"Are you ready to go?" Annie changed the subject, and Luke was very thankful yet feared it was because she felt bad for him. She probably did, he definitely looked like an idiot.
Making their way to the car Luke opened the door for her, with Ashton's help of course, then got into the back for himself. Ashton took them to the Italian restaurant twenty minutes away, dropping them off outside and making sure Annie would be ok with helping him.
Luke just prayed he didn't need to go the toilet anytime soon.
Annie linked her arms with Luke's again, making his body tense up, but this time he didn't freeze. She opened the door for the both of them and saw the waitress already giving them funny looks.
"Table for two please." Annie smiled, leading Luke to the table the waitress gave them. It was next to the window, just the two of them opposite one another with a candle and rose on the side. Annie blew the candle out, just in case somehow Luke hurt himself. That's the last thing she wanted.
"Do you mind, um, reading some for me?" Luke muttered, so embarrassed he thought about actually not eating at all.
"Ok- um- so now was probably a bad time to tell you, but- Uh- I'm dyslexic... so um, I don't think I'm going to say these right... I think they're in Italian." Annie chuckled, swallowing hard and scratching the back of her neck.
"Well, we're just a bad combination, aren't we?" Luke chuckled, shedding light on the situation, and causing Annie to giggle. She liked that, that he could say or do anything, and she'd be weak at the knees and giggling like no tomorrow. Luke liked that too, the cute noises she made when she was happy, he liked them.
"I guess so." She smirked, licking her lips before reading out some of the food, mostly the different pizzas.
After Luke ordered some pepperoni pizza and Annie got some Spaghetti, Luke felt his throat tickle, his chest flutter and his cheeks heat up.
"So, do you have any siblings?" It was a boring question, he knew that, but he needed to get the basics out the way to get to the detail. And once he'd gotten to the detail, he'll get to the everything and he wants to know the everything.
"No, it's just me, I live alone with Natalie, Carla and James. Have you?" Annie shrugged, sipping her coke, and fiddling with the bracelets on her right hand. Luke felt his insides twist at the mention of a 'James'. Who was he?
Luke hated the name James, primarily because of James Toronto on the football team, he was the definition of a fuck boy. He would use, manipulate and, well, fuck any girl he could. Luke hated to admit that he was like that too, just not as extreme as James.
"Yeah, I have two older brothers, Ben then Jack. Who's James?" He couldn't help it, Luke had to ask. If he didn't it would be eating away at him that, for some godforsaken reason, James Toronto would be in her house.
"Oh-uh, my chef." Annie nibbled her bottom lip, praying Luke didn't think she was gloating. That's what everybody else thought when they asked, she just told them the truth, yet she would get shunned for being a snob. A rich bitch. Selfish.
"Woaw, that's cool," Luke smiled, he could tell Annie was somewhat cautious about telling him, but he didn't mind. It was one step closer to the Everything. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but where are your parents?"
"Oh, it's ok, don't worry. They work abroad a lot, and because they work a lot, they think they deserve lots of vacations. They're currently in Bora Bora, they've already been three times but it's their favourite place." Annie rolled her eyes, and Luke could actually hear the movement in her tone.
Luke didn't like the way she spoke about her parents, but he knew it wasn't her fault. She didn't choose her parents or this life, if anything she was forced to have it. Sometimes Luke felt the same, that his parents were forced to look after him, but they didn't actually want to, he fears Annie feels the same.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you ever go with them?" Luke hopes that she did, and he hoped she had the time of her life when she was away.
"Not on their 'business' trips but for my birthday we always go to Venice, I love it there." Annie blushed at the memories she had, the canals, the sun, the people, she loved it all. If she was closer to her parents, she would ask to go there more often.
"That sounds amazing, I probably sound stupid... but Venice is the city in Italy with the roads as canals, right?" This was one moment where Luke wished he could undo what he said, he was defiantly an idiot.
"Yeah, it is. And it was amazing, it's my favourite place."
The conversations continued like this, even after the food came. Annie cut Luke's pizza into slices, giggling as he sometimes missed his mouth. The other families and dates in the restaurant looked at them, glaring with raised eyebrows, but Annie didn't care, and Luke didn't know.
After the meal they decided on skipping pudding, but still sitting in the restaurant for another half an hour, talking and laughing away.
The clock struck 9:30pm and Annie made the decision that they should probably start walking home. She mentioned this to Luke, and he offered calling Ashton to pick them up, but Annie stated that she preferred to talk to him for longer.
This made Luke's heart skip a beat, literally, he had to stop and make sure that he still had a pulse and was still breathing. He was. thankfully. Annie linked her arm through Luke's, helping him down the stairs and along the concrete. She had to remember to point out all the details, like bumps and lumps.
"This is going to sound stupid-" Luke started, knowing that he probably shouldn't even finish the sentence as it will make him look even more dumb.
"Stop saying that, nothing's stupid. Whatever you have to say is important, don't worry." Annie chuckled, patting his arm as her body shivered against his.
"Alright, well, what do you look like?" He licked his lips, his right hand resting on hers which was wrapped around his left arm. He wanted to know, he'd spent too many nights imagining her. Her skin, her face, her eyes, everything.
"I have long brown hair, it goes down to the middle of my back. It's naturally wavy but at the moments it's straightened. I have tanned skin, I'm 5"7, I'm not the thinnest but I'm not overweight-" Annie stopped them both on the pavement, grabbing both Luke's hands and allowing them to touch every part she described.
His hands combed down her hair, grazing her spine. She moved his hands to her stomach, laying them flat as they moved to her waist. He felt the dip, the curve of her and he smiled, he thought she was curvy.
Annie moved his hands to cup her face, he could feel her smile with his thumbs. He chuckled as Annie allowed him to poke her dimples, both of them giggling like idiots in the middle of the street.
"Better?" She giggled, her fingers intertwining with his as they swung back and forth for a moment. Now she was laughing so much she snorted, causing Luke to choke on his own laughter.
Annie's body lent into Luke's, vibrating with happiness as his hand rested on her back. He felt normal, well, as normal as a guy wearing sunglasses at night could feel.
"Thank you." He whispered, both hands wrapping around her body and hugging her. She hugged him back, rubbing his back reassuringly. She understood that this meant something to him, that this was probably the first time somebody allowed him to feel.
"C'mon, let's get back."
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