Maiden with a Sparkling Eye

As Haley opened the door to her apartment, she was instantly met with the breeze coming from the hallway.
The first thing she noticed was the man standing in her door way, and looking up at his face, he had a large smile gracing his lips and his eyes were looking Haley up and down.

"Too much?" she asked, worried she had over dressed.

"N-no," he stuttered, shaking his head, "it's perfect. You're beautiful." He smiled again, taking her hand and placing a gentle kiss on top of it.

"You look quite handsome yourself," she blushed, looking at Josh's clothing choice. He wore a gray dress shirt, tucked into a pair of black dress pants, and if Haley was being honest, any girl would fall over how good he looked at that moment.

"Shall we?" He held his arm out to her and she took it, linking her arm with his and followed him to his car.

Haley laughed at the red Dodge pick-up that was sitting in the parking lot.

Josh looked at his date, raising his eyebrows, "What's so funny?"

"Your truck. It's very you," she looked up at him as he opened the door for her, smirking at him.

"Yeah, yeah." Josh shut the door and walked to the other side, hopping into the truck and starting it up.

"So where are you planning on taking me?" Haley asked him, taking her eyes away from the window to look at Josh, who looked back at her with a smile.

"That my lady, I cannot tell you." He smiled at her again and set his left arm on the arm rest between them.
Glancing back at Haley, he couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked.
He noticed the smile on her face as she watched the passing scenery, trying to figure out where Josh would be taking her.

He looked at his hand once and brought it down to brush against hers. Her fingers twitched and her smile grew slightly larger, and it was almost too much for her to handle as Josh laced their fingers together on the center console of his truck.

Haley blushed, looking up at Josh as he watched the road in front of him, silently pulling into the parking lot of a restaurant.

"No!" Haley exclaimed, looking at Josh through wide eyes with a grin on her face, "You're not taking me here."

"Like hell I'm not taking you here. I told you to dress some what formal didn't I?" He laughed.

"Well, y-yeah," she stuttered, "but isn't it kind of expensive?"

Josh let out a hearty laugh, "I think I can handle it."

Josh got out of the truck and Haley watched him walk around to her side, opening the door for her and instantly lacing his fingers through hers again, leading her into the restaurant.

He opened the door for her, and she was instantly hit with a fresh smell of pasta and wine.

"Smells good, doesn't it?" Josh asked her, squeezing her hand, earning an excited nod in response.

"Do you have a reservation?" The slightly unhappy matridee asked, glancing up from under her glasses.

"Beckett, window seat for 2." The woman smiled, grabbing two menus from a rack on her way by and leading them to a table in the back of the restaurant by a window with a view of the ocean.

"This view is beautiful." Haley exclaimed, settling herself into the chair Josh had (very gentleman like) pulled out for her.

"It is, isn't it?" Josh debated on taking her hand again, but quickly decided against it, assuming that he shouldn't overwhelm her on the first date.

"Good evening, I'm Sarah, I'll be serving you tonight." Haley tore her eyes away from the water to look at the young, tired looking waitress in front of her, and offered her a smile, which she graciously returned.

"Could I start you two off with something to drink? We got a new wine in today that I'm sure you'd enjoy."

Josh glanced at Haley from across the table and shrugged his shoulders. Haley did the same, nodding as she did so, and Sarah left to retrieve the wine.

"This isn't too much is it?" Josh asked, patting down the invisible bumps in his napkin nervously.

"No, no," Haley reassured him, "This is all very sweet, really." She grabbed his hand from across the table and rubbed her thumb over his fingers to reassuring him.

"I just wanted to impress you," he sighed.

Haley took her hand back, giggling. "You don't need to impress me Josh. I'd be happy just sitting around my place all night eating frozen pizza."

Josh smiled at her, realizing what a simple person she was.

"Then do you wanna go somewhere else? Jillian's maybe?" He set the napkin on the table, hoping she would agree.

She smiled at him, standing up and grabbing her handbag off the table, "I'd love that."

Josh took Haley's hand and all but ran out the door of the restaurant, slipping a 20 into their confused waitresses hand on the way by.

Jumping into the truck, Josh started the ignition before Haley could even close her door and drove off down the busy streets of Boston, headed in the direction of the bar.

~~~~~

"You're kidding?!" Haley laughed, as she set down her empty beer bottle and Josh tried to get his breathing back to normal.

"No joke, he took all of Clays clothes and locked them in the closet with the ground crews shit and Clay had to walk around with a towel on until Terry came in and made Pap get him his clothes out of it. It's just too hard not to fuck with rookies."

Haley laughed more, clutching her stomach with her hand.

"What?" she asked, noticing Josh staring at her.

"Nothing," he shook his head, "I just love your laugh."

Haley felt her cheeks heat up and she knew she had to be the deepest shade of red possible.

"Oh shut up..." she mumbled, picking up the second beer that the bartender had brought her.

Music was playing at Jillian's and people were laughing and dancing and having a good time, and Josh was more then glad no one had bothered him yet.

"You know, you blushing like that is just making you even cuter." Josh lifted up Haley's chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

Haley just blushed even more, and was enjoying how important Josh was making her feel.
Yet in the pit of her stomach, she felt a familiar feeling. She wasn't sure if she should trust him just yet. She'd always had trouble trusting certain people, and it normally wasn't very easy for her to take her wall down and let people in. That's the reason she was only close to a handful of people; Because she only trusted select few people, and it took her years to trust them.
Like Regina for example. It took her until second semester of her freshman year at BC to even talk to Regina about her family and high school experience. They became friends, but Haley hadn't trusted her enough to tell her about the events that made her so un-trusting of herself. That didn't come until their junior year, and Haley found herself glad that she had talked to Regina about her fathers death.

They eventually got internships for the Boston Globe, and began working together. They even looked at apartments and ended up renting one in Quincy. She even found herself becoming closer to Regina then she had been to any of the friends she had in high school.

"Are you okay?" The sound of Josh's voice brought Haley out of her thoughts and she blushed more, realizing he'd been talking to her.

"Sorry, just thinking." Her voice was flat.

"Oh," he said awkwardly, "About what?"

"Uhm, it's personal..." She wiped the condensation off her beer bottle, crossing her legs.

"Okay. I wont push it." Josh placed a comforting hand on Haley's knee, and she felt the pit of her stomach jump.

"Thank you." she smiled, "What were you saying before?"

"I was asking if you maybe wanted to dance?" Haley looked out at the small dance floor located in the center of the room and a few couples were dancing to a slow song.

Gravity by John Mayer, a song that Haley had come to love.

Smiling at Josh, she grabbed his hand, "I'd love to."

Josh followed after her, putting a hand on her hip and taking one of her hands in his as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

Maybe he's not so bad. Haley thought.

She bit her lip, looking down slightly and looked back up to see Josh smiling at her.
Tentatively, she laid her head on his shoulder, bringing their bodies closer together.

Josh laid his head on top of Haley's, sighing happily.

"I'm really happy you said yes Haley." He whispered into her ear, making Haley shiver.

"Me too," she picked her head up for a few seconds to smile at him, "I'm having fun."

"I'm glad."

Josh spun her around, and Haley felt as though she was in a scene from a movie. This date was going very cliche, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Haley?" Josh asked, making her head shoot up, "Uhm, can I. Can I kiss you?"

Haley smiled at him and nodded her head.
Leaning down slowly, Josh placed his lips on hers lightly, smiling before he had the chance to press his lips on to hers.
Haley took that as her chance, and pushed herself on to her tip toes, pressing her lips on to his and wrapping both her arms around his neck.
He smiled into her, taking his mouth away from hers.

She giggled again, licking over her lips and smiling up at him for what seemed like the millionth time that night.

~~~~~

Haley could feel Regina watching her and Josh through the peep hole as they stood outside the door, and she knew Regina would attack her with questions as soon as she opened the door.

"Could we do this again?" Josh asked, taking her hands in his and swinging them back and forth between them.

"It depends on work and everything."

Josh had to try not to frown. "Okay, well I'll call you alright?"

Haley smiled at him, "Of course."

Josh leaned down and kissed Haley on the cheek, whispering a goodnight before walking down the hall and out of sight.

Knowing the door was un-locked, Haley opened it, smacking Regina in the face with the door in the process.

Closing it behind her, Regina stood up, grabbing her friend by the hand and dragging her to her room.

"Tell me about this date." she squealed.

Haley smiled, kicking her shoes off and sitting on her bed, giggling like a little girl.

And for the first time in a while, Haley felt genuinely happy with where her life was at.

~~~~~
Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down

Oh I'll never know what makes this man
With all the love that his heart can stand
Dream of ways to throw it all away

Oh Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down