Author's Note: Hey guys! Here's the second part of the date! I hope you guys enjoy it and I just want to thank everyone who is still reading this story even though I haven't updated it in years. It's crazy how much time has passed since I first wrote this story 6 years ago when I was a senior in high school. I was a completely different person back then and I noticed it in my old chapters. I've made some edits here and there, nothing too major. I didn't want to leave this story hanging so I'll try to get some new chapters out sooner rather than like 4 years lmao! Again I apologize for the long ass time gap, but I'll try to make up for it. Anyways, happy reading and stay safe out there!
Clara's P.O.V.
It had been a few minutes since we had left the theater and we were already making our way to the pizza place. The drive was nowhere close to quiet for us though with the cliche movie still fresh in our minds.
"Be honest, Aiden. If that sequel ever makes the light of day, would you watch it with me?"
Aiden grinned over at me. "Trust me, after witnessing that shitshow, you'd have to drag me to the theater for the next one. No way can I sit through another movie."
"Oh come on. In a few years, we'll get to witness Jimmy Siska's legendary british twin."
"God, I think I lost brain cells just hearing that awful accent he did."
"Well I'm excited for the next one. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life," I said with a giggle.
Aiden crossed his arms and shook his head. "Alright. I may see the sequel if we see it together. Hell it might take them years to release the next one so we're spared until then."
I grinned for a moment as I imagined us being a little older and laughing our asses off in the theater. The more I thought about, however, the more I wondered if it would actually happen. Would Aiden and I still be friends, or potentially lovers? I had always heard from other people that once you graduate, you may not stay friends with the people you hung out with, or let alone date the same people.
I glanced over at him, wondering if we would still know each other in the future. My mind drifted back to him shoving that kid and it had me wondering again if maybe his aggression would lead to problems.
What if he gets jealousy issues just like...
No. I was overthinking things. He only threatened that kid because he wanted to protect his sister. That's all it was.
Right?
"Hey, you okay?"
I only now realized my heart was pounding as I turned over to Aiden, who was staring at me with furrowed brows.
"Yeah." I lied. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know. You just looked like something was bothering you." He continued to study me.
"No, I'm good. Don't worry."
Aiden stared at me for a few more seconds before he replied, "Okay. Just wanted to make sure."
I wasn't sure if he believed me or not, but he turned his attention back to the road regardless.
God, I needed to snap out of it. Wasn't that the whole point of this date? To get to know him better and try and understand how deep his aggression went?
I tried to get my mind off of it as I focused my attention on finding the pizza place. While I checked my rear view mirror, I noticed a blue car a few feet behind us. The car looked a little similar to one of my friend's cars. I took a few close glances at the mirror, trying to identify who the driver was. It looked like multiple people were in the car and I could have sworn one of them looked familiar, but the car was too far away for me to tell.
"Clara, you just passed the restaurant," Aiden informed me.
"Oh shit." I made a sharp turn to the right and I looked for a road to turn back around at. "How did I miss that?"
He chuckled. "You tell me."
I scowled at him before taking another glance at my mirror. I noticed the blue car wasn't behind us anymore. I could have sworn there was something familiar about it, but I decided to shrug it off. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
I managed to get back onto the main road and it took us less than a minute to find the pizza place again. I pulled the car into a parking spot by the sidewalk before we stepped out. I made sure to pay for parking before we both made our way to the pizza place. Once we got to the front door, I paced over and held the door open for Aiden.
"After you," I said, not wanting to give up being in charge of this date.
Aiden smirked down at me. "Why thank you."
He tucked his hands in his jean pockets before stepping inside. I followed directly behind him. Once we got seated at a booth, we ordered the same sausage and pepperoni pizza we got last time. It didn't take long for us to get our drinks. As we waited for the food, I couldn't help but laugh a little.
"What's so funny?" He asked.
"Just thinking about how you nearly burnt your tongue the last time we were here."
"Yeah, yeah. Wasn't my finest moment." He rolled his eyes.
I continued to giggle at the memory. "No, it definitely wasn't."
"You just love to pick on me, don't you?" He leaned forward and rested his arms across the table.
"Only when you're acting like a total goofball." I reached over and booped him on the nose.
Aiden's eyes briefly looked down at my finger before I pulled away. The way his eyes were crossed was so adorable and made me smile warmly at him. For a second, I nearly forgot why we even set up this date in the first place.
"So," I said while gathering my thoughts. "I think now is a good time for us to get to know each other better."
He nodded. "Okay. What did you want to know?"
I thought about it for a moment. We definitely bonded over our fair share of daddy issues, but I wanted to find a way to bring up the situation with Cody without making things awkward. The more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I felt with bringing up the topic.
"Well I guess I should start with me. I don't think I ever told you where I was originally from."
"You weren't born here?"
"No. Actually I was born in Quebec."
"Explains that nice accent." He grinned at me.
There he goes again with that smile making my heart skip a beat again.
"I'm surprised you don't have one," I said.
"Yeah well I never remembered my parents ever having accents, or maybe I was too busy getting into trouble to notice when I was younger."
"So you got into trouble often?" I pried, becoming more interested.
"Yeah." He looked down at the table, avoiding my gaze. "A bit more than I should have."
I studied him with curiosity and I searched for any cracks. "What do you mean?"
His eyes still avoided mine as he caressed his knuckles. I grew nervous as to what sort of trouble he had gotten into. Were my suspicions right? No. I needed to calm myself and hear him out.
"Well-"
We were interrupted by the server greeting us with a tray of the hot and cheesy goodness of the pizza we ordered. The server set the food down onto the table.
"Be careful. It's hot," the server warned.
We thanked him before he went to serve another table. I shot Aiden a look.
"Yeah, Aiden. You heard him." I smirked at him.
"Alright, smartass." He gave me a playful glare and I only laughed in response.
I decided to let go of our previous conversation for now since I was starving. This time, Aiden did wait for the pizza to cool down before eating it so I couldn't make any jabs at him.
After we chowed down a few slices, I brought up our previous topic again. "Back to what we were talking about earlier, how much trouble did you get into, mister?"
He put down his pizza crust and this time he looked at me.
"Well...I'd get into some fights mostly cause I was stupid."
I nodded at him, not being that surprised.
"What would they be about?"
He breathed in for a second and he shifted his eyes away from me again. It made me even more curious as to why he was so hesitant to tell me.
"Sometimes it would be over small things like a disagreement, but other times it was worse than that."
"How?" I frowned at him.
I noticed his shoulders tense and I wondered if I was pushing him too much.
"Well um..." He grew silent and I understood that I may have been digging too deep.
"You don't have to answer. Sorry. I didn't mean to push you."
"No, no. You're fine. You have a right to ask and I should-"
A loud noise startled the both of us, causing us to jump. It sounded like plates and cups and it had to have come from a few booths down. I stuck my head up and tried to locate where the noise could have came from and I noticed a group of people huddling down at a booth. They looked like they were picking up the mess they caused and their backs were turned to me.
I was about to sit back down, but once I took a second glance at them, I started to recognize their clothes and I was able to catch sight of none other than Wrench's mask. I quickly realized who the other four people were.
"You've got to be kidding me," I said before sitting down.
Were they actually spying on us? First it was the car, now they so happen to be in the same restaurant as us. No way was it a coincidence.
"What is it?" Aiden asked while peaking over as well. He didn't seem to recognize anyone.
"I'll tell you when we leave," I said, not wanting a scene to be made.
Aiden stared at me with confusion, but he listened regardless and sat back down.
Should I be surprised that they were doing this? They were always nosey, but I could admit I was a little displeased. A part of me wanted to go up to their table and tell them that they were caught, but then a better idea popped into my head for the perfect payback.
I called for the check along with a to go box. Shortly after, the server brought them to us. I filled out the check before the server took it. Aiden was still eyeing me as he leaned forward.
"Seriously what happened? Why not tell me here?"
I gave him a smirk. "Just trust me. It'll be better that way."
Once everything was paid for and the food was in the box, we made our way out of the restaurant. I pretended to not notice my friends, as we walked out the door. Once we were outside, Aiden turned to me.
"Alright, tell me what happened," he demanded.
I sighed and turned to him. "Well it turns out we're not alone."
"What do you mean?"
I lean towards his ear and whispered, "Our friends thought it was a good idea to spy on our date. They were in the restaurant."
Aiden raised his brows. "You're kidding."
"I wish I was." I rolled my eyes. "But I know a way we can get rid of them."
"How?"
I gave him a mischievous smirk. "You'll see."
Wrench's P.O.V.
"Why the fuck did you do that?" Sitara complained at me. "We can never take your clumsy ass anywhere."
"I said I was sorry," I said while wiping up the large puddle of water and ice cubes I spilt on the table. "I was trying to listen to them."
"We got our phones for that, genius," Marcus said while wiping the mess of marinara sauce from the pizza I also knocked over on the floor.
"Yeah well mine wasn't fucking working, okay?" I shot him a pissed off glance before going back to attending my mess.
I caught Horatio wheezing as he watched me and Marcus with a smug grin.
"Yall know damn well this is stupid," he said between laughs.
"Shut the fuck up, Horatio," I snarled at him.
I peeked over at Josh as well to see what he was doing and the son of a bitch was laughing too. I huffed as I continued to aggressively scrub the water with an already wet napkin. I was too pissed off to care that the more I wiped, the more water swiped onto the floor.
"Yo, Wrench, chill. I got more napkins." Marcus handed me some more napkins and I snatched them out of his hands.
I groaned as I continued to scrub the water and force it onto the napkin. I only managed to get a little bit of it on there before the napkin was already soaked and the water was splashing on the floor again!
"Fuck!" I crumbled up the drenched napkins and threw them down on the table. I could see Horatio and Josh snickering again. "You know you guys can help us instead of laughing."
"Hell no. You made the mess and now you gotta clean it." He continued to chuckle like the arrogant asshole he was. "Oh and FYI, they're leaving."
He pointed towards our pairing heading out the door.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
Shortly after, the waiter came over to our table and saw the mess.
"We're really sorry about this." Marcus is the first to apologize to the waiter.
"No, you're okay." He waves him off. "You don't have to clean. We'll take care of it."
"No, we got it. Thanks, but could we get the check and possibly a takeout box?" He asked while wiping up the rest of the sauce.
"Sure. I'll get those for ya and some more napkins if you need them."
"Thanks. We'd appreciate it."
The waiter took off and I gave up on cleaning since I was only making it worse.
"Fuck sakes. Now we're gonna lose them. Mission failed I guess," Sitara said with a sigh.
"No, it's not over yet," I spoke. "The waiter just needs to hurry back with everything and we'll catch up to them."
"Dude, they're already heading back to their car. This is a waste of time," Horatio said with crossed arms.
I ignored Horatio as I kept checking over for the waiter to come back while glancing over at Clara and Aiden walking down the road.
"Come on." I tapped my foot. The more I looked back and forth, the more antsy I became.
After what felt like forever, the waiter finally came back with everything. He sat down the bill and I was already whipping out my card.
"And here's your box and napkins." He puts them on the table as well.
"Thanks." I was already done filling out the bill and I slid my card inside before handing it to him. "Also please bring this back as soon as possible if you can. We're kind of in a hurry."
The waiter looked at me with slightly raised brows. "Alright. Will get it back to you."
He rushed off and now it was back to waiting.
"Don't hustle the poor waiter like that. He's probably being rushed around enough," Sitara protested.
"Sitara, you know it's not that busy here. He'll be fine. I'll tip him extra for his efforts."
After that, Marcus and I were back to wiping the mess like our lives depended on it until we got most of it up. It took less than a minute for the waiter to pace back to our table and set the bill down again.
"You all have a good one," he said before he was gone again.
I withdrew some dollar bills and slammed them down on the table before standing up.
"Come on! We gotta haul ass!" I told everyone before rushing towards the door.
"Jesus Christ, Wrench, we're coming," Marcus said before he and everyone got up as well.
Once we were outside, I got a glimpse of the two already pulling out of their parking space.
"Shit. Where did I park my car again?" Marcus looked around.
"Are you seriously telling me you forgot?" I squinted at him.
"It's over there." Josh pointed towards it.
"Oh that's right." Marcus clicks the button on his key to start up the car.
I shook my head at him. "Gotta get your head in the game, Marky Mark," I told him before we rushed over to the car.
We hurriedly got inside and Marcus started the engine. I frantically searched for where their car went until I saw it in front of a few other cars blocking the way.
"Floor it, Marcus. They're a few cars ahead of those ugly white looking ones." I pointed towards their car.
Marcus pushed the pedal and we were back on the main road. We tried to keep Clara and Aiden in our sights as we tried to look past the cars blocking us.
"For fuck sakes! We're never gonna catch up to them thanks to these slow asses!" I exclaimed while throwing my hands up in the air.
"Don't worry. I'll get past them," Marcus said before cutting to the left lane.
It took a couple cutoffs in front of some cars and a fair share of middle fingers, but thankfully we were behind them again.
"You are gonna get us in trouble," Sitara grumbled at Marcus.
I turned to her in the backseat. "Hey, it's all part of the fun and since when have you ever worried about getting in trouble Miss I Spiked The Principal's Coffee?"
I squinted at her which caused her to drop her mouth open. I could also hear Marcus snickering next to me.
"Hey, don't look surprised. He's right you know?" Horatio looked over at her with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes at me and crossed her arms. "Alright. You got me there."
Marcus abruptly cut the wheel, causing my body to jerk to the side. I grabbed a hold of the handle by the door to steady myself as Marcus continued to swerve the car to the right. After a few seconds, he completed the turn and we were back straight.
"Marcus, what the fuck?!" Sitara exclaimed while she also held onto a handle bar.
"Sorry guys. They made a turn last second. I don't know why the hell they did that."
The car grew quiet for a few seconds.
"Unless they're trying to lose us," Josh said.
My blood ran cold. "Do you think they know?"
"They probably do because of the mess you guys made," Sitara argued.
"Let's just turn back," Horatio suggested.
I fidgeted. "Fuck. Should we abort mission?"
"Everybody calm down," Marcus said. "We don't know that yet. For all we know, Clara could have almost missed a turn so let's relax. We're not backing out yet."
I took a breath. He did have a point. I patted him on the shoulder. "You're right. What we do without you, Marky Mark? Always being the peacekeeper."
"Alright, Funky Bunch." He snorted while shooing me away.
I laughed at him before turning my attention back to the road again. We continued following them until we noticed them heading towards a parking lot right behind the Fort Point Site. Knowing their hours, they had to have been closed so why were they going there? Maybe they were trying to sneak in for the thrill of it. Oh I was loving this plan more and more.
We made sure we kept a safe distance away from them before hey pulled into a spot. We waited for them to get out of the car before we decided to pull in. Once we saw that Clara and Aiden were out of our view, Marcus pulled into a spot as well. I was quick to unbuckle my seatbelt and open the door. I spotted them heading around the building. I didn't care if the others would catch up to me as I started tiptoeing towards their direction.
They looked to be pacing as they walked and within a second, they vanished behind the building. What the hell were those two up to? I could hear the others catch up to me.
"Damn. Slow down man," Marcus said.
"Oh shut up. Aren't you the track star in the group?"
"No, I'm the track star. He just thinks he is." Sitara pointed towards herself.
"Who got their ass beat in a race? Me or you?" Marcus asked.
"Oh fuck off, Marcus. That was one time."
"Nah you're losing your game."
"Oh we'll see about that in the next race."
"Guys," I interrupted them when I got closer to the building. "Did you guys see where they went?"
We all looked around, but they were nowhere to be found. There's no way they would have gotten into the building that fast. A bright white light flashed into my eyes and I squinted while shielding my face with my hand. I froze when I realized that it was a flashlight held by a security guard.
You've got to be shitting me.
"Stop where you are," he commanded.
I managed to study him beneath the light. He didn't have a gun out and looked to be some rookie guard. He glanced behind me and I knew right then and there that we had all been busted.
"We weren't doing anything, officer! We were just...looking around. You know seeing the sights." I laughed nervously while scratching the back of my neck.
He frowned at me with droopy eyes. Jeez the guy looked tired out of his mind. How long did they have him working here?
"It's true." Marcus chimed in. "We got lost."
"Yeah. Yeah we got lost." I nodded.
"I don't know these idiots, officer. They dragged me here." I heard Horatio say further behind me.
The guard sighed. "You guys aren't one of those druggies are you?"
"Nope. We're all clean," I answered.
He stared me down for a moment and he still wasn't letting up.
"So you guys just so happened to be sight seeing and then you stumbled here by accident?"
"Yeah. That's right."
Sweat was forming on my forehead and I glanced around for any way out of this. No way could we risk getting arrested. The more I tried to think of a way out, I realized the only way would be to make a run for it. He was only one guard and there was no way he'd be able to catch all of us.
I prepared myself to move as I gave the guard one last look. "Okay bye!"
I turned my heel and started sprinting towards our car.
"Go, go, go!" I shouted at everyone as I ran past them.
I could hear their shoes hit the pavement as they followed my lead. Horatio was the last man behind and I turned to see him waving at the officer.
"I'm so sorry about this!" Horatio told him before he caught up with us.
We continued racing towards the car with Marcus and Sitara running past me in their own little race. I was already out of breath when we made it to the car. I yanked the door open and jumped inside the car. Multiple doors slammed as the others got inside as well.
"Fuck!" Marcus exclaimed while starting up the engine. "Why'd you have to run off like that?!"
He pressed the foot on the pedal and we practically flew out of the parking spot and back onto the main road.
"Would you rather we get arrested instead?" I glanced behind us to check and see if the guy was after us, but surprisingly he wasn't. "You should be thanking me. I saved your asses."
Marcus didn't look back as he continued to floor it. "Did they get caught too?"
It took me a moment to realize he was talking about our two lovebirds. "Hell if I know."
I thought back to how they vanished so quickly. It was almost like they knew that guard would be there.
Wait...
Son of a bitch.
Aiden's P.O.V.
"Did you see the way they ran?" Clara whispered while doing her best to keep her laughter quiet.
"I did." I laughed with her.
We were both hidden behind the wall of the building as we continued to watch Clara's friends speed off. The guard didn't even try to go after them. He only stood there with his flashlight still out as he released a sigh.
"Dumb kids." He shook his head before walking away.
We waited until he was further away from us until the coast was clear.
"Psst. This way." Clara grabbed my hand and motioned for me to follow her.
I was already enjoying the warmth of her touch as I wrapped my fingers around her hand and followed her lead She started to lead me towards a small beach beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. There weren't any other people around so we had the whole area to ourselves. Clara took a few more glances behind us to make sure the guard wasn't around before she guided me in front of the bridge to sit down.
We both sat down in some grass that was a few inches from the sand leading to the calm beach waves. I got myself comfortable as I leaned up against the bridge and took in the sunset with hues of pink decorating the clouds. The atmosphere was calm and quiet with only the passing cars above us and the water splashing against the sand reaching our ears.
"Now we can finally have time to ourselves without our nosy friends snooping around," Clara said while leaning her head back against the bridge.
I chuckled to myself and turned to her. "I can't believe they actually did that."
She smirked. "When you're as bored as them, you have to take drastic measures. I'm pretty sure in one of my classes with them, we had homework to do. Luckily I did mine before I got here, but they probably didn't. Karma will hit them when they go back to school tomorrow."
"Unless they somehow did it while they were spying on us."
"Now you're giving them too much credit." She laughed softly.
Thank god I didn't have any homework tonight. Honestly, I would have forgotten to do it just like Clara's friends did, but I wouldn't tell her that.
Clara took a deep breath as she looked off into the beach, appearing lost in thought. I tapped my hands onto my lap with my previous worries about this date resurfacing. I wasn't sure what Clara wanted to dive into, but knowing about all of the questions she was asking me earlier, she was eager to know about my past. I expected this to come up so there was no avoiding it.
She inhales as she stared down at her lap. She looked like she was hesitating to say something as she bit her lip and tapped her boot.
"Everything alright?" I asked her.
She didn't answer as she kept her gaze away from me. I could feel my body tense up. Did I say something wrong to her? What if what I said at the restaurant scared her? I waited for her to say something as I watched her with concern. Her head finally turned in my direction, but her eyes don't quite reach mine.
"Aiden, the reason that I set this up was...well...I wanted to...I mean..." She sighs before her blue eyes finally meet mine. "I'll just cut right to it. You remember that Cody kid that you were telling me about who was picking on your little sister?"
A pit formed in my stomach. "Yeah. Why?"
She was still reluctant to speak. "I live near that kid and...I saw the whole confrontation you had with him. I heard everything too."
My heart sunk. That means she had to have seen me threaten him too. Sure she had seen me threaten Defalt before, but she probably felt different now because Cody was way younger than me.
"Oh. I didn't know." It was the only thing I could say and I felt put on the spot.
She paused for a moment and her eyes burned into me before she spoke again. "I...I think it's time to tell you about my old relationship with my ex." She sighed shakily and she turned away from me again.
Her ex? I remembered she told me something about a bad past relationship, but I never knew it bothered her this much.
"I know it's not the best way to end this date by bringing up an ex, but I think it's important that I do so please bear with me."
I gave her a reassuring smile. "Hey. There's no judgement here. I don't mind."
"Okay good." She managed to quirk up a small grin before she rubbed her hands together. "Where do I begin?"
Her smile faltered and she shifted her gaze back to the beach. She looked like she was trying to find the right words to say.
"It all started last summer. When I first met him, he was a sweet and shy guy even though he tried to pretend he wasn't. We would hang out a alot and eventually we started dating from there. I thought I had found the perfect guy until..." Her words drifted off. "I saw another side to him."
As I listened to her, it made me more curious to figure out who this guy was and what he could have done to get her on edge.
She continued. "He started being controlling as to who I was hanging out with, especially if it was a guy. His jealousy got so bad that even I got cautious about who I chose to talk to. Eventually, I had enough of it and I called it quits. Ever since then, I've been pretty dodgy about dating again, but...that changed when I met you."
My heart skipped a beat. So she had been thinking about it.
"Listen, I'm not trying to say you're like him. Well at least I hope you're not, but...I notice that..." She shifted awkwardly. "You anger pretty often."
My heart sunk, knowing that what I did to that kid must have scared her. I wanted to smack myself for not staying in check.
"Don't get me wrong. I kind of dig it sometimes." She tossed a strand of hair out of her face. "But I need to know how deep it goes. That's why I wanted to have us get to know each other better."
I nodded and took a deep breath. If she really wanted to know everything, she was definitely in for a ride. Telling her about all of the fights I got into could jeopardize our relationship, but if I wanted a fair shot with Clara, I'd have to be honest with her.
"So is it alright if I asked you some questions or am I pushing too far?" She asked.
I thought about it for a second before I replied, "No, it's fine. Go ahead."
My heart pounded as I anxiously waited for whatever questions she had for me. I thought back to what Nicky adviced me to do earlier.
If you think it'll scare her off, don't tell her about the gangs.
But maybe it would be worse if I didn't tell her.
"So the fights you got into." Clara started. "I know you said there were some over dumb things, but you never got to answer me about the more serious ones. How did those usually start?"
I inhaled deeply as I prepared myself to tell her. Hell I was trying to figure out where to start with all of it.
"The neighborhood I grew up in back in Chicago was pretty rough. We didn't have much money at the time so we had to work with what we had. Hell I'm surprised my mom could afford to have us move here." I realized I was beating around the bush and I tried to get straight to the point. "Since our neighborhood was full of people looking for trouble, I decided that I'd be the one to step up for my family. I didn't want my mom or my sister to get hurt."
I glanced over at Clara who had leaned forward, appearing to listen intently. I couldn't get a read on her blank expression so I couldn't well what she could have been thinking.
"I ended up doing dangerous things just so we could keep a roof over our head which landed me in fights."
Clara was silent for a few seconds before she asked, "What were those things?"
I chose my next words carefully. "I ended up stealing. Sometimes I'd get away without getting physical, but other times I would end up fighting others who were trying to do the same thing I was doing."
Clara had her elbow on her lap and her palm resting against her cheek as she listened. I knew I was sugarcoating things and I was only telling her half truths, but I didn't want to tell her too much too quickly.
"How bad would the fights get?"
"To the point where either one of us would end up with broken ribs."
Another half truth. I tried to block out the guilt of the other brutal fights, especially with that one guy who didn't deserve it. I don't know if I could ever tell her about that. As I looked at her, I searched for any fear, but her expression was still blank and it drove me crazy. What was she thinking?
"And looking back on it, I shouldn't have done any of it. I became a completely different person back then." My stomach formed into a knot. "If I could take some things back I would."
I grew silent after that, not wanting to overtalk. Clara studied me for a few seconds and her face softened.
"I guess you were doing what you felt was right for your family. Beggers can't be choosers." She spoke finally. "It sort of reminds me of what my maman used to tell me about my papa. He was also a thief, but she never told me he got into fights. He did it so we could have a roof over our head as well since we were poor."
I could see her lips quirk up a little and I was relieved to know that I hadn't scared her.
"And you're not getting into anymore fights, right?"
I shook my head. "No. Not unless I have to defend myself or people I care about."
She continued to stare at me, her eyes looking me up and down. I felt put on the spot like she could see right through me. I wasn't sure if that was the case, but she didn't seem to look bothered by what I told her.
"Okay." A small grin reaches her face. "Then that's all that matters. Thank you for being honest with me, Aiden."
I gave her a fake smile in return, feeling guilty for keeping things from her, but would it really hurt her if I didn't tell her the whole truth?
She exhaled before she slid her hand on top of mine. My pulse quickened from the contact.
"I hope it's okay that I still want to think things through. You know about us."
"Yeah. Yeah that's fine," I said, my body still going into overdrive from the warmth of her hand.
"I appreciate it." She gave my hand a gentle squeeze before she pulled away. Her eyes wandered the sky. "Well it looks like it's getting dark. We should head back."
She stood up and I was quick to follow suit.
"Lead the way," I said.
We began to make our way back to her car while making sure to be on the look out for that security guard. As I followed her, my eyes were drawn to her dress. I admired the way it hugged her curves. Everything from her hair down to her legs was perfect. How could someone be so beautiful?
It made me feel even more selfish for hiding things from her.
We managed to avoid the guard as we made it back to her car. And just like that we were on the way back to my house. Throughout the car ride, Clara couldn't stop snickering about our date peepers.
"They couldn't have been worse spies. I mean if you're going to peep on a date, at least be sneaky about it."
"You gotta give them a 'C' for effort. They were willing to sneak into a restricted building for us."
She shook her head. "I'm going to give them hell tomorrow."
"I'm sure you will." I smirked at her.
We were getting closer to my house and I realized I wasn't ready to leave Clara's company yet. Hell I haven't even arrived at my house yet and I was already missing her.
"I had fun today," she said with a warm smile.
"I did too. Thank you for the...interesting movie and lunch."
"Don't mention it. Maybe we can plan this again sometime. That's if our friends aren't snooping in on us of course."
"True."
Before I knew it, Clara pulled into my driveway. I looked over at my house and saw a few lights on from the windows. I rolled my eyes knowing that mom and Nicky would probably bombard me with questions. Clara was quick to get out of the car and she rushed over to my door before I could open it. She opened it and gestured me to step out.
"After you," she said with a bow.
I chuckled at her and stepped out with a fake curtsy. "Thank you."
She giggled before she walked me to the front door. Once I got to the door, I turned to her.
"Thank you again for today and take all the time you need to think things through. I'll be here regardless."
She smiled warmly at me before she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. I melted into her as I pulled her closer to me. I breathed into her shoulder and savoured the moment. A whiff of her perfume reached my nostrils which made me drawn to her even more. I was enjoying her warmth too much to let go, but we had to break apart at some point. She was the first to pull away as her blue eyes reached mine. It was fully dark outside at this point, leaving her bright eyes radiant under the moonlight. I resisted the urge to pull her in and kiss her right then and there.
She cleared her throat. "Well I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah," I breathed out. "Yeah, I'll see you."
She kept her gaze on me for a while before she turned her heel and made her way back to her car. I watched her as she went and I wanted to make sure she got in safe. Once she got inside her car, she gave me a small wave before backing out. I returned the wave as she started to drive off. I watched her car go and the smile on my face had vanished. I sighed as my old thoughts came to haunt me.
What would she think of me if she knew what I did?
I decided I didn't want to think about it. I pushed my troubles away as I reached for the doorknob and braced for Nicky and mom's questions.