Dirty Laundry

Thirteen. (Mature)

Its Halloween but, more importantly, today is also the day Niall and I have our first real date and I get my first real boyfriend. So naturally I'm a nervous wreck. My costume for the party is all picked out but I;m currently stressing over what to wear to dinner because Niall isn't telling me anything because "its a surprise". 

After many minutes of begging and prying I finally get Niall to tell that it wouldn't be weird if I wore a dress to the resturant. I don't know why I still freak out about what I wear when Niall and I go out. I mean, he has seen me in my old, stained pajamas and he has seen me after the gym, sweaty and red in the face. I have no real reason to be nervous but I am.

I'm grabing a jacket when Niall knocks on the door. He looks comfortable in khakis and a grey cable knit sweater, hair done like he had gotten it cut, and a small bouquet of about five daisies. 

"Aww, Ni, you didn't have to get me flowers!" I say shaking my head as I accept them. 

"Course I did. This is proper date." He says giving me a hug. 

"And daisies too! I love daises!"

"I know. You mentioned once that you had a daydream that we were in Central Park and I gave you daises." he says nonchalantly like it's a well known fact.

"You remembered that?" I ask, with a small lump forming in my throat. He is so sweet I could cry.

"And you think I don't listen to you..." he pokes fun.

I have no words for how wonderful he really is so I just kiss his cheek before we leave.

Walking to my car Niall convinces me to let him drive for the sake of the surprise and his status as a gentleman.

Niall picked a small, family-owned, Italian resturant on Federal Hill in the city. It's a brick building that has cute little outdoor tables surrounded by a wrought iron fence covered in ivy plants that are starting to change color with the fall. The tables are covered with the cliche red and white checkered tablecloths.

"This place is aborable Niall!" I say, smiling fondly at him.

"You always complain about the shit food that the dinning hall tries to pass off as Italian food" he says making air quotes, "so I thought we'd get the best in the city."

A waiter leads us to one of the outdoor tables per our request because it has been a fairly mild Ocotber. Niall goes into full manners-mode and takes my coat, and pulls out my chair for me. I have never been treated this way before and although I do think it's a little much, I know Niall wants to do this by the book so I let him.

When our food arrives I realize how hungry I really am. Niall and I don't talk for the the first few minutes that we have our food. Having become used to bland dinning hall food, Niall and I make some borderline erotic noises at our first taste of real food in months. After that moment has passed, we can't help but laugh at ourselves and fall into our usual easy conversation.

Niall insists on paying the whole bill, no matter how many times I try, he won't even show me the price of dinner. Niall the gentleman makes a return as we get up to leave the resturant. He pulls out my chair and holds out my jacket for me, holds my hand and opens my car door. On the ride back we rave about the food for the tenth time and have some fun with the songs on the radio. 

Hand in hand we walk to our building and up to my room. We have done this countless at my doorstep and knowing what is coming really isn't helping how sweaty my hands are getting. I can hear my our heartbeat as I turn around to face Niall in front of my door. Niall must be irrationally nervous too because he looks a little flushed and he has shoved his hands in pockets with his shoulders drawn up. I hear him take a deep breathe before he looks up at me.