We left the Moore and headed home, where Stone and the other gave me and Eddie the money for the pizzas; luckily, the place was just three blocks away and though it was very cold, the snow storm of previous days had ceased since the day before.
Since the theatre, I noticed that Eddie was quieter than usual but I didn't suspect anything because he was naturally shy; when we arrived to the pizzeria, we ordered what the others wrote on a note and gave us, and after paying, we took a seat in one of the tables. This place was beautiful because it was traditional and it had one of the best pizzas of all Seattle; the owner, Mrs. Apollonia was a nice and polite Italian 60-year-old woman that came from Sicily and emigrate to the US when she was 15, with her parents and brothers. She settled in Seattle and opened the restaurant, that also had any kind of pasta like gnocchi, lasagne, ravioli, cannelloni and more. The food was excellent and I loved the usage of aromatic herbs in the food since it gave it another sense and flavour to whatever food you were eating.
"I... I don't know how to say this without sounding like a pretentious guy trying to impress you" Eddie said, breaking the silence and making me a little bit confuse.
"What...?"
"You're amazing... I saw you tonight on the stage and... it was like I was reset or something" He added, trying to hide his admiration while I just laughed shyly.
"Thank you, Eddie"
"You're great Lily, never doubt it... you're amazingly talented" He added with a smile.
"T-thanks... you're very talented too, you know it" I said and he smiled as he was blushing.
"So... you're going to Chicago to celebrate the holidays?" I asked him as I remembered he told me her mother lived there after the divorce.
"Yes, I talked to my mother yesterday and she said they're waiting for me"
"That sounds nice"
"What about you? Why New York?" He asked me as he was aware of my trip to NY next day.
"That's where Cece lives and where we celebrate Christmas since I can remember"
"She's the mother of your dad?"
"That's right... my maternal mother committed suicide when I was 14 years old" I told him and I saw how his bright blue yes were widen in surprise.
"Wait, what?"
"Yep... she was depressed and actually was in NY so she threw herself from the balcony in the large building she was staying"
"I- I'm sorry" He said, a little bit ashamed.
"It's alright" I said with a weak smile.
We would continue with our chat, but the waiter told us our pizzas were ready, so we stood up, and took the pizzas; but before leaving the place, Mrs. Apollonia stopped us.
"You can't leave" She said and we looked at her confused.
"We already paid, Mrs." Eddie said politely.
"No, you can't go without a kiss" Mrs. Apollonia said and I can swear our expressions were puzzled.
"I don't-" I tried to say.
"I think I'm not following you ma'am" Eddie said a little bit blushed.
"You're under the mistletoe... bad luck if you don't kiss and I don't want bad luck in my restaurant" Mrs. Apollonia said, with her strong italian accent and pointing at the little mistletoe hanging in the frame door, just where Eddie and I were standing under.
"That's not how the mistletoe works but-" I stopped when I saw that this lady wasn't going to change her mind.
We looked at each other only to find that both of us were heavily blushed, but either way we remained in silence and we just nodded, to go close and share a quick peck.
"Done" I said, looking at Mrs. Apollonia.
"That wasn't a real kiss, give me that" She said to Eddie, taking the boxes from his hands.
"Now you can do it properly..." She said and looked at us.
"Lily, we don't have to do it if you don't-"
"No, it's fine... let's do it properly like Mrs. Apollonia says" I said with a sudden confident and flirtation that I don't know where it came from, but that was enough for Eddie, who smiled a little bit embarrassed but pleased, and went closer to me.
Luckily, the restaurant wasn't really crowded and Mrs. Apollonia was very discreet with this issue; I also noticed that she went to one of the tables to ask the clients if everything was ok to give us some privacy.
Eddie and I got closer each time, until our gazes went from our eyes to our lips and we finally kissed. The kiss was tender and warm, but also very sweet; he hugged me by the waist while I placed my arms around his neck, feeling the texture of his hair and the softness of his perfect skin.
We ended the kiss when we realized we were taking more time than the usual, and Mrs. Apollonia gave our boxes back, as Eddie carried the half and I carried the other half after insisting. The way back to the apartment we remained in silence and that was much of our behaviour with each other during the celebration dinner, though we were careful of not acting too much weird so the rest wouldn't noticed.
The celebration ended by 3 am, with all the people helping us to clean and then going to their respective places except for us, who were the hostess; the night was amazing and the reunion was memorable, I took several photos and I promised to develop the film in NY.
Mike ended up so wasted that Stone and I placed him in his bed in a way he couldn't choke himself; soon after Stone gave me a hug and said goodnight, to disappear in his bedroom. Eddie stayed in the kitchen washing some dishes and I went to my bedroom considering whether or not I should go and talk to him.
I spent almost 5 minutes trying to take a decision and finally I decided I was going downstairs, so I did. I found him still in the sink so I got closer carefully.
"I thought you were already sleeping" He said, with a shy smile.
"Well... I forgot something" I said, as he finished with the last plate, dried his hand and looked at me with those precious blue eyes.
"What is that what you forgot?" He asked, a little confused.
"It's almost 4:00 am, and it's already December 23rd. Somebdy told me today is your birthday so..." I said, smiling and taking a box rapped with metallic red paper from behind my back.
He smiled widely and embarrassed at the same time, but mostly happy.
"Oh Lily... you- you shouldn't" He said and took the box.
"Happy Birthday, Eddie" I said, smiling.
"Thank you so much, Lily" He answered me as we hugged.
We broke the embrace and he took a good look at the box.
"I know it's rude to open your presents as soon as somebody gives it to you but... I'm really curious. Can I open it now?" He asked me with dreamy eyes.
"Of course! Is all yours" I said excited.
We took a seat in the kitchen dining and I observed him carefully as the thrilled was filling him each time he was closer to open and discover the present; when he finally opened the box, his lighted up face was something that I would never forget, he smiled brightly as he looked at me with that kind of crazy face he sometimes did, but that was perfect.
"An ukulele! THIS IS WONDERFUL!" He almost shouted and I laughed.
"I heard how much you wanted an ukulele so I thought it would be a good present"
"Thank you so much Lily, honestly" He told me, giving me that strong gaze.
"You're welcome, just enjoy it"
"Now I have to learn how to play it"
"That's easy" I said, nonchalantly.
"You know how to play the ukulele?"
"Yes" I answered, without any pretentiousness.
"Can you teach me?" He asked serious but in a totally flirty way.
"Alright, we'll start when I return from the holidays"
"Perfect then" He smiled, but my eyes caught something else that made me smile.
"It's snowing!" I said happily as he turned around and saw the kitchen window.
"You wanna go out?" He asked me all of a sudden.
"Yes!" I answered as I smiled widely.
We put on our warm clothes and went to the backyard to presence the moment the nature was giving us. Then, he just stood there and looked at me with a serious expression as I did the same; the tension was building up quickly but nobody dared to say a thing until he spoke.
"Lily..."
"Yes...?"
"I want to tell you... I really enjoyed the kiss at the restaurant... I wanted to do it since a couple of days ago, and I want to continue doing it" He finally said, facing me with any trail of his usual shyness.
"Then do it and continue what you started" I said, firmly and smiling.
He smiled in a cute way that framed those gorgeous cheekbones and went closer to kiss me more confident than before, knowing that I was dying for that to happen again too. This time we hugged more tightly but we had to stopped because we were freezing outside.
We went to my bedroom, careful of not doing any noise, as he helped me to pack my things and then I helped him with his. Then, we just stayed there cuddling and chatting until we saw the sunrise. We agreed to take this slow and just flow with the feelings, but we made clear we were going to be exclusives, which meant we couldn't see other people.
We also agreed to keep this as a secret until we thought it wasn't possible to continue hiding it. I left a note for the guys as well as the Christmas present for my cinnamon roll Mike and crazy Stone; Eddie wanted to take me to the airport, but I told him it was ok since Adrien was the one who was going to take me there.
We said goodbye with a happy spirit and with the hope that this possible new love could bring.
✨ Author's note ✨
Thank you very much to all the people that reads this and votes for it... really, I'm very thankful and glad that you like this weird story 🥺. This is for you and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Thank you again and have a wonderful weekend, X ❤️❤️❤️❤️