"well, hello there, cici." salem greeted, looking at the time on her phone. "you're here a little early." she realized.
"yeah, he was eager to see you." tavia chuckled.
"shut up." ciarán mumbled. "you look good." he said, standing up and pulling her in by the waist, leaning in for a kiss.
"not on my watch." tavia yanked salem away from ciarán before he could do anything, causing her to shriek and almost fall.
"c'mon, tavia." ciarán said, crossing his arms.
"save it for another time, ciarán." tavia gave salem her orange converse, salem thanking her. she slipped the shoes on, and hastily tied them, desperately wanting to get out of there.
ciarán took salem's hand in his, the aforementioned smiling up at her new 'crush.' salem said her farewell to tavia, to which the latter responded with, "use protection!"
ciarán laughed, but salem did not find it as amusing, rolling her eyes at the remark.
as soon as the door shut behind them, ciarán tried leaning in for a kiss, but salem interrupted him.
"no kisses unless you tell me where we're going." she lied, which only made ciarán pout.
"can i get a kiss when we get there?" he asked.
"we'll see."
the two headed toward ciarán's parked car, where ciarán opened the passenger seat door for salem, winking at her.
"thank you, but i'm completely capable of opening a car door on my own."
"i know; still thought it'd be cute and cliché to do so."
a small smile spread across salem's face. the little things that ciarán did had her falling for him at a rapid pace, and it hadn't even been a week yet! she noticed his tiniest habits, such as ruffling his hair and fidgeting with his rings.
as for ciarán, every observation he made of salem only made him grow more attracted the girl. he remembered how when he first met her, she was playing with her hair. the little gesture had sparked in interest in him.
the two looked at each other at the same time, except salem diverted her attention quickly, blushing at the sudden interaction. ciarán only chuckled, starting up his car and beginning to pull out of the parking lot.
"can you plug the aux into my phone?" he asked salem, handing her his phone.
salem took it, "what's your password?"
"1993." he responded without hesitation.
"old man." salem chuckled, typing in the password.
"and how old are you?" ciarán asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
"23, almost 24." she responded, sticking out her tongue at ciarán when he wasn't looking.
"it's not like you're much younger, old lady."
"okay fine, we're both old. that's why we're perfect for each other." salem said, which caused ciarán to look at her and grin. she only winked at him.
salem scrolled through his playlists, forgetting about his music temporarily thanks to their age debate.
"you really like prince, huh?" she asked, noticing all the prince songs.
"i sure do. as a matter of fact, play 'i wanna be your lover' right now."
"yes sir!" salem said jokingly, but caused ciarán to tighten his grip on the steering wheel.
the upbeat song started playing through the speakers, and soon enough, ciarán was singing along.
"this is my third time singing for you." ciarán stated.
"for me? how cute. i don't remember the previous two times but you can make it up now."
"i ain't got no money." ciarán started, but salem knew that was a lie. he literally had just made her put in the password for his iphone x.
when it got to the chorus, ciarán sang, "i wanna be your lover." and looked over at salem, wiggling his brows, which caused her to laugh.
he occasionally glanced over to look at her, but he sang real loud when it got to a certain part.
"i want to turn you on, turn you out
all night long, make you shout
oh, lover! yeah
i wanna be the only one you come for."
her eyes widened at his sudden confidence, heat rushing to her cheeks at the thought of ciarán doing unspeakable acts to her.
once the song was over, ciarán asked, "how'd you like my singing?"
salem smiled, "you have a lovely voice, but did you really have to look at me like that while singing the lyrics?"
ciarán played innocent, "like what?"
salem rolled her eyes, "how long 'til we get there? i can't stand being in a car with a crackhead."
"you can't stand being in a car with yourself? then how do you get to and from work everyday?"
salem gasped, her mouth left agape at ciarán's retaliation.
"just for that, i'm not talking to you for the rest of the car ride." salem crossed her arms and turned away from him, looking out the window.
"so you're not gonna speak to me for the next forty minutes?" ciarán jutted out his bottom lip.
"forty minutes?! jesus ciarán, how far away is this place?" salem blurted out, causing him to laugh.
"i knew you couldn't do it."
"pff, whatever. i'm gonna just hope that you aren't leading me to a remote area so you can murder me or something."
☻☻☻
"close your eyes." ciarán ordered.
"i don't want to." salem simply retaliated.
"don't be stubborn, it's all apart of the surprise."
"ciarán, it's completely unnecessary." she replied honestly.
"i'm trying to be cliché, while you're being hard to work with."
salem rolled her eyes, "fine. i'm gonna count how many cliché things you do throughout this date."
salem could tell ciarán was slowing down, pulling up to a parking spot. the car completely halted, and he turned the engine off. he opened the car door, got out, and shut it behind them. he went over to the passenger side, opening the door for salem.
he unbuckled her seatbelt for her, and took her hand, guiding her out of the car. he snaked his hands over her eyes, just to make sure she wasn't peeking.
they walked a few paces, ciarán walking behind salem, before coming to a stop.
"ready?" ciarán asked.
"i've been ready for the past five minutes."
ciarán removed his hands from her eyes, and the location was finally revealed to salem.
"a botanical garden?!"
a/n:
our semester FINALLY ended and (i think) i have straight a's !!! also i wanna go to bonnaroo so bad since i live a state next to tennessee but i can't :(
