Turn around and you're walking towards me

I'm breaking down and you're breathing slowly

You say the word and I'll be your man, your man.

Say when and my own two hands

Will comfort you tonight, tonight

Say when and my own two arms

Will carry you tonight, tonight.

~ Say When – The Fray


Her heart started thumping against her chest as the car pulled outside the restaurant's exterior.

"Well, here we are." Liam said, beaming at her. She tried to turn her facial expression from one of distress to one of excitement.

"Oh, great!" She said in tones of fake enthusiasm. He seemed totally oblivious to her discomfort though, as he got out of the car and ran around to the other side to let her out. He reached his hand out to grab hers just like a perfect gentleman and Grace timidly held onto his hand.

He walked her over to the entrance and Grace zoned out for a while until they were walking to their table. She smoothed over her tight, black dress before sitting down.

They were sitting at probably the most romantic table in the restaurant. It was dimly lit with a few candles making it a perfect romantic setting. Also their chairs were so close to each other that their arms kept brushing each other.

Unfortunately Grace wasn't in a very romantic mood and was already checking her watch to see how long it had taken them to drive over here. She tutted at herself for being so rude; she should be nervously excitedly for this date, but her head had been far more preoccupied with the memory she had of Rich and about how she remembered this restaurant.

She glanced around herself and she wasn't surprised that she recognized everything in the restaurant, apart from whom she was sitting with when she had come here before.

"Are you alright, Grace?" She shook her head a little to bring herself back to the present moment and gave her best smile to Liam who was looking at her with a little concern.

"I'm fine." He still narrowed his eyes at her, unconvinced. "Really." She said, giving him a small pat on his arm in reassurance.

"Okay, I believe you," He said with his signature smirk that made his blue eyes light up. "A breadstick for you, my lady?"

"Yes please, my Lord." She said, giggling as she took the breadstick from his hand. She happily bit into it and the taste was very familiar to her, as was expected. Liam picked up the brown, healthy bread and began buttering it. Before Grace knew what she was actually saying, she said;

"Rich says those are disgusting and only for supercilious, gullible twats." She froze with the breadstick slowly crumbling in her hand. Liam stared at her for a few moments before bursting out into disbelieving laughter.

When the hell did Rich tell her that? They never had a conversation about bread before… Oh yes, they had. And it had been right at this restaurant. Grace suddenly remembered the events of that night. She was starving and he insisted they just grab a burger before going back to his place. Then she had seen this little, Italian restaurant and begged Rich to take her there. He had reluctantly agreed and moaned the whole time about how expensive this place was and how shit the music was. However he smiled every time she told him he was being silly or started giving a long rant about the Harry Potter series or her favorite musical. When the bread was placed on the table, he had told her she better not be taking the brown bread, because they were for 'supercilious, gullible twats who preach about healthy eating, but go out for benders every other night'. She had rolled her eyes at him and purposefully ate the brown bread to annoy him. He had tempted her with the breadstick and eventually Grace gave up trying to eat the bread, because she didn't really like it.

Then they were kissing and it -

"Grace? Grace?" She had no idea how long she had been remembering about that, but she restrained herself from grinning from the happy memory. "Who's Rich?"

"Oh… My dog." Liam raised his eyebrows with a laugh and Grace shook her head quickly. "Haha... I meant cousin, twice removed."

She realized she couldn't stay here a moment longer.

Grace appreciated the fact that she was a pretty good actor when she clasped her hand to her mouth quite suddenly and widened her eyes in terror.

"Ugh… I think – I think I'm going to be sick." She nearly shouted and before Liam could say anything she had ran off to the bathroom.

Once she once inside, she took out her phone and searched through her old photos. There were plenty taken of her and Rich kissing, which made her feel giddy, but she couldn't remember those events. She desperately searched through the photos, trying to remember something else, but she couldn't…

Why did she feel so bad about it? Up until a few days ago she had seen him as just a boy she couldn't really stand. Now though… now he was something that felt right, someone she clearly had a past with and maybe her Father was wrong… Maybe they were good for each other.

She was even more confused now that she had a few clear memories of Rich than when she had no clue he was. She shoved her phone in her bag and double-checked her appearance in the mirror. She could pass for being sick, she thought.


What am I turning into? I'm a horrible, horrible person. She could not believe she was ditching her date with her supposed Prince Charming for someone she had an unknown past with. Even though she knew she was being a terrible person, she walked up to Liam and said the line she had just rehearsed in her head.

"I was just sick…" She said, clutching her stomach and trying to look as if she was in serious pain. Liam had the reaction she was hoping for; he stood up and put his arm around her.

"Do you want to go home?" She frowned at this question as if she really didn't want to leave their date and slowly nodded her head.

"I'm so sorry, Liam. I wish I wasn't feeling unwell."

"Don't worry about it. I'll drop you home." Grace widened her eyes. Of course he would want to drop her home, because he was a perfect gentleman. She shook her head wildly at him and realized she would have to come up with a reasonably valid explanation.

"Umm… no need. I can take a taxi. There are lots of them in this area." She gave a small smile and Liam sighed reluctantly.

"Okay, but ring me when you get back okay?" He went to kiss her, but Grace glanced downwards so he could only kiss her forehead. It felt wrong just the thought of kissing him… It was as if she would be betraying someone if she did that. She desperately needed to get answers by seeing Rich.

She left Liam in the restaurant, trying to ignore the feeling that she was a bad person and got herself a taxi. She told the address for the farm, which she still didn't know why she knew.


So it turned out gigs were nearly impossible to cancel once you had invited people to attend. Rich had no idea how proper musicians managed to cancel their gigs with such ease… Well maybe it wasn't because they were going around saying, 'My parents are away for the weekend, so let's party!' Yeah, thanks a fucking lot Alo.

Now Rich was on a small set-up stage in the crowded living room at Alo's house playing one of Fuck Norris' tunes. He was pretty much enjoying himself and was able to just forget his troubles and smile and laugh along with everyone else.

Then he saw her…

She looked like a vision, an angel standing in the middle of the crowd of jumping bodies, motionlessly staring up at him. When she saw him stop singing and stare back at her, she shyly smiled. Then she disappeared back through the crowd towards the door. Rich had no idea what he was supposed to do. What the hell was she doing here?

He turned briefly to Alo, who was nodding in the direction of the door. He smiled encouragingly at Rich, as if just urging him on to find her. That was the whole point of the gig anyway, right?

He jumped off the stage into the pit of thriving bodies and pushed his way through them. He shouted out her name incase she could hear through the pumping music. He got out into the corridor that lead straight to the front door and saw her moving towards it.

"Grace?" He asked as softly as he could with his voice still being able to be heard. She turned around slowly and smiled at him.
"I was going to leave… I shouldn't have come." She stared at her fingernails, trying to avoid his eyes.

"I thought you had a date?" He asked, stepping closer to her.

"Yes, I did, but… Well, it finished early. I really need to talk to you, Richard." She finally looked up at him with pleading eyes. Rich sighed and crinkled his nose in confusion.

"Uh… I thought we were giving each other space." He said, while shoving a hand through his hair roughly. She continued staring at him with pleading eyes.

"Please." He couldn't say no to that and just walked off towards the stairs. When he turned around she was staring after him like a lost doll.

"You coming then?" He asked softly. Her eyes seemed to light up slightly, but Rich tried to ignore that.

He took her into Alo's room, which was currently empty. Rich shook his head at the porn poster covered walls and went to stand awkwardly near the bed. Grace looked more nervous though; wringing her hands together and still chewing on her lip so hard it looked like it might start bleeding.

"You were playing well…" She said, sounding kind of distant as if she wasn't thinking about the gig at all.

"Uh yeah… We were going to cancel it, but couldn't." Grace glanced up at him with furrowed eyebrows before asking,

"Why would you need to cancel it?" Rich stared at his feet and began to scratch the back of his neck, so he had something to do.

"Well, we were just going to do it… uh… because we thought you were coming." Grace slowly began to smile and her eyes were really brightening now.

"You planned all this for me?" She asked in bewilderment, the smile truly widening so you could see her gleaming white teeth.

Rich gave an awkward, tight-lipped smile in return and Grace's smile fell a bit.

"I'm sorry I came here, but I am so confused." She shook her head and went to sit down on the bed, but stopped herself and stayed standing awkwardly.

"I knew how to get to this place, but I have no idea how." Rich nodded slowly, because it didn't surprise him at all. He stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at her until she continued.

"And I went to the restaurant we went to once. I just remembered when I was sitting there." Rich raised his eyebrows a little in surprise and Grace nodded eagerly to confirm that this was true.

"Plus I saw us in Morocco… I was singing to you and you said I was the most beautiful girl you had ever seen." She licked her lips before continuing. "Is that true?"

She whispered the question, as if she didn't really want Rich to hear it. He simply sighed, feeling frustrated with these mixed signals he was getting.

"Grace… what are you doing? I thought we -"

"I know, I know! I just feel… so stupid. I just remembered those things and I wanted to tell you more than anything else. I left my date to see you, for fuck-" She was jabbing a finger angrily in his direction before one tear fell gradually down her cheek.

Rich was blinking in shock at this outburst and moved cautiously closer towards her.

"You're not stupid… at all." He said as softly as he could. He pulled the sleeve of his shirt down so it covered his hand and wiped away the tear on her cheek. When he realized what he was doing he pulled his hand away abruptly. She wasn't his girlfriend anymore… he couldn't just do that.

She closed her eyes for a moment and let her skin shiver from his faintest touch. She took one step closer towards him and tilted her head slightly. She had to stand on tiptoe, so she became very thankful for her ballet classes in that moment.

She pressed her lips against his for no more than a second, but she remained ever so close to him with her lips lingering just over his.

It was such a short kiss, but Grace managed to remember their first kiss and it had lasted the same amount of time. They were both awkward then like they were now. She wanted to remember more memories; she wanted Rich to kiss her back.

It took him a few seconds to respond, which made Grace panic and she almost moved away from him, but he suddenly pushed his lips against hers in a much more frantic, desperate way than she had. Her skin was tingling from head to toe and she didn't want it to stop.

He moved his arms from his side and wrapped them around her, so he was holding onto her tightly. His arms were getting caught up in her dress and her hair. She strangely felt like she knew what she was doing and placed her arms around his neck with one hand grasping his hair.

Next thing she knew he was gently bringing her towards the bed and placing her down on it's soft, welcoming surface. He began to explore other parts than her lips - her neck, behind her ear and her collarbone area.

He unbuttoned the first button on her dress before she sat up slightly and tried to say something despite her breathlessness.

"Wait… I've never -" She stared at him with her huge, innocent eyes and he just smirked at her in a way that made Grace's pulse race.

"Oh, we have…right?" She said, now smirking herself. She was still leaning on her elbows and not lying back down. Rich noticed her sudden restraint and gently touched her chin with two of his fingers.

"We don't have to do anything… Okay?" He was smiling the most sincerest and sweetest smile she had seen from him since her accident, which she hadn't thought was possible until now. She sucked on her lower lip before replying.

"Sorry… Can we just stay here?" He nodded and Grace moved so she could put her head on the pillow. He lay right next to her – right where she wanted him – and put his arm loosely over her. She pulled his arm around her tighter. His face was lying side-by-side to hers and he kissed her cheek briefly.

"Are you tired?" He asked quietly. His breath was tickling her neck that she had to bite down on her lip to stop herself from giggling.

"I can't sleep at night… I always dream about the accident; it scares me." There was a moment's pause before Rich replied.

"You remember it?" Grace mumbled something vague, so nodded her head to make sure Rich knew her answer.

"I'm here now… I'll tell those dreams to sod off." Grace couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of what he had just said and she felt Rich laughing right next to her.

The truth was she could sleep that night. Wrapped up in his arms she had the best night's sleep of her life.


SORRY, I got so carried away with the lyrics, but they were so perfect I couldn't resist. I was going to use 'Don't You Worry' for the song for this chapter, but this one actually seems more fitting. :)

I'm sure you all knew where this chapter was heading with the lyrics too ;) And it's about time too, right? Hah… I'm sorry that the kissing stuff is so awkward, but that was just difficult to write :P

And hey let's try to get to 50 reviews by the time this fic ends! That's going to be my goal, so if you've never reviewed this story before, please consider doing so! I love reading all your reviews; they bring the hugest smile to my face! :D

TheCheeryCherry