As I woke up in the morning, I felt more refreshed than I had in months. The bed and the pillows were so soft, I struggled to convince myself why I needed to even get up this morning. As soon as I remembered the events of yesterday, I quickly reached over to check my phone and found I had several notifications. Opening them, I found that Chris had posted a few pictures of us from yesterday and added a cute caption underneath saying, “Enjoying a delicious dinner with my darling.” Without allowing myself to think into it too much, I quickly reply with a heart on his post and send him a message with a simple, “Good morning”.

I put my phone down and head to the bathroom to begin getting ready for the day, however I hadn’t expected him to respond before I had even gotten ten steps from the bed. “Good morning, what do you say we do a bit more exploring today? Oh, and what do you think about the pictures I posted?”

“Exploring sounds good, after all we leave tomorrow. Do you have somewhere in mind? And btw the pictures turned out amazing, can you send me some?” I replied. 

Before I could even put my phone down, he texted back, “I wanted to check out a few museums and try some different food and I’ll send some over. Are you okay to meet at 9:30 at the cafe next to the restaurant we went to last night?”

I reply with a thumbs up before heading to the bathroom to get ready. It is already 8:00 which means I have about an hour and 15 minutes to get ready before I need to leave. I start with a quick shower, then I begin to tackle my hair. I didn’t have time to do anything elaborate with it, so I simply put it up into a ponytail before doing some basic skincare. 

Afterwards I head back into the bedroom to find something to wear today. I knew that I wanted to wear something cute, but warm so I settled on leggings, boots, and a cute sweater. Quickly getting dressed, I look at the clock to find it is already 8:10. I quickly grab my things and head downstairs to catch a taxi. 

Fortunately, I was able to quickly find a taxi and quickly told the driver where I needed to go. As I ride in the back of the taxi, I try to think of some questions to ask Chris. I knew that his favorite food was lasagna and that he preferred dogs over cats, but I don’t know what his job is or any of his hobbies besides carving. Besides, even though we are fake dating, it doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends. 

As I arrived at the Cafe, the snow had definitely picked up so I quickly paid the driver and went inside. Chris was already here, at a table in the corner.

Despite the compliment being purely friendly, I couldn’t help but get butterflies at the thought that he was paying attention to me as more than a fake girlfriend. However, I force myself to snap back into reality and answer with a polite, “Thank you, you look good today as well, I like this relaxed hairstyle on you more than the formal one yesterday.”

He smiles at me, however before he could speak, the server comes over and asks if we would like anything to drink. I order a hot chocolate and he does the same as well as ordering their christmas special with a variety of cupcakes, cookies and other treats that are Christmas themed. As the server leaves, he immediately resumes the conversation. “I wanted to learn a bit more about you today as well. If this is going to be convincing, the more we know about each other, the better we will look in front of your family.”

I can’t help but laugh before saying, “ I was literally thinking the same thing on the way here. I even came up with some basic questions I wanted to ask.” By the time I finished my explanation, he was laughing as well. 

“Okay then, ask away. I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” he says as he leans back in his chair, getting comfortable. 

We spent the next hour talking and getting to know each other better. I told him about my work as an editor and he told me about his work as a carpenter as well as his website where he sells his carvings and furniture pieces. I asked about his hobbies and in addition to carving, he likes to hike and cook. So I immediately told him that he has to make something for our holiday dinner because a few members of my family are absolutely awful at anything related to cooking and I wanted to eat something edible this year. He answered with a laugh before promising that he will make one of his famous dishes for the party. By the time we had finished two cups of hot chocolate each and the entire plate of treats, we decided it was time to start visiting the museums. 

The museum trip was fascinating. He shared a unique perspective on every art piece we looked at and I honestly found myself enjoying the look on his face more than the actual art itself. He had a look of pure joy on his face that displayed his complete excitement. Every few pieces, he would turn to me and tell me about the emotions of the piece or the technique the artist used and I listened to everything with complete attention. I couldn't help but think that his behaviors was cute, especially for a guy who looks so intimidating on the outside.

As we finished looking at the last few art pieces that he wanted to see, he suggested we start looking for somewhere to eat lunch. We decided to look online and found a small Italian restaurant nearby with good reviews. As we walked down the sidewalk to the restaurant, he reached over and grabbed my hand. I blushed before lightly squeezing his hand in return. So hand in hand we headed to the Italian restaurant. 

As we entered, we found ourselves in a small family restaurant that was quite cozy. There were only a few customers so we were immediately taken to a table and while handing us the menu, the server complimented us saying that we are a cute couple. I blush as Chris says, “Thanks, she is the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.” To my surprise, every word sounded genuine and as he lightly squeezed my hand across the table, I could tell that he meant it. I smile at him in return before saying, “You’re not too bad yourself.”

He chuckles before ordering our drinks and appetizers. As the server walks away, he says, “Not bad, is that really all I am.” With a smirk, he leans in and rubs his thumb across my hand he was holding. “Are you sure that you don’t feel at least a little bit of something more? I know that I definitely have developed some feelings for you. I don’t mind waiting until you’re ready, but I think that we can be just what each other needs.”

I can guarantee I turned completely red as my blushing covered my face. I could feel the nervous excitement of butterflies in my stomach and my heart was racing in my chest. Fortunately, I was saved from having to answer by our lovely waiter who had brought over our drinks and appetizers. Thanking the waiter, I avoided making eye contact with him as he leaned back over to his side of the table. As I start to sample the appetizers, I think about what he just told me. Despite the fact that I knew I had feelings for him too, I knew I shouldn’t. After all, we just met yesterday and don’t even know much about each other. Well… actually we do know a lot about each other. 

Probably sensing that I need some time to get my thoughts in order, Chris quickly changes the subject, commenting on how good some of the appetizers are. Silently thanking him in my head, I join in with compliments for the food until the conversation returns to normal. After finishing lunch here, I decide to part ways with him mostly for my comfort but also because I want to get a little bit of shopping done before I leave. He seemed a bit disappointed I wouldn’t be spending the entire day with him, however he didn’t try to persuade me to stay.

Unfortunately I was weak to the puppy dog eyes that were staring down at me so before I got into the taxi, I said, “Lets meet up tonight for dinner or drinks.” With a huge smile on his face he says, “I’ll look for the place and send you the details. I’ll see you tonight.” As I rode away in the taxi, I looked abc to find him in the snow, waving at me with the same  goofy grin on his face. 

As I headed into the mall, I began to wonder why I had even decided to come to the mall alone. Almost everyone there were couples being lovey dovey with each other. Then I remember, I wanted to pick him out something for Christmas. After all, we’d look like an awful couple if we didn’t even pick out Christmas gifts for each other. Walking through the mall, I begin to window shop so I can try and find something that he would like. I knew he loved art so I was hoping to find some sort of art or sculpture to get for him. I knew that I wanted to go back to the gift shop from the museum earlier and pick out something to help him remember our time there, but I wanted to get him something else as well. It didn’t take me long to find something that caught my eye. In the window display of a jewelry store, I noticed watches with custom backgrounds, some of which looked very similar to the work of Chris’s favorite painter. Entering the store, I headed directly to the front counter to ask about the artwork in my watches and to my surprise, the artist actually was the same. I immediately asked to look at their collection so that I could try to find one with his favorite paintings. 

There was quite the collection, but I decided to look through all of them until I could find one that matched the picture I had taken of him and his favorite painting. Fortunately for me, there was actually just one left in stock and I immediately asked to buy it. With his Christmas gift secured, I felt a lot better about quickly finishing some of my other Christmas shopping. Afterwards, I left the mall and went back to the museum and bought a few replicas of his favorite pieces. Fortunately I had taken pictures because I had spent more time looking at him than the artwork. 

After I finished up all of my shopping, I quickly took all of my stuff to the hotel and quickly freshened up so that I could meet up with Chris on time. Fortunately I made it to the restaurant 5 minutes early, because when I got there he was already waiting outside for me. “When did you get here?” I ask as we head inside. 

“It doesn’t matter,” replies with a small smile, “I just wanted to make sure that I got here before you did. I already took a look at the menu online and they had really good reviews on both their drinks and food, so I figured we could order a few things and then share.” Before I could reply, a server came up to us to take us to a table. As the server leads us to our table, he once again reaches over for my hand, this time a little more tentatively. Sensing that he was looking for reassurance, I simply squeezed his hand and gave him a smile. 

As we sit down the server asks us if we would like to order our drinks so I look at Chris and say, “You said you saw some good ones earlier, why don’t you pick something out for me?” He smiles at me before turning to the server to order our drinks. As the server leaves to get our drinks he said, “ I thought you didn’t like the idea of me ordering for the both of us. I thought I might have upset you somehow.”

With a small laugh, I reply, “I can tell you put a lot of effort into finding something that I might like so I couldn’t be upset about that. Besides, even if I don’t like what you pick, I can always order something else. So relax, let’s enjoy our last night here.” 

The server returns shortly with our drinks and appetizers and Chris orders our main courses. Before we’d even finished our appetizers, our main dishes were here and they looked fantastic. The food was absolutely incredible and we each took turns tasting each of the dishes. “This is probably the best meal I have ever had,” I tell Chris with a sigh. Although we had both sampled some drinks, neither of us had gotten drunk. We decided to take the same taxi back to our hotels as they were in the same direction. As we sat in the back of the taxi, Chris showed me some of the pictures he had taken tonight and I showed him some of the ones I had taken at the museum. We discussed which ones to post and after posting our pictures, we each left a comment on each other’s posts. By the time I had left a reply on his post, I noticed that we were only a minute or two away from my hotel. 

“Thank you,” I said, feeling incredibly grateful for tonight. “I had a lot of fun, we are definitely going to have to travel back here sometime,” I said without thinking. I’m already planning for him to be a part of my future. No… I just can’t imagine a future without him in it. At this point there is no denying it, I definitely have feelings for him. 

Before I could spiral further, he says, “I agree, exploring the city with you has been fun. No matter how this started, I would still like for us to stay friends at least after the holidays.”

As we come to a stop in front of my hotel, I smile and say, “Of course, I would like that. Good night, Chris.”

“Good night,” he replies before I shut the taxi door. 

The taxi driver must be in a hurry, because as soon as the door shuts, he takes off. I head inside and up to my room to get ready for bed. Fortunately I was already packed for the most part, so I decided to go to bed and finish up in the morning before it was time to leave.