A/N: A huge thank you to the Guest, who made me realise that I forgot to update this story! In between learning French and making notes for the chapters for my other story, it completely slipped out of my mind that I still owe you a couple of chapters. There isn't a lot left, but always something! If I suddenly disappear again, don't hesitate to just drop me a PM or something because I might just be writing plans or learning French, or doing an idiot of myself by trying to actually say the French "R", so it's not going to hurt me to make a break and upload a chapter! ;) Hope you're going to enjoy! :)
Myles huffed with irritation, lifting a tenth tie and holding it against his chest in order to determine whether it matched or not. None of them seemed good and he really wanted to look absolutely perfect this evening. Of course, it wasn't like he didn't try for his appearance to always be impeccable, just like everything else, but this time it was something more. He didn't really try to deny – even to himself – that he wanted to impress Toni; the feelings he still had for her were getting more and more difficult to ignore and even if they were to realise that it wasn't it, he still hoped that they could give it a try. It could turn out to be a mistake and yet, it could also be exactly what they were both looking for the last eighteen years. They have both changed and it surely wasn't going to be just like he remembered their relationship from all those years ago, but there was nothing worse than leaving all the matters unfinished and even if she really wasn't the one for him, he wanted to see it clearly and be able to finally move on.
Finally, after almost an hour, he got dressed and ready to leave. His heart was beating like crazy, when he parked his car in front of the building, which she lived in and made his way inside. He wasn't sure if he ever felt so nervous in his entire life and with shaking hands, he managed to knock on the door. Taking in a deep breath, he prepared himself for facing her, holding the bouquet of pink roses straight, when he heard footsteps. The flowers were the first thing she noticed, when she opened the door and her heart skipped a beat.
"Oh, hi." she said, blushing a little and moved to the side, allowing him to step into her apartment. "They're beautiful…"
"It would be good to put them in a vase or something…" he spoke, and she wasn't able not to feel a little bit disappointed.
A lot of men arriving to pick someone up for a date would say that she looked beautiful as well or something in that style, after the comment that she had made. Or perhaps, she was simply reading and watching too much romances? It could be the case, of course, but either way she was forgetting that no matter the reason, it was Myles Leland in front of her. He definitely wasn't like most men, and also didn't possess even a bit of a romantic soul. He was able to make it up with his knowledge about what he should or shouldn't do, but it was rather stupid to expect anything truly romantic coming clearly from him.
What she didn't know was that he allowed himself to truly take in her appearance when she took the roses from him and went to find a vase for them. He immediately thought that she looked absolutely breathtaking in a simple, yet elegant low cut dress, which perfectly emphasised her curves in all the right places and at the same time, didn't reveal too much. Her hair was falling down her shoulders in lovely waves, which almost begged for him to touch them and he had a little difficult time focusing on the thought, that he should behave like a perfect gentleman. It was only when she turned around, that she caught him staring and smiled, when he immediately looked away, pretending that nothing like this happened.
"I'm pretty much ready to go." she stated, standing in front of him and Myles nodded his head.
It seemed that just like in the past, she had this ability to make him completely lose his tongue. Luckily, it turned out just as easy for her to start a conversation with him and soon it was just like it used to be between them. It was as if all those years, during which they led completely separate lives, didn't happen; they were only visible in their talk. Obviously, as they got older, they had much more experience than they had as teenagers and their views on certain subjects changed or matured, and they were surprised to find out that they seemed to match in many cases. They remembered that they had often needed to agree to disagree on things, which they now had the same opinion about.
He quickly noticed that while he wanted the evening to be absolutely impeccable, everything seemed to be against him. He didn't dare say anything about it, but he noticed his car acting a little strangely and had a bad feeling about it. Still, before they knew it, they reached the theatre and the moment they stepped inside they knew, that something was wrong. The atmosphere amongst the crowd was tense, and Myles pressed his lips together when he overheard two women speaking that the spectacle was cancelled because one of the actors broke their leg and the person, who was supposed to replace them in case of any accident, got sick.
"What do you mean, cancelled?! We paid for the tickets!" he exclaimed, when the official information reached everyone and she caught his arm, giving him a gentle squeeze.
"Myles, calm down." she spoke, thinking how this sort of behaviour reminded her a little of his father. "You can't be mad at them because of an accident they couldn't predict!"
He groaned, obviously dissatisfied but didn't say anything else so loudly, only kept grumbling under his breath. It was enough to make Toni happy, though, and he eventually stopped when they left the building after getting back the money for tickets.
"If you're up to it, we could go to the restaurant… I didn't know what time would the spectacle end, so I didn't make a reservation for a specific hour…"
At least at the restaurant they got more luck, but it was difficult for Toni to control herself, whenever the waiter was approaching. The man was strange and spoke in a way, which was infuriating for Myles, who clenched his jaw every time he got near. She sighed after yet another attempt to start a conversation, but she should have known it was pointless. Irritated Myles was either voicing his displeasure for everyone to hear or being silent, and out of the two she definitely preferred the latter, even if his complaints could be amusing at times. Yet, despite all this she still found herself enjoying the evening and felt strange, when it came to an end.
"I'm sorry… This evening really wasn't supposed to look like this…" he apologized, when he parked his car in front of her building.
"Don't worry about it, Myles. I had a good time, although it would be nice if my companion wasn't sulking so much…"
"It's just so infuriating, that when you want for something to be perfect, all your plans get ruined…"
"Obviously, we have slightly different opinion about what can be called a perfect evening… For me, it would be simply spending time with someone, who I care about… It could even be at home in front of TV, as long as person like this would be with me."
"I never really stopped caring about you…" he said, reaching out his hand and cupping her face; his thumb started to gently caress her cheek, waking up all the butterflies in her stomach, while her heartbeat quickened.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out and she blushed, looking away embarrassed. Myles watched her carefully, unsure whether he should take that as a good or a bad sign, but he smiled when he noticed her bit her bottom lip, something he remembered her doing quite often, whenever she had difficulties voicing her feelings or wasn't sure what they were. He was surprised, though, when she finally looked back at him but instead of speaking, she leaned closer and brushed her lips against his.
He felt overwhelmed by all the sensations evoked by this gesture; it was the simplest of kisses and yet, it had such a strong effect on him that he wasn't sure if any other kiss ever got even close to it. He kissed her back, feeling his heart thunder in his chest and couldn't help groaning, when they parted.
"There's no sense in hiding it. I want a second chance with you, Toni. I want to see where it's going to lead us and if we are to break up, I want it to be because we agree that it's not the relationship we want, not because of some external factor."
"I guess we're pretty much on the same page, then…" she said smiling and placed a last, short, gentle kiss on his lips before it was time for them to part.