I pick Persephone up at her house, climbing out of the beat up Ford Focus and knock on her door. She looks beautiful with her hair down, cascading tendrils of loose banana curls flowing down behind her shoulders and one curl covers her left eye. She gives me a shy smile, soft on her lips and drops her hazel eyes to the ground out of being shyness. "Hello, my beautiful new friend. Are you ready to go eat at the place you chose and get know each other better?" I ask, a teasing smile on my face as I brush my finger tips on the side of her hand and she takes mine. She bites her lip, nervous and shy. 

"I guess."  

"Your chariot awaits," I joke, attempting to break the ice and get her to crack a genuine smile like before.  

She giggles, hiding her smile behind her hands. I push them away from her face very slowly, being gentle and cautious about it so I don't scare her. "It's like you know," she comments, her face filled with shock and very surprised. 

"It's how I am when I want to know a woman better." 

"Who taught you that?" 

"My brother's ex, some friends and her cousin," I reply, meaning 'Drya and Chris. 

"They taught you well and I need to admit it just intrigues me," she tells me, holding my hand as we walk to the car. I hold the door for her, softly closing it once she's settled in the passenger seat and race to the driver's side so we can be somewhat alone while we get to know a little bit better. 

We're heading into the restaurant she picked and it looks small from the outside, but it's a good size inside. It may not be as big as any place any of us have, but it is spacious enough to seat around a hundred to a hundred fifty people in the dining area with room for the kitchen area. It has wrap around booths, circular tables, and the lights are dimmed down with just enough light to see. Intimate, romantic and the perfect place to go if you want to get to know someone and go on dates. 

We settle into the booth and she scoots in closer to me, probably to make sure I can hear her correctly. "What would you like to know?" 

I look at her with surprise written all over my face. "Open book?" 

"Except for precise details on why I left the Bronx, yes." 

I'm not going to go into details that she told me, but I will let you pick up the conversation at the moment we're at here. "Romani gypsy? What's that like?" I question, my interest piqued. 

She shrugs, her head rocking from side to side. "I don't remember anything other than why we moved to the Bronx." 

"Why? How old were you? Why did you have to leave the Romani?" 

"My grandfather got too close to non-Romani when I was about seven and we had been exiled, I just remember that we had to leave." I wanted more details but I wasn't going to push. She would tell me when she was ready.  

"You must have some amazing stories," I said, sipping at my wine. All through the time it took us to eat our appetizer and entree she told me an old gypsy folklore of upirs, vampire in Romani, and vargulfs, crazed werewolves. The story kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, my attention focused on her and what she was animatedly talking about. I find her expressions and excitement about it beautiful and wondrous, entertaining the entire time. She finishes just as our dessert comes. The strawberry drizzle running down the sides of my cheesecake suddenly remind me of blood.  

"I have about a thousand more," she said, taking a tentative bite from her banana split. The whipped cream sticks to her top lip and I have an urge to kiss it away. "Those are the stories my family told as bedtime stories."   

"They never scared you?" I ask, shocked because things like that when I was kid would scare me out of sleep for days at least. 

She quietly laughs, shaking her head. "No, they were like the story of the Arabian princess and the street kid," she explains, meaning Aladdin.  

"That was my favorite," I agreed. She smiled. "So I have to ask.." I added. 

"Oh boy," she said around a mouthful of banana, covering her mouth with her free hand. 

"Is this the best date you've ever been on?" Her eyes got big. 

"Ummm." She stammered over her answer for a moment, toying with the ends of her hair and blushing. 

"No way," I tease, squishing up my face and shaking my head with a huge grin on it.