Living On Marshall Street-ON HOLD

Chapter 16: The Little Italian Villa

Jez POV

"I'm going out for a bit don't wait up for me!" I say quickly putting on my shoes while walking out of my closet. The apartment was small so I'm sure everyone heard the message, I did yell pretty loud. The neighbors probably heard too. I got a text a few seconds ago from Channing telling me he was outside. I obviously wasn't ready yet because it took me like three hours to pick out what I was going to wear! Channing didn't specify where exactly we were going so I didn't know whether to go formal or casual. I decided to dress in between and put on a nice royal blue short dress with a couple of wedges and added accessories to make it a little more formal. I curled my hair into big ringlets and applied mascara and a little bit of blush nothing much. I got my small black purse and added my cell phone and a few other necessities. 

As I exit my room I bump into Danny who was eating a bowl of cereal while walking back to his room. It's seven, why is he eating cereal? Boys, I swear, I think to myself. They are all the same. 

"Where are you going all dolled up?" he tills me in between chewing his Lucky Charms. Nice choice.

"I have a date" I say trying to push passed him in order to escape through the door.

"With who?"He kept blokcing my way though and when I tried to shove him harder or kick him he put his bowl down on a nearby table and was grabbing my arms in order for me to stop thrashing against him. Even though I did try to untangle myself multiple times, it didn't work. He was way too strong for me, being a track star and all. 

"It better not be with that Summers kid," he says looking at me straight in the eye even though I was trying to avoid his. "All he is trouble". 

"Channing doesn't cause trouble, in fact I don't think he has ever gotten himself into trouble," I defend Channing. 

"Oh you're going with him? I though it was that Austin guy, gosh I hate him," he says under his breath. 

"What did he ever do to you?" I say amused. Austin really knows how to make everyone hate him, it's like a talent of his. 

"I have my reasons," he says picking up his cereal bowl again and continued eating. "Go you're going to be late" he nods in the door's direction, and I remember that I had a date with Channing and he had texted me like five minutes ago. 

"RIght, bye!" I yell. 

I run out of the apartment and start walking down Marshall Street where Channing said he was parked. Once he spots me he gets out of his car and opens the door to passenger's side. 

"You look beautiful" he tells me and I can't help but blush. I feel like I am always doing that when I am around him. It gets so embarassing sometimes and I'm sure he notices, but doesn't comment on it. 

"Thank you," I say looking at him. He was wearing a polo with jeans but they were the nice kind. Overall he wasn't too formal but wasn't too casual. He looked good, his blue shirt brought out his blue eyes reminding me how much different he was from Austin even though they were twins. 

"You don't look to bad yourself" I say and then add, "So what's the plan?" as I step into the car letting Channing close the door for me. What a gentlemen. I'm sure Austin would never do that, it would make him seem like a better person and we all know he isn't. 

"I was thinking a nice Italian restaurant and then go for a walk? I know a nice place." he says to me. His eyes look worried as if waiting for a rejection from me. 

"Sounds great," I smile at him. The rest of the ride he put on the radio and let me control it. I started to sing along with some of the songs and when I told him to sing with me he declined. 

"I don't sing," he tells me. "It's not one of my talents". Well I guess that's fine, I'm not such a great singer myself, but I don't care what people think about my voice. I can sing when and how I wish. We continue the car ride like this until we reach the restaurant. It was a nice place with floating plants on the ceiling and they added twinkling lights to make it feel more like an Italian villa. The walls were painted with buildings that would look to be part of a small town and there were a couple of pictures of Rome, Venice, and Florence. Overall the place was gorgeous. 

"This place is beautiful," I say in awe. 

"Not as beautiful as you," he whispers to me. I laugh out loud I can't help it. 

"You're so cheesy," I say. He laughs along with me. 

"I try" he says. "And apparently I don't succeed". He scratches the back of his head the way he always does when he is nervous. Come to thing of it Austin does it too. I guess It's something they have in common besides their almost identical appearance. 

A waitress leads us to a table and serves us glasses of water, while promising that she would bring out some garlic bread soon. 

"Did you enjoy the play?" he starts the conversation. 

"Yes, I really did, the drama department did a good job," I say while taking a sip of water. Our time at the restaurant was fun we laughed at his dorky jokes and tried each other's pasta trying to figure out whose was yummier. I won by the way. He told me about his childhood, he was always the responsible one while Austin ran around causing trouble which doesn't surprise me. He even told me a story about how for one of their cousin's wedding they were both chosen to walk down with the rings and Austin managed to hide one of the rings, and appeared at the alter with only one ring on the pillow and when they asked him where it was he claimed it was in his pocket only to find out it wasn't. They were able to continue the ceremony by using one of the guests wedding bands and later found the missing ring. Where you ask? In the cake. I couldn't help but laugh. 

"We are still trying to figure out how it got there," Channing tells me in between his own laughter. And that's how our night continued to be. Laughing and cracking jokes, and simply enjoying each other's company. I hadn't had so much fun in such a long time that I was sad to realize that it would eventually end. Channing took me to a beautiful park and we walked around a grand lake filled with swans. The scenery was so amazing it was breathtaking. We walked making conversations similar to the ones we were having at the restaurant. We walked in a  comfortable silence for a couple of minutes until Channing decided to break it. 

"Hey Jez?" he says. 

"Yea?" I say softly still looking around the park. Golden lights were placed in trees to make it look like they sparkled and the lights reflected off the water, making it look as if it were shining. 

"Will you be my girlfriend," he asks me. I stop walking and turn around to face him. I had a great time tonight. I really did. But do I like Channing? I enjoy being around him, and talking to him. He makes me laugh and makes me feel like a princess. I smile at this and don't hesitate to respond. "Yes". 

He immediately grins and picks me up to turn me around. The lights were surrounding us completely and the lake in the background made the moment all the more beautiful. We walk hand in hand back to car, smiling at each other, mostly him at me. I suddenly get a call and see that it's from Danny. He knows I'm on a date so he better be calling because it's something important. I glance at Channing to see him nod at me telling me it's okay to answer the phone. 

"Hello?" I say. 

"Jez, you need to come to the hospital," Danny tells me sounding extremely worried. I had never heard him sound this worried  before not even when he fought with his long time girlfriend. 

'Why what"s going on?"  I ask immediately becoming worried myself.

"It's Lena," he tells me. I stop to process this. My little sister is in the hospital, while I'm here in a park laughing with Channing.  I feel sick all of a sudden and am on the verge of tears. 

"What the hell happened?!" I nearly yell into the phone desperate for the reassurance that she is okay. I need to get out of here and to the hospital fast. I hang up without waiting for his response and look at Channing. He looks at me worriedly grabbing my hand already pulling me towards the car. I guess he overheard some of the conversation because he says: "I'll drive you there". 

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Hey :) 

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