Give Me Love Like Her

From Maehey
Is he there yet?

No, but he'll be here. He promised.

From Margo
Honeyyy, he's a legit SCRUB! Call it quits N O W

It's been 6 years!! I'm not just gonna call it off because he's late to dinner.

From Sofie
He's over 2 hours late, girl! And don't play it off like this is the only dinner he's missed!

From Maehey
Drop him! Get yourself a man who would be there 2 hours early because he wants to make you happy!

From Margo
He’s actually a garbage can, end it.

I sighed as I looked up from my phone and the conversation that I largely wasn't a part of. The girls continued chattering amongst themselves in the chat, while I continued to look around the fancy restaurant that I had made the reservation for, for us. He wasn't anywhere to be found.

But what I did find was people looking at me sadly, with pitting looks on their faces. My waitress walked over to me with a small smile on her face.

"Do you...do you think you're ready to order?" she asked me softly.

I shook my head and forced a smile on my face, "No, thank-you, he'll be here soon. He's just running a bit late is all."

She looked behind her briefly before she spoke to me again, "I'm really sorry, but you'll have to order something soon or you'll have to leave, we have people waiting for tables."

I nodded, "Give me like...ten more minutes," I said, "please," I all but begged.

She smiled and nodded softly before walking away from me, the woman at the next table pouted and looked away from me quickly before speaking to the man she was with and he turned to look at me with sad eyes too.

I looked away and back down at my phone; I unlocked it and looked back at the messages where my sister, Maebelle, and our friends were debating how they could kidnap Markus without leaving too much evidence behind.

The waitress told me I'd have to leave if he doesn't show in 10 minutes.

From Sofie
I'm sorry darlin

He'll show up.

The chair in front of me pulled out and someone sat down quickly, I smiled and looked up but my smiled faded when I saw someone other than Markus sitting across from me.

"Hey, baby, sorry I'm late! Traffic was a bitch tonight!" he said with a big smile.

I looked at him confused, unable to speak, "My name's Tyler, go with it," he whispered.

I blinked quickly a few times, "H-Hey, Ty," I said awkwardly.

He smiled widely at me as the waitress came over and looked at him, disgusted, "You left a pretty lady waiting," she told him sternly.

He looked at her bashfully, "I know, I got out of work late and the traffic wasn't helping."

"You could have told her, instead of leaving her sit here by herself," she scolded him.

I looked at the exchange, unable to make a sentence form from my lips.

Tyler rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "I didn't want to text and drive. But you're right, ma'am. I should have gotten a hold her," he said looking at me with a small smile, "sorry baby, I'll make it up to you."

I looked at him wide eyed before looking back up at the waitress who was looking at me, I smiled instantly, "That's okay," I said looking back at him.

The waitress took our drink order and then walked away while Tyler flipped open his menu.

"Listen, you can't just...sit down and play my boyfriend and then act like nothing is happening," I whispered harshly as he scanned the book in front of him.

He smirked, "What do you want me to say?" he asked, not looking back at me, "You looked upset, I figured I could help you out and pay for your meal."

My eyes began moving widely, searching his face for anything, but all I saw was his beard covering the bottom half of his face, his dark brown eyes, and his hair that was styled up with gel.

"Why?" I asked him, "What's in it for you?" I asked.

He shrugged, closing the menu and placing it on the table, "Dinner with a pretty girl."

I narrowed my eyes at him, clicking into what his motives actually were, "You think I'm gonna sleep with you because of this?" I asked him quietly, disgustedly, "Are you serious? I have a boyfriend, you fucker!"

He snorted just as the waitress walked up to us, putting his beer in front of him and my wine in front of me, "Ready to order?" she asked.

Tyler nodded and looked to me, "Ladies first, darlin."

I sucked in the air through my teeth but put on a smile to the waitress, "The Chicken Alfredo, please."

She nodded and looked to Tyler, "And you?"

"New York steak, medium rare, please," he said with a smile.

She smiled at us and took our menus before walking away from us again.

"Anyways," he said looking at me, "No, I don't expect you to sleep with me at all. Honestly, I was just sitting down with some of my friends and looked over and saw you looking all sad and shit, and I heard one of the tables saying that you had been there for hours waiting for someone. I felt bad, and didn't want you to have to walk out of here embarrassed. I'm just trying to help."

I sat back in my chair and hummed, "Well...thanks...I guess."

He laughed a little and shook his head, "You still don't believe me?"

I let out a breath and couldn't help the small laugh that came out of me, "I have a hard time trusting random guys that sit at my table while I'm waiting for my boyfriend and pretend to be him. I almost think it's more embarrassing to wait here for two hours and have someone show up than to wait for two hours then leave silently by myself."

"Why?" he asked, sounding almost interested.

I shrugged lightly, "Well, because to me it's like...why did you leave her waiting and then show up? It's almost more of a dick move just because it's like you know the girl or whatever is gonna be there waiting for you still. Whereas if I just left alone and no one showed up, then people just feel bad instead of thinking something else, I guess."

"Valid," he said with a small nod, “What’s your name?” he asked me.

“Raeanne,” I told him, picking up my wine glass.

He smiled, “I like that.”

"So is this like...something that you do regularly?" I asked him, before taking a sip of my wine.

He laughed and shook his head, 'Not at all, actually. My friends and I just came in and I wanted to help you out is all."

"Well....thank-you, honestly," I told him.

He smiled and nodded once, "You're welcome."

"So," I said, leaning back in my chair, "what kind of job would have you leaving that late?" I asked looking at the time on my phone, 10:38pm, "Are you a male stripper or something?" I asked with a small smile.

For that he laughed loudly and threw his head back, "No!" he said while still laughing, out of the corner of my eye I could see the friends he had come in with looking over at us, "Definitely not a male stripper, but thank-you because I'm gonna take that as a compliment, obviously."

"So what do you do then?" I asked, "Or was that just a lie you told the waitress too?"

He shook his head, "No, no, not a lie. I did just get out of work, but it wasn't two hours ago, more like...maybe twenty I guess."

I laughed and nodded, "So what do you do then?"

He tilted his head and squinted a little at me, "You don't...you don't recognize me?" he asked.

"Not at all," I told him honestly, "Should I?" I asked.

He looked away from me quickly before looking back at me with a smile, "Are you a sports fan by chance?"

I put a hand over my heart, "I do love my Cowboys."

"That the only team you cheer for down here?" he asked me.

I looked at him, shocked, "If you cheer for another team down here they'd probably throw stones at you."

He laughed, "So you don't watch hockey then?"

I breathed out a laugh, "Not at all," I told him simply.

His face went flush and I realized that he must have played hockey down here, "Oh my God! You play don’t' you!" I accused pointing a finger at him.

He looked up at me and raised his hands, "Guilty."

"I'm so sorry," I cried, feeling terrible while he just smiled at me, "I know the team! It's the huh...the um...the Rangers! Right?"

He shook his head and laughed with a big smile, "No! That's baseball!"

I sunk further into my chair, "Oh," I said dejected, "Oh!" I said, sitting back up and pointing at him again, "The Dallas something! Um...Dallas...something with the sky! The Dallas...Moons?!"

He had begun laughing so hard it was coming out almost silently as he tried to catch his breath, which made me laugh along with him.

"Yes!" he cried when he could finally talk again, "Yes, absolutely, I play for the Dallas Moons!"

I leaned across the table and hit his shoulder, "Shut up! What's the real name?" I asked laughing.

"That's it!" he said, "I'm Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Moons!"

"I hate you!" I told him, pouting, but unable to really hide the smile because of his laugh.

"Okay, okay!" he said, "It's the Dallas Stars."

I clapped my hands together, "The Stars! I knew it!"

He laughed and shook his head, "No you didn't!"

"I would've gotten it!" I told him.

"Yeah, yeah," he said waving his hand at me as our waitress came back with our food.

"So," Tyler started once the waitress left again, "you know something new about me, so what do you do?"

"I own a store," I said proudly, "so I work there, but not as much as I did when it first opened. I come in and check on things, all that stuff."

"Where is it?" he asked, cutting up his steak.

I twirled some of the pasta on my fork, "The Bishop Arts District, it's in North Oak Cliff."

He nodded as he chewed, "No clue?" I guessed with a smile before eating some of the food.

He swallowed and looked at me shyly, "No?" he offered.

I laughed and shook my head, "It's good! It's got the small town feel, ya know? And if you're playing hockey all the time, you probably don't have time to get down there."

"What's the name of it?" he asked.

"Charmed," I answered quickly.

"I like it," he told me with a smile.

I smiled back, "Well thank-you."

"So, I can tell by your accent that you were born here in Texas then?" he asked me.

I nodded, "Born and raised, this is home to me. Since you play hockey can I assume that you're from Canada where y'all's only food group is maple syrup and you get to school riding on a Moose?" I asked teasingly.

He laughed and shook his head, "You forgot about the igloos," he said making me laugh in response.

"Yeah, I'm from Brampton," he told me.

I bit my lip and shook my head, "No clue," I told him.

He smiled, "It's just a little outside of Toronto."

I nodded, "Gotcha!"

"Have you ever been to Canada?" he asked.

I shook my head, pushing the remaining pieces of pasta around my plate, "I've never been out of Texas to be honest."

He looked at me wide eyed, "You've never left the state?"

I shook my head, "NO. I've been to a couple places in Texas, but never out of it."

"Wow," he said.

I shrugged, "We never took vacations when I was growing up, no big deal."

"So this boyfriend of yours never took you out on a vacation?" he asked, plopping the last piece of steak into his mouth.

I shook my head and I put the napkin onto the table, "Never," I said, looking down at my lap.

"Well he should," he said, causing me to look up at him, "pretty girl like you should get to see the whole world."

My face flushed, but luckily the waitress came up right then with our cheque, "Could we have separates?" I asked her quietly.

She looked to me and then back to Tyler, "You made her wait and now you're gonna make her pay for her food?"

I looked at Tyler wide eyed, apologetic for the situation, but he just smiled and shook his head, "She's been silly, of course I'm paying for her!" he said pulling out his wallet and sliding out a card and handing it to her.

She hummed in response while putting it through the machine and having Tyler put in the tip and the code. She gave him his card back and told us to have a good evening.

"I'm so sorry," I told him as we stood up.

He laughed and shook his head, "Don't be crazy, it's fine!"

I smiled and nodded, bringing my purse up to rest on my shoulder, "Well...thanks for this. I really appreciate it. And good luck with the hockey!"

He laughed, "Thanks, Raeanne."

I took a step to turn away from him, but his hand caught mine and he stopped me, "Do you think I could get your number?" he asked me.

My mouth popped open, "Oh," was all I managed to get out, "Um...I don't think so," I told him with a small sigh, "I'm sorry, I really do appreciate you for doing that for me, but...yeah, I have a boyfriend still."

He dropped his hand and smiled sadly at me, "Yeah, no problem."

"Bye, Tyler," I told him quietly as I turned and headed out of the restaurant.

I got to my car quickly and sat in the seat for a minute before taking my phone out of my purse, seeing the conversation still continuing on from my sister and friends.

I'm here.

From Sofie
Damn girl! We were worried! Markus showed up then?

No...this random guy came and sat down and we had dinner.

Instantly my phone began ringing make me laugh a little, it was my sister Maebelle. I hooked up my Bluetooth in the car and answered.

"Hey," I said.

"Hold on," she said, "I'm getting the other two on the line," she told me.

I pulled out of my parking spot and saw Tyler walking in the parking lot with his friends; he spotted me and waved, which I returned before driving onto the street.

"Alright, we're all here so spill all of this!" Mae said as the other two laughed.

I shook my head and began explaining everything to them.

Notes

Thank-you for reading!! This is my first Tyler Seguin story!! Please let me know your thoughts!!