In These Arms

Chapter 10

Lucy smiled as they pulled up outside 'La Vina.'
"This is the tapas place that Troian talks about all the time. The food is supposed to be amazing."
Ian nodded and got out of the car, he walked around to open the door for Lucy, she smiled and grabbed his hand so he could pull her up.
He bent his head down to hers and pecked her lightly on the lips. "Ready?" he asked.
Lucy nodded and linked her arm through his as they walked into the restaurant.
It was a small place designed to look like an authentic Catalan restaurant.
They were shown to a table and given menus, "Can I get you anything to drink?" their waiter asked.
Ian nodded, "I'll have a corona please."
"I'll have a white wine please," Lucy said.
The waiter nodded and wrote it down, "Any appetisers while you decide?"
"Yeah," Ian replied, "could we have Pan Fresco and Aceitunas please?"
The waiter nodded and walked away.
Lucy laughed, "Get you speaking all Spanish. Aceitunas are olives right?"
Ian nodded.
Lucy bit her lip, "And Pan Fresco is...Bread?"
Ian smiled, "Get you knowing Spanish."
The waiter came over with their drinks and appetisers and they ordered a variety of tapas between them.
"You're not worried Troian and Patrick might show up?" Lucy asked as she moved some food onto her plate.
Ian smiled, "Would it matter?"
Lucy shook her head, "Not at all, but what happened to us keeping this a secret for awhile?"
Ian shrugged, "Can you imagine how difficult it would be to try and keep this from the people that we spend around 70% of our day with?"
Lucy laughed, "Impossible. Holly figured out easily and she isn't around as much as the others." She took a sip of her wine, "So do we tell people? Or..."
Ian smiled, "If you want to, they'll probably figure it out themselves in no time though."
"Yeah," Lucy said grinning, "Because you can't keep your hands off me."
Ian chuckled and leaned across the table to kiss her softly. "I'm making up for lost time," he replied with a smile.
"I think we should tell Mar." Lucy said as put a Patatas Bravas in her mouth.
"You do?" Ian asked.
Lucy nodded, "Oh god that is soooo good." She lifted her fork to his mouth so he could try it to and smiled when he moaned, and placed some on his own plate.
"I know Mar said she doesn't have a problem with any of the cast dating as we're all adults, but out of courtesy..."
Ian nodded, "No you're right. When do you want to do it?"
"Tomorrow?" Lucy asked looking over at Ian, "You could come to the set after the table read and we could tell her then."
Ian smiled, "What do you think she'll say?"
"I don't know my guess is that she won't be too surprised though."
"Hey," Ian mumbled sleepily as Lucy pulled back the covers, "where are you going?"
He reached out a hand and pulled her naked body back towards him. Lucy sighed, "Shower. I have to get Jack home and get to the table read."
Ian wrapped his arms even tighter around her, "Just stay here."
Lucy buried her head into his neck and sighed, "I'd love to, but there is no way I'd get Jack home and get to the studios on time if I don't get up now."
Ian placed a kiss on her head, "Jack can stay here with me. I'll bring him with me later when I come to the studios."
Lucy lifted her head up to look at him, "I know we said we're not going to try and hide the fact that we're together now but isn't that just inviting questions?"
Ian smiled, "Not necessarily, you just didn't want him to be alone so you asked me to look after him."
Lucy pressed her lips against his, "Are you sure you don't mind?" He shook his head, "Not at all. He'll be keeping me company while you're not here."
Lucy smiled and pressed her lips against his again, this time running her tongue along his bottom lip Ian responded by opening his mouth allowing her access.
Lucy arrived at the table read before everybody else, she took in seat in the chair allocated to her and pulled her phone out of her bag, her intention to make sure it was turned off before everybody else arrived. She did not want a repeat of the previous week after a quick glance at the time she realised she still had another 15 minutes before they were due to start so she opened up a new text and typed a quick message out to Annie. Are we still on for tonight?
Whilst waiting for a reply she opened up her twitter, she hadn't even glanced at it since the day before and she wondered if Chris had said anything else about her. Surprisingly he hadn't tweeted anything since the Pretty Little Whore tweet the day before. Lucy clicked to unfollow him, and scrolled through the list of people looking for other names associated with Chris. When she reached his manager Jon's name her curiosity got the better of her and she clicked on his name so she could read his tweets. He'd re-tweeted Chris's comments from the day before and added one of his own Maybe she is 'A' after all. This is the kind of nasty thing I can see that bitch doing pic,twitter,com/cZi2aKh. Lucy bit her lip, and nervously clicked on the tweet so the photo appeared below, it was a screencap of the text she had sent Chris saying that they should break-up. Her finger hovered over the reply button, she so desperately wanted to say something in her defence but she knew that the smarter thing to do was not say a word. She clicked to unfollow him, switched her phone off and put it in her bag.
The door opened and Holly walked in, Lucy stood up to greet her with a hug and the older woman perched herself on the table in front of Lucy's chair.
"You did it then? Holly asked.
Lucy nodded, "Yeah on Saturday. How did you know?"
"I saw his tweets."
"I broke up with him by text. Maybe I asked for it." Lucy replied.
Holly grabbed one of Lucy's hands, "No you didn't. Nobody deserves to be called names like that. Did he give you any other options?"
Lucy smiled, "No, he was ignoring me. He told me that the whole thing was for publicity."
"Do you believe him?"
Lucy shrugged, "I don't know, he more than doubled his followers so maybe it was. The thing is I don't actually care. I'm just thankful that it's over. I'm desperate to say something on twitter to defend myself though."
Holly shook her head, "Goose you ended a relationship that wasn't working out you didn't do anything wrong, you've got no reason to defend yourself, they're the ones who are in the wrong here."
The door opened again and more people started walking in, Lucy nodded and silently whispered a "Thank you" to Holly.
Once the table read was over Lucy retrieved her phone from her bag and switched it back on, she had a text from Annie saying that she was full of flu and was at her sister Sophie's house as she was also sick, so rain-check? Lucy typed out a quick 'get well soon banan' in response before texting Ian to ask if he was there yet. He replied almost immediately saying that they'd just arrived and they were headed to Marlene's office. Lucy looked over towards Marlene who was gathering her belongings and quickly made her way over to her. "Mar," she said quietly, "would I be able to talk to you in your office?"
Marlene looked at Lucy and nodded, "Of course," she replied, "Is it anything I should be worried about?"
Lucy smiled and shook her head, "No I promise it's not bad news."
A look of relief crossed Marlene's face and she nodded, "Okay. I'll be up there in about ten minutes."
Lucy smiled and walked back over to her seat, she collected her belongings, said a few quick 'goodbye's' and headed towards Marlene's office.
Ian was sitting on one of the chairs outside; Jack curled contentedly on his lap. Lucy sat down next to him and placed a chaste kiss on his lips before resting her head on his shoulder as she gently scratched Jack's head.
"He's worn out," Ian said, "We've been the park."
Lucy laughed, "You're spoiling him. He won't want to leave you."
Ian pressed his lips to the top of her head, "Well on days when I'm not at the studio he doesn't need to."
Lucy lifted her head off his shoulder and looked at him, "Are you serious? You're offering to be Jack's sitter?"
"Yeah," Ian replied smirking slightly, "He's a girl magnet; you should see how many phone numbers I got today."
Lucy hit him playfully across the shoulder, "I'm gonna put one of those cameras on his collar so I can see what you two get up to when I'm not there. Oh, and Annie's sick, so I thought I'd stay with you again tonight...if that's okay?"
Ian smiled widely, "That sounds perfect."
Lucy placed her head back on his shoulder just as Marlene walked around the corner, she grinned slightly when she saw them sitting there.
"Come on you two," she said as she opened the door to her office, "I'm guessing there is something you want to tell me?"
Ian picked Jack up from his lap and followed Lucy and Marlene inside, closing the door behind him.
Marlene smiled as she saw the two of them standing there nervously. "You can sit down you know."
Lucy and Ian looked at each other and slowly sat down on the sofa. He placed Jack on the floor, and anxiously placed his hands on his lap.Marlene chuckled slightly, "I never thought I would see the day when Lucy Hale was stuck for words."
This broke the silence as everyone laughed; Lucy was renowned for being able to talk a lot.
Lucy stole a glance at Ian and grabbed his hand before turning her attention back to Marlene.
"Ian and I are...."
"Dating," Ian said finishing her sentence for her. It was something they did a lot.
Lucy nodded, "We wanted to let you know out of respect for you."
Marlene smiled, "It took you long enough." It was almost the exact same thing that Lucy had tweeted when Marlene had said Aria and Ezra would share more than take-out in Ezra's apartment.
Lucy looked at Ian; they both had huge smiles on their faces. "Yeah," he said, "it did."
"You're the first person we've actually told," Lucy said, "I mean some people have guessed, but..."
"It's not a secret," Ian continued, "We just don't want everybody to know just yet. If they guess then that's fine but..."
Marlene laughed, "Okay so no announcement at the next table read."
Lucy shook her head, "Not just yet," she smiled, "maybe the one after."
"I'm really happy for the both of you," Marlene said a smile evident on her face, "I just ask that if, and I'm not saying it won't, but IF this doesn't work out you two remain professional? We can't have the shows main couple at loggerheads."
Ian gently shook his head, "It won't happen we promise."
Marlene watched as Lucy and Ian left her office, she couldn't stop smiling. Within about thirty seconds of Ian's audition with Lucy she had sensed something between them, she had written across the top of Ian's resume 'this guy is our Ezra' and had slid it along the table to Oliver Goldstick who was sitting next to her. She had always hoped that they would get together off screen too. They were obviously attracted to each other, that had most definitely been evident during that audition, but there were other things too. They seemed to seek each other out on set, even when they didn't have scenes together; they would go out of their way to make the other smile if they were feeling down. She was genuinely happy for them both and she had absolutely no concerns about the relationship not working out.
Ian grabbed Lucy's hand as they walked towards the wardrobe department.
Lucy smiled, "You know people are going to guess we're together a lot easier if we're walking around holding hands."
"I know," Ian replied, "and honestly does it matter? I know I said that we should keep it secret for a while but I've thought about it and I don't think we have to worry about anybody letting it slip about us on twitter. We all managed to keep 'A' a secret for over four months."
"Does that include friends and family too?" Lucy asked, "Because I'm fairly certain we're going to get lots of questions from them all."
Ian lifted her hand up to his mouth and placed a gently kiss on her knuckles, "We tell them. I don't think that they're going to be all that shocked."
Lucy smiled and shook her head, "I know. I mean they may be shocked that it's happened now, but I get the feeling that we're going to get a lot of reactions like Holly and Marlene's."
Ian laughed, "Yeah shocked but not actually shocked."
Ian waited in his dressing room with Jack while Lucy was in the wardrobe department, there was a knock at the door and he stood up to answer it wondering why Lucy didn't just walk in.
Tyler Blackburn was on the other side. "Hey," he said when he saw Ian, "I thought I saw you coming in here. Why are you here on your week off?"
Ian was just about to say something when there was a loud crash from inside as Jack knocked something over. He opened the door further and pointed towards Jack, "That's why," he said laughing, "Are you being naughty Jacky?"
"That's Lucy's dog." Tyler said with a confused expression on his face.
Ian nodded, "Yeah, it is..." His door opened again before he got a chance to finish and Lucy walked in, "I'm all done we can head home now....Ty what're you doing in here?"
Tyler smiled "I was surprised to see Ian here, so I thought I'd stop by and say 'Hi.' I was even more surprised to see Jack here though."
"Yeah about that," Ian said glancing towards Lucy. He didn't get to finish what he was saying as Tyler nodded, "Man. I knew it, last week you two were acting a lot more flirty than normal."
Lucy smiled slightly and was about to speak when her phone rang, she pulled it out of the pocket of her jeans, "Oh it's my mom," she said, she slid her finger across the screen and walked back out of the room.
Tyler turned back towards Ian, "So am I right?"
Ian nodded, "Yeah, but listen Lucy hasn't told her friends yet, so if you see Claire or Kurt....She's going to tell them, it's just this all happened really fast."
Tyler smiled, "I won't say a word. Man I'm so happy for you two."
"Hi mom," Lucy said into the phone, "what's up?"
"Are you busy honey?" Julie asked down the phone.
"No," Lucy replied, "I'm done with the table read and we, er I was just headed home."
"Just a quick question Luce, do you know who you're bringing as your guest? Only Maggie and I are with the caterers now and we need to know if anybody has any special diet requests?"
"Oh," Lucy replied, "yeah I do know. I'll just ask him hang on one second."
Lucy opened the door to Ian's room again, "Hey any special food requests for the wedding?"
Ian shook his head, and Lucy put the phone back up to her ear, "No mom, no special requests."
"That's fine, but honey I noticed you said 'him' are we finally going to meet Chris?"
Lucy bit her lip, "Are you alone mom?"
"No," Julie replied, "Why sweetie?"
"Can you go somewhere a little more private?"
"Sure, I'll just go outside. Is everything okay honey?"
Lucy laughed, "Yeah mom everything is fine."
"Okay," Julie said, "I'm outside now what's up?"
"I'm not dating Chris anymore," Lucy said, "I broke up with him because I realised that there was somebody else I liked a lot more." Lucy heard her mom chuckle slightly down the phone.
"Is it Ian?"
Lucy smiled, "Yeah mom it's Ian."
"Oh honey," Julie gushed, "I'm so happy, you know I've always loved Ian and you two are just perfect for each other. I can tell Maggie right? She'll be as happy as I am."
Lucy chuckled at her mom's joy, "Yeah mom you can tell Maggie, just wait until you're alone first though okay? "
They said their goodbyes and Lucy disconnected the call and went back into Ian's dressing room.
Tyler smiled as she walked in, "So," he said glancing between the two of them, "am I the first person on set to know?"
Lucy shook her head, "No sorry."
"You're the third" Ian said as he bent down to pick up the coffee cup that Jack had knocked off the table.
"Holly and Marlene know too," Lucy replied.
Tyler smiled again, "I've already said it to this guy, but I am so happy for you two. Oh and I won't mention anything to Claire."
Once he'd left Lucy sat on Ian's sofa, "We did that one without even trying," she said with a chuckle.
Ian sat down next to her and draped his arm across the back of the sofa.
"Did you tell your mom?"
Lucy nodded, "Yeah, she was asking if I knew who I was bringing as my guest to Maggie's wedding because they were with the caterers. Couldn't you hear her screams of joy?"
Ian laughed, "We seem to be getting that from everyone."
Lucy sighed, "Not everyone." She clicked on her twitter app, searched for Jon's page and handed the phone to Ian.
Ian shook his head in frustration, "God even now you've broken up he's still using you to get publicity for Chris."
Lucy nodded, "I haven't checked my mentions. I'm scared to, what if Chris's fans are saying really nasty things?"
Ian placed his fingers under her chin and turned her head to face him, "I'd say at least half of his followers are fans of yours who started following him when you started dating. The ones who aren't? They'll be in the minority; you're going to get a hell of a lot more messages of support. You're the first Liar to have over a million followers."
Lucy smiled, she'd hit that milestone the week before they started shooting the third season. "We should do a Ustream as a thanks. It trended while I was in New York with the girls, and I got a few requests suggesting that we could do it when I reached a million followers. What do you say Harding?"
Ian laughed; they always had so much fun during their Ustreams. "Sure why not. When?"
Lucy bit her lip, "Maybe next week when we're both on set? I'm reluctant to do one from either of our apartments at the moment given the circumstances."
"Count me in," he said placing a chaste kiss on her lips, "Should we get going?"
Lucy nodded and stood up, "I have to stop by my apartment first and get some things for me and Jack."
Ian nodded, "And I'll have to stop by the grocery store to pick up some stuff for dinner. I'll tell you what..." he trailed off as he reached into his jean pocket, "why don't you take this?" he continued as he handed her a key.
Lucy smiled slightly, "But what if you're back first?"
"It's a spare," he replied shyly, "I figured if you're going to be spending a lot of time there then you should have a key."
Lucy threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, "Thank you," she whispered against his lips, "I've never gotten a key before."
Lucy had just opened the door to her apartment when her phone began to ring.
"Hey Claire," she said as she answered it, kicking the door shut behind her, "what's up?"
"What's up?" Claire asked, "I have to learn from the internet that you broke up with Chris?"
Lucy sighed, she had fully intended to tell Claire, but everything had happened so quickly, "I'm sorry Clairebear," she said as she dropped her bag to the floor, "it just happened yesterday and I was drained afterwards..."
"You did it by text? I saw the tweet from Jon."
"Yeah," Lucy replied, "he had his phone off and wouldn't respond to my texts asking him to call me. He came here yesterday though and told me that it was all for publicity."
"You know he's just saying that so you don't know how hurt he was right?"
Lucy shook her head even though she knew Claire couldn't see her, "No I don't, and honestly Claire when you look at it he had a lot more to gain from this relationship than I did, and how many managers do you know who actually promote their clients relationships?"
"Well none," Claire said, "but..."
"No," Lucy said interrupting, "I think he was telling me the truth."
The conversation continued for a while longer and Lucy signed off with the promise that she would fill Claire in completely soon.
She gathered some more clothes and some food for Jack before leaving her apartment again.
She pulled into the second parking space in Ian's apartment, grabbed her bags out of the car and got the elevator up to Ian's floor; she was fumbling trying to get the key in the lock without dropping her bags when the door opened. "No," she said with a pout, "you need to go back inside."
Ian smiled, "Why?" he asked, although he knew the reason.
"Because," Lucy said handing him her bags, "I want to use my key."
Ian laughed and nodded. He closed the door and put Lucy's bags on the floor. He smiled as he heard the key in the lock, the handle turned and Lucy walked in with a huge smile on her face. Ian chuckled and pulled her towards him; he tilted his head down and kissed her deeply.