~Complete~ Forced to leave a life behind, Lexi Michaels settles in Concord, Massachusetts, content with remaining below the radar, keeping herself safe. She takes a job at the Concord Museum, surrounding herself with history, something that provided...
Chris was lovely enough to wait for me to get ready as I was barely put together as it was. I showered quickly, shaving my legs and getting out, almost falling as I ran about my room and bathroom getting ready. I grabbed this cute short pink dress with a floral pattern and loose bell sleeves. I curl my hair and apply some light makeup before going downstairs and joining Chris.
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"Wow." I hear him say lowly. "You look amazing." He says, a little louder, coming up and placing a kiss on my lips.
I smile and look down, a blush creeping up my cheeks. "Thank you." I whisper.
"Are you ready to go?" He asks, offering me his hand.
"Yeah. Where are we going?"
"Just a little place in town." He says vaguely.
"Ok," I say nervously as I slide into the passenger seat and he closes the door behind me.
Fifteen minutes later we're pulling into the parking lot of this little Italian place downtown. "Are you sure you want to be doing this out in public?" I ask, nervously pulling at my clothes. "I mean, if someone sees us, it'll be all over every paper and gossip site by morning."
He stops and turns to me, placing a hand on mine. "I'm not going to keep you a secret like I'm ashamed to be seeing you Lexi. If it gets out, it gets out and I will make an official statement."
"Chris, we don't even know what's going to become of this."
"Then let's just enjoy each moment." He says before opening the front door to the restaurant. We step inside and I'm shocked to see that the place is empty.
"Ok, what's going on here?" I ask, looking around confused.
"I wanted to be able to take you out. But you're right, if the press got ahold of this before we have a chance to figure out what we are... we'd be over before we started. So when I said I wanted to take you out, I called this place up. Carly worked for them in high school so our families got pretty close. They were more than willing to rent the place out for the night so we could have the place to ourselves." He says, pulling my chair out. I gently sit down and he pushes me back towards the table.
"You didn't have to do this. I would've been fine with just pizza at your house." I say, looking around at all the twinkling lights.
"You're worth more than just pizza at my house, as much as I love those nights." He responds with a wink. "I'm not going to hide you just because you're not who the internet thinks I should be with. I didn't survive this long in the business by giving a fuck what they thought or wanted. I want you, Lexi. I've wanted this with you since the day we met and I was just waiting for you to be ready to."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I would've gladly waited forever for you."
"You shouldn't say things like that Chris."
"Why? It's the truth."
"Because we just started whatever this is. You shouldn't feel like this already."
"Do you? And forget what others might think, forget whatever you're worried about with them. Do you feel like I do?"
I let out a deep sigh. "Of course I do Chris. I wouldn't be here if I didn't. But one of us needs to think about the consequences."
"For the first, middle and final time, I don't care about the world and how anyone sees you, or whatever your family could possibly do to us. All I care about is how I see you. And what I see is someone who's beautiful, inside and out, and worthy of receiving someone's love, with no strings attached." He says, taking my hand in his and bringing it to his lips.
"I'm really starting to fall for you Chris. If you're sure that you won't care when you see all the scars, all the cracks, then I will work on letting go of it." I say quietly.
The rest of the evening passes by a lot better than the beginning, with us laughing and just enjoying each other's company. "So let me get this right, you screamed for the entire time?"
"I was 2. I don't actually remember this, but all the pictures prove the story. I was an absolute mess. They brought Cookie Monster in and I lost my shit." He loses himself in another bout of laughter, grabbing his left pec. "It was traumatizing so I'm glad you're finding this amusing. I'm sure you hated people in giant costumes at that age too."
He put his hands up. "I'm sure you're right. So how did you handle things like Disney?"
"I didn't go for the first time until I was 16. Kinda of took care of the fear of people in costumes."
"You never got to experience Disney World as a little kid?" I shake my head. "Well, that's going to change."
"Not sure how you're going to pull that one off. Not a little kid anymore."
"You leave that to me." He says cryptically. Oh god, what have I done?
