Chapter 8: The Date

Azalea Johnson's POV

Since Alex left his phone number onto the note, maybe I should give him a call to cancel and explain why I can't come. I have been fidgeting since the ringing of the line but no answer. I think he purposely does this to piss me. for the 10th time that I called him, he immediately answered after the second ring.

"Azalea," his voice was husky as he called my name.

"to what do I owe you a pleasure of 10 phone calls?" He asked me, amused by how persistent I was to get through him. I gritted my teeth,

"well, if you have been picking it up the first time I called you, you don't have that much of miscalls. He laughed as though I just said something funny to him.

"yeah, well, you cannot blame me for not trying to answer it. I was preoccupied with stuff," he said as he sounded so chill. I sighed.

"so, why do you call for me? I don't think you would but a man can hope," he said as he chuckled at his comment.

"I don't think we could meet up today. Something came up and—"

"and you wish to bail out. I understand," he said. My face lighted up at his comment.

"can I?" I asked him, hoping that he would let me off the hook.

"no can do, sweetheart. besides, you owe me," he said.

"I don't owe you anything," I replied. He chuckled.

"well, think again about that whenever you talk to me. Besides, I was you, savior, after all. Your mum wished that I could make you spend some time with me," he said. Damn it, mum!

"oh, so, you're a part of my family now?" I asked him through my gritted teeth. He laughed huskily that made something stirred inside me.

"only for you, Azalea. 10 AM sharp and don't be late. I hate late people," he said before ended the all. I was so caught up with his voice that I was in a trace. And before I knew it, I have agreed to go on a date with him.

I wore something that my mother would not approve but it is more of my personality. Since the summer season was not starting next week, I put on my sweater and black denim with combat boots. At least, I was ready.

I went downstairs to get some coffee before I started my day. I would be grumpy without my coffee.

"hey," my sister greeted me. In her hands, she was holding a cup of tea. We were different people with different tastes anyway.

"Morning," I mumbled as I went to the coffee machine and poured me a cup. I went to let the roast coffee smell lingered on me before I drank my coffee.

"so, I saw you with someone last night. Who was he and don't tell me you don't know," my sister said as she wriggled her eyebrows at me? I sighed inwardly as I was drinking my coffee before setting it into the sink.

"No one," I said.

"aw, come on! You don't say anything to me anymore. We were so close together before—"

"before anything. yes, I know but you know I have so many things to be done and with your wedding, I don't time to go on a date or whatsoever," I said after I put the mug inside a dishwasher. I turned to look at her as Amber was quiet in her seat.

"well, that's not what your boyfriend said to dad last night," she mumbled but loud enough for me to make out what she was saying.

"What?" I asked her.

"Alex told dad that he wants to get married to you. well, Ms. Azalea Johnson, you're not a tough cookie after all," she said as she wriggled her eyebrows at me. I sighed before I took my handbag and I went to get to her car.

"Can I borrow your car?" I asked Amber.

"what for?" She asked. I looked at her with an are-you-kidding-me look.

"oh, right. Here's the key," she tossed me the key that I caught in my hands.

"love you too," she shouted but I was already inside her car that conveniently parked on the side of the road. I unlocked the car and went inside before started the ignition and sped off toward our meeting place.

When I arrived at the said destination, it was not that crowded. I thanked the god for not making me having to weave through people inside a small cafe. It was a nice cafe for hipsters and teenagers to hang out, or for my case, someone to go on a date with.

I searched around the room to see that Alex was leaning in his chair as he was reading something. Maybe a book about Chemistry or something but when I get closer, he looked up to smile at me. He got up after I approached him.

"Azalea, you're here. How are you?" He asked me as he went to pull the chair for me to sit on.

"thank you," I said as I went to take the seat before he went to take his. He had his coffee already so I don't know if I should get something as well.

"what do you like for today?" He asked me as he gave me a menu. I looked around the menu and found something that I liked before he went to order it and I was happy he would like to deal with it.

"so," he said after taking his seat. I was being conscious of what my sister told me about his talk with dad.

"so," I replied to him.

"Tell me about yourself," he said. I looked at him as if he was losing his mind. He laughed.

"look, I took you out for a date, right? I might as well talk about you and I wanted to get to know you. Don't you remember anything from last night?" He asked me. instantly, I felt my cheeks get hot and I think I blushed at his question. He smiled at me, taking in the answer that I did remember about last night.

"so, do you want to start or shall I?" He asked me as the waitress came to put my iced caramel macchiato in front of me.

Alexander MacWatters' POV

Her blush was so cute like I cannot believe with a simple question would make her feel hot instantly. But of course, let's not forget that I was also hot and blood was pumping to a certain part of my body.

"so, Azalea, what do you like? What you do for a living?" I asked her as I took a sip of my half-way through coffee. I have been getting here since 9:30 AM as I don't want to be late. And a second later, Azalea came.

"What do you mean?" She asked me. I chuckled at her question.

"well, what do you do? I know that you're a graduate at our campus—"

"Who told you that?" She asked me. I looked at her as she was about to explode.

"Ian told me that Amber told him that you're an oceanographer that was about to get another funding for your project but you got rejected," I said honestly. Azalea rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth.

"damn it, Amber," she mumbled. I smiled.

"what?" I tried to make her looked terrified.

"Nothing," she said as she was taking a sip of her iced coffee. For someone cold, it was no surprise she loved cold coffee.

"so, I will tell you about myself first then," I said as I went to sit straight in front of her. Her ocean-blue eyes were training on me. I smiled inwardly that she was aware of my presence in her personal space. Not to mention the almost touching of our legs underneath the table.

"I was born in Scotland but my parents immigrated to the United States as my grandparents were the first generation here. I was the firstborn of my family—"

"firstborn?" She asked me as she did not understand me. I smiled at her gently.

"the eldest of my family," I said. She nodded before she urged me to continue to tell her about myself.

"well, I have 2 siblings including me. My brother lives in Scotland as he attended college there. I am a Chemistry professor at our campus and I love to read," I said as I picked up to show my latest reading. It was a scientific journal on the composition of the water that might be helping humans to venture to Mars.

"I thought you like to read. But I don't think it would nerd stuff," she said as she pointed at my scientific journal. I laughed before putting the journal down and looked at her.

"But, I do enjoy some casual reading such as novels and graphic comics," I said. She pouted her lips and nodded at me. I popped my hand under my chin and looked at her.

"now that you have known about me, why don't you tell me about yourself then?" I said as I looked at her intensely. She looked at me as well before breaking eye contact. She gulped as I can see she was nervous around me.

And I think I liked that.