Date Night
Lila's never felt this happy in her life.
Lila lay on her back, cheeks flushed, a silly grin upon her face as Diego breathing gently, snuggled beside her.
The night had a warm, golden glow about it. Blue and yellow lights, filtered through the thin curtains from the street below, and fell upon the opposite wall. For a while, Lila was content to watch the patterns unfurl and flicker, like a shadow play.
They ought to do it more often.
But she couldn't keep Diego around, could she?
(Mother wouldn't approve)
That dampened her mood. So, she got up and put on her dress. Her hair was in disarray and her mascara smudged, but she could freshen up in a bit. She glanced at the sleeping Diego and felt a momentary pang of sadness.
She didn't want to go home, just yet. She wanted to be around him, for a little longer. He was quite the rough and tumble character and that thing he did with knives- Lila had to admit was kind of sexy. Yet, he was a softie at heart. She remembered his "pinky swear"- she had sort of lied, yes, but his sympathy and concern had been genuine.
A gentleman with a touch of rogue. Or a rogue with a touch of gentleman.
She didn't care which. She decided he would do.
Lila had never trusted anyone in her life, not even the woman who styled herself as her mother, and yet she could feel herself warming up to Diego.
But she was on a mission and the clock was ticking.
As she tiptoed towards the door, she felt Diego's form stir behind her.
"Leaving already?", he mumbled to his pillow.
She gulped. "Just hungry", she lied. "Elliot may have left a tuna sandwich in the fridge." Their quirky, temporary roommate made a useful cover.
He yawned. "You'd seriously prefer his moldy sandwich when we could…I don't know…go out and grab a midnight snack?"
Lila turned back. His body was only half-covered by the blanket and a playful look stirred in his eyes.
"Are you asking me out on a date?"
He sat up. "Would you say yes, if I am?"
Lila stood at the doorway and laughed. "The pain's disappeared, hasn't it?"
After all, he almost got knifed in the gut. If she hadn't cleaned his wounds right away, he may have died. She didn't want to think about that.
He winced. "Let's just say I can live with it." He slowly tilted his head to one side. "So, is that a yes or...?"
She smirked. "Maybe. Grab a shirt and get ready while I make up my mind."
Flicking her hair over her shoulder, she added, "You can't expect a girl to walk into a diner in the middle of the night, with a naked man on her arm, can you?"
Diego hadn't been on a date since…Patch. He hadn't expected Lila.
Without her help, he wouldn't have been able to break out of the asylum. Hell, without her help, he probably wouldn't even be alive.
He remembered her face, when she straddled him and kissed him. The warm flush of happiness that tugged at her cheeks, after they broke away from a long kiss. The sound of her breathing, the glitter in her eyes. She looked so pretty, hell, she was breathtaking.
And she was beside him now, walking hand-in-hand through the night-lit streets of Dallas in the winter of 1963. It felt so surreal, as vintage cars swished past and the sidewalk glittered with neon red and blue lights of all-night diners. The air too had a different scent, it felt cleaner somehow, even sweeter.
Lila might be sharp-tongued and efficient as a knife, and ruthless when it came to dealing with folks that didn't concern her, yet there was something dark and lonely coiled at her heart, a shadow that followed her around. He saw it when her brown eyes flickered, that look of hurt and betrayal when he'd gone with Five on his "family thing".
Diego didn't want to keep secrets from her.
He found himself opening up about his childhood, his father who never seemed to recognize him, his brothers against whom he was always comparing himself and how much he hated to be second-best.
"You aren't second-best to me", Lila said, pressing a kiss to his cheek, as she dragged him (despite his many protests) inside a pet shop to look at the pretty fishes, their flashy iridescent scales glistening in the fluorescent light.
Afterwards, they walked to a café in the neighborhood and ordered a milkshake and pancakes.
They argued over maple syrup or chocolate sauce.
In the end, they couldn't make up their minds, so they got both.
*
"Your family sounds like a fun bunch", Lila said, slurping on her milkshake.
Diego sat opposite her, their knees touching beneath the table. "Depends on your definition of fun, I suppose"
The keys felt heavy in Lila's pocket, still wet from being fished out of the goldfish tank. She glanced at the clock, noting the time and decided her mother with an army of time-travelling serial killers at her disposal, had all the time in the world. She could wait for a couple of hours more.
That delicious gleam returned to Lila's eyes.
"It changes, depending on my mood." She smiled delightfully and leaning towards him, added, "But right now, it's you."
A/N:
I wrote this for an Umbrella Academy charity zine, sometime last year. Found it languishing in my laptop, so I thought I'd post it here. Do let me know what you think!
I'm also on tumblr as ladyofthelake666, so feel free to shoot a message. I'm always up for fangirling/talking!