Draco turned around as the doors closed, smirking at the curious girl in front of him.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Obviously," Averie giggled. "You really do know how to make a scene, don't you?"
"Parkinson," he rolled his eyes, sneering. "She has no boundaries. You know I'd never..."
"I know, Draco. You know I trust you," she stepped into him and looped her arms around his neck. "And Pansy has no idea about us," she couldn't help but laugh again.
"She couldn't be more wrong about certain things," he grabbed her waist.
The elevator doors opened again, ending their little private joy ride. A small and awkward man stood in the doorway, previously waiting for the elevator. His eyes widened a fraction as he realized who had been occupying the cabin.
"Oh—good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy," he bowed his head out of respect and cowered.
"Gregory," the blonde nodded his head back, before looking back at his girl and taking her hand out of the elevator.
"So where are we going now?"
Averie crossed her arms as Draco guided her out of the buildings doors and into the busy streets of daytime London, with a warm hand splayed on her back.
"Or did you just take me there to get away from Pansy?" she asked when he didn't reply.
"Of course I did. I can't stand her. But now that we're out—would you like to go somewhere?" Draco stopped walking and turned to her by a nearby crosswalk.
"Right now? It's the middle of the work day," Averie pointed out as if he had no idea.
Without a doubt she wanted to leave with him, but where would they even go? Would it be alright if she was behind schedule because of this?
"Is that a no?"
"Well...I have to finish my collection still—"
"You have time for that," Draco interrupted. "You're already miles ahead of everyone else. Maybe this way you'll be on track like the rest of us."
Averie grinned at his revelation. It was very true.
"Well then I'd love to go."
She vaguely realized how light her hands felt without anything in them. She had forgotten her phone, her bag, her keys, everything important. But that was no matter, she had the most important thing right next to her, holding her hand sweetly and out of character as ever. She could collect those later, she would much rather just be with Draco. Besides, they probably weren't going to be long.
And so Averie lets him guide her again—reminiscing their first date—into the streets of London that Draco was very familiarized with. They hadn't gone too far before Draco was opening a door to a small villa that looked less luxurious than what Averie knew Draco was used to. But then the waiter was leading them through a door at the back, to where the actual restaurant seemed to be.
The backyard was a garden, green and beautiful with trees and plants enclosing an intimate, wooden seating area. She'd never seen a dine-in like this—right in the center of a garden.
It was very casual, just like the aura they were in right now. Averie and Draco weren't dressed up in fancy attire, trying to impress one another. No, it was natural, casual. She didn't have to try to impress him anymore because she knew had him fully around her finger. Not to mention how whipped she was in return.
They had seated at a vacant table right under a large and healthy tree. There weren't many people here at this time, though Averie quite liked it like that. Alone with Draco. She wasn't too fond of sharing their intimacy in front of many people.
The leaves above them breezed with the soft gust of afternoon wind, the sounds faint as a soft song. It wasn't a very cold day, making it the perfect setting. The sun shone down on them peeking behind the fluffy clouds to encourage the light. There were flowers planted around the garden in an array of colors. It was sort of like a picnic, Averie thought. An inside, outside restaurant styled picnic. She would never have guessed that the small villa would have this in just the backyard.
Draco was scanning the menu as Averie was still admiring the scene.
"This is really beautiful, Draco. How did you find this place?" she asked.
"I came across it last week actually. It's new."
"So you haven't taken any other girls here then," she said in what she hoped was a very light and teasing voice.
Draco looked up with a glimmer in his eye that told her he knew she was jealous of absolutely nothing. Just the thought of him being with someone else made her feel physically sick. He was hers.
"Only the best," he smirked.
Averie looked over the menu for some time but decided on a simple salad. She wasn't very hungry now, after all she had just taken her lunch break not even an hour ago. She then wondered what Pansy was thinking—Draco had stood up for her and led her into the elevator. They hadn't been back in about half an hour already. This would definitely raise suspicion. Averie didn't care though, Draco would protect her from Pansy's childish and harmful games.
She looked up from the spot on the menu that her eyes were focused on to see Draco watching her intently.
"What?" she blushed.
"Nothing. Just...admiring you."
"Are you being soft?" she grinned, knowing how he didn't like to be shown as such. At least she didn't think so.
"Is it soft to admire your beauty?" he asked, noticing how red faced she got at the most casual comment.
"Maybe."
He leaned back in his chair. "I know that you knew this wasn't true in the first place," he started, capturing her attention as she wasn't sure what he was referring to. "...but just for the record—Parkinson was mad because she knew you were the best...fuck I've ever had," he said with air quotes around the emphasized.
"But you also know it's more than just that," he added quietly.
"I know. I'm starting to think that she's jealous of me getting with you instead of her," she halfheartedly laughed as she sipped on her water.
"Well everyone knows you're a catch. In fact, I'm pretty sure Olsen is into you as well."
"You think so?"
"You don't?"
"Well I guess I've only ever focused on one person in the office," Averie hinted, staring at his plumped lips. "No one else really matters."
But then the waiter came back to take their orders and Averie had to look back at the menu because she had already forgotten what she wanted. The waiter came back again a few seconds later not with their food, but with a bottle of wine.
"Really, Draco? It's still only the early afternoon," she laughed as he poured her glass very generously.
"Are you complaining about wine?" Draco asked curiously, as he poured his own—filling it up more than hers.
"Of course not," she lifted the glass and took a big chug of it. As she swallowed, the liquid got caught in her throat making her cough. "Oh my god, Draco, look!"
Her eyes had been fixed on a woman in the restaurant just a few tables away, wearing a small top, showing off the bra straps. They looked exactly like one of Averies pieces she designed during her first few months here. The straps were visibly lavender, with shimmers around the edge. Very classy for this place, Averie approved.
Draco turned his head to the side where Averie was motioning to, and then looked back at her with his eyebrows raised.
"What?"
"That girl! She's wearing my bra!"
He looked once more, smirking back at Averie. "She stole your bra?"
She rolled her eyes. "No—ugh—you are so annoying. I mean she's wearing the bra from the lingerie set I designed for that first little competition you had me and Zara in. Remember? When you said she won because I wouldn't fucking try it on?"
"Oh yeah," his eyes gleamed reminiscently.
"Why did you do that?"
Draco shrugged and looked down in his wine up, swirling the liquid around in thought.
"Well—I knew you wouldn't dare try it on in front of me. And I wanted you to lose, to leave. Mind you, if you did try it on I would have had no objections. Either way was fine for me. But I did want you gone at that time."
"Why?"
He shrugged again. "If you stayed...I knew that this would happen," he gestured between the both of them.
"Knew what would happen?" Averie asked with her head innocently tilted to the side.
She knew exactly what he was talking about, but times like this were rare when he opened up to her so calmly.
"This, us...I knew there would be no way for me to stop how you make me feel unless you were gone," he sighed. "That's why I invited Haart to the Milan afterparty. I hoped she would have used her cleverness to win you over in a good deal. Luckily—and unluckily for me—it worked...But then you came back."
"I came back," she repeated, still trying to make sense out of what he had just spilled. He invited Haart specifically to get her hired.
Draco's eyes were sealed on Averies, his right hand still swirling his cup around on top of the table. He looked so raw and boyish. He truly wasn't as hard inside as his surface looked.
"Why?" he nearly whispered.
Averie took his free hand in her own, playing with his large and calloused—but all too comforting—fingers as she just stared back at him.
"Because of you, stupid."
He blinked.
"Averie..."
The slightest things he did made her breath catch, made her go into a frenzy in all the right places. Just hearing her name fall off of his wine colored lips had her in a trance. He rarely said it for some reason...it was so hypnotizing.
"Yeah?"
Draco leaned over the small table between them to move a flyaway piece of hair out of her eyes. "I have no idea what I'm doing, what we're doing. Or what you think we're doing. I don't know any of that but I just know I want to be with you. All the time I just think of you and I want to be with you. You know I care about you, right?"
She nodded, unable to speak.
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
Averie could have cried genuine happy, bittersweet tears. She had no idea what they were doing either, she had never felt this way about anyone. What they had...it was magnetic. It was nice to know he felt it too. They were in it blind together, both unsure of anything but their feelings towards one another.
She only had one response as a few unexpected tears made their way down her cheeks.
"Of course, Draco."
A/N
1.8k words in the span of like 2 months...anyways
better than nothing right?? even if it's a rushed chap
sorry for delayed updates and for future slow updates but i'm trying to get this book done so i don't feel incomplete
i just need to get outta my writing shlump
adore u still
-hay🐧