One Night

Ed's POV

She was amazing. Not only was she amazing, but she was beautiful too. And funny. And clever. And so...breathtaking. I couldn't bare the thought of her being with anyone but me. I guess you could say we were 'dating' but we weren't exactly 'boyfriend and girlfriend', but I oh-so-desperately wanted us to be. I wanted her to be my girl and for me to be her prince charming. How could I tell her I felt this way?

She had almost finished her shift at the restaurant and I finished my performance about ten minutes ago. I was waiting-rather impatiently- at the bar for her.

"You look confused about something." The bartender said whilst wiping the table top. This looked like something from a movie where the person at the bar offers a poor invalid some advice.

"Nah, I'm fine." I half-heartedly assured him.

"Oh nar ya ain't. I seen that look many a times. What's troubling ya boy?"

"How do you tell a girl that you like her?" I sighed feeling depressed. "And that you want them to be your girlfriend?"

"Girl trouble is it, eh? Well, you just gotta tell 'er how ya feel lad. Girls like it when you just be straight wiv 'em. Ya say 'I like ya lass, I wanna be wiv ya' and ya tell 'em how beautiful they are an crap." He explained.

"Uhm..." I was sort of confused.

"An ya gotta be nice about it lad. Flowers, chocolates, whatever floats her boat. Make 'er feel special. Then she's bound ta say yes!"

"Flowers and chocolate? Hmm, I dunno." I said. Would that just be weird if I did that? Like, 'here take these chocolates and flowers as bribes. Now you have to be my girlfriend.'

But wasn't that the norm? I mean, everyone likes flowers and chocolate...unless you're allergic.

"Trust me, it always works. It's a small romantic gesture, but it works." He advised.

"Well-"

"Oh hey, Ed." Louise came out of nowhere. "You didn't have to wait for me."

"I wanted to." I stood up.

The bartender subtly nodded his head towards Louise and shot me a facial expression as if to say 'is she the girl?' I nodded discretely which made him smile.

"You ready to go then?" I asked.

"Yep." She smiled.

"Alright, see ya dude." I waved to the bartender.

"You know him?" Louise asked once he was out of ear shot.

"Nah, we just got to talking. Seems quite cool." I told her as I pushed the restaurant door open allowing the cold wind to wave through me.

"Oh right." She smiled with a slightly confused face. She looked cute.

"Wanna do anything?" I asked, even though all I wanted to do was go home and have a quiet night in.

"Nah, I think I wanna have a quiet night in." She said and I started to smile.

"What? Why're you smiling?" She started to smile too which just made me smile even more. Damn she was cute.

"No reason." I said.

"What ever." She let it slide. "Actually, we do need some groceries in."

"Now? But it's 10PM." I sighed.

"Yeah, I know I'm shattered. But we don't have any milk, tea, bread, juice, cereal-"

"Alright, we'll go shopping." I cut in. "At least now I'm getting paid."

"Yeah. I swear I'm not getting paid enough! My legs are going to drop off any second. I just want to lie down." She yawned.

"I tell you what. You go home and I'll do the shopping. We can sort out the money stuff later." I offered.

"Really?! Are you sure?" She said.

"Positive. I'll be back soon yeah." I waved.

"Alright. Thanks." She smiled and we went our seperate ways.

Louise's POV

I collapsed onto the sofa in a heap. I was so tired, yet couldn't manage to sleep. It was like my body was keeping me awake for something.

I felt extremely hot and hurried into the kitchen for a glass of water. I was halfway through drinking when I noticed that Ed had a garden. How did I not notice that before? My eyes drifted towards the keys on the hook next to the door. Was it weird to go in the garden on your own at nearly half ten at night?

But damn was I hot. I snatched the keys off the hook and opened the door. His garden wasn't big, but it wasn't small. It was just a square patch of grass- nothing fancy.

I walked out and sat down on the dry grass. I lay back and looked up at the stars above my head. They were all twinkling, some brighter than others. For some unknown reason, I started to smile.

My eyes suddenly felt heavy and the next thing I knew I was awoken by the sound of Ed coming through the front door. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, feeling more awake than ever. I must have only been sleeping for half an hour, but it felt like much longer.

I was so weird. Falling asleep in the middle of the garden? Definitely not normal.

"Louise? You here?"

"Yeah, back here!" I yelled.

You would have thought it was pretty dark, but actually, the stars made it look quite light. Or was that just me being my weird self?

"What're you doing out here?" Ed laughed and walked out into the garden too.

"Thought I'd check it out coz I'm like that." I said.

"Gosh, it's freezing." He shivered.

"Is it?" I hadn't even noticed. I suddenly realised that I was stone cold.

I suddenly noticed that Ed had something behind his back. What was he hiding?

"What's behind you?" I asked.

"Umm...nothing. It's stupid." He shook his head as if he had just had a change of heart.

"What? Go on, show me." I smiled.

"It's so stupid and pathetic."

"Ed!" I laughed. "Just show me."

"Here." He shoved a bar of dairy milk chocolate and a single flower which looked as if it had been stolen from someone's garden.

"What's this?" I laughed.

"I'm a pathetic excuse for a man." He shook his head.

"What? I'm so confused." I couldn't help but smile.

"I...oh nothing." He shook his head. "I just thought you'd like a chocolate bar."

"You're such a bad liar." I laughed.

"I wanted to buy you a box of chocolates and a nice bouquet of flowers, okay? But I didn't have any money so you get a shitty bar of chocolates and a crappy flower." He admitted.

"What? Why?" I chuckled.

"The bartender told me to." He shook his head in disbelief.

"Why did the bartender tell you to buy me-"

"I like you, Louise. A lot. And, I really want you to be my girlfriend. I was supposed to be all nice and romantic about it but I guess not everything can be perfect. But when is anything ever perfect? So I'm just going to tell you straight. No flowers, no chocolates, no cliche romantic gesture. Just me, telling you, underneath the stars in our back garden that I'm mad about you. So, Louise, will you be my girlfriend?"

"I-" I began.

"I totally get that I'm not exactly Brad Pitt or anything and I'm too broke to do anything romantic but-"

"Ed!" I interrupted laughing. "You're so nervous. Of course I'll be your girlfriend you idiot."

"Wait, what? Really?" He looked truly amazed.

"Yes!" I smiled. "What made you think I would say no?"

"I..." He thought about it. "I have no idea." He laughed.

We both sat down on the grass cross legged opposite each other.

"I feel like I'm in a dream." He moved his hand to my face and tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

"You want me to pinch you?" I smirked.

"I'd rather you didn't." He smiled.

Then it just happened. He leaned in and I felt the delicate touch of his soft lips moulding on to mine. I pulled back for a brief second and put my finger to his lips.

"Let's go upstairs." I smiled.

"Okay." He agreed and held my hand then lead me to his bedroom...