At 8:34 the doorbell rang. Jen and Warren were staying in and puppy-sitting for me so I brought Madeline to them in the living room and opened the door. An extremely tall man in a suit and hat stood there smiling.
"Elaine Wells?" he asked. "Yes?" I replied, a little shocked to not see Patrick standing before me. "Mr. Duranny sent me. My name is _____ (I honestly can't remember his name...it really wasn't on my mind, hahaha.) I will be your chauffer for the evening." I looked back at Jen who was standing there with her mouth open. "I guess I'll see you guys later," I said nervously, and followed Mr. Driver out to the parking lot. There sat a white stretch limo. I, at this point, was dying.
Mr. Driver opened the back door and I climbed in. "Where are we going?" I inquired, completely shocked at the whole situation. "Actually, you will be telling me. Mr. Duranny has sat up a treasure hunt all over town. Your first clue is that bouquet of flowers there."
Okay, so this was getting to be a bit too surreal. I mean, all I'd gotten him was a french book and a stupid watch. He had obviously planned all of this out and it felt like I was trapped in a romance-comedy, shelved somewhere between You've Got Mail and Amelie.
Upon looking at the fresh bouquet of calla lillies I knew immediately that the first destination was Frida's Floral, a little flower stand downtown where he bought me flowers on our first date. The reason I knew this is because Frida always wraps her flowers in this certain ribbon. I told the driver which street and sat back to enjoy the ride. I'd never been in a limo before, so I took the liberty of opening a ginger ale and pushing all the buttons. And then I made small-talk with Mr. Driver. I asked him if he knew what was in store for me, and he just laughed and said, "He really must think a lot of you."
At Frida's I asked the clerk if he knew anything about a clue for someone named Elaine.
"Oh yes, here you are. I've been excited to finally give this to you. Have fun, by the way," the clerk said and handed me an envelope. Inside were 4 pictures of Patrick, making funny faces at me. At first I was confused but then I remembered that he and I got those silly picture booth pictures done a couple of weeks ago at the mall. So I told Mr. Driver and we were off again.
Next clue: a drawing of someone eating a taco, which meant Taco Time, a place we eat lunch at all the time after school.
Next clue: a piece of paper taped to the booth that said, "the place you've been longing to go, but have only been to once."
I knew immediately that Patrick was talking about his apartment. See, I always want to go over there because his apartment is really nice, but he has this roommate that always has a lot of people over so we never have any privacy. Patrick's been trying to find a new place to live because of this roommate.
Anyway, Mr. Driver and I went riding a long to Patrick's where I was hoping we'd end up, if you know what I mean.
I walked up to Patrick's door after asking the driver if he by any chance knew Patrick's apt. number. (Only being there once, I had forgotten which one was his). Mr. Driver told me and I went up to the door, which had a big sign on it that said, "X Marks the spot!" Before I could knock the door swung open and there Patrick was, grinning beautifully. "I knew I could count on you to figure those out," he said and took my hand.
Inside, he literally had about a hundred white candles lit all over his big living room, and Sarah Vaughn (my favorite!) was playing in the background. He had the kitchen table pulled into the center of the living room which also had two candles on it and place settings for two.
"Oh Patrick," I said, stunned, "This is too much. I can't believe you've done all this." He just kissed me and said that he wanted to do something special.
"But you already gave me Madeline and then all this on top of that is just...thank you so much."
He sat me down and brought out dinner, which had been ordered from my favorite indian food place. I embarrassingly gave him his watch and book and he said he loved them.
We ate a little but I was anxious about what was going to happen. I finally got up and kissed him provacatively while pulling him out of his chair.
We went to his bedroom and silently kissed and felt each other all over. It felt innocent and raw and romantic and I felt very young and eager, pawing at him and rubbing him and just opening myself to him in so many ways. We kept exchanging whispered I love you's as we undressed each other. Turns out I didn't even need to worry about the underthings I bought because he saw them on me for about 2.5 seconds. He had protection, thank goodness, because that was something I had overlooked in all of my planning. He slid over me and in me, and we rocked together...as Michael Jackson would say ...allll niiiight.
It was frighteningly beautiful and I am so in love with Patrick Duranny.
*elaine*