Page 4 of Broken Beauty

“Have you ever been on a date?”

Ariella nods her head. “Once but it was a while ago.”

I nod my head and take a sip out of my water. “So why did you decide to ask me to go for dinner?”

Ariella sighs. “Because I want to experience a lot of things like dating for example and what happens on dates.”

My mind immediately starts thinking dark and inappropriate thoughts. Thoughts that Ariella has no way to comprehend what exactly I'm thinking.

“What's your last name?”

Ariella's face pales. “We don't need to know each other's last names yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because it's not important right now. In this moment, I want to learn more about you as a person.” Ariella relaxes in her chair.

The waiter ends up coming to our table and takes Ariella's drink order.

“How old are you?” I ask.

“Eighteen, going to turn nineteen in December.” Ariella answers. “What about you?”

“Turned nineteen last month.”

“What did you do for your birthday?”

I almost laugh when thinking about it. My friends from New York threw me a party. So much shit happened but I was too high to even comprehend what was happening.

“My friends threw a party for me.”

“Why the smile?” Ariella asks with a smile threatening to spill on her lips.

“'Cause it was a crazy party.”

Ariella and I talk more as time goes on. We eat here and there but the food is forgotten as we keep talking.

I tell her about how I am visiting for the summer and that I live in New York with my father. She asks what brought me to LA and I tell her I am just hanging out with a friend. I just need some time away from my father but since meeting Ariella, I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.

Ariella tells me that she is taking summer classes because she wants to be done with college as soon as possible. I guess she hates LA and wants to move to New York. She wants to visit this summer but she has no one to go with.

As Ariella and I eat our food, I start to notice how lonely she is. She rarely talks about friends and if she does mention any friends she mentions Lo, who is the bookstore owner, and Bridgette who is Ariella's best friend that she has known since kindergarten.

“So about your choices of books,” I state which makes Ariella blush. “If you could recommend any book to me to read, what would it be?”

“Do you like thrillers?”

I nod. “Happens to be one of my favorite genres.”

“Well, there is this one book where the husband has a list of women he wants to kill off and at the end of the list his wife's name is there.”

“Interesting.”

“It's my favorite book.”

“Does it happen to be by Jameson Hat?” Ariella smiles and nods her head. I love her smile, it's so genuine. “I have heard about the book but I have yet to read it. He's one of my favorite authors.”

Ariella's smile brightens. “Same. I've been reading his books since his debut.”