4 Dating

When Diane woke up, it was about midnight. Noticing that she was still wearing the same outfit as 14 hours ago, she quickly hurried to shower and change into her pajamas. That was when she realized that this was the first time in a week that she's had a good dream, a dream free of screams and tears. A night free of haunting dreams. Maybe the dreams have stopped. Maybe they have stopped for good. Very excited from this good news, Diane laid in bed awake, quietly humming to herself. When she dozed off, the dreams she had were all good. All dreams of fantastical things.

Waking up the next morning, Diane settled back into her normal daily routine, the one not disrupted by the nightmares. She sped through showering and changing. She floated through the house, light from the happiness of not having freaky dreams. Making omelets for breakfast, she sat down on the kitchen island. Diane chuckled, remembering the last time she sat here and how troubled she was. Compared to her mood today, it was a laughable topic. By 7:40, Diane was out the door and in her car, driving to the Penrith Hospital. Being a nurse, Diane didn't do most of the work. Her job most of the time was to do the basic checkups and tests to check the patient's conditions.

The automatic doors opened as Diane stepped up towards the entrance. Walking through the crowd of people in the hospital, she scanned the nurse/doctor's pass to open the doors leading to the adult wing. In the back of the wing, there was an office where she stored her purse and grabbed a coat. Pulling it on, she grabbed her clipboard and exited the wing. Hurrying to the registration desk, she got the first patient she was going to attend to. Doing the basic checkups proved to be extremely easy without the shadow of the nightmare on her mind.

Finding it hard to occupy herself on her break though, her mind drifted to the picture she'd taken from her mother's house. Diane still had the question of his identity in her mind. And the question of what role he played in her life. Leaning on her elbow, she stared at the cup of coffee in front of her, imagining that the cup was the picture. Her head suddenly snapped up. Dark hair, red glint, it all matched up! In her dream, she'd seen fragments of a boy. He had dark hair, like the dark auburn hair in the picture. He had a reddish glint in his eyes, like the little bit of sunlight caught in the boy's eyes in the photo. The sunlight on the hazel eyes had produced a reddish tint too. It all matches up! Was I dreaming about the picture? There was a memory that tried to come back to me… Maybe the photo wasn't photoshopped. Maybe it is real.

The rest of the day passed like a blur. With the thought that she'd figured something out about the boy in the picture excited Diane. The possibility that she could figure something out that was forbidden made the day pass by so much faster, and in no time at all, Diane was back home, sitting on her bed, and staring at the picture. She narrowed her eyes at the picture, trying to make the memory come back enough for her to figure something else out. But she couldn't. The memories refused to come back.

The rest of the week passed by the same way, no nightmares, go to work, stare at the picture. It was a bore but Diane desperately wanted to find out more about this forgotten past. On Friday night, she received a message.

Lorenzo: So you didn't block my number.

Diane: Yeah, so?

Lorenzo: Are you free tomorrow?

Diane: Yes.

Lorenzo: Can you come to the movies with me tomorrow?

Diane: I can't

Diane: I don't want to

Diane: I would but

Lorenzo: Great! I'll pick you up at 6 tomorrow night.

Diane: Wait!

Diane: No, that's not what I meant!

Although Diane despised Lorenzo for forcing her to go on a date with him, she was actually a little excited. Having not dated for so long, Diane didn't know what to wear, say, or do. Terrified that she would do something to make the date go wrong, she called Catherine. Catherine was the type of girl who liked to date around, so Diane figured that she would be the best person to help her out. Snuggling into her bed, she felt a blossom of joy bloom in her heart. She was loved, and maybe there was a chance that she could love him too.

The next morning, Diane woke to Catherine pounding down the door. Throwing on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, she grabbed her bag and a sweater. She shoved Catherine into the passenger seat and climbed into the driver's seat.

"Hey, a little respect here?" Catherine asked, hurrying to fasten the seat belt.

"Sorry," Diane apologized. "I'm just in a hurry. Don't be surprised but I actually want this date to be a success."

Mocking shock, Catherine responded, "How can you? I thought you hated him."

Diane laughed. "Well, feelings change and life moves on. One cannot and should not dwell on the past for long."

"Wise words from a not-so-wise wise girl," Catherine said.

Diane shrugged. "Well, I say it from past experience." She was thinking about the boy in the picture. Whatever he was to her before, the feelings had changed and gone. And right now, Daine cared for nothing but making this date go right. She wasn't going to linger on the picture, she wasn't going to let it stop her.

After a long drive through lots of traffic, Diane finally pulled up at the Westchester Shopping Mall. She parked in the public parking lot and got out. Catherine followed, looking like she was about to throw up, but brightened up at the sight of the mall. The Westchester Shopping Mall was Catherine's favorite place to shop because "It is the only mall that has this many different company stores in it!" Now, it was Catherine's turn to shove Diane into the mall.

What was supposed to be a short shopping trip to get Diane some suitable "date" clothes turned out to be a shopping spree for Catherine. By the time Diane successfully pulled Catherine out of an Abercrombie and Fitch shop, it was about 4:40.

"No!" Catherine wailed. "I just found the perfect top to go with the pants I found at Forever21!"

People were staring at her…and Diane, since Diane was the one pulling her out of the shop.

"Come on, Catherine! We have to go, I'm going to be late for the date!" Diane hissed. "It's already 4:45 and I haven't even done my hair and nails yet!"

That seemed to pull Catherine out of her daze. "Come on, I know the perfect place for doing nails."

She dragged Diane to the third floor and tugged her into Emerald Salon. There, she was able to get a manicure. The lady, Rosa, painted Diane's nails a light purple with small white daisies with gold center dots when Catherine showed Rosa the dark indigo dress they had bought.

While the nail polish was drying, Rosa asked Diane, "Do you need a hair treatment? The Emerald Salon is a hair salon plus a nail salon, and the hairdressers are very careful here to make sure the nails don't get messed up."

Smiling, Diane answered, "Yes."

Diane let Catherine tell the hairdresser what was needed to be done because Diane really isn't number one when it comes to fashion sense. While her hair was being trimmed and ironed, Diane blew on her nails, willing them to dry faster so that she didn't have to worry about a deformed daisy petal. By 5:35, Diane had gotten her nails and hair done. She paid and left, hurrying to find Catherine in the nearby Hollister store. Dragging the once again wailing Catherine out of the shop, she quickly drove home.

Leaving Catherine to shop online in her living room, Diane rushed upstairs to shower and change. By 6:00, Diane was sitting on her couch in a new dress, new heels, newly styled hair, and newly painted nails. However, Diane was still nervous, not knowing what to expect for she hadn't dated in years.

~Ding dong~

That must be Lorenzo! Heart racing, Diane stood up and walked stiffly towards the door. When she opened it, she stared at Lorenzo's jeans and sweatshirt. Suddenly, she felt overdressed. She must have been blushing really hard because even in the semi-darkness, Lorenzo was able to see but he just smiled.

"You didn't have to dress up," Lorenzo said.

"I didn't know what to expect," Diane answered truthfully.

"Ready?" he asked, laughing lightly.

"How can I be ready if I don't know what to be ready for?" Diane asked.

"Good point," Lorenzo admitted. "We're going to the movies."

Nodding, Diane got into the car. A few minutes later, Lorenzo pulled up at the Forsten Cinema. He helped her out of his car and Diane awkwardly walked into the movie theater with Lorenzo's arm around her's. Diane's face was burning, but she forced herself to keep walking. She wanted to have a successful date with him. But for some reason, it felt wrong to want this. Showing the tickets to the man in front of theater 1B, Diane and Lorenzo.walked into the theater.

Being that it was October, Lorenzo naturally chose a horror movie. The whole time, Diane was trying to keep her thoughts away from death and killing. The thought of someone dying, even if it was fake in the movie, terrified her. It filled her with both sadness and fright. The sadness was unsuspected. But Diane waved the feeling off as resurfacing grief from her father's death. The fear was just, well, fear. Diane had always been scared of the dark. She was always paranoid that someone was in her house, someone was watching her, following her. It freaked her out. She even thought she was delusional when she kept on hearing the stairs creak in her house. So the movie really didn't help her fear. Lorenzo, on the other hand, had no problem sitting through the two-hour long movie. He even laughed at the scenes that Diane considered the most terrifying and horrifying. After the movie, Diane could not go one step without clinging onto Lorenzo's right arm.

When they left the theater, Diane joked, "You sure do know how to treat a girl on her first date."

He shrugged, "Well, I didn't know any romance movies so I decided to go with my personal favorite genre, horror."

She smiled. "Perfect. The perfect movie for October."

They went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. They laughed and joked and to be honest, Diane actually liked him. A little. Maybe, just maybe, this love was meant to be. At least, her heart told her so. But her mind? That was a different story. Her mind told her, This affair you're having is forbidden. You should not love Lorenzo. You already love someone else. You're already promised to someone else.

But Diane would not listen.