Imperfectly Beautiful (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #3)

Snowflakes and Security

-NATE-

It'd been a long time since I'd felt nervous around any woman—let alone Paige—but just knowing that this was our first official date made me want to ensure that everything went just right. This was a new beginning of sorts for us and a night that I hoped we'd both recount to our little one with fond, sweet memories.

So far, the night had been off to a good start. We'd nestled into my black Beemer with the fancy butterfly doors that had finally been delivered from L.A. and I'd given Paige the grand tour of my old stomping grounds in the neighborhood. I'd taken her around to see the tourist spots in downtown Boston when we'd first arrived, but this tour was strictly of places that had sentimental value to me—my high school, my old hangout spots, the park where Maria and I had gotten in snowball fights with our childhood friends and neighbors, and the music store where I'd bought my first guitar. There wasn't anything particularly notable about any of the places, but each one held its own set of personal memories and I couldn't think of a better way to open up to her than to let her peer into my world.

Paige had listened intently with a smile and laughed at all of my wacky stories before sharing similar tales from her own days growing up in L.A., except instead of stories of snowball fights and snowmen, hers were full of sunshine and beach days. She also recalled having fun designing her own outfits and I vaguely recalled that she'd still been into fashion when we'd first met—she'd even designed t-shirts for the release of my first single off my sophomore album, Revenge. I'd asked her why she stopped designing and she'd looked thoughtful before deciding that life had gotten in the way and she'd needed a "practical" degree in business. Her music industry minor had already been a long-shot, despite her experience working with me, and she hadn't thought it was realistic to add fashion too.

After a while longer of driving around, we'd finally reached the parts of my town that always went all-out with Christmas lights and she'd asked if it would be okay if we got out to see them up close. I'd asked if she was up for walking in her condition and she'd declared through giggles that she was pregnant, not plagued with a deadly sickness to which I'd had to chuckle, "True". Thus, we were now strolling along together in the suburbs of Boston and admiring all of the fun decorations while we played twenty questions.

"My turn to ask or your turn?" I asked as Paige looked up at me with her big, brown eyes.

"Um," she scrunched her face and giggled for the millionth time that night in a way that told me this was all making her nervous too. "I think yours?"

"Okay," I nodded and reached over to take her gloved hand into mine. "Favorite Christmas song and why? Mine would have to be Joy to the World because the children's choir at my Meme's church would sing it every year and I always loved getting to be lead and literally screaming at the top of my lungs with the church bells."

"I can imagine you as a tiny lead singing that," Paige grinned and I smiled as I felt her intertwine our fingers. "Do I have to pick just one?"

"Yeah, your all-time, if all the other Christmas songs went away and you could only have one, favorite," I lifted up our connected hands and placed a light kiss on the back of her glove until I heard a clicking noise that made me lift my head in search of the sound.

In the midst of talking and sharing, I'd almost forgotten about the paps who'd been following us around since the second we'd pulled out of my parents' gated neighborhood. I had no doubt they'd been sent out on a special assignment to try to figure out why I'd quit my tour and disappeared off social media, but it didn't change the irritation of it all. My true fans understood that I needed time to step back, but the media seemed hell-bent on making a story of it.

I had to admit that this set of camera men weren't as intrusive as the Los Angeles paps who seemed to get a thrill out of yelling out offensive questions just to get a rise out of me; instead, they stayed at a decent, silent distance. Nonetheless, their mere presence was was an invasion of my privacy and I felt bad for Paige as she peered around me to see the man squatting and pointing his camera at us.