He looked at my parents and then at me, “she is beautiful, just like you said. Looks just like you Mrs. Shining.” I thought I saw a look of recognition in his eyes before he turned to my parents.
She smiled, “this is my daughter Serenity. Serenity, this is Bentley.”
I smiled at him, trying not to look uncomfortable, they were setting me up? And this could end very bad, if he realized what had happened that night… gosh, I don’t know what to do. But he was cute, he had dark brown, wavy hair, moss green eyes, and a great tan. “Um, hi, Bentley,” I said, trying to sound sweet.
“Hi, Serenity. You have a beautiful name, if you don‘t mind me saying so.”
I smiled again and my mom gestured at me to stand, “go over to the table with him, we’ll sit here, okay?”
I stared at her for a moment, warning her there would be hell to pay when we came home, “fine,” I said sharply.
I followed him to the back of the restaurant and sat down across from him, there was a candle on the table, oh, great.
He looked at me for a moment, and I started talking, “if you don’t say anything to them about that night and what I was doing, I won’t say anything to them about you being a bartender there.”
He stared at me with shock written clearly across his face, “I won’t,” he said solemnly. “So tell me about yourself, Serenity.”
Well, for starters, I’m pregnant, so don’t get any ideas, someone already beat you to it. I was starting to think that wouldn’t be a great conversation starter, especially after coming off as rude as I just had. “Um, I’m fifteen, a freshman at Bellemont, a straight A student… I don’t really know what to say,” I admitted.
He smiled, “me either, trust me. This is kind of awkward, our parents set us up, that’s weird. I would say it’s a definite no that I’d want to be with someone who my parents want me to be with, but you are… exceptionally beautiful,” he said shyly. “And isn’t it so weird that we already met? I think that’s a major coincidence.”
I thanked him just as shyly, but then my expression hardened, “I don’t believe in coincidences. Only fate. Which normally leads to bad things for me.”
He hesitated before speaking, “life’s not that bad. You’re only fifteen, Serenity.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Bentley.”
He shrugged, and I saw hurt in his eyes, I hesitated and then spoke again, “I’m sorry… it’s just been a rough past couple of weeks.”
He smiled, “that’s okay. What happened? Still hungover from that night?” he joked.
I darted my eyes away, “something like that,” I mumbled.
He obviously didn’t hear me, but the waiter came before he could say something else. I took that moment to take deep calming breaths while he ordered. Then I ordered just a regular burger and water.
He smiled, “you go to this expensive place and you get a burger?”
I laughed, “I’m a picky eater.”
He laughed, “well, I am too. So, what’s your favorite movie?” he asked.
I thought about it, “I don’t know, maybe the Titanic?”
He smiled, “oh, girls and their sad movies.”
I playfully hit him, “shut up!”
He smiled again, and my heart thumped weirdly, which I took as a bad sign, considering the last boy that had done this got me pregnant. “What’s yours?” I asked him.
He shrugged, “probably Citizen Kane.”
“A classic?” I asked, intrigued, Citizen Kane was a favorite of mine as well, because it portrayed William Randolph Hearst so well, even though he didn’t like to think so.
He smiled, “I’m really into journalism.”
I grinned, “I am, too. What do you want to do when you grow up?”
He shrugged, “be a bartender,” he joked, and then grew serious, “no, I want to be an investigative reporter.”
I stared at him, amazed at the fact that we both wanted to go into journalism, “that’s… amazing,” I said.
He laughed, “why?”
“I don’t know, it’s just interesting to hear from a guy, when I’ve never met any guy who enjoys Journalism like I do.”
He beamed, “well, we have things in common, then, don’t we?”
I nodded slowly, not liking the way the conversation was headed. I was pregnant, I didn’t need anymore stress on top of that, especially a relationship. “So, are you going to be attending Bellemont?” I asked him. And the conversation continued like that the rest of the evening, light banter.
After we were done, I saw Mom and Dad getting up and grabbing their stuff, “well,” I said, “I had fun.”
He smiled, “I did too. You‘re really easy to talk to,” he said simply.
I grinned, “you are too. I guess this is it.”
He smiled and kissed my hand, “it was really great meeting you, Serenity.” he left after that.
My heart was pounding in my chest, could my life really get any more complicated?
Mom smiled, “did you like him?”
“He was very cool,” I said.
She beamed, “that’s good, would you be interested in seeing him again?”
“Sure, and I will on Monday in class.”
She nodded, “okay…”
“Can we go home, please?”
She nodded, “alright, we can do that.”
We drove home in silence, and when I got to my room, and crawled into my pajamas, I called Lillian, telling her everything about Bentley.
She was quiet, absorbing more information from me, then she said, “you’re going to have to tell him, too, if you do like him.”
I sighed, “you’re right.”
“Yeah. What does it feel like, Serenity?”
I sniffled, “it feels like I‘m letting everyone down. It feels like I’m stupid, and that I don’t know what the heck I’m doing,” I admitted.
I knew she was nodding, even though we were miles apart, “Serenity, you‘re not stupid, and you definitely haven‘t let me down, if that means anything.”
“It means the world to me, actually.”
She understood, “alright, now enjoy your week at school, okay?”
I laughed, “I’ll try, though according to the information you sent me, I should be getting ready to have morning sickness. What a great feeling to have.”
She laughed as well, “well, you’ll be fine, I assure you.”
I smiled and thanked her, and then hung up. I fell asleep quickly after that, and the next day was a lazy day for me.