Pretty Bird

"Alright, stop right there."

His smile was magnetic. All I could was stop right in my tracks, my eyes set on him.

"Alright. You are going to go into the bedroom, change into something cute, and I am going to take you out."

"Uhm...where are we going?" I asked, tossing the car keys onto the couch. My purse shifted on my shoulder.

"Its a surprise, love!" He was standing right in front of me, ambushing me as if he had been waiting for me to come back from Lee's house. He was clearly hyper, excited by whatever strange little idea he had planned in his head. In fact, he had already gotten completely ready, straightening his hair and getting dressed, wearing some ridiculously patterned Bape hoodie and a Drop Dead t-shirt I had helped him design. "I left the straightener on for you if you wanted to use it."

I smiled, always a victim of his ridiculously endearing charms. I mean, it was always the little things he did. I imagined him going to switch the straightener off, but then remembering me and keeping it on. I hoped he smiled when I entered his thoughts. I stood up onto my tip toes, and kissed him. "Alright, alright. I'll listen to you just this once. How long do I have?"

"As long as you need. I'll wait." He smiled into the kiss, before pulling away and sitting on the couch, where I noticed his laptop on. "I'll just do orders and invoices and shit for Drop Dead."

I nodded, before following his orders and going into the bedroom. The majority of my 'cute clothes' were being washed, all still dirty from the trip to London. You had to dress trendy and cool in London, it was like an unwritten rule. So, I just grabbed clothes I knew were clean, and a jacket. My hair, on the other hand, wasn't going to be so simple. Whenever I went to one of Oliver's shows, he always joked around with me, running my hair through his fingers telling me how thankful he was I didn't have one of those 'scene girl poofy tangle messes' on my head. I would always laugh, kissing him gently, reminding him that half of those scene girl fans with poofy tangle heads liked him only for his hair. He would always reply telling me his hair was amazing, and that it made perfect sense to him for people to only like him for that. Unfortunately, 99% of the time, Oliver's hair did look better than mine. Accepting defeat, I just ran a few pieces through the straightener, just to minimize the frizz. I exited the bathroom, ignoring the few makeup products I had yet to unpack. I rarely ever wore make up; it was more of a hassle than anything else as far as I was concerned.

"You clean up well, Serra." He smiled, closing the laptop as I walked into the living room.

"You don't look too bad yourself, Sykes." I blushed, before lifting two pairs of shoes in my hands. "Heels or tennis shoes?"

"Tennis shoes?!" Oliver scrunched up his nose. "Alright then, Miss America."

"That is what they're called!"

"They're called trainers."

"No. Tennis shoes. And I guess I'll wear them then." I threw the heels back into the bedroom and began slipping the vans onto my feet, both of our smiles still shining bright. "You love it when you tease me, don't you?"

Oliver nodded, getting up from the couch and grabbing the car keys. "It's entertaining. You always make the best faces. Come on love, we have places to be!"

I rolled my eyes, following him out the door as my hand found his.

______________________________________

"Is this alright?" Oliver pulled my chair out for me, my eyes focused on the spectacular view to the side of us.

"It's absolutely fantastic." I said under my breath as he sat down across from me, smiling at him warmly as I took his hand, which was resting on the table. Here we were, in one of those cliché two person 'romantic' dinner tables at those Italian restaurants, complete with cheesy rose centerpiece and a flickering candle. However, I felt nothing less of amazing, regardless of it was cheesy or not. It was like Oliver had somehow gotten the best table in the entire place, the view overlooking the Sheffield skyline. I felt like I was a bird in the clouds looking down on the entire city, seeing as though the restaurant was on the 5th floor of some archaic, classically beautiful stone building that was already on top of a hill.

"I'm glad I meet my bird's approval." He smiled, making me blush even more as he took a menu off the table, examining it thoughtfully. "Are you in the mood for something particular?"

I shrugged, picking up a menu and scanning it, realizing almost everything was in Italian. "I don't even know what this all means. I could be ordering fried cat butt for all I know." I looked up to see Oliver giving me an awkward look before furrowing his brow, trying to decipher what exactly was under the 'AntiPasti' subheading.

We just let the waiter order for us, scared of actually ordering cat butt. Of course, it had to be under the condition that it was vegetarian. I still didn't consider myself one, but being around Oliver so much kind of forced me into the lifestyle. But, if someone put a steak in front of me, I wasn't going to turn it down.

"So," Oliver began, taking a sip of his glass of water. "You went to Lee's?"

"Yeah, and I saw Molly for a little while. They look happy with Aubrey. She has completely taken over."

"That baby was born at a good time, too. Right before a long break."

I nodded, his hand squeezing mine gently. "The baby is absolutely adorable, too. Have you seen Tom's new portraits of her?"

He nodded, leaning back in his chair. His vans squeaked under the table as his body shifted. "Yeah, I haven't seen her much though. In person, I mean."

"We should pay her a visit then. I've never seen you around kids before."

He flashed that billion dollar smile, laughing under his breath. "Don't tell me you are getting the baby fever."

"The what?" I cocked my head to the side, my hair falling past my shoulders.

"The baby fever! Every bird gets it at some time." Oliver rolled his eyes, still smiling. "Your biological clock, that weird need for you to have a baby just because you see someone else has one."

I scoffed, removing my hand from his and crossing my arms across my chest. "My biological clock is not ticking. She's just cute! Cant I just admire her from afar?" I took a sip of my water again. "She's the spitting image of Lee. It's funny."

Oliver laughed, reaching across the table to take my hand again. "I was just joking, love. Come here." He then stood out of his seat, still leaning over the table. His lips connected to mine gently, lingering for a second before his lips parted, signaling to me he wanted more than just a quick kiss. Thank God I was still seated; I could feel my legs turn to jello and my mind shut down, going on autopilot. It was like his kisses were completely toxic to my system, debilitating me until I was exactly where he wanted me.

I certainly didn't notice it, but Oliver pulled away from me, his lips bright red, contrasting from his silver lip ring. He had taken out one of them, growing tired of snakebites. He smiled at me, before turning his head. There, watching us with a disgusted look on her face, was some creepy old lady, with a huge fur coat and bright red lipstick. I rolled my eyes, Oliver laughing as the old lady huffed and puffed at us, muttering something about 'kids these days'. Oliver had that glint in his eye, the one that only appeared when he was thinking something mischievous.

"Come on," He whispered, throwing a bill on the table and taking my hand. "Let's get out of here."

I got up too, and grabbed my purse, which was hanging off my chair. As soon as I turned around though, thinking to follow Oliver out of the restaurant, his lips crashed into mine, his hipbones taking up their usual spot against my stomach, his hands in my hair. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close as his hands slipped down my back, finally stopping once his fingers slipped inside the back pockets of my jeans. I gasped into the kiss as his fingers brought me closer into him, our bodies no longer having any space between us. This time, i did hear the stuffy old lady practically shriek, demanding Oliver and I leave the restaurant. Oliver's lips left mine, a cocky smile appearing as he turned to face the lady. He flipped her off, and I laughed, my cheeks turning pink.

"I know a place better than this." Oliver said to me, leading me out of the restaurant as I giggled almost uncontrollably, the lady's look of horror etched into my mind as Oliver flipped her off and gave me one more sloppy kiss.

"Is it another surprise?"

"Mhm." He smiled at me, his lip ring glinting in the last rays of light, the sun setting over the horizon.

______________________________________

In the car ride, on the way to the second surprise, Oliver was completely silent. Granted, his hand was in mine, as always, but his lips were permanently etched into a smile, his eyes watching the road as he drove, or staring out the windows when we stopped for red lights. It made me incredibly nervous, having him not even trying to communicate with me. Finally, when he parked the car in some random deserted parking lot, I tried to look and see where we were, but there were no streetlights to illuminate the darkness.

"Alright, love. You have to close your eyes." Oliver said, his smile seeming to become fluid, lacing itself in his words. He was clearly excited, and it was contagious. My nerves began to jumble up inside my stomach and into my throat.

"I hate surprises, Oliver." I reminded him, opening the car door and getting out, following his lead.

"Just close them, please." He pleaded, taking my hand again as he led me into the dark. "I planned this! Don't ruin it!"

I sighed, closing my eyes, even though when they were open it was still ridiculously dark. I wondered how Oliver knew exactly where he was going anyways, as he led me down some path in the darkness. I could feel leaves and rocks crunching under my shoes, and the hill we were walking down turn more and more steep. I gripped Oliver's hand tighter for balance, and he squeezed back, his laugh filling up the space around us. After the hill finally became less steep and the ground became more even, the sound of crunching leaves and rocks disappeared, and my patience began to wear thin, we stopped.

"Alright, open them, love."

".....You....Oliver Sykes....did this?" I gasped, stunned momentarily by the scene in front of me. Oliver had led me through some kind of park, the trees reaching tall and expansive all around us. I could faintly hear nocturnal birds and other animals in the woods, rustling through leaves or making their calls in the wind. I looked over at Oliver, whose hands were stuffed in his jean pockets, a slight pink color on his cheeks as he smiled awkwardly, chewing on his lip ring. I was still in shock, unable to smile back at him. "You did this?"

"Do you not like it?" He asked, the color on his cheeks intensifying.

"Are you kidding!? This is ridiculous. In a good way!" I exclaimed, finally able to express emotion after taking it all in. In the middle of this clearing, in the middle of some random woods, was a blanket, a colorful patchwork one I immediately recognized from being in Ian and Carol's house. I giggled, and collapsed onto the blanket, the grass under me squishing, creating a comfortable pillow against the earth. "You gonna join me or just stare, Sykes?" I smiled up at him playfully, patting the spot on the blanket next to me.

He snapped out of it, and joined me, my body folding into his as if it were second nature to fit into someone so easily. He held me close, my jacket no longer keeping the cold completely off of me. "I didn't know throwing a blanket down in the middle of a forest would make you so happy." He spoke into my hair, kissing my temple softly.

"Its about so much more than the freaking blanket." I laughed, snuggling up to him and turning my head up to look at the sky, which was clear and uncovered by the normal mass of clouds that covered Sheffield. "That's beautiful."

He looked up too, his arms still gripped around me tight. "See what I mean now?"

"What?

He laughed softly. "You're the one who normally remembers everything, and here I am telling you about the past. Don't you remember what I said to you about Sheffield when we were in Vegas?"

I shook my head, that night when I cut my foot on Oliver's Jack Daniels bottle a complete blur.

"Rolling hills, lots and lots of green, the tallest trees..." He began to list off. "I should have mentioned the occasional clear sky and twinkling stars as well."

"Oh yeah," I looked around. "Well, here are your hills and trees and your sky." I smiled up at him, his eyes still fixed on the stars above us.

"I wanted to share it all with you."

The simple statement stunned me into silence. The lack of talking still felt completely comfortable and at ease, the sounds of nature creating a perfect backdrop to the perfect moment I was sharing with Oliver. "And its perfect." I breathed out, the cold wind I breathed in seemed to clear out my system.

"That, love, it is. There is lot of perfection in the world, if you know where to look." Right at that moment, he turned to me, his deep eyes captivating and hypnotizing me. "And I happen to know where to look."