Chapter 13:

Yes

"You're going on a date?" My mum and Sophie shriek in synchronisation as I tell them both at the same time. Sophie on the phone, Mum stands in the doorway.

"Yes." I answer back, laughing at their excitement.

"Where and when?" My mum asks, her face full of happiness which my face is beginning to mirror.

"Tomorrow night and he won't tell me! He said that he wanted to surprise me."

Mum squeals at my response.

"Oh my god, what are you going to wear?" Sophie asks.

"This is the problem, I have no idea!" I moan.

My mum runs over to my closet, throwing the door open, flicking through my clothes.

"However, yesterday, after I said yes to going on the date, he told me to wear something fancy." My mind fills with possible outfit ideas that I can wear.

I turn my attention back to my mum, her eyes lingering on one dress in particular.

"I think this one would be perfect." She says, holding the burgundy dress in her hand.

The dress is strapless with a v-neck cut. It's tight, showing off every curve and the colour of it matches perfectly with my brunette hair.

I've never worn this dress, it is so beautiful that I've always told myself that I'll save it for a special occasion.

And I guess this date is going to be something pretty special.

"I want to see it! Send me a picture." Sophie excitedly replies.

Taking my phone, I quickly take a picture, sending it to Sophie.

"YES!" She shouts back, resulting in my mum letting out a loud laugh.

I smile at her as she holds the dress out towards me.

"I have the perfect clutch bag to go with this! Let me grab it." She passes me the dress before running out of the door.

"So Zac finally won you over did he?" Sophie questions, her voice all smug.

"Yeah, he apologised for everything and we agreed to stop fighting. Then he became his usual self, using his words to charm me and as you can see, his words obviously worked."

"Did he charm you with anything else other than his words? If you get what I mean." She hints.

"Maybe..." I reply shyly.

I can hear her trying not to let out another scream.

"Lola, you have got to tell me everything." She demands.

"About what?" Mum questions, appearing at my doorway holding a black clutch bag.

"Nothing." A guilty look appears across my face.

"That bag will look great, thanks Mum!" I continue, trying to change the topic.

"I'm so excited." She says, turning around to leave the room.

"Oh and Lola, tell him to come to the door to pick you up. I think it's about time I met the famous Zac Enderly."

***

Swirling my gold bangle around my wrist, I nervously check the time, waiting for Zac to arrive.

It's 7:30pm, Zac will be here any minute.

My straight brown hair tickles my back as I keep turning my head to look out of the window.

For once in my life I manage to be ready on time, mainly due to the excitement. I straightened my hair which had taken little time and my makeup had gone on without any problems, today luck seems to be on my side.

"He's here!" My mum announces, jumping up and down.

"Please act normal." I beg, rolling my eyes.

As the doorbell rings, I stand up from the couch, straightening my dress out.

"Hi, I'm Carol, it's so lovely to finally meet you." Mum says, looking Zac up and down as she opens the door.

"Hey, it's nice to meet you too." He replies, his accent soft.

Picking up my black bag, I finally turn around to face the door and see Zac for the first time.

He looks incredible.

He stands in the doorway, the biggest grin I've ever seen plastered on his face. His blue eyes widen as he stares back at me.

"Wow." He finally manages to say.

He's wearing black, skinny jeans with a white shirt and black tie. The sleeves are rolled up drawing attention to his hands which are holding the most beautiful bouquet of flowers I have ever seen.

"You look amazing." He says, handing me the flowers.

"Thank you." I stare down at my black stilettos, hiding the blush on my cheeks.

"So, where are you two heading off to?" My mum questions, staring at the both of us in awe.

"I still want to keep it a surprise but I know Lola will love it."

"Well that sounds lovely! You two better head off then, you don't want to be late." She replies, still holding the door open.

"Ready to go?" Zac turns to look at me, a sweet look on his face as he holds out his hand.

I nod, taking his hand, walking towards the door.

It is the first time I have held his hand since he led me to the bench at Sophie's party but this time he isn't letting go.

"It was lovely to meet you Mrs Haywell." Zac shoots my mum a smile.

"Please, call me Carol. Enjoy your evening." She replies, taking the flowers off of me to put into a vase.

"Bye, I'll see you when I'm back." I reply, turning to look at her as she begins to close the door.

She gives me a quick thumbs up and one look back; the look of approval.

***

"And here we are!" Zac pulls up outside the restaurant, turning off the engine.

"Wait, you've booked us a table at Bella Amato?" I ask, completely shocked.

Bella Amato is the best Italian restaurant in town, it's fancy and it's home to the best pasta around. I've wanted to eat here ever since moving here.

He opens the door, leading me in. He quickly shoots me a proud smile as an answer to my question. He knows that he has done well.

"Hi, I have a table for 2 booked under the name Enderly." He tells the waiter.

"Yes Sir, right this way please." The waiter replies in his Italian accent.

As we walk to our table, I look around the restaurant in disbelief. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling whilst sculptures and water features sit in front of the white walls. Everybody else is also dressed up, the orchestral music is softly playing through speakers. This place is like nothing I have ever seen before.

The waiter hands me a menu as I sit down. Zac sits across from me, the candle light reflecting the golden specks in his ocean blue eyes. I can't help but smile at him.

"Zac, this place is amazing, I can't believe that you've brought me here."

"Well I know how crazy you are about pizza so going to an Italian only seemed right. Also I wanted our first date to be special." He saya, brushing the hair out of his face.

This date is already special to me.

"Well I'll have you know that tonight I will be ordering pasta." I says.

"Wow! Lola Haywell is not going to order a pizza? What other surprises are you going to spring on me tonight?" He sarcastically jokes.

I laugh at his comment, he's right, I do love a pizza.

***

"You should've seen what it was like when we won the football game of the season in Sophomore year, it was wild." Zac says before finishing the remaining mouthful of carbonara left on his plate.

"I bet. Your parents must be super proud of you! Everybody does say that you're the football team's star player."

"Yeah they were. Both of my older brothers have also played football since they were little too, my parents are used to going to football games."

"Older brothers? I couldn't imagine having brothers, they'd annoy me too much."

"Really?" Zac replies laughing as he takes a sip of his drink.

"Let me guess, you're an only child?" He continues.

"Nope, I have a younger sister, she's 4."

"You think having brothers would annoy you but having a 4 year old sister doesn't?" A confused look appears on his face.

"No, I adore her. I think she sees me as a second mum, so it's like having two mums around the house." I laugh, picturing Lily's face.

"What about your dad?" He furrows his brows in even more confusion.

I shuffle my cutlery awkwardly.

"He left us a few years ago..." I avoid his eye contact, I can't bear seeing the pity in his eyes.

"Oh. I'm sure your mom is all you both need though, she seemed really great." He smiles, trying to gain my eye contact.

"She is." I smile, looking back up at him.

"So what made you guys move here then? I mean moving to another country is a big thing to do."

I can feel my heart start to race, I never expected him to ask questions about England.

"We just fancied a bit of a change and America sounded like the change that we needed." I lie, I cannot tell him the truth. Not yet anyway.

"You're not wrong there, and in doing so you met me."

I roll my eyes at his arrogant comment.

He shifts his body so that he's sitting up straight, reaching his hand across the table to hold mine. I can sense that he has something on his mind.

"You look so beautiful tonight. I just feel so lucky to be here with you, I'm so glad you gave me another chance.. I messed things up before but this time I'll make things right, I promise."

"Things will be different, I know they will." I smile back, squeezing his hand for reassurance.

"Did you enjoy your meal?" He asks, the seriousness disappearing from his face.

"That lasagne was the best I have ever had! The ratio of meat to pasta was spot on."

"You seriously are crazy about Italian food aren't you? Let me grab the bill and then we'll go" Zac smiles.

Signalling at a waiter, he asks for the bill.

"So what now?" I question, getting up from my seat as we start to leave after Zac has generously paid.

"We just have one more place to go to." He smiles mischievously.

Exiting the restaurant, he holds the passenger side door open for me to get in.

"One more thing, for us to go to where we are going, you must wear this." He hands me a black blindfold.

"A blindfold? What is this fifty shades of grey?" I joke, slightly scared.

"Just trust me." He replies, slamming the door before walking round to get into his seat.

"This better be worth it." I say, pulling the blindfold over my eyes.

"It will be."

***

It feels like we have been driving forever and the whole time I have been bombarding Zac with questions about where we were going.

"You've taken me out for dinner and now you're blindfolding me as though you're kidnapping me! That would be a good story to write about." I moan.

He laughs back at me.

"I can see it on the news now 'Star football player Zac Enderly murders new British girl Lola Haywell after nice date.'" I joke, trying to annoy him to the point at which he will tell me.

"Are you serious? Quit complaining, we're almost there." He laughs again.

The car ride begins to feel more bumpy as though we are driving on something like gravel.

"Okay we've arrived. Do not take the blindfold off." He demands as he gets out of the car.

Opening my car door, he helps me out of the car.

"Just hold onto me and keep walking." He guides.

Everything is silent and the air feels warm. I have no clue where I am. A mixture of adrenaline and fear pulsates around my body with every heartbeat.

Zac unlocks something which I can only assume is a door before I feel like I am walking on something soft.

After walking for about another 10 metres, Zac speaks again.

"Take off your blindfold."

Slowly, I lift up the blindfold, at first everything's blurry but then I begin to see what is in front of me.

A bench.

I look around me some more: a lake, a house.

This isn't just any bench, it is the bench. We are at Sophie's house.

The bench has been decorated with fairy lights and candles, a blanket lays draped across the top of the bench.

Zac sits on top of the bench, smiling, holding his hand out for me to come and join him.

His smile reflects onto my face and I feel overwhelmed with happiness. He has done all of this for me.

This was the first place where I realised just how much I liked him.

Taking a seat next to him, positioning myself so that my body is facing him, he tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear, his hand lingering on my cheek.

"I should've done this last time we were here." He says quickly, pulling me into a kiss.

I melt into the kiss, placing my hands on his chest as he pulls me closer towards him. The kiss is more gentle than last time but the sparks between us are even bigger than before. He tangles his hands into my hair as he deepens the kiss, adding more intensity. This kiss feels different, it isn't as much of a surprise as before, and the atmosphere of our date makes it feel more romantic. Kissing Zac is everything I've ever wanted and more.

Zac starts to peck my lips softly before pulling away.

"Lola, I need to ask you something." He rests his forehead on mine.

I pull my head back, scanning his face for a hint of worry but there isn't any.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asks, biting his lip.

The corners of my mouth slowly grow into the biggest grin I can give.

"Yes." I reply, throwing myself into another kiss.

I throw my arms around his neck as I feel him smiling whilst kissing me. I could just stay here forever kissing him, everything is so perfect.

"She said yes!" Sophie screams, startling the both of us.

I turn to see Sophie leaning out of her bedroom window.

"Congrats guys!" Blake shouts, appearing next to her.

We both laugh in unison, cringing at Blake's use of words.

"THIS MEANS THAT WE CAN GO ON A DOUBLE DATE!" Sophie screams again, louder than before.

Typical Sophie.

Zac kisses my cheek gently, looking into my eyes.

"The new British girl is officially my girlfriend." He says proudly whilst joking.

It really is official. Zac Enderly is my boyfriend.