(1) Talk Me Down: An All Time Low Fanfiction Romance

Chapter 41: Party

         Only a few minutes after getting in Rian's car, a new thought leapt into my head, making my heart speed up nervously.

        "Rian," I said softly, and slowly. "What if somebody sees us? We can't go out to eat here, somebody will notice," my words picked up speed as I thought of running into somebody we knew tonight.

        Rian pressed my hand gently, stopping my rambling. "Nobody's going to notice us," he assured me. "Trust me." He smiled at me quickly, and I nodded, swallowing hard. That was all it took for me to stop worrying.

        I should have known that Rian would be smart enough to take us somewhere we wouldn't have to worry about kids from school. We would probably go somewhere out of town, where nobody we knew would bother to drive out to.

        I turned out the window, my eyebrows folding slightly when I realized we were on Rian's street. "What are we doing?" I asked, as he slowed down near his house. The light on the porch was on, but other than that, the house looked empty. There were no cars in the driveway except for the one we were in.

        "Having dinner," he grinned, turning the keys and pulling them out. He unbuckled his seatbelt and looked at me, waiting for a reaponse?

        "At your house," I questioned, and then grimaced at the way that sounded. "Sorry, I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I didn't mean it that way. You just made it sound like we were going somewhere."

        Rian laughed softly, pushing the door open. Before I had the chance to get my seatbelt completely off, Rian was at my door, opening it and extending his hand for me to take. My cheeks went warm, flustered by his courtesy.

        "I guess I did, but it was more of a surprise then, wasn't it?" he whispered, his lips by my ear as he pulled me up. I leaned into him, smiling as his arm moved around my body to push the door shut.

        "Now you can stop worrying about somebody seeing us. It's just us," he said softly, holding my hand to pull me forward. It was just us. My thoughts instantly flashed to my conversation with Zack at the shop. He'd said Rian might have slept with one of his past girlfriends, but he'd also said he'd only had a few serious relationships. Thinking about it a second time, I went back to my original thoughts. Rian wasn't going to try to get me to do anything. He wasn't a player, like Alex.

        I must have hesitated for a moment because I was slightly behind Rian and he stopped to look at me, the smallest hint of confusion on his face. "You alright?" he asked.

        "Yeah, I'm fine," I smiled, standing next to him again. I leaned into him slightly as we walked up into his house. Inside, it smelt like an Italian restaurant, and I almost expected to see Rian's mom standing in the kitchen, cooking. The house really was empty.

        "I wish I could take credit for this," Rian said softly, directing me to the table. "But it was entirely my mom."

        The table was set up for two, one at each end of the table. In the middle was a bowl of spaghetti, sauce and meatballs, bread and a pitcher of water.

        "I'm sure going out would've been better, but since we can't," Rian started, and I turned to him, hugging him tightly, "this was as close as I could get," he finished slowly.

        "This is perfect," I laughed. "I'm going to seriously thank your mom," I kissed him quickly an then stood back. "And you, of course. This is really, really nice Rian. Thank you."

        He kissed me again, and then pulled away, chuckling at the noise my stomach made.

        "So you are hungry, then?" he teased, and released my hand to pull out the chair for me. I sat down positioning myself as he sat down across from me.

        "You first," he said, motioning towards the food. I smiled warmly, taking pasta before letting him take the bowl, our hands brushing as I leaned across the table. It sent chills up my arms and I grinned, mimicking the large smile on Rian's face. I was so happy.

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        We spent over an hour at dinner, talking long after our plates were empty. We'd moved from the dining room to the kitchen so Rian could wash off our dishes and put them into the sink. I was sitting on the kitchen counter.

        Rian put the last dish into the dishwasher during a puse in our conversation and then glanced at the time.

        "Oh, we have to go," he muttered, dropping a damp towel by the sink.

        "Go where?" I asked, sliding off of the chair I was sitting on. Rian turned off the kitchen light, leaving a small lamp on in the living room before stopping at the door, me right behidn him.

        "You'll see," he grinned, and led me back out to his car. I didn't question him as he pulled out of his driveway, but soon enough I found myself staring at the ice cream shop through his front window.

        I looked at Rian, prepared to say something, but he was to the car already. I pushed my door open as he pulled it, standing beside him in the cold night air.

        "Rian, what are we doing?" I asked. "The shop's closed, we can't get in," I tried to tell him, following him up to the door. "It's locked," I started to say, but stopped immediately when Rian pulled the door open.

        "Seriously, Rian, what are we doing?" I questioned. His hand leaned on my shoulders and he pushed me gently into the pitch black shop. "We're not supposed to be in here. We could get in serious.." I cut myself off with a scream as a loud bang sounded from somewhere in the shop. It sounded like a chair had fallen off one of the tables.

        I leaned back into Rian, my heart racing as he laughed deeply. Somewhere inside the shop, a few other laughs joined in and I heard Jack's unmistakable voice. He mumbled something about a 'stupid chair' with a few other choice words. I felt my own laugh pass through my lips as the lights flickered on.

        Jack was sprawled out on the floor, one chair on its side on the floor, another resting upright by his face. Zack and Alex were hunched over, laughing.

        "Happy birthday!" Jack grinned from the floor, staring up at me. I wiped at the corner of my eyes, where tears had gathered from laughing so hard and losing my breath.

        He pulled himself off the ground and walked towards me, gripping me tightly around the waist ands pinning me around wildly.

        "What is this?" I asked, still slightly breathless when Jack put me down. I felt Rian beside me, his hand bumping against mine.

        "A party, for your birthday," he said.

        "A small party for your late birthday," Jack added, and Alex rolled his eyes and punched his arm. "But still, it's a party for your birthday," he added.

        There was a cake sitting on one of the tables that had four chairs around it. I assumed one of the chairs had been kicked by Jack, which caused him to trip and knock another one off the table.

        Jack fixed the chairs he'd messed up and we sat at the table around the cake that Rian's mom had also made, as he told me.

        It was the smallest party I'd ever been to, but one of the funniest. My stomach hurt at the end of the night from laughing so hard, and when we were getting up to leave, I was exhausted and slightly disappointed.

        "I had a really, really amazing night," I said, sitting next to Rian in his car at the end of my street. He grinned, looking as happy as I felt.

        "Well, I'm really, really glad."