Dr. Nicca James Alfarone

"I swear this is a bad, bad idea Nicca. Hella bad, I have to say."

I ignored Jose's griping as I buttoned up the blue shirt I was wearing. "Shut up." I muttered. "I didn't ask for your opinion." I sighed, looking in the mirror, running a hand through my hair to make it look presentable. "I know you aren't this naive, Nicca. For fuck's sake, he could be the man who drugged you and had sex with you!" Jose frowned, an unusual expression on his face. 

I rolled my eyes, slipping on my Rolex watch, snapping it snug against my wrist. "...and what is that supposed to mean?" I narrowed my eyes at the blonde man as he sat on my bed, his arms folded and I could literally feel the tension forming in the air. "Not even two days ago, you were telling me about how you felt like you were raped or something because you hadn't had the slightest bloody idea about who done this to you and now you've gone mad, yakking about how you wanna go on a dinner with the man you woke up in bed!" He snapped, his British twang coming through in his words. 

"I mean, figglio de puttana, have some fucking sense!" Jose ranted, his native accent coming through his speech, his father having been from Rome. "Jose," I paused, walking over to my best friend and placing my hands on his shoulder, watching as his glare intensified. "I know what I'm doing." And it was true. Throughout high school, I was the guy with all of the girlfriends. I had lost my virginity to a nerd named Juliet Rollins in one of the conference rooms in the library when I was 17.

Good times, I must say.

I had my fair share of girls and sex so it wasn't something I was shocked by.

"Okay, Nicca. You do what you want but if you get hurt, I will not hesitate to pop you one in that cakehole of yours." He glared at me and I nodded. "I'm serious, Nicca. I'm betting bad vibes from that text. You don't find it the slightest bit mental how convenient that text was? First, you find some guy stalking you out of the blue a couple of days after you somehow found your way into bed with a dude, not knowing the details because you were bloody sloshed! Then this man Steve, whoever he is, wants to go out for bloody dinner! What the hell, man?" Jose scoffed and I ignored his words.

"It didn't even strike you as odd when someone whom you know jack shit about texted you out of the blue, did it?" He raised a brow and I shrugged, spraying on some Calvin Klein before finishing up in the mirror. "No, not really." And it didn't. While it should have, I probably was blinded by the fact that someone else has had in an interest in me and I didn't even have to fight for it. Call me crazy, but it's been awhile since I had been in any form of a relationship.

After high school, it was as if the market suddenly dropped for me and no one seemed to have any interest in me. I was looking to settle down with a nice girl, maybe have two or three kids and live a happy life but as you can see, those dreams were quickly shattered the day I graduated. So while I know the risks of doing this with Steve, I try not to care because I don't want to be skeptical of something that may turn out to be good for me.

"Who's to say that it will turn into a full blown relationship?" I said, trying to appease Jose's feelings. "Maybe it'll just be a one -time thing, who knows?" I shrugged, slipping on my black dress shoes. "My father did say it was time for me to complete the initiation so he could step down but there was no saying that it had to be Steve. Relax, would you?" I asked and he sighed. "I'm only looking out for you, Nicca. Don't rush into this because you feel like you have to." Jose countered. "You and I both know how that shit feels and it feels absobloodylutey shitty." He warned and I agreed with him.

"...I promise."

He let out a breath of air and I could see that in his eyes, he didn't believe me. I didn't even believe myself.

"Well, you look nice. Hopefully he turns out to be a good guy and I won't have to feel like he's a dodgy person." He uttered, breaking the tense silence and I chuckled, the sound of the doorbell cracking in my ear. "He's here." I grabbed my phone and my wallet, slipping into my back pocket. "I'll walk you downstairs." He said. I nodded in reply to him but I knew he was still thinking. Jose had always been there for me, even when things got really tough for me to bear. He always to get off of my ass and start chasing my dreams. He's the reason why I am a doctor today.

"COMING, YOU SACK OF SHIT!" Jose yelled down the steps to calm the insistent ringing of the doorbell. "Dumb ass is trying to make you buy another doorbell. Bitch." Jose reached the first level with me behind me and went to go open the door. He opened it as slowly as possible and when I saw who was behind the door, I grinned happily.

There stood Steve Bardlow with his piercing blue eyes staring into my soul, his brown hair that was styled aimlessly in a pompadour, his white teeth twinkling as he grinned at me, damn he was gorgeous. 

"Hey." I said breathlessly, taking in his nice get up. "You look great." I beamed and he smirked. "You do too, beautiful." He smiled and I was taken back by how nice he looked. "Yeah, yeah, you both look super dapper." Jose leaned on the doorway, rolling his eyes as we stood in the foyer. Jose was the same height as Steve, standing both at 6'1, looking like Greek gods. Sometimes, I hated my parents for making me look like this.

"I don't believe we've met." Steve held out a hand for Jose to shake and Jose stared at his hand like it was infected with some deadly disease. "I don't care. Get the fuck out." Jose sneered, holding the door open. "Bring him back before nine or you'll have my foot up your arse, you understand?" He raised a brow at the mildly shocked Steve who collected himself. "Yep. He'll be back before then." He smiled and Jose rolled his eyes.

I started to walk towards Steve and I didn't miss the look of panic that made its way onto Jose's face. I didn't know what he was so afraid of. I mean, I knew I should have had some red flags going off but when I spoke to Steve on the phone, it was nothing but everything I ever wanted. He was funny, he was sincere, a good listener and truth be told, he was someone I could see myself with and I couldn't understand why Jose was acting like that. Yes, I could've went about it a different way but life's too short to not take risks.

I wasn't naive or anything like that. I knew what could happen from this date and going forward. I was just going to take it by the reins and see where it took me. Who knows? Maybe the tide will take me to the land of happy endings.

"Let's go." I said to Steve as he grabbed my hand, the giddy feeling running through my body. I waved bye to Jose who just closed the door, probably to go mope in the shower or something like that. "So where are you taking me, Mr. Bardlow?" I smiled flirtatiously and I didn't miss the breath that he suddenly took in. "Oh, that's a surprise, Mr. Alfarone." Something twinkled in his eyes when he said that and I took it for mischief. "Why can't I know?" I asked and he raised a brow, us walking down the street, hand in hand. "Because if you knew, it would ruin the element of surprise." He retracted his hand from my grasp and slipped it around my waist. I gasped when he turned my head to his, his blue eyes staring into my own hazel ones. "Touché." I whispered, our breaths fanning each other's face.

"You know, you really are something else." He tilted his head and smiled softly. "I can't get enough of looking at you." His words made me turn into a strawberry, my cheeks crimson. "You have a way with words, don't you?" I winked before freeing myself from his grasp, chuckling. "Of course I do. It's why you're on this date with me." He let out a laugh and I shrugged. "Here we are." He said after what felt like years of walking down the same street.

"Wow." We both said in unison, laughing at each other's antics. "You really went all out for this date, huh?" I asked, staring up at the big, beautiful restaurant with twinkling lights above me. We were at Rosa's, a seafood based restaurant and they were so expensive and always so packed but I heard their food was excellent. 

"Let's go in." He took my hand and pulled me along with him. This was making me so happy, how he was treating me. "Hi! Welcome to Rosa's!" A short lady with red hair and green eyes smiled up at me. "Name?" She asked. "Bardlow." Steve replied curtly and she tapped away on the computer in front of her. "Okay! Right this way, please." She grabbed two menus and leaded us down the aisles of packed booth until she finally settled on an empty one, jazz music playing in the room.

"Your waitress will be right with you." The lady placed the menus in front of us as we sat down, walking away when she was done. "This seems like a beautiful place. How did you get it so quick?" I asked, remembering that he had asked me out two days ago. "Don't worry. When you're as rich as I am, you can get into any place." He grinned. "That's true." I said as a waitress walked up to us. "My name is Carolina. I'll be your waitress for today. What would you guys like to start off as drinks?" She asked, placing ample cups of water in front of us. 

"How about your finest wine?" Steve asked and Carolina nodded, reaching over to a shelf on the wall. "This is our red Montoya Cabernet." She popped the cork off and poured the delicious smelling liquid into our glasses. She smiled at us before leaving the bottle on our table, walking away.

"So what's your family like?" He asked after taking a sip of wine. I opened my mouth to tell him about my family and everything like that but then I recalled my father's words from the day of my twenty-ninth birthday.

"Be careful who you trust, Nicca." 

I shook my head slightly and smiled at Steve. "Oh, there's nothing interesting about them. My mom works as a psychiatrist and my dad is a CEO." I said. There was no lie in that because those were their jobs when they weren't working as king or queen in their home city of Arondale. "Oh, is that right?" Steve raised a brow, taking another sip of his wine, his eyes narrowing in on me and I felt like he could see right through me.

"That's sad. I was hoping for something a little bit more intriguing." Steve chuckled, putting his glass down, about to ask me more questions and I was all but eager to answer the ones that I could without raising suspicions about my family and I.

Then something came down on me like an ax to a tree, a waterfall to a dam. It was a striking realization that sent confusion up and down my body, causing me to narrow my eyes and sweat to form. My heart slowly began to pump and I couldn't hear what Steve was saying. I could only focus on his lips moving and I thought of it as nothing.

All I could think was how I never told him my last name.