the manuscript || Leonardo DiCaprio

Chapter 2: Santa Monica

The flow of our conversation was something I never predicted. I had never been able to talk to someone so easily, except for maybe my sister. It felt like the perfect winter day as the rain kept falling occasionally, the skies overcast, but it still felt sunny with Leo by my side.

"I wonder if they're playing Christmas songs on the radio," I thought out loud as he slowed the car down. We had finally hit the infamous Los Angeles traffic, soon becoming bumper to bumper. I sighed softly as I felt my anxiety rising a bit, remembering why I didn't enjoy venturing into the city.

"You alright? You got really quiet all of a sudden," Leo noticed as he looked over at me in concern.

"I just really hate traffic. It makes me nervous." I crossed my arms as I kept taking in all the different colored cars surrounding us.

"You want to sing some Christmas songs together? That could help distract you."

"I guess it's worth a try, but now I'm nervous about singing in front of you." I slightly laughed as a quiet chuckle escaped his own lips.

"Don't be. I'm honestly the worst singer, so you can't be any worse than me," he claimed as he brushed his blonde hair back with one hand.

"I doubt that, but okay." I took a deep breath as he started with Let It Snow.

I tried not to laugh at how off key he was, since I found it cute, gradually joining in. We were both singing so loud together that I didn't feel the pressure anymore. I couldn't remember the last time I smiled so widely as we kept repeating the chorus. I don't think either one of us knew the song entirely, so we didn't know when it was supposed to end. I did laugh when he switched to Baby, It's Cold Outside, blushing as we sang the suggestive lyrics. At some point we were doing Frosty the Snowman, and that's when the vehicles finally started moving.

"That wasn't so bad, was it," Leo checked as we pulled forward.

"No, that was a good distraction. Are we going where I think we are?"

"What do you mean," he innocently asked.

"You just took the turn for Santa Monica. Are you taking me to the pier? That's like my favorite part about Los Angeles. It's the main reason I ever tolerate the traffic," I emphasized.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," he lowly chuckled.

"An hour is a good amount to keep it from me."

"I guess, but I wanted to see your face when we got there."

"I'm sorry. I'm just familiar with the road turn off for it," I apologized.

"It's alright. I'll make sure we still have a good time."

"You wore a suit for the pier?" I didn't mean to sound surprised, but it wasn't exactly casual.

"I wanted to look nice for you, and I ditched the tie, so it wouldn't look so formal."

"Oh yeah. Now that I think about it your outfit reminds me of the one you wore in Romeo + Juliet."

"Yeah, I guess it does look like that," he remarked, us eventually finding a spot to park. The moment we stepped out, I realized how chilly it was, already shivering. Leo was over to me in a flash, already pulling off his jacket.

"You don't have to do this," I told him.

"No, it's my fault I didn't make sure you were dressed warmer. I didn't realize it would be this windy either."

"Y-yeah, it must be the rain making it like that," I chattered.

"Come on, let's get to the restaurant, so we can get warmed up," he soothingly said, taking my hand, which made tingles shoot through me. I was in love with the way that he guided me up to the pier, us walking as quickly as possible. We didn't want to run and accidentally knock people over, since it was busier than I expected. The Christmas lights on the businesses were beautiful and helped me to feel more warm than I actually was though. When we finally reached the bar/grill I could feel my stomach starting to growl. The smell of the food was incredible and the live music was nice too. We got a table and then started looking over the menus right away.