Five minutes to 6, I heard a car engine stop right by the entrance door. I glanced at myself in the mirror, giving the finishing touches and applying a bit of perfume, just before Erik knocked on the door.

"Don't get nervous. Everything will be fine," I told myself in a feeble attempt to gather courage.

I stepped out of the room, and upon opening the door, I found Erik smiling, as usual. He was dressed in jeans, black boots, and a leather jacket that did nothing to prevent me from rolling my eyes for a moment. Yes, that was also on the damn list from the drunken night with Vir. "Viking-Rocker" because, well, might as well ask for the moon.

"Uh," he said, with an amused gesture.

"Uh?" I asked, surprised by his expression.

"Your face. I guess you don't like my jacket," he touched the jacket, and I figured he was referring to it.

"No, no. It's okay. I like," I said hastily. "One second," I asked before going back inside to grab my coat, which had already dried.

Upon returning to Erik, he looked at me with a mischievous smile and shook his head. "Cold. My jacket is the better option," he said, pointing to his coat on the couch. I turned to look at it.

"Ah," I went towards it, picked it up, and handed it to him.

Erik laughed and shook his head. "I'm Scottish. I don't get cold," he denied. "I'll lend it to you until you get a warmer one." I bit my lower lip to refrain from sighing out of frustration. "Look at me."

I looked up, my brow slightly furrowed. He pointed to himself and made a zipper motion with his hands, and my expression turned confused.

"You… silence?" I asked, and he nodded. "Why?"

He shrugged and pointed to his coat, then mine, and made a spinning motion with his finger in the air, indicating that he wanted me to switch coats.

"Oh… cold," I nodded, glad that I understood him.

I took off my coat, leaving it on the couch and putting on his. As I looked at him, he gave me a thumbs-up and nodded, gesturing outside. I grabbed my phone, my bag, and the key to the little house before turning off the light and heading outside with him. It was really cold; I could feel it on my face, although thanks to his coat, the rest of my body wasn't cold.

I looked at him, and he looked at me as we walked towards the pub, which was very close to where I was staying.

"You can speak. But slowly, please," I asked, and he chuckled, bringing his hands to my lips and making the zipper gesture again.

The touch of his fingers on my lips made my heart beat faster. It wasn't yet dusk, so I looked ahead, letting my curls, somewhat decent because they were freshly dried, cover my face a bit and hide the redness of my cheeks.

"But…" I was about to say. If we didn't talk, what kind of date… dinner! were we going to have? Erik shook his head and gestured for me to keep quiet. I took a breath and nodded. The truth is, it made everything much easier for me. I gestured okay with my hand, and we walked in silence for the remainder of the way. When we arrived at the pub, he reached out to hold the door open for me as I walked in, and once again, people turned to look at me.

I couldn't remember if they were the same people from the night before, but after Erik entered, people greeted him cheerfully, and he just raised his hand in greeting. I turned to look at him when he placed his hand on my shoulder to get my attention and pointed towards the tables. I nodded, and we sat where I had sat the night before since it was empty.

I took off my coat, as did he, and I could see that under the leather jacket, he was wearing a black t-shirt, and on top, a checkered shirt that, as always, suited him very well. I left the coat near me and realized he was staring at me. Too intensely, so I quickly looked at the shirt, fearing I had it stained or something, although I didn't see anything unusual. Erik looked away, pressing his lips together to suppress a smile, and sat down, so I followed suit, sitting across from him.

Nora didn't take long to approach.

"Good evening! How are you, Andrea?" Nora asked.

"Good, thank you," I replied, but Erik looked at me with wide eyes, as if I were cheating.

"Oh. Sorry," I apologized, and he shook his head, amused.

"Is everything okay?" Nora asked, looking at him. He nodded, touched his lips, and shook his head, indicating that he wasn't speaking.

"A silent date?" she asked excitedly, looking at both of us.

Erik looked at me, shrugged, leaned his elbow on the back of his seat, and waited to see what I would say. I just shrugged, like him.

"Well, that way you don't make too much noise," Nora laughed. "Beer?" Erik nodded. The redhead looked at me, and I gestured with my fingers, indicating that I wanted a small one. She laughed cheerfully. "Half a pint," I nodded, and she happily went away, but before leaving, Erik caught her by the shirt and made her turn around.

He gestured for her to bring something to write with, and Nora pulled out a notebook and a pen from her apron, left it on the table, and went away.

I looked curiously at what Erik was writing, but when he brought the notebook closer to me, I saw that he hadn't written anything; instead, he had drawn something that I was completely unable to decipher. I looked at him and shook my head, and he scratched his beard, thoughtful. Crossing out the previous drawing and trying again, making something that looked like a chicken thigh and a question mark.

I opened my mouth and touched my stomach, making circles, and he nodded. He was asking me if I was hungry, and I nodded gently, indicating that I was more or less. However, he pointed to himself and bit his fist, making me laugh. He was probably hungry.

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I had to give him credit for being an original guy and getting rid of the language barrier in one fell swoop. It was fun to know that, regardless of speaking different languages, we could understand each other through gestures.

I took the notebook, and this time, I was the one who drew something a circle with eyes, a beard, and a ponytail that pretended to be him, and a question mark. He looked at the drawing and pointed at himself, asking if it was him, so I nodded. His gesture was funny, almost as if he were offended because his beard wasn't that messy. He pointed at the question mark, wanting to know what I wanted to know about him. I drew something like a baby, wanting to ask something simple, like his age, and he shook his head, crossing out the baby.

The good thing was that I knew he didn't have children; the bad thing was that he didn't understand me. Next to it, I

drew a square with a number and a month, so he took the pen and wrote next to it, 'August 13th.' I looked at the date and blinked. He looked at me, pointing at me, and I wrote underneath, 'August 14th.'

Both eyebrows shot up in surprise, and he shook his head, possibly thinking I was joking, but I looked at him with a truth-telling expression, and then his smile widened even more. He took the pen and wrote a thirty-eight with a question mark, and I shook my head, writing a thirty-five. He raised an eyebrow, but this time it wasn't a playful gesture, it was mischievous, and he tapped me on the head as if he were treating me like a little girl. I put on a pretend-offended face, obviously joking.

"You two are adorable," Nora said, returning. Erik stuck out his tongue at her and took a sip of his beer, but when I went to grab mine, he gestured with his hand for me to wait.

I looked at him, waiting to see if he wanted to gesture something else, and when he finished swallowing, he then indicated that I could drink. Why? He must have seen the question on my face because he laughed and pretended to choke. I blushed, and instinctively gave him a playful tap on the shoulder. Clearly, he was teasing me because the night before I had choked on the beer. He laughed even more, and I took a sip of my half-pint under his watchful gaze.

"What would you like to eat?" the redhead asked.

Erik got up to go to the bar, fist-bumped the curly-haired guy, and came back with what seemed to be a menu, handing it to me.

"Are you going to be silent all night?" she asked, but I wasn't paying attention because I was looking at the available options. The dish from the previous night had been good, but I wanted to try something different, so I decided on a chicken wrap that looked pretty good.

I pointed to it, and she nodded. Erik quickly searched the menu and pointed to another dish that I didn't manage to identify before Nora left. When I told Vir about the weird and fun non-date I was having, she would be thrilled, for sure. In the end, she was right, and Erik didn't seem to mind at all how difficult communication seemed to be for me.

Okay, so far I knew his birthday was one day before mine, he was 38 years old, and apparently, he didn't have kids. He took the notebook and looked at me, squinting, probably thinking of what else to ask.

We spent some time doodling and asking questions until Nora arrived with dinner. We had figured out that I was a cat person, he was a dog person. I liked the beach, he liked the mountains. I liked cars, he liked motorcycles. I was laughing quite a bit because Erik might be handsome, funny, and resourceful, but he drew terribly. Not that I was creating masterpieces either, but there was a bit more to them, or at least, I wanted to believe so.

"Do the silent ones want some dessert?" Nora asked, clearing the dinner plates.

Erik, as always, looked at me, wanting to know what I wanted. For a moment, I had been lost in my thoughts, so he took the notebook and drew a cup and what seemed to be a cake.

I pointed to the coffee cup, remembering that I had quite liked the coffee last night. Nora looked thoughtful. "With milk?" she asked, and I nodded. She looked at Erik. "Your usual?" He nodded too.

I watched Nora walk away, and when I looked back at Erik, I saw that once again, he was staring at me intently. Okay, it wasn't the shirt. Did I have something on my face? I discreetly touched it, hoping not to find a booger stuck somewhere or something that would have made me look ridiculous all night, but I didn't feel anything unusual.

That's when Erik picked up the pen resting on the table and extended his hand to me, palm up, asking for something. I looked at the notebook, and he shook his head. I raised my hand slightly, and he nodded. I brought it closer, and he gently took it, turning it to have my palm facing up, and began to doodle on it, tickling me, so I withdrew it for a moment before he looked at me with a mischievous face and held it a bit more firmly.

When he finished drawing, I realized that what he had done was write a phone number on my hand, his phone number. I moistened my lips, feeling somewhat embarrassed, and nodded, glancing at him sideways. He extended his hand and handed me the pen so that I could write mine. Since I didn't know it by heart, I had to pull out my phone to check, as the number was British.

I saw several messages from Vir, possibly asking how the night was going, but I didn't reply. I searched my phone and wrote the number on his palm. Now that I could see it up close, I noticed it was a working hand, the kind of hand people used to work with. I didn't know what kind of physical work a lighthouse required, but Erik certainly used them a lot.

Nora brought the coffees and sugar, and while I put some in mine, Erik drank his black and without sugar. I made a disgusted face, and he laughed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, as if I had no idea.

Once again, he drew something in the notebook, which already had several pages scribbled with nonsense. He drew a lighthouse and a moon. I nodded. Lighthouse at night. He crossed out the moon, made a curly arrow, and drew a sun. Tomorrow? I looked into his eyes. I pointed at myself, made a finger gesture, and pointed to the lighthouse. He nodded. Did he want me to come see him tomorrow?

He tried to draw an imitation of the first "Erik" that I had drawn, but with a clearly better beard, and I laughed, and then he drew a book. Did he want to lend me a book tomorrow? I wasn't sure, but I gave him a thumbs-up, and happily, he sipped his coffee while I finished mine.

When we finished, I asked Nora for the bill, and when he tried to pay, I made a sound with my mouth, shushing him, and he looked at me with a smile. I pointed at myself, and he raised his hands as if he were about to surrender. He was quite a funny guy. I left a bill on the table, surprised that the dinner was so cheap for the amount of food we had eaten, and Nora came to say goodbye, with a grin from ear to ear, and without saying anything, just gesturing with her hand.

I put on my coat, Erik put on his, and we left the warm atmosphere of the pub. As we stepped outside, the air was quite cold. I made a gesture of displeasure, and he pulled up my hood, just like he had done that morning at the lighthouse. I realized I was biting my lower lip when I saw his eyes fixed on them, so nervously, I stopped. He looked at me through my glasses, and I swallowed hard.

Luckily, he didn't say anything. He just nodded and we walked back to the house.

Once there, my heart raced. Now what? I stopped in front of the door, looking for the key, and he stopped too. I opened the door and looked at him. With his hands in his pockets, he smiled at me and I wanted to ask him if he wanted to come in, not knowing how to do it, so I just waved it at him. Erik looked in and then at me, shaking his head with an expression in his eyes that I couldn't interpret.

I knew it. See, Vir? Just a dinner. Not a date, he didn't want anything.

"Okay," I said, breaking the silence, feeling somewhat nervous.

"Good night, lass," he replied. It wasn't until I heard his voice again that I realized how much I liked it.

"Buenas noches, Erik," I said, and he smiled, although I could tell by the dimples on his cheeks that he was trying to contain himself.

"Buenas noches, Andrea."

Ground calling Andrea. Don't forget to breathe. Could anyone have a more damn sexy accent speaking Spanish? I doubted it.

Erik turned to walk towards his truck, parked on the side of the house, and I waited until he got inside and started the engine. I waved to him, and he waved back in the same manner, driving away down the road. I entered the house before the cold could creep in, and as I closed the door, I leaned against it. I sighed, feeling a sensation I couldn't quite identify, but it was clearly Erik's fault.