fakediary

We woke up late the next morning. Very late.

After the third or fourth round the night before, I’d lost count. Eventually, exhaustion caught up with us, and we must have fallen asleep sometime before dawn.

When I opened my eyes, David was spooning me from behind, his arm resting around my waist. I carefully turned to face him.

His black hair was a mess, his lips slightly parted, and his expression so peaceful that I couldn’t help smiling. It was difficult to reconcile this impossibly cute sleeping man with the passionate, rather relentless one from the night before.

He must have felt me move, because his eyes slowly fluttered open.

“Good morning,” I whispered.

He smiled sleepily, returned my greeting, and pulled me closer, burying his face in my neck.

I giggled and reached for my phone. Almost noon! We were wasting the day, and he seemed perfectly content to stay in bed.

What a terrible influence.

Eventually, I managed to drag us both out of bed. We showered, got dressed, and headed outside for lunch.

Our first stop was The Halal Guys. I had been looking forward to introducing David to some of my favorite New York foods, and I was pleased to see that he enjoyed it, especially the falafel. He told me he’d never tried it before.

I liked that he was open to trying unfamiliar foods. I’ve always enjoyed exploring different cuisines, and it was nice to be with someone who shared that curiosity. Besides, food was one of my favorite ways to experience a place, and I intended to make sure he ate well during his first visit to New York.

After lunch, we headed to Levain Bakery for their famous cookies.

The line was ridiculously long, stretching well beyond the entrance. Under normal circumstances, I would have seriously reconsidered whether a cookie was worth that much waiting.

But standing there with David, I barely minded.

We talked about all sorts of things, jumping from one subject to another as we slowly made our way toward the bakery. I couldn’t even recall exactly what we discussed, only that the conversation flowed easily and we kept finding things to laugh about.

Every so often, I would glance toward the entrance, surprised by how much closer we’d gotten.

It was funny. I was usually rather impatient when it came to waiting in line, but this time I almost forgot we were waiting for anything at all.

Eventually, the smell of freshly baked cookies reached us, and I remembered exactly why we were there.

By the time we got inside, I wanted to order practically everything.

David seemed amused by how seriously I took my food.

Well, some things deserved to be taken seriously.

There was something else I began noticing about David that day.

He was naturally affectionate, almost disarmingly gentle with me. He held my hand as we walked, listened attentively when I spoke, and had a habit of brushing stray strands of hair away from my face. His manner toward me was so consistently tender that I was beginning to think of it as simply who he was.

But every now and then, I caught a glimpse of something different.

At one point, while we were walking, I noticed a man looking at me. I might not have thought much of it if I hadn’t happened to glance at David.

His expression had changed.

The softness in his eyes was gone, replaced by a cool, steady look directed at the stranger. It lasted only a moment. When the man looked away, David turned back to me, and his familiar smile returned as though nothing had happened.

I found the contrast rather fascinating.

Later, when a waiter was being particularly charming toward me, I noticed it again. The man was clearly hoping for a generous tip, and I thought his flirting was harmless enough. David, however, watched the exchange with a distinctly less amused expression.

He didn’t interrupt or make a scene. He simply grew quieter, his gaze following the waiter until he moved away.

Then he reached for my hand.

I had to suppress a smile.

I wasn’t entirely sure whether to call it protectiveness or a touch of jealousy. Perhaps it was both.

What interested me most was how quickly his expression could change. One moment, he was looking at me with such warmth that I felt thoroughly spoiled. The next, his features would settle into something cool and unreadable.

It wasn’t a side of him I had seen during our months of conversations.

I wondered whether he even realized I had noticed.

I didn’t tease him about it, at least not yet. I was still getting acquainted with the many expressions of David, just as he was apparently discovering mine.

And I had a feeling there were quite a few more to come.