Outside

16

The breezy autumnal wind swiftly blows my hair in all directions, making it hard for me to see in front of me. But I guess it didn't matter because Van was guiding me, his arm snaked around my shoulders, my hand intertwined with his own as it hangs loosely from my shoulder.

It's already going dark at this point, we arrived at around six, after four long hours of driving, and we'd only just got out of the car about ten minutes ago. So there wasn't many options of places we could've gone to get warmth, other than the little shops on the street we were walking along, but even those look like they were about to shut.

"It's cold innit? Let's get food" Van suggests, and whilst trying to warm me up by pulling me a little closer into his side, he begins leading me towards a little café on the side of the street facing the seafront.

It's warm inside, my nose tingles and I can see it turning red from the temperature change, so much for the foundation I tried to apply right? Van orders me to find a table for us to sit at, so I choose one beside the window, a table for two with a vase of flowers in the middle. The lad returns after ordering food, he sits opposite me with a smile upon his face, the usual.

"It's nice here" I grin, trying to make little conversation whilst we wait for our food, "in Llandudno" I clarify when he gives me a confused expression.

Van smiles as he looks up from his lap, where he'd been looking for the past five minutes, "I thought you'd like it" he says, still wearing the smile, "gets borin' after a while though"

"Why are we here then?" I laugh nervously wondering what his thoughts process was when he thought of bringing me here.

"Because I thought you'd enjoy it" he simply puts it, widening his grin when I chuckle at his answer, even wider when the waitress comes over with a plate of chips and what looks like two glasses of milkshake.

"I am enjoying it" I reply with a smile and afterwards thank the waitress, who's quite clearly eyeing up the lad in front of me.

"Cheers lass" Van says, pushing the drink closer to me and ushering for me to have it. The waitress lingers for a few seconds until she finally walks away, leaving me to wonder why she even stayed for those few seconds.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it, be fair awkward if you weren't" he says, amused when I playfully throw a chip at him and it lands on his lap, laughing as he tilts his head back a little to emphasise his amusement before shoving the same chip into his mouth.

-

Still staring at me almost ten minutes later, Van begins to laugh, "what?" I ask suspiciously, wondering why he randomly began giggling at nothing.

"Let's go" he says almost without any sort of expression, slapping a ten pound note on the table, "this place is shite" Van laughs a pleasant sounding laugh, and pulls me from my seat.

Leading me out of the little cafe we'd been sat in, he turns in the direction of the pier and I can't help but wonder what he's even planned for today. Part of me thinks he hasn't actually thought it out properly and that he's just going along with it as the time passes, but the other part wonders whether he's just saving the fun for later. Not that I'm not having fun already, of course being in his company is always fun.

Hand in hand, Van and I make our way towards the little building on the end of the pier, it's lit up all different colours and there's kids screaming inside, I can't help but feel a little scared when I wonder what he's brought me into.

"Calm it love, it's only an arcade" Van laughs, assuring me that my worry wasn't necessary at all.

"Sorry" I apologise nudging him a little just so that I can hear that laugh again. And I do, he tilts his head back once again and let's out his ever so childish laughter.

As we walk into the little building, I notice a little photo booth at the entrance, and I look up at Van who's already clocked onto it- he doesn't look too happy about my excited expression but he ushers me into it nonetheless, giggling away as we sit ourselves on the little red stools and face the camera.

The first few photos were just us being stupid, pulling weird faces and acting like children. But the last is when the childishness stopped, when the playful tongue-out, cross eyed, laughing stopped, when my heart almost burst out of my chest as Van pulled me close to his own chest and placed a sweet little kiss on my lips as the light flashed at our closed eyes. If I'm honest, it shocked me a lot, I didn't expect it at all. And I don't really think Van expected himself to do that either.

When he pulled away, the cheeky grin on his face told me everything I needed to know, he's clearly happy and somewhat amused with the stunt he just pulled, and I can't deny that I am too.

"I despise you" I laugh at his antics, nudging him a little before he places a soft peck on my forehead and runs out of the booth to collect the pictures before I can even do or say anything else.

I walk out to find him smiling down at the little photo strips, he paid for two in case I wanted one- which I most certainly did. "Larry's gonna hate me for this, photo strips were always his thing" he laughs, putting his strip carefully into the back of his phone case and placing it into his back pocket with a smile on his face, chuckling to himself when he realises I was staring at him the whole time, staring because instead of shoving it into his pocket carelessly he neatly placed it somewhere safe where he knew he wouldn't lose it, where it wouldn't bend or crease. And I know it wasn't a huge gesture, but it was still really sweet to me.

"Well Larry can piss off, they're my thing now" I joke, letting Van pull me further into the laughter filled arcade like an excited child on Christmas.