When No One Would | Danny Amendola

Chapter 18

I looked at myself in my mirror and blushed. Danny told me it was going to be casual, so I was wearing a pair of dark wash jeans, and a red and black plaid shirt. As I stared at my reflection, I couldn't help but feel disgusted.

Danny was playing with me--he had to be. There's no way he could like me. I look like shit. There's a reason why I'm always friend zoned. I shook my head. "I can't do this. He doesn't actually like you," I told myself as I continued to look at my reflection.

I was shaken out of my thoughts by a knocking at my door. Was it really 6:30 already? I shook my head one last time and moved away from the mirror. When I got to my front door, I sucked in a breath and pulled it open to reveal Danny. He was wearing a black and white checkered button up shirt, his usual body hugging black jeans, and a pair of white Nike's.

"You look beautiful, Jess," he said. His eyes trailed my body up and down, making me feel insecure.

"Th-Thank you, Danny... You look quite handsome tonight," I replied with a small smile.

"You're welcome. Are you ready to go," he asked with both of his eyebrows raised, and a shine in his dark eyes.

I nodded, and he held out his hand for me to take. I took it, and we made our ways down the hall. "What are we doing tonight," I asked as I looked over at him with scrunched eyebrows.

"Well," he began as he grasped my hand a little tighter and pulled me into the elevator with him. "I was thinking that we could possibly go for a walk in the park, enjoy the sunset... And then stop at a little italian place for dinner. How does that sound?"

I nodded. "That sounds great, Danny. Thank you for asking me out tonight," I mumbled as the elevator made its way down. When the doors opened we slid out, and made our ways out of the building.

Danny let go of my hand, draped his arms over my shoulders and pulled me into him. "I'm glad that you wanted to come out in the first place. I've been wanting to do it for a while. I-I thought that when we were at that dinner and I was with Amanda... I thought that I officially lost you to Jules."

I giggled and shook my head against him. "I love Jules, but I don't think I could feel that way about him. Besides... He forced me into dinner to make you jealous," I confessed as we quickly made our ways across the street.

"That's why he did that? You really got to me that night," Danny mumbled and let out a small chuckle.

I stifled a laugh. "Good to know, Dola. Hey, can we sit on the bench over there and watch the sunset by the pond," I asked as I motioned over to the vacant bench.

"Of course we can." We walked over to the bench and sat down. His arm was still draped over my shoulder, and I leaned into him.

We both looked forward at the pond. The water was so calm and reflected the skyscrapers around us as well as the beautiful pinkish-orangish sky. "This is so beautiful," I mumbled as I placed a hand on his knee.

He pulled me closer. "It really is. I love this city so much. I'm so glad that I've met you, Jess," he whispered and kissed my forehead. "I'm so glad that we have this chance."

I let out a sigh and nodded. We sat there for a few more minutes before I could answer him. "I am, too, Danny." I pushed myself away from him and met his brown eyes. He had a small smirk playing on my face. "I'm hungry, can we grab some food? The sunset is just about over."

"I never thought you'd ask," he replied as he grabbed my hand and began to direct me toward the other side of the park. "You're gonna love this food! They seriously have some of the best food ever!"

I smiled. "Do they? They better have good cheese ravioli," I told him. I gripped his hand tighter. My mind began to drift off to how perfect our hands fit together, how his grip was gentle but firm.

"Of course they have great cheese ravioli! I know it's your favorite, so how could I take you to a place that doesn't have it?! I'm so excited for you to have it! And my goodness, you love bread sticks... You're gonna be in love by the end of the night!"

I blushed and nodded. I was already in love-- with Danny.

***

An hour later, the two of us were sitting at a table in the back of the restaurant with our food sitting in front of us. Danny's beautiful brown eyes were looking at me with an unusual, but pleasant, shine in them. I furrowed my eyebrows and tilted my head in question. "You going to eat your food? Or just look at me all night?"

Danny cracked a smile and let out a laugh. "I'm sorry," he mumbled as he shook his head. "I just want to see your reaction to the food. I hope you love it as much as I do."

I rolled my eyes and smiled back at him. "Fine, I'll eat it as you creepily watch me." I cut into the ravioli and slowly brought it up to my mouth as I locked my eyes with Danny. A wonderful flavor exploded in my mouth, and my eyes went wide, as Danny's contagious smile only got larger.

"You like it," he questioned. Even if I wasn't looking at him, I would have been able to tell that he was smiling just by the tone of his voice.

I nodded with my mouth full and swallowed it. "Yes! It's so good! You were right, Dola! It's seriously one of the best ravioli I've ever had! I'm so glad you took me here!"

"Good. I'm glad you like it! Now let's dig in!" He literally stabbed his fork into his pasta and began to spin his fork. When he brought it up to his mouth, he nearly missed it and got some sauce on the side of his mouth.

"Danny," I laughed, "You've got some sauce on your face." He looked at me with wide eyes and picked his napkin up off his lap to wipe it away, but completely missed. I scooted my chair back and grabbed ahold of his wrist. His skin felt extremely warm under my cold hands as I directed his napkin up to his mouth.

Once it was all gone, Danny's brown eyes locked with mine, and I paused with my hand around his wrist. Danny's other hand slowly snaked up and wrapped around my upper back. He pulled me closer to him and smashed our lips together.

I my eyes opened wide, but then closed as I relaxed into the kiss. When we ran out of air, we pulled away and smiled at each other. "That was perfect," I mumbled as I looked into his eyes.

When Danny smiled, his eyes crinkled at the side. "Yes, yes, it was."

*** Thanks for reading! :)