Dear Diary,

4

Dear Diary, tonight I'm going to meet up with Antonio. Am I crazy for doing this? Probably. But do I care? No, surprisingly. I've never been able to do things like this because of my stupid parents. And to be honest, it's good to take a risk sometimes. I feel kinda excited about this, I hope he's nice. 8:09pm.

I've spent all day thinking about tonight, or over thinking. My mind is filled with negative thoughts about what could happen. "Nat, Aunty Maria is here, got some food for you cause I said you're cooking tonight." My brother, Kaleb pokes his head in my bedroom door.

I grin widely, "am I now?" he nods. "Yep, I did yesterday so it's your turn today, Lance can cook tomorrow." I shrug lightly, that's fair enough. "OK, I'll go get the food then." I scoot past Kaleb and head downstairs to where my Aunty is waiting for me.

"Hey, how are you?" I ask her, she looks at me and sends me a quick smile. "I'm doing good thanks Nat. I brought some food for you to cook with tonight." She reaches into her bag and hands me another smaller bag full of vegetables and a couple chicken breasts. I thank her and go to the kitchen to put everything on the work surfaces after she leaves.

It's 3:08 am right now and I'm currently very close to having a panic attack and just not going to meet Antonio I haven't heard from him since yesterday so I should probably message him to check if he still wants to meet.

'Hey Antonio, we still meeting tonight?' I hit send and lock my phone, chucking it on my bed carelessly, causing it to bounce once then hit my wall. "Fuck." I wince, as if it hurt me, I quickly pick it up again to see a small piece of the screen has chipped off. Fuck, my step mom is gonna kill me. Oh well, nothing I'm not used too.

After a short while, my phone vibrates with a text reply from Antonio. 'Ciao tesoro, yes we are. Can't wait to see you..' my heartbeat picks up its pace a little bit, stupid. 'OK, see you soon.' Shit it's 3:17 am, I have to leave now.

-

I'm here. It's so cold and dark, and I can't see Antonio anywhere, I'm even at the back of the church where he said to meet. I check my phone again to see if he's messaged me, nothing. 'Hey I'm here..' I hope he replies. If he doesn't get here in 10 minutes, I'm going home.

'Behind you.' The vibration of my phone causes me to jump a little, that scared me. I take a deep breath and slowly turn around. Antonio is stood there with a huge smile slapped on his gorgeous face. A blush creeps onto my face from just looking at him.

"Are you just gonna stare at me or are you gonna come and hug me Principessa?" My breathing quickens and I open my mouth to speak but end up stuttering. "Uh, y- yes sorry." I hesitate before shuffling forward and leaning into his open arms.

He takes no time in wrapping them around me and squeezing me tightly. "You smell like an exotic fruit." he murmurs into my hair. My heart is beating so so fast oh my god. "T-thanks," God I bet I sound like a complete idiot.

A deep chuckle erupts from his throat, it sounded so good! "I don't remember seeing you this shy at the party bella." he teases. I pull back from the hug and try my best to look him in his eyes.

They were such a beautiful colour, a mixture of green and grey-blue. Even though in the dark they seemed to sparkle. "You're staring at me again Natalia," Antonio whispers, that cheeky grin still on his face. "Hm I can't help it," I reply. That was very forward of me to say. "Oh, can't you huh?" the redness on my cheeks intensifies as his eyes bore into mine. I can't even look away.

I shake my head, realising I haven't answered him yet. "Um, so what are we gonna do tonight then?" I inquire, tilting my head a little to look up at him properly. I forgot to mention he's literally like six foot.

"Well, I was thinking we could climb this, the view of the sunrise is the best." My jaw drops. "CLIMB IT!? Are you absolutely insane?!" I squeal. He simply nods and grabs my hand, pulling me with him as he walks towards a ladder built into the wall on the eerie building.

"Uh, are you sure this is safe Antonio?" A slight prickle of fear causes the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. "Yes I'm one hundred percent sure, I'd never allow you to be put in danger." That was sweet of him to be honest, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm scared to death about climbing to the top of the church.

-

After a whole ten minutes, we reach the top of the church. There's a little flat area which has the perfect view of the horizon and there's two chairs and a little table set up, with a little candle on top. I turn to look at Antonio who is staring back at me.

"Did you do this for me?" I ask timidly, he nods gently, a small smile playing on his lips. My cheeks begin to grow warm and I know for sure I am blushing. "I figured this would be a nice way for you start to trust me.."

"Trust you?" What does he mean? "I mean like, so you know I'm not gonna hurt you,"

"Oh okay, well I'm still a little sceptical." I tell him, he doesn't say anything else but takes my hand again and takes me to sit in the fold-able chairs he has set up. "Twenty minutes until the sun rises bella." His smooth voice rings out into the crisp night air.

"That went very quick," I pause for a second, thinking. "What does bella mean?"

I turn away from the beautiful, pastel colours forming in the sky and look at Antonio, he's already looking at me. "It means beautiful." Why does his voice sound deeper than before? It's so soothing. "Oh," I reply, and for the third time this morning my cheeks flushed a deep red.

"I find it cute when you blush. Every time I compliment you," Antonio chuckles and reaches over to grab the candle, he pulls a small lighter out of his pocket and lights it, then places it back onto the table gently.

"Do you smoke?" I query. I watch as he shakes his head, his loose deep brown curls bouncing around his face. "No, I used to." I watch as he puts the lighter back into his pocket. His skin is so tanned, even in fall. "You're Italian right?" God that was a stupid question. He grins cheekily.

"Haven't you figured that out by now sciocca?" I huff and turn away from his intimidating stare. "Yesss but I just wanted to be sure!" My voice goes wavy as I try not to giggle. "Ah I see," He retorts playfully.

All of a sudden, a shard of blinding light shines on my face. I'm quick to shield my face with my hand. "No, look bellissima, watch the sunrise with me." Antonio instructs me, I slowly remove my hand from in front of my face and look forward to the sun, which is slowly ascending from below the horizon.

It's so beautiful. The sky surrounding it is an array of bright yellow shades blending into pastel oranges and then into the prettiest pale blue colour. I turn to sneak a glance at Antonio but I'm caught red-handed because he is already watching me, "Why do you always stare at me?" I get nervous when I'm being looked at, or if I'm the centre of attention. That's why I don't like my birthday.

"Because I like to look at you Natalia." He replies. His words are so simple yet very... effective. My heart starts to beat faster the more we stare at each other. "Um, I-I have to get home." I stammer, I begin to stand and stretch my legs. "Ah yes, I'll walk you so you're safe."

It doesn't take long before we are stood in front of my house, "Thank you for tonight, or this morning." I giggle softly, a smile lingering on my face. "You're very welcome principessa, it's my pleasure. I hope we can do something like that again." I nod, agreeing with him.

"Good, anyway you should get some sleep darling, I'll text you later." He leans in and kisses my cheek. He smells so good, like pine wood and cinnamon. It reminds me of Christmas. "Bye," I whisper as I watch him walk away.

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Oof, this chapter is a little longer than I expected it to be. I hope you enjoyed it though :D. Let me know what you think about this in the comments. Don't forget to VOTE.