A Step Closer to Love

“What else do you want to do?” Kieran asked as they sat in the car.

“I get to decide again?” she asked.

“Of course, I want you to have the date you want”

“Ice cream,” she said with a cheerful voice

“Ice cream?”

“Yes, to the best ice cream place in the city,” she said tapping his shoulders gently. “But take the longest way there and drive very slowly”

“Why?”

“No reason”

“There is no way you have no reason for telling me all that”

“Well,” he said, biting the insides of her lips. “aits because I want to spend a bit more time with you in the car”

The car fell silent. Arabella could not deny it, there had been a lot of truthful and intimate moments today. She had thought that Kieran would be less affectionate and their relationship would move at a snail’s pace.

The contrary was the case as he was the one fast-tracking the entire thing. “So should we go for a drive?” he asked.

“I feel like I don’t have to say too much, it’s like you keep reading my mind” she said with a smile.

“You are not that hard to read, you are a simple girl” he said pressed his lips together and then felt the need to clarify.

“And not like in a bad way but a very good way,” he said. She felt touched by his words so she leaned into him.

“If anyone had told me that I would be ditching work and running around town I would have called the person a big manipulator and liar. If they had told me that my companion would be you I would have called them crazy but see me here right now latching onto your arm like my life depends on it”

She rambled because she felt the need to. “Same here,” Kieran said.

She felt good to hear that it was the same for them both. “I mean you were that weird little girl I knew” he said and she frowned.

“What do you mean weird little girl”

“You were always little, and even now I feel like I can fit you into my pocket and carry you everywhere with me and weird because you always rather bury your nose in a book than play around with kids your age,” he told her.

“Should I go into your pocket then?” she asked teasing him. She did not want to dwell on the fact that he had called her weird. Maybe if she was seeing herself from outside she would agree with him.

“You can” he said tapping the pocket on his shirt. “I want you right here, next to my heart”

“What’s that” she let out with a laugh. “That’s so cheesy” she added.

“I can’t believe I could say something like that” he said intertwining his fingers into hers. “It seems like you are doing something to me”

“Why are you trying to blame me?” she asked.

“Because it’s all your fault” he pouted. She laughed at his face as she rested her head on his shoulders.

“Then I guess you might as well say more cheesy things”

They finally got to the ice cream place and got their ice cream to go. The drive had taken them a while and it was already mid-afternoon by the time they got to the ice cream shop. They got into the car and continued with their drive.

“Are we going somewhere?” Arabella asked.

“It’s just a drive”

Arabella could not believe his words because it seemed like he had a direction since he kept glancing all around the place.

“But you keep checking the GPS and the surroundings”

“I just want to make sure we are not lost” his tone was final as if he did not want any more questions.

She kept to herself, they had been having a nice time and she knew it would be foolish of her to create a mountain out of a molehill. They had just started dating and she had already caused a fight twice. If she was being honest he had handled every situation with so much wisdom and grace that she had not felt violated or sad that he did so.

Maybe that was the perk of him being older. While she was worried about all the little things he was worried about the picture and trying his best to keep everything intact.

“We might be on the road for a while so you might want to rest up”

Didn’t he say they were going for a drive how did he know how long they would be on the road and why should she sleep?

“If it’s a drive I should enjoy the scenery” she blurted. She had to get to the bottom of it. She wanted to behave maturely like him but it did not seem to be working out for her.

“Yeah but you might be exhausted by the time we get to our destination”

“So where are we going” she asked blinking rapidly and acting like she had doe-like eyes.

“It’s a surprise you would see as soon as we get there, so you can take a nap now” he suggested again.

“But you would be bored all by yourself” She was worried about him even though a power nap at that time would make such a difference for her since she had expended so much energy earlier in the day.

“Then just take it for a few minutes and join me later” he suggested. She found it suspicious that he was trying to get her asleep.

“Are you trying to kidnap me?” she teased and he shook his head because he knew she was playing around with him.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“I’d I do kidnap you, you will be found within a short time” Kieran said. She gave him a question look and he nodded. “You have so many people looking out for you and no I am not kidnapping you,” he said.

“Is it a sophisticated restaurant?” she asked trying to get the location out of his mouth. He shook his head and the car fell silent. She dozed off after a while and was woken up when the car was resting in a parking spot.

“We are here”

“Where are we?” she asked rubbing away the sleep from her eyes. She sat up in her chair and looked around when she gasped and turned to him.

“The international bookstore?”