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I was in the middle of eating my lunch and talking about the purpose of this project Michael proposed.
The man could eat! It was in fact beautiful watching him fill his 'fat-man's gut' and wondering how he didn't get fat. When he ate with a knife and fork he looked like some posh prince, but then he ate a burger and looked like a model when eating with his bare hands.
His partner must have a hard time cooking for him- assuming he'd have one. He was a pampered man- like he smelt too good and looked too good. I mean he talks too good as well, with his soothing voice...- so yeah, his partner must have one heck of a job to maintain this hunk of a man.
A housewife.. I wonder if they'd consider their job easy? People either strive towards that lifestyle, or it's forcefully given to them. I can imagine many feeling possibly incapable of normal things, but with a good relationship I wonder if it was an easy job? I don't believe in things being easy or hard, because if you develop the mindset that something's hard it prevents you from achieving the work quickly. If you look at something to be easy you can build an arrogance towards others that might find that obstacle challenging. But I do believe in challenges. EVERYONE needs a challenge..
"Earth to Holland." Waved Quinton.
"Oh hiya, just lost in thought." I excused with a cheek filled smile.
"So I can see. Did you go to mars or Jupiter?" He tittered, making a very cheesy joke.
I smiled, trying to prevent it. I liked how smiley he was it was somewhat reassuring, especially as he has such a cold stone straight face when he wanted to. Quinton Michaels is a person whose looks could kill.. literally.
"Uranus." I stuck my tongue out childishly, like people did back in school. His eyes were glued to me, kindly smiling at me. You could see he wanted to burst out laughing but he just shook his head.
I didn't usually joke around with people. Paris and CJ say that I lack a sense of humour. I couldn't care less, but I felt oddly bubbly around Blondy-Locks.
"Silly.. hmm?" He raised his thick/nicely shaped brow.
"Is it? Mars and Jupiter is too close to home. I'm an adventurer, on the look for a sky that rains diamonds." I continued to sip on my cocktails.
"Is that so?" He hummed.
There was a small fuzzy feeling in my stomach, I think it was 'butterflies'. Oh dear.. today I've been feeling weird as hell! This isn't like me at all, and so not professional, but I 'sort of' didn't mind it. Imma swear and say it's something in the atmosphere.
"Look outside." He told me, smirking.
Fuck. In. Hell...
We were so high in the sky that the buildings beneath us looked like ants.
"Oh my g-" I felt faint just looking outside.
"Just breathe." He smiled with a calmness to his voice.
Eeeks! Nah I didn't like it. What the actual hell!? We should be 20-30 feet max off the ground! But NO... WERE HUNDREDS, maybe even a THOUSAND feet up! I felt nauseous.. I've never been this high up ever! I felt dizzy, I felt like I was going to puke or pass out.
"Holland?" Quinton sounded a little worried. I looked at him, struggling to breath since my breathing was stuck in my throat.
"Copy me. Now!" He straightened his posture, took a very deep breath in through his nose and SLOWLY released the air through his mouth- in a controlled 'o' motion.
I straightened my posture to the best of my ability and gripped the table with my shaky hands. I tried to copy him, but I felt my breath become even more stuck.
Quinton quickly got up from his seat and crouched down beside me. Since he was on my right, he put his left hand on my back, pressing my spine to be as straight as possible.
"You're doing good." He said quietly.
With the other hand he spun the chair around, so I was now facing him.
"Now keep your hand here." He grabbed my hand and put it onto his chest.
"Now copy my breathing. Don't focus on anything else apart from me." He locked eyes with me, inhaling deeply, encouraging me to do the same.
I intensely stared into his vibrant orbs whilst they took me in without a second thought.
The way he looks at me eased any agenda I had.
As he breathed in his chest raised, causing me to mimic his action. He held his hand over mine which was already pressed to his chest. He rubbed the the pad of his thumb on the back of my hand, making me feel a trail of tickling sparks. He slowly breathed out in a controlled manner as did I. He's saving my life...
"Excuse me sir, is everything okay?" Someone came by and asked, presumably a waiter.
"Ignore." He soothingly said to me in an authoritative manner, still breathing with me. It was helping.
"Excuse me, Sir? Is everything okay?" Repeated the nosy person. I didn't even notice Quinton's hand on my thigh until his grip tightened around me. I guess he was annoyed with the stranger's presence.
His touch alone caused a spark in inappropriate regions.
"Good. Good Holland." He grabbed held of both of my hands and searched my eyes. This was too much eye contact for me, but I had no choice but to focus on him to help myself. I felt as though he could feel every ounce of emotion from within me. My eyes welled up with tears, but I was not going to let them fall.
He squeezed my hand a little when he saw that I was fit to speak, then let go.
He got up and returned to his seat
"You're a fast learner." He nodded to himself.
The waiter who was standing there huffed before walking away.
"Th-thank you." I coughed, feeling more or less fine again.
"I apologise, Holland. Please forgive me for not telling you of this venue beforehand. It's abstract behaviour is a famous feature here. It slightly rotates and ascends without those inside the dome feeling it, it's supposed to be this place's unique characteristic. It's illusion comes from a visual glass lens which makes us look further from the ground than we actually are. We're only a few stories high, but I wanted to see your reaction. Forgive me for not considering the possibilities of you being scared of heights." He ran his fingers through his hair, despite his hair being tied up in a near bun. He looked at me with apologetic eyes.
"Shall we leave?" He asked.
"Uh..." I didn't know. I didn't want to be a chicken. I was just extremely shocked and this was a new experience for me. Maybe I'll suggest to go outside in a bit.
"No pressure, I want to take you elsewhere anyways." He got up and made an approach to help me get out my seat, like the gentleman he was.
"It's alright, I've got it." I put my hand out to stop him. I was capable of handling myself. I may be small framed, but I am not a petite little lady that likes all of this curtesy shit. If someone from my ends were to see his gestures towards me I would've been a dead man. Ugh I don't even want to think of it.
I got up, grabbed all my belongings and made sure not to look outside. I walked close behind Quinton, feeling a little light headed. We walked to this hidden door behind the bar near the kitchen. There was a lift which was already opened for us.
"Holland, my deepest apologies. It wasn't my intention to panic you." He spoke with sincerity. He put his hand out which confused me for a second. Did he want me to grab hold of it?
"Honestly it's fine. I've never been so high up before that's all." I turned to look away from him as I daringly grabbed hold of his hand. What the hell was I doing?
"You'd think I didn't mind heights since I live in a flat.." I dryly chuckled, feeling my pulse echo throughout my body.
"You did a superb job, Holland. I could feel how panicked you were. You listen to instructions well." His soothing voice was like a sweet syrup. Just how I could eat unhealthy spoonfuls of syrup was how I could listen to him speak all day.
As soon as the doors opened to reveal open greenery I swiftly took back my hand that was holding his. I felt him looking at me, but I didn't dare to meet his challenging eyes. Instead I immediately stepped foot into the fresh air. The soft breeze felt so good that I began walking into the direction of the park, leaving Quinny behind.
I heard running footsteps catch up with my strides. His close presence attacked my senses, making me feel unusual.
"Have you been to a theme park before?" Quinton asked before guiding me to cross the road.
"Nope." I looked down to his hands that always felt the need to accompany me. I looked up at him with warning eyes, but he didn't seem to get the memo.
"You want ice cream?" He said cheerfully, pointing to the ice cream truck that was parked on the grass near a bench.
"No thank you." I politely declined.
Is all this effort normal for a business meeting about a specific project?
"Well I'm getting some, let me know if you change your mind." He said with a boyish smile, leaving my side to get himself some ice cream.
Ice cream in winter?
.
Several seconds later and I'm looking at the options available. There were some interesting combinations I can't lie. The ones that caught my eye were the: Banoffi crumble, pistachio and salted caramel, mocha with jelly bits, and the rocky road vanilla ice cream.
When Michaels ordered his ice cream, it tempted me to also get one. The ice cream woman had a very thick Italian accent, making it hard for me to understand her. I found it impressive how easily Quinton was able to understand and speak to her. They were having small talk about something I didn't care to zone into.
"Here-ah you go." The icecream lady handed Michaels a double chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on a fancy swirled waffle cone.
"And-ah you? You want-ah gelato?" The woman waved her hands, catching my attention.
Ugh... I don't know! These options were new and intriguing me, but... I don't know!
"Yes he does, ahaha." Chuckled Michaels, as if he knew from when I said no.
"Fine." I broke out smiling. "Can I have four scoops?" I asked.
"Certo!" She laughed out loud. I don't know what that means, but it sounds similar to 'sure'.
I told her the flavours I wanted and she got busy with it. I pulled out my card, ready to pay, but Michaels reached out with his hand lowering my hand, shaking his head.
"But why? You've done everything." I sighed. I wanted to show that I was capable, it's weird, very weird having someone pay for me and I wasn't used to it.
"I'm the one taking you out. Simple. Don't argue with me on this." He said seriously.
Damn! So annoying. Does he think I'm cheap? Can't afford it?! I sighed again.
"I knew once you saw me eat ice cream you'd want some, but four scoops?! You caught me by surprise, can your stomach manage?" He joked.
"Of course!" I shook my head at him.
Does he see me as a child? As fragile?
"Ecolo. That would-ah be £10." The woman gave me the ice cream.
I dug in to distract myself from seeing Quinton pay for the item.
"Mmm." I moaned. This shit was good! This first scoop was the mocha with mixed jellies.
We walked until we sat by a bench near a pond. There were people feeding the ducks, geese and swans. The weather was sunny, not hot, because we're in winter, but definitely not cold. You'd think this was an autumn season on a good day, but the weather is bookey nowadays.
I was on my second scoop now, which was the rocky road. I swayed with satisfaction. I must've heard Quinton snigger which caused me to look at him with questioning eyes.
"Do you always dance and moan when eating icecream." He asked genuinely as if I was odd.
"I mean if it's good, yeah. It's normal for people to do so. If you think I'm bad then I wonder what you'd think of my sister. She fully on dances when she eats good food." I smiled.
"You have a sister?"
"Yup. How about you? Any siblings?" I licked my icecream.
He was observing my every movement. It took him a second to answer. Did he want more icecream? If he did then too bad, because I'm not sharing.
"Uh.. I also have a sister." His eyes were glued to my lips and the icecream.
"You good?" I smirked in a questioning tone.
"Yes." His eyes flicked their attention to mine.
"Do I have ice cream around my mouth?" I asked, wiping my mouth anyways.
Quinton licked his bottom lip and I don't know why but I did the same. Then he shook his head no.
"No you don't have ice cream on your face." He smirked at me.
"Such a tease." I rolled my eyes at him and nudged him playfully.
"I will stop teasing you so I can speak to you about the project." He stated.
I nodded, but then his phone rang. He looked at it, his eyes widened, then he got up and said "I've got to take this, excuse me." Before answering it.
Okay...
I got out my phone to witness bare miss calls from Paris and.. THE SCHOOL?! Shit!!