DISAPPOINTMENTS

         Ethan was more than excited when they arrived at the dinner venue. He got down from the car and went around, opened the door for his mother, offered her his hand, she took it and he led her out of the car. Faith wasn't there yet but he kept hoping that she would come. 

       "Seems your girlfriend doesn't take you seriously at all." 

        "Mom, please keep an open mind, she would come." Ethan led Dolores into the restaurant and a waitress took them to a table reserved for them.  It was by the window, a beautiful view. 

       He pull out a seat for his mom, she sat and smiled at him. 

       "You are the perfect gentleman after all," Dolores remarked. 

      "You raised me well, didn't you?" 

     They smiled.  Ethan ordered a bottle of champagne. He drank with his mom for a while, occasionally glancing at his watch. His mom kept looking at him. 

      "Well, are you going to keep looking at your wristwatch all night when you could call her to come over, maybe she is busy. I heard she is a career woman." 

       Ethan glanced at his mom and excused himself from the table. Why was she late? He went out of the restaurant and dialled Faith's number, it rang but wasn't answered. He sighed in frustration and decided to text her. 

       'Are you alright?' When he got no reply, he texted again.  'Call me back, please. Remember our dinner with mom?' 

      He looked back and saw his mom looking at him from the window, he waved at her and turned away, looking for any sign of Faith. He walked back into the restaurant and sat down facing his mother. 

       "What seems to be her problem?"  his mom inquired. 

      Ethan grabbed the glass of champagne that was standing on the table and gulped it down while his mom watched.  "She is not answering her phone I don't know if something went wrong with her but I assure you, she would be here."

       "Let's have appetizers first before she gets here, I'm famished." 

       "Alright," Ethan said and beckoned to a waiter, while he looked at his phone to know if Faith had sent any messages. But each time, he was met with disappointment. 

     The waiter took their orders and went away. Ethan kept looking out of the window. He took out his phone again and decided to call Nora. 

      "Excuse me, mom, I'll be right back."  Ethan eased out of his chair and went outside again. 

      Nora answered at the second ring.  "Hello, Ethan, what's up?" 

       "Hey, Nora. I don't know if you've seen Faith today and did she perhaps mention a dinner date with me and my mother?" 

       "Yeah, she did. What's wrong? Isn't she there yet?" 

      "She is not here yet." 

      "What? She said she was going to get ready for the date. I dropped her off at a beauty shop. Have you called her yet?" 

      "She is not answering my calls, maybe she would answer yours." 

      "That's strange," Nora muttered.  "Alright, I'll call her and find out what happened." 

      "I'm scared she might be in danger." 

      "I hope she is not." 

    They hung up and went back into the restaurant. 

        Faith chose what she thought was her real future. She had been in a dilemma at first at whom to ditch and whom to go out with. Then she thought it through. Noah was her future, a real one while Ethan was just some roommate she was covering up for. At last, she decided to go out with Noah first, maybe catch up later with Ethan and his annoying mom, who would only ask her awkward questions that she might not want to answer. She hadn't told Nora about it because she knew that no matter how Nora tried to hide it, she never approved of Noah again. So she has decided to stop discussing Noah with Nora. 

     Noah was waiting for her in front of the address he had given her. She wore a sleeveless red gown that flowed to the floor and she had left her brunette hair cascade down her shoulders and the makeup artist had done a good job on her face. Noah was in a black tuxedo, which suited him well and his curly hair that usually fall over his face was combed back, away from his face, revealing his handsome face. 

      He opened the door and gave her his hand, she took his hand, smiling at him. He led her towards a big building. 

      "Where are we going to?" she asked a bit confused. 

       "I told you I want to show you my latest achievement. What do you think?" 

        She gasped.  "You bought a house? Wow, that means you came to stay." 

      He winked at her. She was overwhelmed and she kept beaming with smiles as he lead her to the magnificent house. He led her into the living room, it was large and brightly lit with gleaming white paints, with an enormous chandelier hanging at the centre of the ceiling, a few antique sofas and a piano by the stairs, a large bar with hanging wine glasses which decorated it beautifully, a large glass window that overlooked the city, a fireplace with different sculptures and awards standing on the hearth, his pictures hung above the fireplace. 

      He spread his arms as they came in.  "I am still moving in so I have not bought a lot of properties." 

       "This is beautiful," she remarked.

    He held her hand and started leading her to a sofa.  "What's more beautiful is the cuisine. It's French." 

      She gasped.  "Wow, that would be lovely. Isn't it the most refined?" 

       He shrugged.  "Let's have champagne before we proceed to quench our hunger." 

     She smiled. It was going to be a romantic evening and he was being very nice, but she also thought about Ethan and his mom, would they wait for her? Could she have just told them the truth? She glanced at the clock on the wall. She could make it brief with Noah and rush over to Ethan and his mom. She had purposely left her phone at home to avoid feeling guilty. 

      Noah went to the bar and took out a bottle of champagne with two wine glasses. He went back to Faith.  "Let the party begin." 

     Faith smiled and took the wine glass from him, he poured the drink into her glass and dropped the bottle on the table. He sat beside her. 

      "Let's make a toast." 

       "To what?" she asked looking into his eyes. 

       "To new beginnings." 

       Her heart skipped. New beginnings? Noah was ready for her now. They don't need to wait anymore. They have known each other well enough now, so he was going to give her back that ring. Her heart lept for joy. Perhaps, he would give it to her tonight. They clinked their glasses and he watched her from the rim of his glass. 

       "Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?" 

    She felt her face flush. She sipped her drink. He stood up and dropped his glasses on a table by the side and went over to the music player and turned on the music. His favourite song, which had also turned out to become her favourite started playing.  'Perfect' by  Ed Sheeran. 

      He walked back to her and offered her his hand, she took it and he helped her up. She was smiling and blushing sheepishly as he gently took the glass from her, looking straight into her eyes. She recalled when they used to dance it back in San Francisco. There were no other memories she cherished more than that or were there now? She had made good memories since she came to Los Angeles. They intertwined their fingers.

      He sang along, looking into her eyes, she stared back into his, smiling. They danced and danced and he sang the song to her and brought his face closer. She leaned closer too. This was Noah, her Noah, the love of her life, the only man she had loved so deeply. They were starting things up again and she couldn't comprehend how she was feeling. Doubt. Wrong.

      Was she overjoyed, was she eager to receive him back into her life? The answer was YES! He leaned closer and kissed her, she kissed him back. She was supposed to feel like she was flying and it was supposed to send shivers down her spines, but she suddenly got the memory of her and Ethan kissing. 

      As Noah kissed her intensely, she saw that mental image of her and Ethan in the kitchen, her back flat against the fridge, Noah suddenly became Ethan, kissing her with that fire. She became confused and tried to comprehend what was going on. She tried to be in control but the memory was beclouding her senses. Noah suddenly turned to Ethan, kissing, fondling her breast, trying to tear off her clothes. 

       Her breaths started coming out in large pants and she started gasping, gasping until she finally broke away from Noah's grip. She stared at Noah panting, Noah stared at her in confusion, his eyes filled with desire. 

      "What's the matter? Are you okay?" he asked his voice filled with desire. 

      "No...yes, yes...err…"

     Noah quickly strode over to her and held her shoulders.   "Are you alright? Is it your ulcer? Does it hurt?" 

      She stared at him as if she was confused. "No, I'm fine." 

      "Then why did you break off?" 

      "I'm sorry, I can't..." She looked away from him, her eyes fluttering. 

      "You can't what?" 

    She took a few steps back.  "I can't do this..." She hurried over to the couch, grabbed her purse and started to leave. Noah stared at her in confusion. He followed her as she was leaving and caught up with her by the door and held her arm. 

      "What's wrong, Faith? Did I do something wrong?" 

     "No, Noah. I just... I just want to leave. I kind of feel queasy." 

     "You can stay here." 

      "No! No, I better head home, I'm sorry." 

       "Let me drop you off then." 

        "No, no, I'll find my way home." 

     She opened the door and ran out immediately, leaving Noah looking after her in confusion. She ran to the road, her heart still thumping. She couldn't even understand what was going on with her. She quickly flagged down a taxi and called the name of the restaurant where she had agreed to have dinner with Ethan. She got into the taxi and as it moved away, she saw Noah standing on his porch looking at her. 

     She wanted to get back to Noah, she wanted him to engage her but she didn't know she would feel wrong if he touched her the way he used to. She shut her eyes. She had once yearned for his touch, she had craved it. What went wrong? How could she see Ethan's image while kissing Noah?  She opened her eyes again and looked at her wristwatch. It was a few minutes past ten. 

       "Sir, can you drive faster please." 

     The driver muttered a 'yes ma'am' and went to little faster. She puffed and rested her head on the backrest looking at the ceiling of the car. What was wrong with her? How could she ruin something like that? When she gets home, she would simply text Noah an apology message and that would solve the problem.  She wanted to get back to Noah, but she suddenly felt she doesn't know who Noah was anymore. 

        She needed to know his motive for her, she wanted to know why he was coming back to her life, she wanted to know what happened to those girls she had seen him with, he was not saying any of those, she felt he was just rushing things. She almost laughed out loud at the thought of that. That was Noah, she had known him for most of her life. 

       They encountered traffic on the road and she almost went crazy. Why was everything just against her right now? The least she could do was go late for the dinner. But she wanted to show up, she didn't think she was ready to see Ethan's disappointed face. She waited patiently for the traffic and had to check her map to know the trekking distance from where she was to where the restaurant was located. She sighed when she found out that she could not trek. The traffic finally ease and the taxi driver zoomed off. 

       "Ethan, I think we should leave now, I don't think she would show up, this is two hours now and she is yet to come," Dolores said. 

       Ethan tapped his feet on the floor frantically.  "Let's just wait a little longer for her, she might be caught up with something, she might be in trouble." 

        "Oh, my God! I feel so dizzy," Dolores said and placed her palm on her forehead. 

      Ethan looked alarmed. He stood up and went over to his mom.  "Mom, are you alright?" 

        "I feel so dizzy like I want to faint. Oh, my God." 

        "Alright, I'll take you home, sorry for stressing you," Ethan said and started helping her up. 

      Dolores smiled to herself and allowed him to help her up. She was tired of waiting for Faith to show up. Why Ethan would love a girl so rude eluded her, couldn't she at least call on the phone and give whatever excuse she had? It was better than keeping them waiting like that. Ethan led her to the car and helped her inside. Before he got in, he took one last look around the place, searching for Faith, but she wasn't anywhere around. He went into his car, started the ignition and drove out of the parking lot.  

      As he was about to hit the road, a taxi drove into the place, but he was too preoccupied with the thought of why Faith didn't show up that he didn't take note of who was in the taxi. 

       Faith got off the taxi as quickly as ever and handed the driver his fare. When the driver fumbled for change, she left his car and moved ahead.  She quickly ran towards the building, she went in and saw that the restaurant was almost empty. She scanned the place with her eyes, but there was no sign of Ethan and his mom. 

       "Shit," she muttered and went over to a waitress by the counter. 

       Ethan had told her that he reserved a table and had given her the table number in case she came before them.  "Excuse me." 

        "Welcome, how may I help you?" the waitress asked with a pleasant smile. 

      "Err... I had a reservation here." 

       "What table?" 

       "Table eight." 

        "Oh, but the people that reserved that table just left. A young man and an older woman, probably his mom." 

      Faith shut her eyes. She had missed them.  "Thank you so much," she said to the waitress and took a few steps back, turned and hurried away from the restaurant, not caring to hear the waitress' response.  She went onto the sidewalk and started trekking down without any destination in mind. She suddenly realised that she had done the greatest mistake of her life. She should have gone out with her phone and called Ethan with an excuse that she wasn't going to be able to make it to dinner. 

       She felt bad, almost foolish. The two dates she had been asked on today, she  had ruined both. She never enjoyed both.  She finally flagged down a taxi to take her home, at least her apology was going to be genuinely from her heart.