𝘽-𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙚

Ｓｔａｉｒｗａｙ ｔｏ Ｈｅａｖｅｎ

Ｔｗｅｎｔｙ Ｎｉｎｅ-Ｓｔａｉｒｗａｙ ｔｏ Ｈｅａｖｅｎ

"You're going out on a date?" Rhys asks softly, I stop washing the dishes and set them down,

"I just need something to clear my head. This date will do exactly that." I say, resuming my task. As I set the last dish down, into the dishwasher Rhys gently grabs my hands,

"How do you think Romeo will feel about being used as a distraction?" I fell onto the couch and put my head in my hands, Rhys was right. If I use him, I'll be no better than Araluen. But, I'm not using him, I'm trying to figure out my feelings and this will help me figure that out.

"I'm trying to figure out my feelings and this might help me," I whisper and Rhys nods, slowly pulling me to my room.

"Then let's find something for you to wear." He says, going through my closet. I get up, putting a hand on his shoulder,

"I can find something for myself Rhys, I'll meet you downstairs." Rhys pouts childishly as I go on my tippy toes, trying to ruffle his hair. I grab a green sweater and a jean skirt, slipping both of those things on.

As I walk downstairs my hand clutches my empty neck in desperation, I was nervous and without the ring it would eat me whole. I scratch at my neck with my dull nails as Rhys runs in, grabbing my hands firmly,

"Talulah, calm down." His words echo in my ears as I snap out of my phase. I gasp out and hold his hands, I needed support right now and he was the only one that was giving it to me.

"I'm good."I pant out, greedly swallowing oxygen as Rhys encases me in a hug, his ringed fingers rubbing my back soothingly. He hesitatingly lets go and looks at me,

"Are you really?" He asks, pulling away from me. I leant against the nearest wall, how would I answer that? The necklace was everything for me and now it's gone. I shake my head,

"It's just the necklace. It meant everything to me and now it's gone. And on top of that I have nothing to replace it." I say, looking down at my phone and remembering that I have a date.

I hurriedly get up and grab my boots, quickly lacing them up. I look in the mirror and sigh when I see the tear stains on my cheeks. I ran to the bathroom and quickly washed my face, removing any evidence that I cried.

I quickly grab a random bag off one of the hooks and stuff my phone, keys and wallet in it.

"Wait Tal!" Rhys calls halting my departure. He comes near me and drapes a necklace of some sort over my neck. I look down and see a small cross, Rhy's cross to be more precise, on my neck.

"Really?" I ask, this was given to him by his mother. He nods his head firmly,

"Really." My eyes widen and I fly into Rhys's arms. I give him a big hug,

"Thank you so much!" He chuckles and strokes my hair,

"Anything for you Ara. Now go to your date. Have fun okay?" I nod and run out of the apartment, sliding into Dory. She grumbles to life with a slight puff and I slam on the gas, causing her to vroom.

"Time to get to this date."I grumble and jerk the steering wheel to the right.

"Finall- what the hell? How can he afford this place?" I yell as I look up at the name of the restaurant. Venice, is what it reads. Venice is one of the most high profile restaurants in all of DC.

"I don't think that I dressed properly for the occasion."I mumble, looking down at my average looking dress.

"I think that you dressed beautifully Wendy." I hear someone say from behind me. It's either Ty or Romeo and I only have a date with one of them.

"Romeo?" I say without turning around. I feel his hand skim over my waist,

"You know me that well?" He asks, bringing me close to him. I step out of his embrace,

"No, I used my common sense." Romeo rolls his eyes at the response and walks into the restaurant,with me following behind shyly.

I lean against the wall as I wait for him to get us a table. A part of me knows that we won't get a table since I didn't follow the dress code.

A couple minutes later, Romeo appears with a sorry expression on his face,

"I'm sorry princess, they wouldn't get us a table. We can go somewhere else though." He says and I look down at my outfit, wondering if it was my fault.

"It's fine." I say, swallowing thickly. We sit on his car hood in silence for a couple minutes until he clears his throat,

"What do you want to do?" He asks. I look around and remember that there's a park near here that Rhys and I used to go to.

"How do you feel about going to a children's park?" I ask playfully. He looks at me with wide eyes,

"Really?"

"For real." I say and he nods. I jump into my car, sticking my head out the window,

"Follow me." I grab the wheel tightly as Led Zeppelin streams through the speaker. I make a sharp turn to the right and park right behind the play structure.

"Where's the park?" Romeo asks as I grab his hand,

"Follow me!" I say before running at full speed, past the trees and the flowers.

"Wow." He said and I agreed. The fireflies were out and breeding, creating a one of a kind light show. I pull him onto the tallest structure and climb up to the top before sitting on it.

"Rhys and I used to come here all the time with Ara when we were in college." I say, hearing him hum a low tune.

"Are you close with Rhys?" He asks.

"Ya, I've always been close with him." I say, smiling at all the memories that I had made with him. My hand goes toward the cross that he gave me,

"Did Rhys give you that?" I nod, confused, why were we talking about Rhys so much?

"Why are we talking about Rhys so much, I thought that this date was about us?" I asked, swinging my feet on the roof.

"Well it's obvious that you didn't come here to date me." I look up towards him, wondering how he figured that out. He chuckles,

"Darling, I can read you like a book."

"I'm sorry. I just had a lot on my mind." I mutter, looking at my hands shamefully. He looks at me sweetly,

"Talk to me."