I Will Be There Once More (Eddie Vedder fanfiction)

18. So Kiss Me

We left the Moore and headed home, where Stone and the other gave me and Eddie the money for the pizzas; luckily, the place was just three blocks away and though it was very cold, the snow storm of previous days had ceased since the day before.

Since the theatre, I noticed that Eddie was quieter than usual but I didn't suspect anything because he was naturally shy; when we arrived to the pizzeria, we ordered what the others wrote on a note and gave us, and after paying, we took a seat in one of the tables. This place was beautiful because it was traditional and it had one of the best pizzas of all Seattle; the owner, Mrs. Apollonia was a nice and polite Italian 60-year-old woman that came from Sicily and emigrate to the US when she was 15, with her parents and brothers. She settled in Seattle and opened the restaurant, that also had any kind of pasta like gnocchi, lasagne, ravioli, cannelloni and more. The food was excellent and I loved the usage of aromatic herbs in the food since it gave it another sense and flavour to whatever food you were eating.

"I... I don't know how to say this without sounding like a pretentious guy trying to impress you" Eddie said, breaking the silence and making me a little bit confuse.

"What...?"

"You're amazing... I saw you tonight on the stage and... it was like I was reset or something" He added, trying to hide his admiration while I just laughed shyly.

"Thank you, Eddie"

"You're great Lily, never doubt it... you're amazingly talented" He added with a smile.

"T-thanks... you're very talented too, you know it" I said and he smiled as he was blushing.

"So... you're going to Chicago to celebrate the holidays?" I asked him as I remembered he told me her mother lived there after the divorce.

"Yes, I talked to my mother yesterday and she said they're waiting for me"

"That sounds nice"

"What about you? Why New York?" He asked me as he was aware of my trip to NY next day.

"That's where Cece lives and where we celebrate Christmas since I can remember"

"She's the mother of your dad?"

"That's right... my maternal mother committed suicide when I was 14 years old" I told him and I saw how his bright blue yes were widen in surprise.

"Wait, what?"

"Yep... she was depressed and actually was in NY so she threw herself from the balcony in the large building she was staying"

"I- I'm sorry" He said, a little bit ashamed.

"It's alright" I said with a weak smile.

We would continue with our chat, but the waiter told us our pizzas were ready, so we stood up, and took the pizzas; but before leaving the place, Mrs. Apollonia stopped us.

"You can't leave" She said and we looked at her confused.

"We already paid, Mrs." Eddie said politely.

"No, you can't go without a kiss" Mrs. Apollonia said and I can swear our expressions were puzzled.

"I don't-" I tried to say.

"I think I'm not following you ma'am" Eddie said a little bit blushed.

"You're under the mistletoe... bad luck if you don't kiss and I don't want bad luck in my restaurant" Mrs. Apollonia said, with her strong italian accent and pointing at the little mistletoe hanging in the frame door, just where Eddie and I were standing under.