presenting her with a stuffed Spiderman, "One special Spiderman for my special woman."
"Don't look now, but Reznick is here with some of her friends," Lim motioned her head toward the group of girls, who were all cleaning up their trash.
"What?" asked Melendez, turning his head before turning back to Lim, "How is it that we live in one of the biggest cities in California and we seem to manage to run into someone we know every time we go out on a date?"
"Murphy's Law, I suppose," sighed Lim, taking a bite of her hot dog, "I guess if it keeps happening, we'll be back to Netflix and chill dates at your place, because at this point, I'm fully convinced we could vacation on the east coast and run into one of our co-workers."
Melendez chuckled and sipped his Coke, "Well, if you're tired of hiding, there is always one option."
Lim smiled softly and squeezed his hand, but didn't say anything more. Once they finished their hot dogs, Melendez went to go order the funnel cakes, and just as his luck would have it, Morgan was standing right in front of him. Of course, she didn't fail to notice, "Dr. Melendez, you're here tonight as well?"
"Yeah," Melendez did his best to formulate a lie, "Some of my family is visiting from San Antonio this weekend, so we decided to take some of my cousins here for fun."
Morgan stayed silent and Melendez wasn't 100% sure she was convinced, "Well, if you're interested, Dr. Lim is here with her friend and her daughter. I saw her earlier," said Morgan, though Melendez could tell she didn't buy the family visiting lie nor the one Lim had fabricated.
Whether or not Morgan made the connection, Melendez didn't know, but if she had, he was grateful she was pretending not to notice. Soon, the couple arrived back at Melendez's place and Lim poured them two glasses of wine before sitting next to him on the couch, "I had a really great time with you tonight."
"Me too," Melendez kissed her and took a sip of his wine. He hesitated before he decided to bring up something, "Hey Aud?"
"Hmm?" she smiled and turned her body to face him.
"About earlier tonight, when we ran into Reznick at the carnival, you seemed a little scared for her to find out that we're dating," said Melendez.
Lim absorbed what he said and said, "Well, there is a reason we're hiding our relationship. We don't want to jeopardize our careers."
"Audrey, I saw Reznick at the funnel cake stand. I lied to her and said my family was in town, but I think she made the connection and realized we were there together," said Melendez. Lim nodded, but stayed silent as she circled the edge of her wine glass, "Audrey, are you embarrassed by me?" Melendez asked bluntly.
Lim's head shot up and she exclaimed, "God no! Why on Earth would you think that?"
"Because we've been dating a little over a month now, but you still don't want to come out of the closet," admitted Melendez.
"Neil," she grabbed his hand and rubbed the top of it with her thumb, "I love you more than I could imagine. I've never felt toward any man what I feel toward you. It's only been a month, but I already can't imagine my life without you. Our first night together was just the build-up of my feelings for you for years, and when I was in isolation, wondering whether I was going to live or going to die, I couldn't help but picture you. Wonder if I was ever going to see you again. Wonder what you were doing. Wonder if you even knew or cared if you did know. I'm not embarrassed by you in the least, and I'm proud that you're my boyfriend. It's just…" Lim trailed off, "Neil, we're both high achieving surgeons at one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country. We work long hours, we can have a lot of bad days, and there's a lot of stress in what we do. I love being able to come home to you at the end of the day, but in a way, I love that you're my little secret. And since we have high stress jobs, if we decide we're not going to be a good couple in the long haul…I just think it'll be easier to go back to being friends if needed with nobody knowing we were even dating in the first place."
Melendez set his wine glass on the table and had Lim do the same, "Come here, mi amor," he motioned for Lim to lie against his chest.
"Seriously?" scolded Lim jokingly as she cuddled in his arms.
"Mmhm," nodded Melendez.
"Just because you call me a pet name in Spanish doesn't mean I'll like it any better," said Lim, lying her head against his chest, inhaling the scent of his musk cologne.
They stayed that way for a few moments before Melendez said, "This is nice, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is," responded Lim.
"You really think this isn't going to last?" he asked.
Lim took a deep breath and glanced toward the other end of the couch where she had tossed the Spiderman plush. She held it for a few moments, thinking about how Melendez had probably gone broke to obtain it for her since she loved comic books so much. She loved that he allowed her to be herself, and she certainly did feel very comfortable in the relationship. Lim lied back down against his chest and closed her eyes before she leaned up to kissed him. She softly said, "Maybe."