Chained Read Free Page A

head cradled on half a dozen fluffy pillows, staring at the ceiling as I daydreamed about tomorrow's date.
     
    When I was finally about to fall asleep about two hours later, I had a dream that I met with a man and ate with him at the Chinese restaurant, but there was a dark hood over his head and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see his face.
     
    Sleeping.  Morning routine.  Shopping.  Lunch. 
     
    How could a day drag on so endlessly?  I had never known the clock to seem so interminably slow.  Even shopping wasn't as much fun as it normally was.  This would have to be my last time buying anything except necessities before I got a job...all the money I had earned from various babysitting gigs was about to disappear.  I found a couple of sparkly hair clips to complement my outfit for my date, stopped by to see Mary and grab coffee.  As soon as I had scarfed down a tasteless lunch, I rushed upstairs to check my email.
     
    There was a message from Travis that showed only an animated picture of a bouquet of roses and down below the picture it read: “Waiting anxiously for tonight.  I will be the one with the flowers.  Can't wait to see you in person, finally.  Travis.”
     
    My heart was singing in my chest as I danced around my room, sang in the shower, applied a very careful layer of makeup (complete with sparkling eyeshadow), curled my hair into a “sexy waves” style I'd found online, and finally, with about an hour to go until our date, I started putting on my outfit. The dress fit like a glove, the shoes took me from “ordinary” height to satisfactorily tall, and my newly-painted nails were the same shade as my purse.
     
    At exactly 20 minutes until 6, I ran downstairs, past Mom and Dad who were watching a movie on the couch.  I shouted “Going to hang out with a friend!  Love you!  Don't wait up!”  If they tried to reply, it was lost in the sound of the door closing behind me a little louder than I meant.  I had a short moment of panic when my car wouldn't start on the first try, but soon the engine caught and I was on my way.
     
    The familiar roads of my hometown sped by as I drove.  Green trees, even greener grass, the feathery branches of the weeping willow that stood over the pond in the neighbor's yard.  I flipped the visor down to keep the setting sun out of my eyes as I drove.  I had driven these streets a million times, and expected to drive them a million more.  I knew every crack in the streets, every pothole and speed bump.  I knew the stop sign with the rude graffiti message.  I knew the traffic light that always had the red light halfway obscured by a bird nest.
     
    All of these things were so familiar that I didn't even notice them anymore.
     
    As I pulled up to the restaurant, the lights gleamed gold through the windows and the smell of upscale Chinese food wafted through the air. I searched the sidewalk for the first sight of my date.
     
    There he was...standing on the sidewalk, crisp and clean in his gray suit, dark hair gelled back, holding the biggest bouquet of red roses that I had ever seen.  He smiled as I got out of my car, his eyes lighting up as he strode toward me.  He looked far too perfect to be eating at a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant.
     
    He was everything I had imagined.  Tall, chiseled, his suit that fit like it had been sewn onto his body.  Dark, mysterious eyes.  One of those faces that makes all your fears, all your worries, drop away.
     
    “Sarah?”
     
    I smiled, feeling suddenly shy, and let out the breath I'd been holding.  “Travis?”
     
    Travis bowed, giving me a cocky sort of grin.  “Yes ma'am!”  He handed me the roses with a flourish and offered me his arm.  “Shall we go in?”
     
    I laughed, a little too loudly, and threaded my hand through the crook of his arm.  The flowers filled my nose with their heady scent, rich and sharp with the undercurrent of something sweet, almost like syrup.  His