There was a pregnant pause between Kaz's question and Ellie's response, prompting a wellspring of anxiety to gush in his mind. He shouldn't have asked her out to dinner, he should've just tried a bit more small talk, hired a taxi to take him back to his car and drove off with hopefully her phone number and an invitation to coffee later. That's EXACTLY what he should have done and now she's probably thinking that he was trying to gloss over their past, to- She accepted. He tried to suppress the wide smile that crossed his face, but he couldn't help it. He was genuinely happy she had taken him up on the offer, even going so far as to feel his face flush slightly at the implication she insulated about his invitation. "Ellie, come on, you know I'm not...not to say that you aren't attractive..." Shut up. Just shut up and be graceful for once in your life. "What I meant to say was..." He took a breath before continuing: "I'm flattered you would take me up on the offer and I'm looking forward to it. I really am. Thank you." His phone buzzed once more, but thankfully no ominous called id, but instead a reminder text from his personal assistant that his last earnings report wasn't completed before he left and the board was "anticipating it's arrival". Blowing out a sigh, he showed Ellie the text, proclaiming: "You see the things I have to deal with now? It's tempting to run off to the nearest island off the coast somewhere. Set up a nice hut, pina coladas everywhere..." He tapped a finger thoughtfully on his chin. "Although I don't know how one could get a pina colada machine to work without electricity, but hey, we are all entitled to have strange parameters in our dreams, aren't we?" Realizing that this comment was straight off the heels of her suggestive one, he quickly diverted back to his excuse to leave: "I'll need to get back to the hotel...well, if you can call it that. I'm actually two blocks away from Tuscana. There's an office building that apparently got converted into an apartment complex? Whoever bought the place had some taste and upgraded the interior before plastering his advertisements all over VRBO. He sold Macon as a town filled with 'southern charm'. I suppose I can't really argue with the description, but maybe he could've included that a block or two further is the abandoned junkyard...or maybe that's a part of the charm?" He was babbling. He needed to leave. "Right, so...I'll call a taxi to take me back to my car. Shall I pick you up around eight?" Knowing that he didn't have reservations, he added: "Or whenever they have an opening. We'll see if they're willing to let two locals slip in." Placing his phone back in his pocket, he gave Ellie an appreciative smile. "Minus the strange experience, it was so good to see you again. I'm really looking forward to dinner." He placed the mug on the table in front of him before walking next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder gently. "Here's hoping we can both get some rest. I ah..." He cleared his throat. "If you can't sleep tonight, cause of..you know, what we saw, call me. I won't mind." He spotted a pen and notepad on the nearest part of the kitchen counter and scrawled his phone number on one of the sticky notes before handing it to Ellie. "See you tomorrow." Looking into her deep blue irises, her warm, kind- No. Not now, not for a long time, maybe not ever again. Before he left, he added sheepishly: "Do me a favor and text me so I know what number to call for tomorrow." ___ The cab didn't take long to arrive and within the span of twenty minutes, Kaz was back in the "generously appointed" seven hundred square foot apartment. After a quick change into black lounge pants and a grey t-shirt, he checked his ever growing inbox on his laptop. Other than the normal commotion that the company provided, there were three specific message that stuck out. One was from Juntao, another from his sister Aiko and the final from an unknown sender with the subject line "Earnings Report". His first impulse was to mark the email as spam, but the fact that it said "earnings report" was far too coincidental for his tastes. "I'm going to regret this." His mouse pointer hovered over the "open" button for a few seconds before he shook his head. "No. No way." He marked it as spam and then quickly marked it as "delete forever". Within a moment, the email was gone. It probably WAS just spam(he had seen spam marked with things like that in the past, seeing as he was a financial officer), but the body incident had him spooked. To better things, he decided. The email from Juntao was brief, mentioning a recap of the board meeting before wishing him well and to remind him that the annual Stakeholders dinner was in a week and that it would be "beneficial for him" if he showed up. Choosing to ignore that comment, he opened up the email from his sister, which was simply a picture of her and her boyfriend Ethan standing on top of a massive boulder. The caption read: "See? He's keeping me safe and high! Love you!" Chuckling, he closed the email along with his computer and settled against the headboard of his bed, eyes beginning to droop. It had been a long day and tomorrow would prove to be even more interesting. He did, of course, have pressing business to attend to and would do so in the morning. For now, however... ___ [i]"Kaz?" He stirred slightly, but Ellie was having none of it. "Kaz, baby, get up. We're going to be late." "No...no we'll be juuuuuust fine." He drew her closer, guiding her head to his chest. With a giggle, she propped herself up on an elbow, looking down at him with mock surprise. "So what you're saying is you DON'T want to see me in a bathing suit?" His eyes opened wider. "I never said that. I just said that we won't be late. The others don't have any sense of time. They think that on time is showing up twenty minutes after the agreed upon time anyhow." She slapped him on the chest. "Come on, it's the day after prom and we don't have to go back home for another TWO DAYS." "Mmm, true. No parents, no authority figures...just us." "And other people, Kaz. Other people who you like. Other people you call friends." "But what If I like hanging out with one particular friend?" She rolled her eyes. "I was talking about Kevin." "Of course you were. Because Kevin is the love of your life, right?" "Didn't you know that? I thought I told you this a long time ago." She chuckled, kicking him as she added: "Come on, Kaz. It'll be fun." He smiled slightly, sitting up before placing a hand on her bare back and kissing her gently on the lips. "I suppose. As long as you're buying the cotton candy. That street vendor yesterday was just too kind." Another giggle. [/i] __ It wasn't the streaming rays of moonlight that filtered into his bedroom that woke him up, but rather his troublesome cellular device, which buzzed multiple times before he was aware of it's ringing. He slowly reached to the nightstand and looked to see who could be calling in the early morning hours.