French

7

Song for this chapter- Gold Rush, Ed Sheeran

Any guesses as to where we are on my part are completely and utterly wrong, and as Atticus said I would, I absolutely adore the surprise.

"A flower market?! Oh my goodness Atticus!" I squeal once I see where we are.

Taking me to a flower market is such a good idea, and so totally not stereotypical. I absolutely adore flowers and markets so obviously I adore the flower market. Flower markets are quite popular in the town I'm from in France so this reminds me of home.

As soon as Atticus has parked I jump out of the car, not waiting for Atticus to open my door even though he greatly protests against me opening my own door (what a gentleman), and I grab his hand, pulling him to the market.

We're in the countryside and a lot of the people at the market look like farmers and florists, it's adorable. Each stall sells a different kind of flower, many of them I've never seen before but all of them are gorgeous.

I drag Atticus after me as I take in all the flowers. An especially bright kind of yellow flower catches my attention and I take a second to admire them. Atticus notices my reaction to the flower and doesn't hesitate to buy me 5 of the prettiest ones.

He presents them to me with an adorable smile gracing his face.

"You didn't have to do that." I say softly, a shy smile on my lips.

"I wanted to." He says, lacing his fingers through mine as we start walking again. Every time he sees me liking a flower he goes and buys me a couple of the best ones and by the time we've made it through the whole market my arms are full of a beautiful bouquet of flowers. A stall is selling ribbons and we get my flowers tied properly.

"I used to come here every Sunday with my mother, she loves flowers and we'd do exactly what we've just done, walking until we found the flowers we liked the most and building a bouquet. It was my favourite part of the week." Atticus tells me as we walk.

I'm glad he told me something about his childhood and mother. Since I've known him he hasn't said anything about his family. As much as I want to press him for more about his childhood, I leave it, not wanting to pry.

I can't wipe the smile off my face as we make our way back to the car.

Once we're driving again I notice we aren't headed back towards the city. "Where are we going now?" I ask, turning to face Atticus.

"We haven't had lunch yet, the flower market was just our first stop." Atticus says, his eyes never straying from the road.

"I assume you won't tell me where we're going then." I say laughing slightly.

He looks over at me quickly with a small smile. "Unfortunately, no."

I shake my head. "I thought as much."

I start fiddling with the radio, flicking through the stations until I get to a song I like. I sing along quietly as we drive, watching the scenery. Atticus starts humming along too which is very calming. I find my eyes starting to droop and as much as I fight it I drift off to sleep against the car door for the second time in two days.

***

"We're here." Atticus says, gently rubbing my shoulder to wake me up. I yawn as he helps me out the car.

"Sorry for falling asleep." I say sheepishly.

He smirks amusedly at me. "It's fine, I'm used to it by now."

"Hey!" I exclaim, "it's only happened twice!"

He rolls his eyes. "And its definitely not the last time it's going to happen."

I laugh and slap his arm. "Rude."

Our conversation is cut off when Atticus leads me into a building. It's a cute little Italian restaurant and a pretty girl meets us at the door with a friendly smile. "Table for two?" She asks, directing the question to Atticus. Unconsciously I take Atticus' hand, she doesn't notice but Atticus does. "Yes please." He says to her before looking mischievously at me, raising one eyebrow.

I roll my eyes and can feel a blush on my cheeks but I don't take my hand away, I may be annoyed that he noticed my almost territorial claim on him but that doesn't mean I'm not going to show the waitress that he's mine.

He isn't yours. The little voice in my head sneers at me.

She doesn't have to know that, I retort.

Besides, he doesn't seem to have a problem with my actions, he even squeezed my hand.

Once we're seated the girl says, "I'm Jessica and I'll be your waitress. Today's special is Pearls of the Ocean- gnocchi with a burnt butter and sage sauce."

I decide to get the special and a pink lemonade and Atticus gets the special too but just with water.

We chat until our food arrives, falling into a comfortable silence once we start eating.

I sit back and let out a contented sigh. "That was amazing."

Atticus nods, looking just as stuffed as I feel. When we get up to leave Atticus takes me by surprise by taking my hand into his. I suppress a smile.

Instead of walking back to the car, we walk the opposite way. "Uh, I think we're going the wrong way?" I question.

"Nah, this is the right way." He says confidently. I pull him to a stop. "No seriously, the car was that way." I insist.

Atticus sighs before taking my other hand into his, holding both hands now. He looks deeply into my eyes. "Trust me okay?" He says, walking backwards and pulling me with him.

"Fine. But if it's the car you're looking for, you aren't going to find it honey." I say exasperatedly.

He laughs at my words, a beautiful sound. His laugh is cut off though when he trips, causing us both to tumble to the ground. Who walks backwards, doesn't look where they're going, and laughs?

He breaks my fall but I still complain. "Atticus." I whine. "That was sore."

He moans beneath me. "How do you think I feel?" His body did break my fall..

"I'm sorry, do you want me to kiss it better?" I say over-sympathetically, and very sarcastically.

He smirks up at me. "Yes."

I huff and climb off him, "not gonna happen." He stands up, wincing. "A kiss really would make me feel better you know."

I roll my eyes. Impulsively I lean forward and kiss him on the cheek. Being so close to him I can smell his addictive scent.

I pull away to see an awed look on his face. Before I can die of embarrassment or he can tease me I grab his hand and pull him along the street.

"I don't know where we're going but let's go!" I exclaim, not looking back.

He bursts out laughing at my actions.

I continue to pull him down the street, my pride not allowing me to walk next to him.

After a few minutes of walking Atticus tugs on my wrist to stop me from walking. "This is it, our final stop."

We're standing outside my absolute dream place- a crepery.

As soon as we open the door my nose is overwhelmed by the scent of chocolate and dough and sugar and fruit. It's a small place, only four tables, two of which are free.

I decide on a Nutella and strawberry crepe and Atticus goes for a cinnamon, sugar and lemon one. We decide to walk and eat.

As we walk all I can think about is how perfect the day has been. Atticus has gone out of his way to make it nice, and he's been a total gentleman. His actions are making me like him even more.

We chat about movies and books and series as we walk, briefly straying to music and celebrities. By the time we reach the car again the sun is setting and we've spent the whole day out together.

Indie music plays softly as we drive back into London, the car otherwise silent. I reach over and take Atticus' hand, pulling it into my lap.

"Thank you for today, and last night. I had an amazing time." I say sincerely.

He smiles at me, drawing small circles in the palm of my hand. "Thank you for spending it with me. I had a lot of fun."

As we arrive at my apartment, me having very narrowly escaped falling asleep in the car once again, Atticus walks me up the door of the building.

"I hope you enjoyed today. And that we can do it again sometime." Atticus says slowly.

I step fractionally closer to him. "I did. Good night Atticus."

Neither of us move for a second, not sure what to do with ourselves. I decide to take the lead and lean up and kiss him softy on the cheek, near his mouth. As I move away he pulls me back to him by the waist and presses a kiss to my forehead.

"Sleep well love." He says softly before walking back to his car. I make my way into my apartment with my bunch of flowers in my hand with a content smile on my face.

Well, there's no denying it now, I think as I lie in bed later that night, unable to sleep as I think about the day. I really do like this boy. Already. Which is pretty scary.