I pulled my jacket tighter around me as I shivered in the cold October air. My mum had wanted me to wait inside, but I knew that it was a ploy to meet Jared and considering I barely knew him, I wasn't about to let her scare him off with all of her invasive questions. I looked at the watch around my wrist and wished that I had waited a little longer before coming outside as it had only just turned a quarter to seven and he wasn't due for another fifteen minutes. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I saw that it was Taylor ringing. I hadn't told her that I was going on a date and I didn't really want her to know until after, mostly so that if it was terrible I wouldn't have to ever think about it ever again. The phone buzzed again and I knew that she was not going to stop until I answered, I would just have to make it quick.

"Hey Tay! You ok, this important, my tea's almost ready?" I said trying to tone down the excitement in my voice. I hated lying to Taylor but I'm sure she would understand if it went well and I told her later. She sighed and I could tell that she was at home bored, this only added to my feelings of guilt though.

"Urgh fine! So, did arcade boy text you? What did he say?"

"Yeah, he did, nothing interesting though." I said, which wasn't necessarily a lie since he had only text asking me for my address.

"Ooh yay!" My phone buzzed against my ear and Taylor heard, "Is that him?" I took the phone away from my ear and saw that it was just a notification from one of my apps but that I could use this to my advantage.

"Yeah, he's calling-" I began lying but Taylor squealed and interrupted me.

"Say no more! Ring me later and tell me everything!" and with a click, she was gone and the line was dead. I put my phone back in my pocket and checked my watch again. Still another ten minutes I thought, but then there were headlights shining brightly from the top of my road approaching slowly. I stepped back into the hedge so that the lights wouldn't be able to see me, and squinted in an attempt to see the driver with no luck. The hairs on the back of my neck began to tingle as the car stopped in front of my house and I felt my hand clasp around my house key in my pocket. The driver's door opened and I breathed a sigh of relief as Jared appeared from over the top of the car looking nervous, he checked his watch and then ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back and then letting it fall back into place. He ducked back into the car and pulled a small bouquet of flowers out, smelled them and smiled to himself before slamming the door.

He began walking toward my front door when I realised now was the time to let him know I was here.

"Jared! Hey!" I blurted out, stepping out from my hiding place quickly to stop him walking up to the house. He jumped and looked around confused, saw me and checked his watch again. "Sorry, I dropped some change out of my pocket while I was waiting for you and didn't see you pull up." He smiled brightly and changed direction and walked over to me.

"You know I'm good at picking up change, you should have waited for me to come and join you." He said with a wink and then continued, "I thought we said seven? Am I late?"

"No, I thought I'd spare you the third degree from my mum, so I came out early to wait for you." I giggled. His smile faded slightly as he ganced back at my house.

"They won't think I'm rude, will they? Not introducing myself?" I giggled again and shook my head.

"Not at all, they know they're embarrassing." I glanced at his car and then back at him, "So, you ready to go?" I smiled. He returned a grin, nodded and then turned to walk back to his car, but then abruptly stopped and turned to face me with a sheepish look.

"I nearly forgot, these are for you!" He said cheerily and held out the bouquet for me to see them properly. I took them and admired the arrangement made of purple and white flowers before leaning in and smelling their sweet scent.

"Thanks, they're so pretty," I said quietly, feeling my cheeks go warm as they flushed pink.

" They look kind of plain next to you..." He returned in a whisper, which only made my cheeks go hotter and suddenly I was thankful that the lighting in the street was dim and Jared probably wouldn't be able to see. He turned on his heel, walked to the car, opened the passenger door for me to get in and gestured with a grin. I felt my heart flutter, knowing that this was definitely something I was going to want to tell Taylor about later.

We drove along discussing music tastes, suggesting songs and just generally getting to know one another, I expected that Jared would have picked somewhere in the city centre to go for dinner so it surprised me when he took a corner that led us to a quieter street that had a lot of smaller family owned businesses. He parked up, came around to open my door and led me inside a small Italian restaurant. There weren't many people inside, and the lights were dimmed creating a romantic atmosphere that went with the rustic decor perfectly. Jared looked at me nervously with a small smile.

"We can go somewhere else if you don't fancy Italian food..." He said, as we waited by the front ready to be seated. I turned to him and grinned.

"This is perfect." I breathed still in awe. He returned my smile and gestured for a nearby waiter's attention. Once we had been seated by the big window at the front of the restaurant and ordered our food, we just sat and talked about everything there was to talk about and I loved every second of it. The candle that sat between us was flickering light on his face and I could really look and see the things that I hadn't the day before. Yesterday I had seen his eyes as hazel, today I could see that really they were green with a ring of brown that circled his pupils and I loved the way they seemed to shine when he smiled. His eyes are beautiful, I thought.

"What?" Jared was staring at me with an amused smile playing on his lips.

"Huh?" I said blushing, I had gotten lost in my thoughts of his eyes and realised I hadn't been paying attention.

"You were staring at me, and then muttered something about eyes..." He said with a chuckle as he reached for a sip of water. I felt myself get hot under the collar, mortified that I had actually said something outloud.

"I uhm..." I stuttered as he held my gaze expectantly, trying to think of something less embarrassing to say to explain myself, "I... well... I thought your eyes were hazel yesterday, and I've noticed that they aren't and that in fact they are green... and well... I think they're an amazing colour... but I wasn't meant to have said that outloud..." I admitted to him sheepishly, putting my pizza slice down on my plate and burying my face in my hands. I peaked at him through my fingers and he was just staring at me smiling as though he was trying not to laugh at how embarrassed I was, "Don't laugh, I feel stupid now." I mumbled, hiding my eyes again. He didn't say anything, but I could feel his eyes on me and knew that he was still smiling. After a minute I took my hands down and took another bite of pizza, his eyes not leaving me once.

"What are you still staring at, Padalecki?" I said, the familiar heat flooding to my cheeks for the millionth time tonight.

"You. I am amazed at how much I like spending time with you." He said quietly, making an unexpected smile take over my face.

When we had finished dinner we looked at the desert menu but ended up just asking for the bill. When it arrived at the table I reached for my purse that was in my shoulder bag.

"What do you think you're doing?" He said with a bewildered smile, as I put a twenty down on the silver plate with the receipt.

"Covering my half?" I replied, confused.

"I'd really like this to be on me..." he said reaching out and handing me back my twenty to replace it with his own money, "I think the guy should always pay on the first date." I hesitated and then smiled as I took the money from him. He gave the waiter the plate who thanked us for coming as we stood up and put our coats back on, and exited back into the cold night. I started walking in the direction of his car, but he grabbed my arm gently and pulled me back.

"Do you have to be home straight away or can you hang out for a bit?" He asked, a hopeful tone to his voice.

"Not at all, did you have something in mind." I grinned as he let go of my arm and offered it out for me to link my own through. We began walking slowly toward the park at the end of the street. I felt like it was a scene that he had taken from my own head, it was perfect. Here I was, with an amazing guy who made my heart feel like it was about to beat right out of my chest everytime he so much as chuckled. His laughter was so infectious and he was so funny. It was just perfect. We walked onto the small bridge that went over the lake and stopped to lean over and look at the water below as we talked. The lake looked beautiful, reflecting the stars and I felt as though I really was on top of the universe. After a few minutes he went to sit down and dangle his legs over the side.

"Will your feet not get wet?" I asked quickly before he did something he might regret, but he just smiled and put his feet down which fortunately stopped about half an inch above the water. He looked down and then back at me.

"Apparently not," he laughed, and patted the wooden slat next to him for me to sit as well. I hesitated wondering if the wood would be wet, "Come on Selena, I'm experiencing the world from your height and it's lonely down here." He winked and I found myself giggling and sitting down next to him, not bothered if my bum got wet.

"I am not this small." I protested playfully, pulling a fake pouty face. He turned to face me and laughed as he poked my bottom lip back in gently. I smiled at his touch and felt his finger gently stroke my bottom lip to my jaw. All laughter was slowly subsiding as the tension built, our eyes not breaking contact as he cupped his hand to my jaw and the back of my neck. I realised how close our heads were and that I could smell the after dinner mint on his breath. I shut my eyes and closed the distance between us, softly pressing my lips to his, swearing to myself that I could hear fireworks somewhere.

---

I lay in bed that night after Jared had dropped me off still thinking about that kiss. I had rang Taylor once I got home, and once she got over the initial pissyness that I hadn't told her, we had gone over every small detail of the night with a fine tooth comb and by the time the story had finished, she was fine.

"Wow." she said dreamily as I did my best to describe the kiss, not really knowing how since I had practically felt dazed afterwards at how magical it had been, "I thought my first date with Harry was cute, but that was on another level of sweetness S!" The mention of Harry's name had caught me off guard as I realised he hadn't even crossed my mind while I was with Jared. I shook my head to push the thought of Harry away to focus on the conversation.

"I know, he seems like such a great guy, I can't believe tonight happened because I bumped into him in an arcade..." I said feeling light-headed at how happy I was.

"Ooh, we can double date!" Taylor suddenly exclaimed excitedly.

"Definitely!" I said, trying to match her tone, although in the back of the mind, I wasn't sure how well that would go. After a few more minutes of talking we said our goodbyes and I turned out the light and got myself into bed, allowing myself to drift off to sleep slowly. I allowed my mind to wander over the evening in the hope that it would allow me to dream it all over again, and the last thing I remembered thinking about before I lost conciousness, was a pair of green eyes with a ring of hazel around the pupil.

Notes

Hope you enjoy this chapter, despite it's lack of Harry time <3

Please rate, comment and subscribe so that I know you guys are enjoying it <3 Thank you so much for taking the time to read.

Love you all, Lola xo