The second we walk into the ice cream shop, our noses are met by the sweet smell of every flavour of ice cream. I feel a sudden sense of relaxation at this, and decide that maybe tonight won't be going so bad after all. We walk up to the counter, Leah leading me on where to go.
"What ice cream do you want" she says in almost a whisper.
After pausing for a second, I decide to go with my most obvious favourite "raspberry please".
Leah laughs and then orders the same thing for herself. We go and sit at a dark table in to corner, waiting for our order to arrive. We sit in silence for a minute before Leah speaks.
"So I guess you've told me about you, and now it's my turn", she says grinning, clearly eager for me to learn more.
"yeah alright" I say
"Okay so I'm Leah, you already know that. I'm 26 and I'm from Milton Keynes. I also enjoy a good book, but I don't really have time for that. I work in sports, so I'm quite busy all of the time. I'm very close with my family, especially my brother and cousins. They don't like that far away so I'm very lucky that I get to see them. Oh and my mum has a dog called Rosie, which is basically mine". She says it all whilst smiling.
I listen enfatuated by her, the way she smiles as she speaks, how her eyes sparkle. She's so perfect I think. Everything about her is so beautiful. She seems so genuinely happy to be here, I love how she-
"Earth to Charlotte" Leah says smirking. I look up, clearly a bit flustered that she interrupted my thoughts. "I asked you a question".
"Sorry I was somewhere else, what was your question". I go red, clearly very embarrassed about what happened. Leah reaches across, and takes my hands into hers. I feel a wave of electricity shoot through me at one hundred miles an hour.
"It's alright, no need to be worried. I asked about your family"
Gulp. That's not a good conversation to be having, especially not on something like a first date.
"Yeah they're an interesting bunch" I say sheepishly, Leah nods encouraging me to continue speaking. "I don't really speak to them much anymore, we never really got along. They're a bit uh different and I didn't fit there ideas". The way Leah looks at me, I can tell she knows that this isn't the whole truth. " he hurt me in a lot of ways, so I left".
A tear slips down my face as I realise what I've done. I don't think I've ever been this open with someone I only just met. There's no way Leah will care for me anymore now.
She reaches her had gently across the table and wipes the tear from my eye. The way she looks at me is unlike no one else before. "It's okay, I'm here, I'll be your home".
"I have two raspberry ice creams" our moment is interrupted by the arrival of our desserts. She reaches away and takes the food, clearly a bit startled by her own actions. We spend thr rest of the evening eating and talking about anything but carefully avoiding the subject of families or what happened before. I learn so much about her personality, and she seems to genuinely care about anything which I have to say.
About two hours later I finally look down at my phone. 10:30pm. I have work tomorrow and a late night because of that trip.
"Hey Leah, I think I might need to go soon. I've got work tomorrow".
"Yeah alright, I've got a really big throng tomorrow, I need to be well rested as well, okay let's go"
We get up off our chairs and head for the doors. As we walk, Leah intertwines her fingers in mine. I might have only known her for a few days, but the effect she has already had on me is undeniably amazing. Am I falling for her?
YOU ARE READING
then it was you
Romance"𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭" Everything was the same, day in day out I went to school, looked after my children and went home again. Then one day it changed, and I'll never forget it.
