selfish | salia

Chapter 10

I've been listening to Wallows so much recently, if you haven't heard of them I recommend you give them a listen!

We pulled up in front of a retro looking restaurant, located on a side street somewhere just outside of central London.

"This place looks cute," I smiled at Simon, our hands interlocked as we walked into the building. The strong smell of pasta sauce flooded my nose - this was an Italian place. It reminded me of our first date, and it was sweet that Simon still remembered my favourite food.

"Minter, table for two," He spoke quietly to the server who was now leading us over to a secluded booth in the corner.

"Someone will be round to take your orders in a couple of minutes," He explained, placing two menus in front of us.

We were left on our own now, and I looked around the place, impressed. The vibe was immaculate, and the scent really topped it off.

"This is slightly romantic if I do say so myself," I praised Simon, who I caught looking at me from across the table. His expression was slightly strained, and he almost looked panicked. "Simon?" I asked, a little concerned as to how he was behaving.

"Right, yeah, sorry. Was daydreaming," He spoke vaguely, shaking his head and looking down at the menu. Something was definitely off - I was sure I would worm it out of him eventually.

"I think I'm going to go with this one," I changed the subject, pointing at the first meal on the menu. "Might order myself a glass of champagne too, to treat myself after packing all day yesterday," I lightheartedly joked, and to my relief he laughed too.

"I'm with you on that one, might get some champagne too. I think I'm going to go with a pizza, though. Not as big a fan of pasta as you are."

We conversed over our choices and soon enough the server came back, collecting our menus after listing down our orders.

"So-"

"I-"

"You go first," I laughed, shifting in my seat slightly. He looked nervous, and this made me feel slightly nervous. What could he possibly be nervous about?

"Alright, then. Well I was just wondering, you know, we have each others numbers, we've...you know, you're moving in...I was just wondering if you'd like to be my girlfriend." He finished, and he looked at me expectantly.

I hadn't realised how much I had been craving for him to ask me that, because without even a moment of hesitation I told him yes, multiple times to be exact.

"Really?" He asked, his face lighting up in relief, and he leaned back against his seat, and it was at that moment I realised how much he had been bricking this.

"Of course, you really think I'd say no to you? Especially after five months of seeing you nearly every day? Of course I'm saying yes," I gushed, feeling my cheeks heat up as I spilled out my thoughts.

"Now you're being the cheesy one," He grinned, and I would've retaliated but our food came, a steaming plate of pasta placed under my nose. This was heaven. Thanking the server, I started to tuck into my meal, smiling up appreciatively at Simon.

"So," I asked between mouthfuls, "How did you even find this place? It's quite tucked away."

"A man never reveals his sources." I gave him a pointed look. "Okay fine. I asked Freya for help and turns out one of her friends from school works here so she was able to book us a table," He explained, and my heart rate sped up at the thought of him going to the trouble of asking for help to find a place.