The Only Exception:ETERNALLY

21. "date night"

Leone's pov
"1053pm"
After about a 30 minute drive , i parked my car by the side walk and sighed tiredly. I turned to the side and saw Sydney asleep, her head leaning against the closed window. After everything that happened today , I'd totally get how she fell asleep so fast . She looked so at peace , but deep down i knew everything was not okay. Not after what Hardin did to her.
She shifted a bit in her sleep , twitching her arms bit . That's when i realized I was holding her hand.
|Was i holding her hand the whole time?|
I could feel the heat rush up my cheeks at the thought. I reached out my free hand and tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ear. Her face was in full view. Even with tears staining her puffy cheeks , she was still so beautiful.
|Now i understand why he was selfish with her|
I clear my thought and wave my hand over her face. She was a deep sleeper.
I sighed then unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned closer to her.

3rd person's pov

"Syd wake up," a soft voice called out interrupting Sydney's sleep. She slowly opened her eyes and was a bit startled when she found Leone's face awfully close to hers, she could practically smell his minty breath. Leone noticed the shock in her eyes and immediately backed away.
"Sorry ,"he scratched the back of his neck nervously,"i just wanted to wake you up"
"It's fine" she reassured him as she sat properly in the passenger seat. She looked around and couldn't recognize exactly where she was.
"I appreciate you getting me out of that situation,"she she ruffled her hair,"but i hope you didn't kidnap me ."
Leone chuckled,"i didn't"
"Then where are we?"
"A restaurant"he answered blankly before opening the door and walking out.
It was then that Sydney felt the warmth enveloping her hand disappear.
|Was i holding his hand the whole time?|
Leone walked over to the passenger side and opened the door for Syd.
"Is this some sort of a date night or something?"she questioned and he gave a small laugh
"Maybe ,"he shrugged,"or maybe not . C'mon let's go" he reached out a hand which Sydney hesitantly accepted.
After closing the door behind her and locking the car , Leone; with Sydney's hand still in his , walked over to the restaurant.
As soon as Leone opened the door for her and she walked in , she was immediately enveloped with the warm atmosphere. The restaurant was quite large and moderately vintage . There were scented candles all around the place that mixed with aromas of the delicious smelling food. She quickly came to notice that there weren't any people in the restaurant so she assumed that it was already closed or about to close since it was pretty late.
"What is this place?"Sydney turned to Leone who was standing beside her .
"As i said before, a restaurant,"he answered bluntly but then leaned down a little closer to her ear,"my restaurant" he started to walk ahead and Sydney followed closely behind.
"You own a restaurant?"
"Correction . I own restaurants"
"Wow, how modest" she rolled her eyes
|Are they all this rich?|
She followed him as he walked past the table to the back, where all the food was prepared.He carelessly past every other employee that was cleaning up - about to leave probably.
"Elenore!" Sydney heard him call out , jogging towards an elderly woman and hugging her ,"how are you?" He smiled as he pulled away.
"Aww sweetheart,"the woman cheered , not taking notice of the girl behind him,"I'm fine dear. It's been a long time since I've seen you,"she pinched his cheeks
"I brought a guest mom"
|Mom?|
Leone stepped aside so the woman could see Sydney.
"Hie"he waved awkwardly at the woman who simply smiled spreading her arms to embrace the younger
"So she's the one who made you come here i see," she winked at Leone
"Elenore, this is Sydney "he introduced
,"Syd this is Elenore...my sort of mom"
"Nice to meet you "Sydney smiled
"The pleasure is all mine sweetheart" she pulled away and turned to Leone,"is she the one you're settling for"
Sydney's eyes widened at the statement and she quickly shook her head
"No" they both said in unison
"Mom she's my friend,"he cleared the confusion,"i brought her here because she's not in the best spirits . I know your food always makes anyone feel better so that's why I brought her here . Not for her to meet my parents" he laughed.
"Ohh... I understand"she nodded,"you can go find a place to sit out there and I'll cook something myself "
"Thank you,"Leone said and led Sydney out of the kitchen to one of the booths by the corner.
"This place is really nice"she complimented, relaxing into her seat. The place had a comfortable homey feel to it that she was admiring.
"Thank you,"Leone smiled taking a seat next to her,"this is my favorite place,"he smiled
"Umm...your mom is really nice "she said hesitantly
"She's not my real mom", he informed her ,"my mom um...my mom..."
"It's totally fine if you don't want to get into that type of stuff. I'm not pushing," he sighed in relief at those words
"Anyways"he started to change the conversation,"i just wanted you to feel better. I know how tense it got there, and i heard that food makes a girl's mood better so..."
"Thank you ,"Sydney said honestly,"and yh food makes it better , partially. It's the thought that counts right?"
"Right"Leone nodded then they fell silent ...
"Umm.. what Hardin said...,"Syd stuttered,"do you all just screw girls over? Sharing women and the likes "
Leone looked at her tensely for a second and once he gathered the right words , he spoke up.
"I know it doesn't exactly sound good in our favour,"he started off,"but let me ask you this , do you have a troubled past?" He looked at her with a soft gaze. He noticed how she immediately looked down , he knew she had demons she dealt with too , they were somewhat similar but totally different. He reached out a hand and intertwined their fingers , a small but comforting gesture
"If you're hesitant to talk then let me start" he offered and to his relief , she nodded
"Sydney ....you know Adam right?"
"Yeah , he's now my boss"
"He's the reason I'm here today,"he revealed,"without him ... I don't think I'd have what I have. Infact none of my friends would be where we are without Adam. He sort of brought us together. But he told has demons he failed to tame , that's not my place to talk about them though. We all do... I guess the reason we do what we do is because we can't control and get rid of them . We try to find some sort of relief and control over them but we failed. I guess we're sort of a messed up family . We only have each other , Syd. We have really dark past, really really bad hardships. Maybe we do what we do because it's a way to run away from our demons temporarily..but that doesn't make what we do any less terrible ."
Sydney listened attentively as he spoke . She began to figure out the puzzle. These guys do what they do because they can't find a way out and let their dark pasts consume them. They were each other's family so she could only assume that life took away their real family . She didn't speak and kept on paying attention.
"What happened with me really hurt ..like hell. I loved my mother , very very much," his voice cracked as he spoke of her but he continued nevertheless,"I actually started this whole restaurant business because of her. She used to make the best food,"he smiled to himself,"she would teach me some of the stuff. Although I can't cook for shit... I still remember each recipe and those are what they serve here. I guess it's the only thing of hers i can keep with her. She had such a big heart . Believe me. And she gave that heart to the shit show i call my dad. She loved him so fucking much but he couldn't reciprocate i guess. Syd, he left us for another family. I was 9 when it happened . Mom was completely heart broken . I remember coming back to school to finding her holding a gun to her head , crying for him," a tear made its way down his cheek but he immediately wiped it away,"i tried to stop her . I really did. She shot herself . She died right in front of me Sydney." He sniffled . Sydney gently patted his head , she didn't know what to say. The only person who showed him proper love had shot herself.
"Im-"
"Food is here,"Elenore cheered as she , with the help of another employee brought delicious smelling food,"here you go my darlings ,"she smiled,"if you anything else tell me okay"
Sydney nodded and after placing the plates on the table , they left
"I'm so sorry it happened.. and at a such a young age"she spoke sincerely
"It is what it is right?" He chuckled bitterly,"how could loving someone so much lead to death. I thought love was supposed to be forever . How could he not love her when she gave him her whole heart. And the worst part is , i think i might be like him. "
"Did you ever find you dad after that?"
"I don't even want to know if he's alive or not honestly,"he clenched his jaw
"...What about Elenore"
"She was my babysitter . She didn't have any kids of her own. So after mom died , i guess she kept on babysitting. She took me to school , gave me everything I wanted ,"he smiled to himself,"she was the my mother figure from then on, still is . If there's one thing I'm grateful for , it's her . After highschool, i went out to look for a job , i wanted to take care of her. That's when i met Adam. Back then his father was still the CEO , but he pulled some strings and got be enough funds to start a business of my own , and i chose this. And after meeting Adam , then came Dayn and Jordan , they're my best friends . And they introduced me to Hardin , Seth and Jake, he's Adam's brother ... they also had shit to deal with . I guess that's my family tree," he chuckled," The whole sharing women thing, it's just a thing to cope with the trauma." He finished off
Sydney could tell that it took him a great effort to open up and was grateful for that . She knew where he was coming from, she kind of understood why they did what they did.
"I guess it's my turn," she cleared her throat
"It's totally cool if you're not ready ,"he reassured her
"No no .. i want to," she shook her head,"when i was younger when my parents were still together, my father was very violent , he'd hit her , beat her up whilst i was there," she felt her heart ache,"but mom used to say that he wasn't always like that. And then one day he decided to leave. I cried and begged him to stay but he refused , he left us .. abandoned me. After that everything went down hill for her . She got so depressed and died of CHD" just talking about it made her feel the pain of her mother passing away again ,"i didn't bother looking for dad after that,i moved here when i was 17 and that led me here"she concluded
"I'm so sorry," he squeezed her hand comfortingly
"It is what it is right," she chuckled.
"You don't deserve to go through what Hardin and Luca made you go through," he stated,"you're too precious for that,"
"Thank you... I guess"she laughed trying not to show pain but Leone could see right through her facade. He knew how it felt for someone he loved to just... not be there anymore.
"Let's eat," Sydney spoke out and so they dug into the delicious savouries.
Throughout the meal , Leone could help but steal glances at Sydney .
Leone's pov
Even when she eats , she's still pretty. When i thought life was cruel to only me , the girl sitting across from me had gone through a similar situation. Only she didn't let her demons consume her like we did. She didn't let the trauma get to her. I admired that very much. She didn't deserve any pain, any heartbreak or heart ache, she deserved love . She deserved someone who would return the love she gave . I wasn't one to judge character but Luca wasn't the one for her , he just disappeared without thinking of how she'd feel. She didn't deserve hurting , ever. Hardin had demons way bigger than all of us combined , he let them consume to where he couldn't even recognize himself like what happened earlier. Even when he insulted Syd , i knew him better. I could see it in his eyes that his demon was in control again, that she was the one speaking and not Hardin. His eyes opposed his words. Hardin's demons had consumed him to a point of no return. Maybe he did care for her but she didn't deserve to suffer along with him, not only that she didn't have enough heart and mentality to take that on. She would only get hurt and destroy herself in the process.I know he didn't mean it when he said all that bullshit , but he couldn't control it either. He wasn't the one for her either.
|I would be good to you|
3rd person's pov
"This food is amazing " Syd licked her fingers in satisfaction. He could tell her mood was already better just by her smile as she finished the last of her food.
"You like it?"
"I loved it,"she nodded
"I hope you feel better,"Leone moved to sit nest to her instead.
"I feel much better. This really helped Leone thank you so much"
"I hope you know that you deserve so much more. You deserve better love,"Leone reached out his hand and patted hers gently then cleared his throat," i would be good to you Syd"he suddenly said.
"W-what?"Sydney stuttered
"I would treat you better Sydney ," he breathed out,"i -i know I'm messed up as well but i would love you better . Let me love you" he suddenly confessed
"I don't know what to say Leone ,"she admitted,"i just had this thing with one of your friends. "
"I don't care about that Syd . Let me fall in love with you. I've never been in love .. if i were to start then I'd want it to be with you"he cupped her cheeks and leaned his forehead against hers. She was so flustered with how close his face was to hers.
"I'm sorry Leone but i don't think I'll be able to reciprocate those feelings" she said honestly. She really couldn't , as much as Hardin had hurt her a few minutes ago , she still loved him .. and Luca coming back only made things even more complicated.
"I don't think you understand this properly. Let me fall In love with you. I don't care if you don't love me back . I just want to love ... Maybe then i can get rid of my burdens" he said
"What if i like someone else. I really admire you as a friend and i don't want to strain our friendship because of that -" he placed a finger over her lips
"Thats for me to worry about Syd," he stated,"and as far as I'm concerned.. i would never hate you ."
"Pinky promise?" As immature as it seemed , she didn't want to hurt his feelings and had to make sure their friendship crumble because of love .
"Pinky promise," he locked his pinky with hers and kissed her on her forehead. She was startled a bit by the sudden gesture but was beginning to realise that Leone was just naturally touchy, something she was to get used to.
"Then fine . Fall in love with my crazy ass Leone," she laughed
"Happily" he laughed too.
"By the way can i please get some more of those pies before we go home. I really liked them..like really".
"Sure ,"he chuckled as he got up from his seat and jogged into the kitchen only to reappear a few minutes later with a small paper bag , "for m'lady" he bowed a bit , handing her the to-go bag.
"Thank you"
"Elenore said you should come back soon," he spoke with a childlike smile
"Oh really?" He nodded," it would be my pleasure"
"Now let's get you home," he spoke more seriously,"you my dear friend have work tomorrow. I'll be picking you up at 9 am sharp so don't be late"
"Oh geez so now you're my chauffeur too" she wiggled an eyebrow as she got up from her seat.
"Ofcourse baby" he grinned .
With their hands locked together they walked out of the restaurant together.
|She really is too precious for this world|

[A\N - don't forget to leave a vote♥⭐]