Assistant to the CEO

Chapter Six: Dating a Little More

Kieran had arranged dinner for seven o'clock, and finally gave me more details about this guy. His name was Elijah Doyle and he was twenty-three. He didn't work in the hotel exactly, he worked in the head office but often came in, which is how he met Kieran. He informed me Elijah had booked a fancy restaurant, something uptown and said I could get a lift with him, but I knew if I was going on a blind date it was best to wait til the restaurant.

So I took the subway, wearing this wavy loose short blue dress, with a black coat pulled around me, and my favourite pair of black heels, because nothing could wrong once I was wearing them. I got to the restaurant a little late in the end, something Kieran told me was always good on a date. I gave the waiter Elijah's name and he told me he was already here. He took my coat and then led me to the table.

Elijah immediately stood up when he saw me, and it allowed me to get a good look at the guy, and first impressions weren't bad. He was tall, something Kieran knew I liked, had dark hair which was styled like it was messy but somehow still neat. He had soft brown eyes, but then a strong jaw line and a clean shaven face. He stood strong, but I didn't look like he had too much muscle under the navy jacket he was wearing.

"Aurora, hi, so nice to meet you," he said immediately, smiling at me.

"Just, Rory, please," I insisted, cringing at my own name. I was hoping Kieran hadn't told him. "Sorry I'm late."

"No, not at all, it's fine," he insisted, rushing around to pull the chair out for me. I smiled at him and sat down and he pushed me.

Elijah then sat back down in his chair and the waiter made eye contact with him.

"Would you like anything to drink, sir?" he asked politely.

I realised the wine menu was sitting in front of him and he must have already read it.

"Do you prefer red or white?" Elijah asked.

"Either is fine," I shrugged slightly.

"Please, I am terrible at picking," he said leaning forward slightly.

I smiled a bit at him. "Well I do usually drink white."

"White it is then," Elijah smiled back at me, picking up the list then pointing to bottle.

"Good choice," the waiter commented, taking the list from him. "I'll be right back with it and then I'll read you the specials."

Once the waiter left there was a moment for silence, and it was a moment of awkwardness. It was bound to happen on a blind date because it was literally the first time we were meeting each other. It had happened more than once and I could usually tell how well the date would go by the way he broke the ice.

"So does Kieran do this to you often?" Elijah asked me, still a little awkwardly.

"All the time," I rolled my eyes. "Does he set you up often?"

"Oh, no," he shook his head. "I only see him occasionally anyway, if I need to go in to do work. To tell you the truth this is my first blind date."

"No way," I commented. "Well, you my friend, are in for a night of maybe awkward moments when you're not sure how far to take a joke, or if they're even joking because you don't know their sense of humour. Silence if there's nothing to talk about it."

"How many of these have you been on?" he asked me.

Too many. "Like four. Kieran thinks my love life is sad, but I'm only twenty-one. I've got time."

Elijah laughed a little. "True. All those things you said though, that's only if it's a bad date right?"

"Well, yeah," I shrugged a little.