Suitor

"A reservation, hmmm?" Maya heard Nate tease as she dragged him over to the parking lot.

"Shut up," she grumbled as she tried to fish out her keys from her bag. "It was either go on a lunch date with him or make him think I was going on a date with you."

Maya continued to struggle while Nate laughed.

"Don't mock me!" she said, raising her voice as she spun around, ready to slap him.

To her surprise, Nate's reflexes were quite quick and he caught her arm by her wrist, stopping her from doing him any harm.

"I would never, I repeat, never mock you, Maya Miller," Nate said as a flame burned in his green eyes, clearly unhappy with her accusation.

Maya on the other hand was at a loss for words as Nate released her wrist and her hand dropped. At that moment Nate didn't seem like the happy-go-lucky man that had left her five years ago.

Something about him was different, he felt stronger, more assertive, and more confident in who he was. He was the same person and yet so different, she couldn't pin her finger on it.

The anger she saw earlier in his eyes slowly dissipated as his bitter expression was replaced with a playful grin.

"What?" she dared to ask.

"I'd happily be the more tolerable one between your two suitors," Nate teased catching Maya off guard as her cheeks began to warm and turn crimson."

"W—w—w—what makes you think that I only have two suitors?" she managed to ask despite being flustered. "There are others."

"Then why didn't you tell him you had a date with one of the others instead?" Nate asked as he put emphasis on the word others, sending Maya a message.

"You—you—!" Maya shouted as Nate suddenly stretched his arm and placed it in one of her bag's pockets.

Maya tried to pull her bag away, but to her surprise Nate moved his hand first, pulling out her car keys and handing them to her.

She stared at him and blinked, shocked that he was able to guess where she had placed her car keys.

"How—" she stuttered.

"That's the bag you bought with your first bonus," Nate pointed out as he nodded toward the bag that was hanging off Maya's shoulder.

He was right, she did buy it with her first-ever bonus, they had been dating for a year when she bought it.

"You always put your car keys in that pocket because it's what you can easily access when you're getting out of your car. It's also the safest place from thieves, or at least that's what you told me," Nate said as he nodded, nudging Maya to take the keys.

Maya was stunned by what Nate had said.

She couldn't believe that he still remembered her old habits from five years ago, habits that she had not changed since.

Nate cleared his throat, pulling her back from her thoughts.

"Th—thanks," Maya's voice shook as she once more blushed.

She couldn't believe that the man she should be mad at was actually making her react this way.

Taking her keys from him, she took a deep breath and pushed her emotions aside.

"You can go now," she said as a matter of factly as she pointed to the taxi stand.

"I'm afraid you'll have to give me a ride—" Nate began to say but was cut short by Maya's vigorous head shaking.

"No," She said in a stern tone. There was no way she was letting this man get into the car. She wasn't sure how she would behave around him if they were alone. "You have to leave."

"So you're using me then abandoning me?" Nate asked, making Maya scoff.

"Abandoning? You want to talk about who abandoned who?" She asked as she glared at Nate. "The audacity!"

"Calm down," Nate grumbled as he glanced behind him. "I know I fucked up okay, I want to make it up to you. Plus do you really want Oliver to come over and offer to keep you company over lunch?"

Nate motioned towards the direction they had come from, and true enough Oliver stood there watching the pair interact.

"Fine," Maya said in defeat as she frowned at her inability to get rid of Nate. "But I'm just dropping you off somewhere."

"Perfect, thank you," Nate said, clearly pleased with how things had played out.

Maya once more rolled her eyes. She felt that if she spent more time with Nate she would go dizzy from rolling her eyes at him.

As they walked back Maya drowned in her thoughts.

She worried that if she spent too much time alone with Nate again her anger would get the best of her.

She feared that she would shout at him and blame him for all her suffering over the past five years. Maya was worried that she might even raise a hand and slap him again, she didn't want a repeat of that.

If Maya from three years ago saw that she was driving Nate around and pretending to be on a date with him, that version of her would have shouted at her and scolded her.

It took her too long to heal from the damage he had done to her both emotionally and mentally. Only recently, she had managed to pull her life back together after what he had done to her.

When Maya drove out of the parking lot, she realized that Nate still hadn't told her where he needed to be dropped off.

She had been so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even ask.

"Where to?" Maya eventually asked Nate.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to drive?" Nate offered.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Where to?"

"Narra," Nate replied stating the name of a very popular and very expensive restaurant in Arlington.

"Narra, the restaurant? Why?" Maya asked, confused about why Nate would want to be dropped off there.

"I want to have lunch," Nate simply said with a shrug, leaving Maya in utter confusion.