Page 124 of Finding Him
“Thought we’d go to Mulligan’s, you know ‘cause we go there all the time with the team but we’ve never been just us,” he says, nodding toward his car parked in the driveway. “Unless you’d rather go somewhere else.”
Maybe I’m crazy, but the car looks like it’s been cleaned. The windows are sparkling, and there’s no trace of the usual empty wrappers or discarded clothing visible on the dashboard. Though maybe he threw it all in the backseat.
“No, that sounds great,” I say, a wave of relief washing over me. “I like the food there.”
I was glad to be going somewhere familiar, a neutral ground where I know the layout of the table and what I would want to order. It lessens the chances of some unknown disaster befalling me.
We walk to his car in silence, though not an awkward one. He opens the passenger door for me, a small gesture that still makes me blush—it’s such a simple thing, but it makes me feel weirdly giddy, like I’m in a movie.
“So,” he starts once we’re both buckled in and he’s pulling out of the driveway, his eyes staying fixed on the road. “How was your day?”
I do a quick glance into the backseat.Nope, no sign of trash. He totally cleaned.
“Fine.” I say, then immediately correct myself.Honesty. We tell each other things now.“I spent most of it freaking out about tonight.”
“Yeah?” He chuckles, the sound making my stomach feel warm. His fingers are tapping against the steering wheel in a nervous rhythm. “Me too.”
“Really?” I ask, turning to look at him. He’s so confident, so sure of himself, it’s hard to imagine Niall being nervous about anything.
“Course.” He glances at me quickly before focusing back on the road. “Didn’t wanna fuck this up.”
“You couldn’t,” I say, and I mean it.
“I could,” he says, and for a moment I see a flicker of the same vulnerability he gets sometimes when he lets his walls down for me.He’s being honest, too.
“Well, you haven’t yet.”
“Good.”
The rest of the drive is filled with easy conversation—school, soccer, JJ and Claire’s weird tension that seems to be getting worse, Chloe and Finn’s even weirder non-tension that’s getting more and more obvious by the day, Joey's been acting strange lately. By the time we finally get to Mulligan's, the knot in my stomach has loosened significantly, replaced by a warm fluttery feeling of excitement.
This is gonna be good. Great. The best. I can feel it.
49
Safe in the Water
Niall
December, 2007
IWAS ABLEto tell that Molly had been a little nervous, her hands fidgeting in her lap and her eyes a little wider than usual when we came through the door, but the more we talked the more she seemed like she was enjoying herself.
The pub is warm and noisy, and I’m glad for the background noise of clinking glasses, shouted conversations, and the footie match on the telly in the corner.
We’re tucked away in a little booth in the back, a small island of privacy in the sea of people, and the smell of fry-up food and stale beer (that we’re too young to have, we’re both drinking minerals) hangs around us.
Though I don’t miss the scent of flowers coming from her.
“I’ve never been on a dinner date before,” I admit, taking a sip of my drink. The words are out before I can stop them, making my cheeks turn hot as I wonder if that was the right thing to say.
She laughs, the bright sound lifting me up. “I thought you said you used to have a girlfriend?”
“Two, but one was only when I was thirteen, and that barely counts. We held hands once, it was sweaty and awkward,” I say, cringing at the memory. “And my last one wasn’t very...”
Ugh, rule number one. Don’t talk about exes on first dates. It’s a cardinal sin, right up there with checking your phone under the table or ordering for her without asking.
“We didn’t like the same things anyway, but we never went to dinner. It was more... just... hanging out.”
