Chapter 4 – Casual Outing = Date
To those who were waiting for an update, I am sorry for being 2 days late. To make up for it, this chapter will be a LONG one and more romantic/sweet.
The characters do not belong to me, AWM is the creator.
I had asked him out on a 'casual' outing yesterday but still I was having this urge to look good. I wanted to wear nothing very casual and I could not even go for anything formal since it was a 'casual' date and he would be in his casuals therefore I went for something semi-formal. After an hour of ransacking the cupboard, I found the perfect semi-formal outfit - a white tea-length (hitting at the calf) skirt paired with a black, beaded corset top. I wore 6-inch heeled black shoes to compliment the outfit (Yes, I am fond of heels). I decided to go for an updo hairstyle with bangs, which balanced my overall look perfectly. To keep it semi-formal, I did very mild make up, basically just highlighting my eyes with mascara and eye liner and a light pink lip gloss, just making my lips look shiny and more pink than usual. I did not need a blusher; I knew it would come naturally. I hoped that the place I had picked would be able to meet his expectations since I had told him it was supposed to be 'magical' to get him to come. I hoped at least my appearance would make up for the place, if he did not like it. For our first date, sorry, outing, I had to pick him up at 8, hence I left my place around 7:30 pm in case of traffic. Damn, I was excited and nervous too.
I rang the doorbell, and before I could even remove my fingers from the switch, he opened the door, as if he was right there waiting for me to arrive. Oh my god! He decided to go for semi-formal too, NOT casual. He was wearing an INK BLUE buttoned-down collar shirt, pin striped, not going for a very loud pattern. He wore black cashmere suit and matching trousers with it. He had truly added style to his outfit with a neatly folded pocket square and a set of cuff links. He was wearing simple leather slip-ons which gave him a polished look. Man! He looked gorgeous. His hair was as usual perfect, with few strands of hair on his fore-head. They were silky and I just wanted to move my fingers through them. His eyes were somehow looking even bluer today, if that's possible.
He gave me a small hug, our bodies touching for a few seconds. My heart skipped a beat at that very moment. Oh! He smelled good. I just did not want to let him go when he hugged me, and he was the one to break the hug this time. Of course we could not just stand there, with arms around each other...on second thoughts, we actually could.
'Casual hunh?' he said after embracing me in a warm hug.
'Well, you look at yourself first mister' I said, adding a little more sweetness in my voice than intended.
After a few seconds of looking at each other from head to toe, we said in unison something that was supposed to be a compliment but sounded more like- 'You look gorgeous Kate-Rick'. Damn! We were again in sync, both using the word 'gorgeous'. But still, that was awkward and we just gave each other a smile that made it all okay.
'You look beautiful' he said. I loved that he chose the word beautiful. My mother always said that 'beautiful' is used for a person who is not only attractive, but also amazing inside out.
'You too Castle' I said. Though it may sound awkward, using 'beautiful' to describe a male, but he was gorgeous looking as well as a wonderful and caring person. He actually knew what I was thinking , well, he was a writer, someone having a way with words; therefore he just accepted the compliment with a dazzling smile and did not decide to tease me on this one. After a few seconds of silence, he took out a small snake-skin brown leather box, cushioned and soft, and gave it to me. I wondered what was inside it when the box only looked so attractive. I was sure the box itself would have cost a lot.
I took it from his hand and I was about to open it, when he gently touched my fingers, and whispered in my ears 'Open it when you are in your apartment'. There must have been a reason why he said it, so not thinking too much about it, I just nodded.
'Shall we?' he said bringing his hand forward as if asking me for a dance. I decided to keep that thought out of my mind for now. Linking arms did not seem relevant for a casual outing, but who were we kidding? We both knew that it was now more than that so he just linked his hand with mine, slowly filling the gaps between my fingers and we walked towards the elevator. The hand holding had given me goose bumps. I just resisted the urge to kiss him but I did not think I would be able to control it by the end.
'Where are we going?' he asked me, while 'I' was driving.
'We are going to a good place Castle, though I am not sure you'll like it' I said, a little worried.
'Oh if you like it then sure I will too' he said, confidently. Though this statement reduced the little confidence I had in myself.
'I don't know...' I just said, furrowing my eyebrows for a second. He as though sensing my tension, placed his left hand on my thigh, slowly moving it vertically, up and down. The heat of his palm slowly spreading through my body and I had to control myself not to think, what this could lead to. It had helped in bringing the tension down but it certainly did not help at all with the driving.
'Castle, I hate to say it, but I kind of cannot focus on driving' I said, a little shyly.
'Oh' he said looking at his hand and quickly moving it to his knee, he uttered a 'sorry'. He then gave me one of his goofy smiles, and said 'makes you want me right?' But I just ignored it with the usual eye roll accompanied with a nod but this time I did that because the answer would have been a yes.
At last we reached the place and I parked the car just before a board that said – 'Welcome to the Castilian'
Castle read the board at once and said- 'they stole it from me, I was going to name my bar that!'
'Come on Castle! Old haunt is great, and you had decided to name it The Ego, otherwise' I said, smirking at him
'Well, I did not know you wanted to bring me to a place, with a name I liked' he said, winking at me. Was he flirting? That was just a question, I WAS NOT complaining.
'Isn't it 'magical'?' I said raising both my eyebrows flirtingly too before I left the car.
As soon as we entered, we were led to our seats. I had made reservations. The owner was a fan of Castle too, though I was not going to tell him that. Well, being with a bestselling writer had its perks. The place was very elegantly done up. It was neither too fancy nor very plain. It was rich. It was a good sized place with chairs and tables mostly along the walls; every table was separated with golden bead string curtains, giving full privacy. In the centre was a lifted circular platform with a black glossy piano placed right in the centre. A professional pianist was playing romantic and soothing numbers. He had 'magic' in his hands and had filled the place with tunes that made you feel optimistic about everything. Yes the place had an intimate setting. I wanted to take Castle to a place that was intimate but at the same time, not very intimate. It was not crowded but every table was occupied with mostly couples sitting together, flirting and toasting to new beginnings. This may give us a chance to start something true and real too.
The manager herself came to take our order. We had already decided what we wanted. We started out with the mustard miso pickles, a selection of 3 meats and a cheese flight with 3 cheeses. The pickles weren't pickles at all, at least in the traditional sense. They were pickled vegetables, so there were carrots, green beans, etc with a pickled egg. It was delicious and unexpected. We wanted to have healthy starters.
'A drink for the young couple?' the manager asked.
'Oh we are not-' Castle started but I cut him off by saying 'Actually we-'... but we were both cut off by the lady herself when she asked 'you both not a couple?' confusingly and shockingly.
'Not yet' we both said together exchanging smiles, with me blushing and castle amazed with the change that I said 'not yet', startling the lady, who just smiled and took out a pen to take our drinks order.
We both went for wine, keeping it light, as I did not want my drunk self to say something that shouldn't be said. At least not yet. Nor did castle. We both went for white wine.
For main course they put together a cheese flight based on what we liked. They also paired the cheeses with foods that would compliment it, which was really fun...like the meat flight, the cheese flights came with wheat and white bread. We both loved cheese, though fattening but truly exceptional. The meat selection was excellent too. We traded with one another but not taking it directly from each other's plates. Instead, we placed it on the other's plate with our own respective fork. It was a little cliché, feeding each other with forks on the first date, therefore we both decided to save it for some other time.
'The food... it truly is magical, but what got me was that how did you know it was magical when you yourself are coming here for the first time?' he asked, waiting for my reply.
'It's magical because you are here with me' I said easily, not even waiting a second to think. It was true; Richard Castle was the one who had filled magic in my life. I was not going to pull away this time. I wanted to be honest with him at least when it came to my feelings for him and I had decided to tell him the truth tomorrow by going to his loft. I did not want to mess this outing of ours, so I did not take the conversation to sensitive areas.
He was clearly taken aback by my answer therefore he just took my hands into his and squeezed it. We were soon staring into each other's eyes, with love and longing. We were lost. A glow was spreading across my face and on his too, our hearts were racing at the same pace, we were breathing softly and simultaneously, his fingers were moving clock wise on the back of my hand and we were so caught up in the moment that we ignored the manager until she cleared her throat asking for our dessert order. I hated her for interrupting; giving her a sharp look and Castle also pursed his lips and pouted as though controlling himself from saying something inappropriate, which was kind of cute.
'No thanks' I said. We skipped the deserts. We were too full. Castle taking the initiative to pay the bill, got his credit card out at the presence of the bill. I did not argue, I knew it was a waste, loss of time and energy. Energy which could be used to do something productive. (Don't take it in the wrong sense, my intentions were pure...I guess). Along with signing the card slip, Castle also signed a blank paper which said 'To Emma, *his autograph*.
'Fame does not leave you alone' I said, smiling at him. Today, I smiled a lot. After every comment, I smiled. I couldn't help myself.
'Hah! So does inspiration' he said doing a dance with both his eyebrows. God! He was witty.
'Well, it never will' I said, AGAIN smiling. He seemed to understand the double meaning behind it. We actually spoke that way only, mostly. It was all double meaning or subtext. But what that actually meant was that I was NEVER going to leave him. Me, his inspiration.
On the way back 'I' let 'him' drive. He was surprised, but he jumped at the opportunity, without any further questions before I changed my mind, which, honestly I had no intentions to do.
'Well, that was an amazing dinner, all thanks to you' he said, turning the steering wheel towards the right.
'I am glad, we made through our first dat-outing without too much teasing. You were a gentleman' I said, unable to stop myself.
'I guess then I need to work on my Big Child personality more' he said jokingly.
'I guess it has got rusted over time, Rick' I said, not holding back.
'Well, I just came back from the future, I was telling ya, time-travel causes rust' he said making me remember the famous case that involved *time ripple*. Aah, it still sounded dirty.
'Well, here is the Man child again' I said, giving him another eye roll, to which he had become immune, I guess, as he got it too often. I so wanted to lean in and give him a kiss.
'Old habbits never go' he said, now smirking. Here we were, the car stopped before his loft, he got out, went round the front of the car and opened the door for me.
'Thank you' I said realizing that I had to go on the other side and drive myself home.
'I really enjoyed myself, Kate' he said, once again giving me a hug.
'Me too...hey listen! Can I come tomorrow night to your place, gotta tell you something important...' I guess he knew what I meant and he simply nodded.
'Absolutely...actually I wanted to have a talk with you too, you know, sort things out...' was all he said before I gave him a peck on his cheek. I could not control myself. Though I wanted more but I resisted.
As I was heading towards the car, he caught my hand, pulled me closer and kissed me, this time passionately. Our lips collided and slowly I gave his tongue access through between my lips, into my mouth. I moved my tongue along the corners of his mouth, and then our tongues collided too. He tasted of wine, white wine, which was delicious by the way. (The wine...) Then slowly I kissed his upper lip while he kissed my lower. There, I was reminded of our first undercover kiss, but this was a hundred times more passionate. It was as though we were trying to cure all the damages and pain we had caused each other through this one kiss. One long kiss... We were literally trying to kiss away all the pain and lick away all those wounds that still ached. At last we parted, gasping for breath. Before even realizing what had happened he said-
'Until tomorrow Detective' and headed towards the building. My gaze followed him until he was totally out of view. I was SO in a trance that I was only able to respond a few minutes later.
'Tomorrow... until' was all I was able to say, with a feeble voice, touching my lips where he had just kissed me.
Richard Castle had just given me a kiss and it was worth going through all the troubles and pain we had inflicted on each other. The outing was a date, the date was a success and the major reason of success was the kiss. We were going to talk to each other tomorrow, maybe work things out. I was going to be honest with him. I wanted him, whole of him, with no lies and no deceptions. I knew that he was the man I was never going to leave, no matter what happened and indirectly I had told him this today. I just wanted to go home and open that leather box that he had gifted me. I wondered what it contained, maybe tomorrow I could tell him I loved the gift, though I did not know what it was but I knew it was 'his' gift, the one person whom I loved. I did not want to think about what was going to happen tomorrow, whether it would make us or break us. I actually did not think of tomorrow because right now, I was again and again playing that kiss in my mind. It was on a repeat mode and I could just not switch my mind off from thinking about it. Why even think of tomorrow when I had the kiss to keep me going.
'Yesterday is a history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, which is why we call it the present.'
So, from angst to warming up to loving each other to kissing, I guess I showed the 4 stages till now in these 4 chapters! What do you think?
Thank you SO much for the reviews. Those who liked it but did not review, please do, that would certainly help me in writing. I don't want to rush things, I want them to get closer and closer with each chapter, not just jump into bed. Those of you that want this too, please do tell me whether you are liking the way I am progressing. Please do, and to those who did review, this chapter was dedicated to you all! Seriously! Thank you :D Those who do not have an account, you can tell me too whether you liked it so, just click the review button- down, in the middle.
What next:-
Okay, so next chapter will be sorting things out a little, as you know, the Castle loft scene, and them talking about their feelings is never easy. But I am not going to make it that angsty, it will be sweet. Oh! And the box that Castle gave Beckett, what it contains, I will tell you in the next chapter. I must say, that it is something VERY thoughtful, at least I think. Suggestions are welcome and I may even end up following it, you never know. So, want me to continue? Did you like the 'Casual turned Semi-formal, Outing turned date? I hope I did justice to it, I wanted it to be both formal and casual. Do tell me also what you liked so far!