~Author's Note~
Hello everyone! (Welcome back, to those who have been waiting) Hahaha... It's taken me a very long time to update this and I am very very very very sorry if I disappoint another time around. This version starts off differently and will have many differences from the previous version, as I feel that this beginning will help me with developing the plot better. I am so glad that I get to write this fic once more. I feel that there are a lot of expectations for this fic and I am very anxious and I don't want all of you to hate me if I don't make it up to you. I really do hope you enjoy this prologue and hopefully you guys do like this version. Thank you so much for reading and have an amazing day guys!
Sincerely, once more,
~Ms. AtomicBomb
"Oh crap!" She grumbled as she fell to her knees to collect all of the food she had just dropped; good thing that they were apples and some cans and not cooked food, or else she would have to end up fighting the jerk that bumped into her.
Her day had already been off to a bad start, with her father upset that she had waken up so late and the fact that in such a hurry, she had dropped and broken a plate. After being late for her summer job, she had been scolded by her boss and now she dropped all the food she was about to buy. Could her day have gotten any worse, so much that she would have to sit for a while to let her anger pass.
"Are you alright?" She looked up at the man that spoke, expecting him to be the jerk that made her drop her things; except it was the man with the shopping cart next to hers—the one who had witnessed it all.
She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly, half expecting the male to call back the jerk, "Yeah, I'm good." She huffed and picked up the remainder of the food she had dropped. After picking up the last can, she blinked as she noticed that it had cracked the tiles of the supermarket, "Shit," she breathed.
"Here," The man offered to help her up, as her hands were full and it was sort of hard to stand from a kneeling position that she was in without the use of her arms. He had a rather big build and nice rust orange eyes. He was so much taller than her, almost like an amazon tree and his hair as black as the night.
"I'm good," she repeated and somehow got up, truly surprising him, "But thank you," she nodded as she acknowledged his kindness and noticed that he had a beauty mark under his right eye; a trait that made him all the more unique.
"Some people are mean," the male commented as he looked over at the end of the isle where the man was just turning to leave, "so don't mind him."
Arturia nodded, "I guess you're right." The smile she gave was half forced for she was still irritated over the other man that had made her drop her belongings, "Thanks again," she huffed out, paying attention to the crack on the floor.
"You're welcome," he smiled, "well then, have a great day," he spoke as he turned about and landed his hands on his shopping cart to commence making his way through the supermarket.
"Are you going to make Pasta?" She had caught site of the Fettuccini in the man's buggie; pasta was one of her favourite dishes and she wanted to know if the man was making it the right way.
He turned to look at her again and he nodded, "Yeah, it's for dinner since my brother is coming over, and he likes pasta a lot."
"Don't use that sauce; it's not that good," she suggested upon seeing a plain tomato sauce, "The tomato and mushroom one is much better, also you should add a pinch of garlic to it. Sprinkle some black pepper and remember to boil it with salt, so that there's taste in the actual Fettucini."
A smile grew on his lips, "You like to cook, I take it?"
"Just pasta," she shrugged, "and when I'm feeling lazy, I just buy Chef Boyardi." She held up the cans she had in her hands. "Here let me help you with getting the sauce, since you might mess that up,"
He gave her a nod of approval and followed her down the isle as she looked at the many sauces that she could find, then she pointed out to one of the bottles, "That's the one. It's delicious; I promise."
"Will I get my money back?" He joked, seeing that she was very confident about her choice.
"Well," she sucked in air through her teeth, "You'd have to ask the store about that."
"Thank you," he took the jar of pasta sauce and gave her another smile, "I'm Diarmuid, by the way."
"Arturia," she extended a hand out to him and he shook it in return, "I hope you and your brother have a great dinner."
"Thank you," he repeated and put the jar of sauce in his cart.
Seeing that he had more than pasta in his cart, she figured to ask, "Oh, do you cook often?"
"Yeah, I like to cook a lot," he explained, "It's one of my hobbies."
Arturia bit her lower lip and smiled, "You don't find many men that like to cook; it's good and essential to know how to, good job."
Diarmuid chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, "I guess so," he smiled nervously.
"Okay, bye," Arturia had trouble waving with the ravioli in her hand, "It was very nice to meet you."
After he also returned the gesture, she turned about on her heel and hurried to the cashier. Heading to her friend's house, she held onto the shopping bag tightly as she pulled out her phone to call her friend, "Hey, I'm on my way," she managed as she took out an apple and began to eat it for the day was rather hot and she had decided to wear black.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~:
"Arturia...?" A voice called from behind her and she turned about to face a man. The one she had met before in the supermarket; the one with the beauty mark under his right eye.
He stood with a soft smile on his face and a shopping cart in his hands, almost like the last time they had met.
"Oh hello, Diarmuid, we meet again," She smirked and returned to checking which avocado's were ripe enough, "What brings you back to the super store?" She asked as she tried to decide which ones to take with her.
"Grocery shopping," he chuckled lightly, trying to catch her attention again, "and what will you be making this time?"
"You must eat a lot," she teased as he had gotten groceries only two weeks prior, "Sushi,"
Diarmuid furrowed his brows and blushed a little bit, "I thought you only made pasta,"
"Uh, I saw a show on how to make sushi with a friend and she is now pressuring me." She ran a hand through her hair, "You know how friends are." It was huffed, almost as if saying that it was pointless fighting your friends.
"Actually, no, I don't have many." He bit his lip and looked away, "I don't socialize much."
"My bad," She grabbed three random avocado's and threw them into her cart, out of embarrassment, "So um, what are you making for dinner?" She raised her eyebrow and blinked at him.
"Uh, I still have yet to decide," he rubbed his neck, "What do you recommend?"
Arturia shrugged as she pushed the cart over to the onions, "What do you like the most?"
"I don't really know," he shrugged in return, an innocent smile on his face, "I've never really thought about that."
Laughing a bit, she turned back to him, "Nothing comes to mind? At all?"
"Not really..." he shook his head slowly, "What about you, what's your favourite meal?"
"Meal? Not sure," she licked her lips, "But I definitely like steak."
"Then maybe we could go out for steak sometime?" He bit his lower lip in anticipation.
Her jaw dropped and her lips repositioned themselves in a smirk, "Sly," she chuckled, "Very sly."
"So um, what do you say?" His dark eyebrow rose in inquiry.
Arturia sighed and glanced at the onions, "That would be good," she nodded, "When?"
Diarmuid shrugged, "Whenever you're free."
Nodding, she took out a pen and paper from her purse and scribbled her phone number down, "Here, whenever you think will be a good time, just call me and I'll confirm with you."
He hesitantly took the number and smiled at her, "Great." His smile was bright and warm, almost triumphant and it made her want to chuckle.
"Awesome, so yeah, just call when you want to settle a date," she clicked, "but this is eating outside." She made sure to clarify as she did not know him very well and public places were always better and safer, if need be.
"Yeah, of course," he nodded quite rapidly, "Yeah."
She waved him goodbye and then collected the last remaining ingredients before heading home and making the sushi her friend had asked for. In all honesty, she did seem to fancy Diarmuid and she had deemed him to be quite fine as his smile was warm. Of course, he was not going to drive her; she would meet him there and it would be much safer for her.
After finishing the Sushi, her friend entered the kitchen and popped a grape into her mouth, "How's the Sushi?" She mumbled past her chewing.
"Done, hopefully it's to your liking, as I did break my back over it." Arturia turned about with a plate of Sushi in her hands, "Here you go."
"Thanks, Artie, you're the best," the blonde female before her smiled brightly, "I best it's amazing," she stated before taking a bite of the Sushi and smiling brighter.
"I'm guessing they're good?" Arturia hummed as she saw that the female only kept shoving more Sushi into her mouth. "Well, I wanted you to know that I'll be going out on a date soon." She mumbled, hoping that the girl before her would not be too surprised over her finally getting a date.
"Hm," Jeanne—the one before her—nodded after eating another Sushi roll, "That's cool."
"Yeah, met him at the supermarket and now he's taking me out for steak. He seems like a nice guy, so I thought to try it out at least, you know? Since I haven't been on a date and all." She shrugged and shoved a grape into her mouth, seeing as her friend was not going to freak.
Jeanne randomly started to cough and had to thump on her chest for a little while in order to not choke on her food, "Wait, what?" She managed through coughs and wheezes.
Arturia rolled her green eyes after sliding a cup of water to her friend and ate some of the food she had made, which turned out rather well, "I'm going on a date. Don't know when or where—preferably a steakhouse—but yeah. Plus, I don't think of it as a date anyway. It's more like wanting to be friends."
"But you don't even know him," Jeanne reasoned, after she had chugged the glass of water and her coughing fit came to an erupt end, "What if he does not turn out to be so nice as you think he is? God only knows what will happen to you!"
"It's okay, Jeanne," Arturia huffed, "I got this. Plus, that's why it's going to be at a public area, where I can call him out on it if he dares and tries anything."
"But what about when you're alone?" Jeanne's eyebrows furrowed in concern, "What will you do when it's just the two of you in the car?"
Arturia grunted, "I'm not going into the car with him. Goodness Jeanne, do I have a death wish?"
"But still, Artie, I don't know about this... What's his name, huh?" She leaned forwards, ignoring the food.
"Diarmuid." She quickly responded.
"Last name?"
Arturia bit her lip, "Um..."
"What about school?" Jeanne tilted her head, "Job? University? Anything?"
"Well, I mean," She rubbed her neck after the interrogation.
"Then, how old is he?"
"Age doesn't even matter. If anything, he is only a few years older." She shrugged in response, slightly rolling her eyes.
Jeanne gasped, "Older? Wouldn't that be illegal? You're not even eighteen."
"I'm almost eighteen, and he does not even need to know. Plus, like I already said, It's not a date date."