Diving Deep (UK Crush #2)

Chapter 22

The restaurant was packed, and the noise level increased significantly as we were shown to our table. I steeled myself. Tonight we were going to get the full UK Crush treatment, like we never had in Japan, simply because the Japanese didn't behave like that in public. This was the UK, they were hometown boys, Geth was their own, and we were going to get it in the teeth. The restaurant was full of young people, there was a bar, and there was a nightclub attached on the other side of the bar which was doing a raucous business.

    I had Teddy to my left, then Gethin, with Matty across, and Ronan to my right. The drinks arrived right away, and the wine was crisp and delicious. We hadn't really eaten very much, and I was starving. We all ordered huge meals, and spent a long evening eating and drinking, laughing and enjoying each other's company.

    At one point, a few reporters and photographers somehow got in and started taking our pictures. Gethin and Matty got up and complained right away, and the restaurant staff were on them so fast it was amazing. Their apologies were profuse, especially to me, for some reason, even though it was obvious to everyone that I wasn't the one they were there to photograph. I accepted their apologies graciously, and thanked them.

    No one in the restaurant was actually brave enough to approach our table and ask the boys for anything, but I was acutely aware of being scrutinized, especially whenever I was touched by any of them. Of course, it was mainly Teddy, because of who we were to each other, and Ronan, because we were sitting next to each other, but at numerous points during the evening, both Gethin and Matty made a point of calling me over and pulling me onto their laps for photographs, and I could feel the stares of the other female patrons of the restaurant.

    The other time we were all aware of being watched was when we asked one of our servers to take a picture of all of us. Teddy wanted me on his lap, and the rest of the  boys gathered around us, all of them touching me in some way, a hand on my arm, on my shoulder, or in Ronan's case, on my calf, which was stretched out across his lap. Teddy kissed my cheek as it was taken. It was one of my favorite pictures of the five of us, right up there with the one taken of us at the water park in Japan. The entire restaurant was silent as the picture was taken, then the room broke out in spontaneous applause, and I realized that many people had taken the opportunity to snap a picture.

    For me, the low point of the night came when a bunch of girls stopped by our table, girls who presumably knew the boys very well. One of them, Leah Something, obviously had quite an extensive past with Teddy, and parked herself on his lap without an invitation, taking a selfie of the two of them as she tilted her head into him.

    "Theo, it's been ages!" She kissed his cheek, leaving a pink mark, which she made no attempt to wipe away. "I thought you were going to call me when you got back to London. Are you here for the UNICEF match? Will I see you there?"

    He turned to her. "Yes, I'll be there," he said briefly, cutting his eyes over to me to gauge my reaction to this interloper sitting on my guy's lap.

    The other girls remained standing around our table, talking to the rest of the boys about god only knew what. The boys, ever the gentlemen, were courteous, but I could tell by their body language that all they wanted was to be left alone. To me the girls said nothing, it was as if I weren't there. They stayed so long that restaurant staff stopped by to ask if they should bring more chairs.

    That low point was followed by the high point. Before any of the other boys could say anything, Teddy spoke up. "No," he said firmly, lifting Leah Whomever by her arms off of his lap. "They're not staying," he said to the server who was hovering. "It was really nice to see you all, thanks for stopping by to say hello," he said, looking at each girl. "It's just that we haven't been together, the five of us, in nearly two months, and we have a lot of catching up to do, so we'd like to get back to our meal..."