As I wake to the sound of my phone alarm, I realize that I was still gripping my phone in my hand. Turning off the alarm, I realized that he had stayed on the phone with me for a while before he ended the call as I scrolled through the messages and pictures he sent me last night. First he sent a message saying, “You look cute even when you’re sleeping.” with a picture of my sleeping face attached. He then continued, “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. By the time you see this, it should be morning so… Good morning!” He then added in a selfie at the end. 

Unable to stop the smile that immediately filled my face, I got out of bed and began to get ready. Quickly taking a shower and dressing in clothes I had picked out the day before, I brush my teeth and decide to get breakfast at the airport. Grabbing my suitcase, I quickly head outside to my taxi. Fortunately due to my early flight, there weren’t too many people and I was able to grab a quick breakfast before boarding my plane. The flight was short and I simply decided to nap as I was still quite tired from traveling so much back to back. 

Arriving at the airport around 8 AM, I planned to grab some coffee at the airport and send Cade a text message. However, to my surprise, I find him standing by the baggage claim with a sign and flowers. As our eyes meet, I can see a massive smile fill his face, and I can’t help but run over to him. Despite meeting for the first time, hugging him felt completely natural and I enjoyed the feeling of my body melding into his. 

As he squeezes me tighter, he murmurs, “It is so good to see you. In person, I mean.” 

“I feel the same way. You know, your eyes are even prettier in person.” I respond as I pull away just enough to see his eyes.

“Thank you, but I’ve got to say that you look stunning.”

I had put a decent amount of effort into my appearance today. I had picked out my dress the day before, a tight fitting black dress that highlighted all of my curves. Although I typically don’t like to travel in dresses, I didn’t think that I’d have time to change before meeting him. I also made sure to braid my hair the night before and took the time to put on makeup this morning. After all the effort I put in, his appreciation was more than welcome. “Thank you,” I respond as I take a closer look at him. 

As I take a half step back I look at him from head to toe. His hair was styled nicely and I could tell that he had taken the time to make sure that he was clean shaven. His skin looked almost flawless and I couldn’t believe the glow on his face, especially as he smiled down at me. He was dressed nicely in a suit with a matching jacket. His shoes were polished and he had sat down the flowers, sign and a gift bag at his feet. Smiling, I look up at him before saying, “You look handsome as well. I like this style on you.”

“I’m glad you like it. I’ll have to dress like this more often.” he says as his face quirks up into a crooked smile. “Would you like to eat out or would you like to come over to my place and I can cook something homemade for you?”

Remembering the delicious food that Chris, his brother, had cooked for me, I decided to ask, “It depends. Can you cook as well as Chris? Because he made some amazing food.”

“He taught me everything I know. I should be able to recreate most of his recipes easily and I have a ton of ingredients at home.” Grinning, he reaches down to grab the gift bag, flowers, and sign suitcase off of the floor, before offering me an arm. “Shall we go?”

“Yes, we shall.” As I responded, I placed my arm in his. As we started walking, I realized that he was also pulling along my suitcase behind us as we went out to the parking lot. 

Making it to his car, he immediately unlocks the doors and leaves the stuff outside the car before opening the passenger door for me. “I can help you load everything into the car.” I say as I look at him.

“Nope,” he answers. “You’re going to relax for a bit. I can put away everything on my own. If you’d like, I can hand you your gift so that you can open it sooner.”

Immediately distracted by the prospect of a gift, I agreed, “Okay.” Sitting down in the passenger seat, he hands over the gift bag before putting everything away in the trunk. By the time I got settled in my seat and buckled in, he was already opening up the driver door.

As he starts the car, he looks over at me and smiles before saying, “I can’t believe that you are actually here. Meeting you in person was better than I even expected it to be.” Looking down at the bag in my hands he says, “You can open that whenever you like.” 

I feel a slight blush reach my cheeks as I realize that he was teasing me. It isn’t bad that I wanted him to be there when I opened the gift that he got for me. Even still, I loved presents and looked forward to seeing what he got me. Opening the bag and removing the tissue paper, I found a cute fuzzy pajama set. Pulling the set out of the bag, I catch a glimpse of a cozy blanket as well. Holding up the clothes, I look over at him and ask, “How did you know my size?”

“I guessed based on the pictures that you sent me. But mostly, I was just hoping that they’d work. Worst case, I could always go out and buy new ones.” He shrugged as he buckled his seatbelt and checked his mirrors before reversing. 

“You guessed well,” I said with surprise evident in my voice. Continuing to look in my gift bag, I pull out the blanket that I saw earlier and immediately sigh as I feel the material. “This blanket feels wonderful, especially to cuddle under on a chilly night.” It felt different to flirt in person and somehow so much better all at once.

With another chuckle, he answered, “If you’re hinting that you’d like to cuddle, that can easily be arranged.”

As I look over at him, I can still see that he is focused on the road, but he had a massive grin on his face. Deciding not to comment, I look in the bottom of the bag and find a small box. Opening it, I am greeted by a beautiful bracelet. It was small and matched my style perfectly but it had a few charms already on it. Looking at it, I realized that it had my birthstone and favorite flower on it as well as a small heart. 

Before I could say anything, he started speaking, “I wanted to get something customized for you and I thought you’d like the bracelet. The birthstone and favorite flower charms are to represent something you love and the heart represents my hope that I can one day be someone you love.”

Speechless at his level of thoughtfulness, especially when we weren’t even dating yet, I couldn’t help the tears that began to roll down my face at his explanation. Reaching up to cover my face with my hands, I was surprised as he reached over to grab one of my hands before I could touch my face. Gently turning my hand over to hold it properly, he caresses my hand with his thumb before saying, “I’m sorry if I upset you, I just wanted to make my feelings clear. I don’t have much experience with things like this so I might make mistakes, but I just want you to know that I never intended to hurt you.”

Sniffling, I realized that he thought I was crying because I was upset. “I- These are happy tears, I just didn’t know how to respond.” Squeezing his hand, I continue, “I’ve never had a guy give me anything even 1/10th as thoughtful as this and it made me so happy to think that I’ve found someone who cares about what I like despite only knowing each other for a few days.”

I could hear the sigh of relief before he responded, “I am so glad that I didn’t do something wrong. And I’m glad that you liked it.”

As I looked over, I saw that he had a relieved smile on his face, and I couldn’t help the smile that made its way onto my face as well. Gently squeezing each other’s hands we enjoy the rest of the ride talking about the scenery outside. He points out various restaurants, shops and the best areas to hang out in the area. Before I knew it, the two of us had arrived at his house.