Second Shot (Bastille)

9: Liv

*March 2013*

*Dan's POV*

Lugging my suitcase up out of the lift, I stepped into the apartment hallway and sighed, happy to be back home after finishing the tour. Slowly I put the key into the lock and stepped into the apartment to be greeted by Freddie who was stood at the kitchen counter, setting out two mugs of tea. Looking up, she smiled and wandered over to me, and putting her arms around my shoulders.

"Evening love," I chuckled, wrapping my arms around her waist and lifting her onto her tiptoes "How you doin'?"

"Good, missed you" She pulled back and quickly pecked me on the lips.

"Missed you too" I brushed some hair out her face.

"How was the rest of the tour?" She asked, slurping her tea, her dark eyes watching me intently.

"So much fun, I wish you could've come" I began describing some of the highlights of the tour while we washed up the mugs before sitting down on the sofa as Freddie finished editing one of the photos she had been working on while I was away. "You know what we're gonna do" I began, breaking the thoughtful silence that had fallen around us. Freddie looked up at me questioningly. "We're gonna go out for dinner" I reached out my hand and pulled Freddie to her feet. 

"Any particular reason?" She asked, laughing quietly. 

"Well, I haven't really seen you over the last month and you're going to France next week for work. Why? Can I not take my girl out for dinner without a reason?" 

"Of course you can." Freddie smirked before heading to the door "Well, I'm gonna go and change. Meet back here in 30?" I nodded and Freddie disappeared across the hall.

Half an hour later, we were strolling down the street, making our way to the restaurant. Once we arrived, we were shown to a table and started reading the menu, after a minute, a waiter approached and took our order. We waited for a while and Freddie told me about her plans for her work trip to France until the waiter returned with our starter. We looked down at the bowl of nachos and array of dips and I clapped my hands together excitedly "Right, where do we begin?" 

Freddie laughed and picked up a nacho and scooped up some sauce "Well, I'm gonna hog all the mild dip because I have no spice tolerance what-so-ever" 

"Ah come on! Be adventurous," I loaded some of the spiciest sauce onto a nacho and hovered it in front of Freddie's face. She stared at it for a moment before raising a skeptical brow. "It's not that hot, I promise" 

"I'm just smelling it and I can feel a sweat breaking out. There's no way you're getting me to eat it" Freddie explained defiantly. I rolled my eyes sarcastically and sighed disappointedly. "Go on then, Spice Master, you try it if you're so brave" Nodding obediently, I popped the whole crisp in my mouth and chewed for a minute before swallowing without a single sign of discomfort. 

"See? Not that bad" Then I felt a fierce warmth spread across my lips and burn all through my body. Quietly, I cleared my throat and took a drink of water. "It's got a kick, I won't deny that" I explained as Freddie watched, her mouth pulled into an I-told-you-so smirk. A minute passed and the heat wasn't going away; I could feel drops of sweat collect on my forehead and my tongue prickled relentlessly. On the other side of the table, Freddie was giggling unsympathetically. 

"Feeling the heat over there daredevil?" She asked, emptying the dish of mild dip and dropping the nacho in her mouth triumphantly. 

"As a matter of fact: I feel fantastic. The pain is all apart the fun" Both of us sniggered amusedly and after another moment, the heat began to subside. We tucked into the rest of the starter before moving onto our main courses and then splitting a dessert.