When Flying Feels Like Falling

"Wow, don’t you look fancy!" Aunt Jo sang once she caught sight of me emerging from the bathroom. I blushed madly.

"So, a date, huh?" She smiled brightly. "Who’s the lucky guy?"

I smiled. "Tom."

"Tom? The Sykes kid?" She gasped, clapping her hands together. "He’s adorable! Big blue eyes, pretty smile."

I nodded. "Yep."

"He’s cute, Lori."

"That he is. But I honestly can’t believe he asked me out.” I laughed, shaking my head.

"Why? You’re a beautiful girl with a sweet personality. Why wouldn’t he ask you out?!"

"Aunt Jo, stop. You know I embarrass easily!" I hid my face behind my hands.

"Aww!" She laughed. "I’m sorry. But it’s true!"

I shook my head then suddenly paused. "Crap! Where’s my purse?"

Aunt Jo began scanning the room. "Aha!" She ran over to the bed and knelt down, holding my black purse in the air. "Here it is!"

I laughed. "Thanks."

She handed me the purse. "I’m so excited for you, Lor. I really am."

"Thanks, Aunt Jo." I embraced her into a warm hug.

"Welcome, kiddo. Come on, let’s go downstairs. When’s Tom supposed to be here?"

"Eight."

She checked her watch. "It’s seven forty-five. Is he punctual?"

I laughed. "I have no idea."

"Well, then, I guess we'll eventually find out."

We made our way downstairs, where Liam, Eric and Uncle Ray were sitting in the living room watching a soccer game.

"Liam, what the hell are you doing watching soccer?" I questioned confusingly.

"It’s not soccer, Lor. It’s football," He corrected. "Right, Uncle Ray?” He nudged my uncle in the ribs.

Uncle Ray laughed. "Right, kid." Then his eyes averted to me. "Blimey, Loreh! Don’t yeh look spiffeh!"

I blushed again.

"Doesn’t she look absolutely gorgeous?!" Aunt Jo threw her arms around me in an asphyxiating side hug.

"She sure does!" My uncle nodded.

"Where you goin, Loreh?" Eric asked in curiosity, tilting his head to the side.

"Date," I replied.

"A date?! With who?" Liam’s eyes widened. "Who’s the guy? Do I know him?"

"What’s with the third degree, Liam? Chill." I rolled my eyes. "It’s Tom."

"Tom? Oli’s brother?" He looked completely puzzled.

"Do you know any other Tom?"

"Blimey! Tom didn’t tell me he’d be taking my cousin out on a bloodeh date!" Eric shook his head. "Some mate he is!"

I laughed. "Must he tell you everything?"

"Of course! He’s my best mate, for bloodeh sake!" He sighed theatrically.

"Oh, hush, Eric." Aunt Jo waved her hand to her son.

"When exactly did Tom ask you out?" Liam asked confusingly.

"Yesterday at the park," I answered, rolling my eyes.

Liam looked thoughtful. "And where the hell was I?"

I looked at him dumbfounded. "Skateboarding, you idiot."

He scrunched his nose in disapproval.

DIIIIING DOOOONG. The doorbell suddenly echoed around the living room.

"What do you know! He is punctual!" Aunt Jo laughed.

"I’ll get it," Eric offered, jumping off the couch and running towards the door.

I quickly fixed my hair. I couldn’t help but feel a tad nervous. How was this date gonna go?

"Don’t worry, hun. You look incredible," Aunt Jo whispered. I just smiled thankfully at her. A few seconds later, Eric entered the living room with Tom right at his side.

I breathed out. He looked gorgeous. I mean, seriously. I was so used to seeing him with a simple hoodie and old jeans. He was now wearing a black and white striped polo shirt and dark jeans, along with a pair of black vans. His short hair was neatly combed, kind of resembling Oliver’s.

Once Tom caught sight of me, his big blue eyes grew even bigger.

"Hey Tom," I greeted with a smile.

"’Ey L-Loreh. Yeh look……." He looked as if he was trying to search for the right word.

Liam’s gaze fell on me, then quickly back to Tom. He didn’t seem too happy. Despite me being two years older than him, my brother was always sort of protective of me. Especially in these types of situations. Dates were always a damn hassle.

I laughed a little and walked over to Tom, linking my arm with his. "Shall we?"

"Yes!" He said a bit too loud.

Eric snickered and Liam crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. This was his friend, of course, but that didn’t mean he’d stop being so damn protective. Liam, with his rough exterior, tends to scare some people away. But not Tom.

"Have fun, you two!" Aunt Jo waved.

"Bettah not bring her back late, Sykes. Or I will be forced to hunt yeh down and kick yeh lil' arse all the way to bloodeh New Glockenshire,” Uncle Ray spoke in a deadly serious tone.

Tom’s eyes widened in fear. "I-I won’t, sir," He choked out.

Uncle Ray narrowed his eyes before bursting out in hysterical laughter. "Blimey, boy. I’m onleh kidding!"

Tom sighed in relief, regaining his posture. "I knew that."

"I’m sure." Uncle Ray continued laughing. "Have fun!"

"But not too much fun," Liam mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.

I rolled my eyes, tugging on his sleeve. "Come on, Tom."

I began leading him quickly out of the house before anyone else could give the poor boy a hard time.

How embarrassing.

Once we were out, I shut the door behind me.

"I am so sorry," I apologized, shaking my head.

Tom laughed. "It’s okay."

"But they kinda put you on the spot back there." I sighed.

"Yeah, I actualleh thought yo’ uncle was serious." He shook his head with a laugh. "He's a nice guy."

I smiled, thankful that he was so understanding. We slowly began walking over to his car, which was parked right in front of the house. Once we reached it, he kindly opened the passenger door for me.

"Wow, what a gentleman," I said with a small laugh as I got in.

"Mum thinks so too." He grinned cheekily, before shutting the door and walking over to the driver’s seat.

"Wow, I forgot that the wheels are on the right side here." I laughed, buckling my seat belt. "Nice car."

"Thanks! It’s not as nice as Olivah’s, but it does its job." He shrugged before starting up the engine and we were off.

"So where you taking me?" I asked casually, looking out the window.

"There’s this well nice Italian restaurant not too far from ‘ere. I think you'll like it." He smiled.

"Sounds great. I love italian."

"Perfect."

He leaned slightly forward and turned on the radio. Some random rock song blasted from the small speakers, startling us both half to death.

"Bloodeh hell. I'm sorreh," He said, quickly adjusting the volume.

I laughed. "It's okay."

He grinned.

"Loreh, you look so pretteh," He commented a minute later, focusing his eyes on the road.

I felt my cheeks burning. "Thanks."

Tom laughed, sneaking a peek at me. "Yeh look well cute when yo’ embarrassed."

"Stop it," I whined fakely.

He continued laughing. "This is fun."

"For you." I playfully slapped his arm.

"I give yeh a compliment and receive a slap in return? Weirdo." He shook his head.

This made me laugh. "Just drive, Sykes."

"As you wish, madam."

Ten minutes later we had finally arrived. Tom parked his car a few feet away from the small restaurant. I unfastened my seat belt and was about to open the car door when Tom stopped me by taking hold of my arm.

"Wait! I’ll open it for yeh." He suddenly jumped out of the car.

"Um, okay…….?" I laughed a little as he was now standing on the passenger’s side, opening the door.

"Tom, you don't need to do that. I can open the door for myself."

He waved his hand. "It’s a date, remembah? I have to be a total gentleman."

"It’s really not necessary," I said.

He rolled his eyes. "Loreh?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

I gasped. "Now that’s not gentlemanly at all!" I said in mock hurtfulness.

He grinned widely and took my hand. "Let’s go."

I smirked as we walked toward the corner restaurant. Tom, of course, opened the door for me there aswell.

"Ladies first," He sang, bowing.

I laughed and curtsied at him before stepping into the much warmer atmosphere.

"This place is so cute." I looked around.

Tom smiled, leading me to an empty table in the corner. "Glad yeh like it."

We both sat down across from each other. "Like it? Hell, I love it."

He laughed. "So classeh."

"You know it." I winked.

A minute later, a waitress came to our table carrying a notepad in her hand.

"'Ello. Welcome to Vita Bella. Can I take yo’ ordahs?" The girl asked politely, pushing her glasses up with her middle finger.

Tom and I picked up our menus. My eyes scanned all the dishes, which of course were in Italian. I only knew a few words. Tom looked a bit confused, bringing the menu closer to his face.

"Can I get the uh…pasta with extra tomato sauce?” He finally asked. I bet that was the only thing he understood on the menu.

The girl nodded. "And fo’ the ladeh?"

"Uh…I’ll have the chicken, please," I said, settling for something simple.

The girl nodded again, scribbling it all down on her notepad.

"I’ll be right back with yo’ ordahs," She said with a smile before walking away.

I ran a hand through my straightened hair. The restaurant had a very romantic atmosphere, along with the dim lights and classical background music. It had been a while since I'd come to places like these.

I looked at Tom, who I noticed was staring at me with a goofy grin on his face.

"What is it now, Tom?" I laughed a little.

"Nothing," He sang.

"Then what's with the staring?"

"Can’t I stare?" He laughed.

I shrugged. "Why would you stare at me for no reason?"

"It’s not for no reason. It’s because yo’ stunningleh beautiful," He said matter-of-factly.

"Tom," I whined.

"Okay, okay. I’ll stop." He laughed, holding his hands up. "Yo' reddah than a tomato, by the way."

My hand flew up to my cheek. "Really?"

He snickered. "Don't worreh. Yeh still look gorgeous."

That only made my cheeks grow hotter. This kid just kept on throwing compliments left and right. I'd seriously have to get used to that.

"So what’s life like back in Florida?" Tom asked curiously, finally stopping with the compliment session.

"It's great. I mean, it gets pretty boring at times, but I really like living there. It’s where I grew up, you know?"

He smiled. "What do yeh do?"

"Well, I work at a bookstore and I’m also studying to be a vet."

"A vet? Wow."

"Yeah, I love animals. I have two dogs, a hamster and a parrot back home." I laughed.

"Bloodeh hell, that's a lot of animals. I can't even keep a tiny goldfish alive fo' mo' than a day."

I laughed. "What about you? What do you do?"

"I'm realleh into photographeh. I take pictures of Bring Me The Horizon and other things. And I also help my brotha run our clothing line."

"You have a clothing line?" I asked intriguingly.

"Yeah. It’s called Drop Dead. The clothes are realleh different. Freakeh designs and stuff."

I smiled. "That’s awesome!"

He smiled back.

Soon, the waitress arrived with our food and we began eating. Tom would crack a few jokes every now and then, making me laugh hysterically. We were both laughing so much that at one point, Tom’s drink actually came shooting out of his nose. Needless to say that people in the restaurant stared at us like we were a couple of lunatics and probably wondered what the hell were two crazy teenagers doing at a fancy restaurant.

"’Ey, is it alright if we go somewhere aftah this?" Tom questioned, once we were done eating.

"Yeah, sure. Where we goin’?" I asked.

"My house. Maybe watch a movie?"

I bit my lip. His house? That meant Oliver would be there. And I definitely didn’t want my perfect night with Tom being ruined because of some douche.

Tom must've noticed my uneasy expression. "Don’t worreh. Oleh won’t be there. He’s at some night club with SJ and the rest of the guys. Probableh won’t be home til four or five in the morning."

I sighed in relief. "Good."

Tom laughed. "Yeh realleh don’t like him, do yeh?"

"I’m sorry, Tom. I mean, I know he’s your brother and all but….gah, I just can’t stand him." I shook my head.

"S’okay. Yeh not liking him is actualleh quite refreshing."

I gave him a weird look. "What?"

"It’s just…all the girls want Olivah. No matteh how fucking cocky and immature he is, girls would jump in front of a bloodeh bus just to get in his pants."

I grimaced. "Disgusting."

"Tell me about it. Yo’ probableh the first girl who’s evah hated him." He laughed. "And I think that bothahs the hell outta him."

"What do you mean?" I questioned confusingly.

It bothered Oliver that I hated him?

"Sometimes he talks about yeh. Calls yeh a bitch and all. It’s well amusing." He laughed. "I know he onleh says that cause yeh tell him off ratha than jump his bones."

I shook my head. "He's so conceited. I’m just so glad you’re not anything like him, Tom."

He grinned. "As am I. Othawise, I'd nevah have a shot with yeh."

I smiled.

"Shall we go?" He questioned.

"Sure." I nodded.

We both stood up from our chairs and Tom took some money from his pocket, placing it near the check. He then held his hand out. I smiled, taking it before we both made our way out of the restaurant.