She kissed the scars on his skin.

Chapter 18

I want to find out everything about Lauren. Where she came from. What she likes. Every last thing. She has me intrigued. She has since day 1 in the hospital. I heard her every time she was there and now she's here. Real. In my life. I take her hand and we head for a small restaurant down the street. There's a few straggling fans still waiting about but they don't really pay much attention to us. They're waiting for the others which tonight is fine with me. Sometimes being the shy one comes in handy.
Lauren keeps hold of my hand on the short walk. It feels so right. I can't keep the smile off my face. She notices and smiles back.
"When you were asleep I knew your smile would be special and then when I got you to do it I saw it really was" she whispers shyly. I stop and pull her to me.
"I knew the girl behind the voice would be someone extremely special too. You have no idea how much I wanted to see how special you were." And then I can't help myself. I kiss her. Just a gentle, loving kiss. And it feels so amazing. She doesn't exactly push me away either. It isn't the longest kiss ever recorded but it means so much to me. To both of us by the look of it. She smiles shyly back up at me, her cheeks ever so lightly flushed. She's absolutely adorable. We hold each other for a moment before continuing on our way. My arm is around her shoulders now and it feels so right. I smile again. I can't stop smiling. It's great.
I ask for a table for two and we are led to a small booth near the back. I pass Lauren a menu and glance to see what I want to eat. The waitress comes over and takes our order and we sit there, smiling at each other. I ask Lauren about her accent, desperate to know which part of the UK she's from.
"I'm from a town called Birkenhead. It's not far from Liverpool" she says, her shyness still showing.
"What made you move all this way?" I ask, glad that she did, whatever the reason.
"My grandmother was from here. When I left university I struggled to find a job and she suggested trying over here, so I packed up and came out here. I've been here 5 years now."
I smile, glad we found each other.
Our food arrives and we start eating. I notice Lauren struggling with her meal, as if each mouthful is too much. I take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze.
"Don't force it down. If you're not that hungry, leave it."
"It's the first proper meal I've had in a while. After you got moved to the other ward, I struggled to eat because I was depressed. I was also a little overweight and needed to lose some and it worked. I'm so sorry" she says, a tear forming in her beautiful eyes.
"Don't be sorry. You eat what you can and I'll be happy, ok."
She nods and I lean over the little table to wipe away the tear that never fell.