Self-fulfilling prophecy

"A more secluded table please,"

Summer felt like a fish out of the sea hearing the strange request her date made as he slipped a preposterous tip into the waiter's hand reminding her once again that though their paycheck had the same number written on it, their financial backgrounds were very different.

The young waiter's eyes sparkled, and his head bobbed up and down. "This way, follow me please," he said as he led the way for Andrew and Summer.

She vaguely registered that her hand was back in the arm of her date once more. Something didn't make sense to her, 'I thought that this place was booked months in advance?' She wondered what kind of a table would qualify as secluded under these circumstances.

As they moved past the final table and went into a corridor further inside the club, Summer understood what was happening. They'd end up going somewhere else in the club and the food from the restaurant would be delivered to where they were.

She was fine with that, in fact, she preferred it.

Summer wasn't all that eager to add more awkwardness to an already awkward situation, what with their boss being within hearing distance while she tried to take the date seriously. No matter how far-fetched it was, the possibility of Andrew Wilson being Mr. Right around the corner could not be dismissed at this point.

By the end of the long corridor, the three of them made a right turn and the waiter opened a door for them.

It was a lovely-looking winter garden unlike anything she'd ever seen before, the garden even had a small mountain with water flowing, and soft lights surrounded it in a way that complimented the visible stars and moon decorating the sky above them while white and yellow glass candles shone like magical droplets scattered around the room. There was only one table with a set of two chairs strategically placed in the corner.

'How very secluded,' Summer's cynical thoughts didn't match the awe she felt inside the place that looked too dreamy to be true.

The waiter turned around and looked up at Andrew, "If this is fine with you sir, I'll bring you the menu, and everything else you need, of course," he said suggestively.

"It's fine. Don't bother with the menu, I've already ordered with the reservation so just bring that over, how long do we have to wait?"

While Andrew sounded hungry and impatient, Summer made her way to the table and placed her purse on the side of the chair, then she pulled it slightly back and sat down in a daze, her eyes taking in everything that surrounded her.

"…You're not very used to this are you?" Andrew asked as he pulled the chair across from her and sat down with a less-than-pleased look on his face.

She was uncomfortable as it was and didn't appreciate the condescending remark.

"I come from a very proud family, but you're right, this level of extravagance is not something I'm familiar with," she said with a straight face, deciding that he was smart enough to take a hint.

He looked around him as if he was seeing the garden for the first time once more before he looked back at her, "I didn't mean this place, I meant dating in general,"

She rolled her eyes understanding that he was still being condescending only about something else now, "Of course… I have dated other men before…"

Andrew somehow didn't look very convinced. He placed a hand under his chin and looked straight into her eyes, his colors losing the reddish hue to them under the night light.

He looked like a different person.

"How many?" He asked with a curious tone.

"Hm?" She had no idea what he was talking about and was a little flustered that she had been analyzing his looks in the middle of a conversation.

"How many men have you dated before?"

Summer frowned; it wasn't something someone asked another on the first date as far as she knew. That aside, the number of men she dated was low, making his assumption about her habits a correct one.

She didn't want his snobbish remark to be correct. "I was engaged once," She blurted out and regretted it immediately. It wasn't something she went around talking about with random people.

"…"

Andrew seemed to have frozen in time, which made her even more nervous about saying something strange, she worried that perhaps he thought she had a case of a broken heart, which wasn't true at all.

"Oh, it was just something arranged between families and happened like a decade ago! What I meant to say was that I've dated before… I was even on a date today for lunch,"

The frozen poker face on Andrew's face fell. "You went out on a date today… of all days?" His tone was somewhere between upset and incredulous.

"…I'm just being honest, I told Patrick that I was going to go out on a date with you too," she knew the guilt she felt was baseless, but she felt it anyway.

He straightened up and realization flashed in his eyes, "Are you into polygamy?"

Summer was horrified, "No!" She couldn't believe how wrong that statement was, "Are you?!" She threw the ball to his court just to push the topic away from her.

He crossed his arms against his chest as the silence stretched between the two of them, "…I'm not into relationships. And you're being an idiot,"

Summer could not have heard the last sentence wrong. She placed both of her hands on the table between them half contemplating abandoning him just like Gabe suggested she should on the dates when the chemistry was just not happening.

"…Excuse you?" She finally managed to say.

"I said you're being an idiot. Not you are one…"

Summer marveled at the man who was insulting her with such ease, she was at a total loss of what exactly she had to do, so she ended up deciding to get to the bottom of the insult.

"…How exactly am I being an idiot…"

He looked at her with a serious face, "You're falling into the trap of a self-fulfilling prophecy,"

Just like that, Summer reconsidered her time with him. Maybe this date was not so disastrous after all. Maybe he was really here to help her figure out things or see them from a different perspective.

She looked at her date with two curious eyes, "Care to elaborate?"