Bella
Bella could not decide yet if she should relax, rejoice, or run. The restaurant had been beautiful, the man had been overly gorgeous, and his encouragement to order dessert had been seductively charming. Yet, she had been wondering if this was too good to be true.
She had been lured into traps like this before. She thought of the way men had pursued her only to reveal their disturbing intentions; their intentions to betray her in their pursuit of validation and conquest; their physical strength to maintain their need to reach into knowing their fantasies through her. Years earlier, Bella would not have believed in how rampant this cruelty was. But life had thought otherwise; life had been intent on teaching her a wicked lesson that she needed to learn.
"The chocolate cake was a spectacular choice," the man flattered, reaching out to touch hers. The gesture was hard to resist and feeling how his hand was overtaking hers, the warmth shooting out, flowing around inside of her. Bella had wanted to believe. She wanted to believe the man could be genuine in his attentions and this was not done with ill intent. But she had learned more often than not, those attentions to her were not pure and nothing close to resembling the truth.
"Yes," Bella responded. "Delicious."
Bella was thinking more of how hopeful she was in finding love. She thought of how often she pursued it, that she looked for it, that she hoped for it, to only find it disappearing from her life. For anything she might stumble upon that would make her heart beat, it would often unveil itself to be something entirely different, the way clouds disappear from rainy day when the sun comes out to reveal the sky. But Bella had not given up hope.
To hold onto hope, Bella was remembering how she had taken care with selecting the short and dark floral dress. She thought of how it accented her legs along with the nude wedges. The admiration from the man when she met him out, it had not escaped her. She had seen it. But was physical appreciation of her his only interest?
"I've been here before with my dad," the man shared.
Was this true? Or was he talking of family because he assumed it was what she wanted to hear? Could Bella share that she did not have a relationship like that with her father that they would come to a restaurant like this?
"Are you close to your father," Bella had asked, watching him to decide if he were telling the truth.
The man stared back at her. "Our relationship has been complicated at times," he answered her, watching her. "But some of the difficulties we have encountered, I have come to appreciate how we made our way through."
His answer to Bella felt truthful.
"What complicated it?" Bella asked, watching the man grimace.
"I'll tell you more at our next date," the man smiled and Bella felt she should not pressure him further. He had been so considerate, so charming. Perhaps, he could be trusted?
Should she agree to another date?