Teach Me to Please | Please Me #1 - Chapter 38: Chapter 38

The first thing I did waking up that morning was think. Poetic, I know, but I had to. I had so many things rushing through my mind I found it harder and harder to keep track of them. Sometimes I believed I thought too much about things, other times I thought too little to the point I was careless. Now? I didn't know how and what I was thinking of, but one thing was for sure, I needed to figure out this whole Roman thing.
You see, my plan originally was keeping it to just the deal, clinical almost, but now... now I knew too much. Now I was Roman's friend. How could I go back to being Roman's friend when all I wanted to do was rip his clothes off every time I saw him? I tried not to think of it – really, I did. However, it was inevitable, and the inevitable had a horrible way of sneaking up on you, especially considering the Spring Fling was right around the corner.
I let out a long sigh and reached my hand to the other side of the bed. I didn't remember Roman leaving, but he must have as I rubbed my hand around the empty sheets. He was gone.
Sitting up, I looked over at the void where his body was, and a chill of coldness spread throughout my body. Where was he? I pressed my feet against the cold, wooden floor and padded over to my drawers to find some fresh underwear, considering I wasn't wearing any, and a pair of shorts that became hidden as I slipped them on under the oversized, red hoodie that once belong to Roman, now belonging to me.
I waited at the top of the stairs, listening to see if my parents were awake. The clattering of pots and pans told me they were, and I trekked down the stairs, letting the delicious smell of bacon and eggs waft over my senses.
As I reached the bottom however, I was met with I sight I didn't expect to see. There was Roman. By the stove. Cooking bacon. And my parents were with him!
I almost screamed for several reasons; one being the fact that my mom never let anyone cook in the kitchen besides herself, occasionally my dad and I with given instructions, and two, Roman wore the same clothes as yesterday making it obvious to the fact that he slept over and my parents were not dumb, so leading on to number three, they most likely knew that Roman and I had sex last night and I had absolutely no idea how to feel content with that knowledge.
"Morning, sweetheart." My dad noticed me standing at the bottom of the stairs as he sat at the breakfast table drinking his coffee.
"Yes, morning, sweetheart." My mom stared at me with a little knowing glint in her eyes. I almost died right there and then.
"What... What's this?" 'this' meaning this whole situation. My mom got up from her seat and walked over to me with a smile on her face.
"Roman here wanted to cook breakfast." Her smile never faded. "Isn't that lovely?"
"Yes..." I spoke very slowly. "Very –" I coughed, "– lovely."
"Here." My mom passed me a mug of piping hot coffee. "You look like you need some." I didn't miss the wink as she walked away. Without a second to spare, I rushed over to Roman, frantically sipping my coffee as if to wake myself up from whatever the hell was going on.
"What the hell are you doing?" I snapped as I got close enough for only him to hear me.
"I told you," he answered, "I'm having a 'Roman Day'." Roman Day. Right.
"Yeah, but I didn't realise that 'Roman Day' meant having breakfast with my parents too." I hissed.
"We played Scrabble with your parents last night." He reminded.
"Yeah, but breakfast is... different." Adam never even had breakfast with my parents let alone made it.
"Look, I was only going to make us breakfast and then they came down and I felt bad for not offering so here we are." Part of it melted my heart and the other part still made me anxious. "Just relax, okay?"
"Relax?! You want me to relax when –"
"Sienna? Stop pestering, Roman." My dad laughed and I heard Roman chuckle by my side. Oh my god, end me now, God. Just end me.
My face burned as I walked back to sit at the table, sipping my coffee to avoid further embarrassment.
Breakfast was good, like seriously good. I had no idea Roman could cook so well. I scoffed it down in no time, my stomach mewing at the delicious flavours, and once done, gulped down the rest of my orange juice. Roman insisted he did the dishes afterwards but that was where my mom drew the line.
"If you don't cook, you clean up." She explained. "Are you two planning on going anywhere today?"
I looked back at Roman. "I don't know –"
"Yeah." He cut me off and looked at me. "We should get going soon." Get going soon to where? Before I could even ask, my mom said she'd clean up so we could get ready, and I found confusion whirling around my head as I walked up the stairs with Roman by my side.
"Where are we going?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.
"It's a surprise." He answered. "But I need to go round mine first to get clean clothes." I wanted to ask more but Roman was too smart for me to outsmart the answers out of him and so I decided to keep quiet and head up to my room.
I showered first, giving me enough time to get ready whilst Roman took his turn. As he got out, my straighteners had heated up. My natural hair was curly. Bouncy curls that would fluff up if I didn't put some sort of oil or cream in. Most of the time I didn't bother taking care of them because I'd straighten them to death which would cause them to become damaged and even fluffier.
"Leave it." Roman said as he walked past. The towel hung low on the V of his hips and his gorgeous body glistened with water. His hair looked darker and longer when wet and I couldn't help but miss his longer hair. Maybe not as long or the damaged and deadness of it before but I felt like the longer hair suited him more, especially if he took care of it.
"Huh?" I didn't exactly know what he meant.
"I like your hair like that, it's cute." I suddenly realised how he was one of the few people who had ever seen me so... natural. Usually for school I made sure I looked my best to fit the persona I wanted. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved makeup and loved watching hundreds of tutorials online to admire the sheer talent it took to create those gorgeous looks. However, I felt so judged if I didn't wear it. It was more of a personal issue than anything. I was supposed to look my best, I was supposed to fit this popular and pretty mean girl persona, and no one ever depicted the pretty girls as those without the casual beach waves, doll-like or catty eyes, glowing, unblemished skin, and pink petalled lips.
"Um, thanks." I was used to the regular compliments of 'oh, I like your outfit', or 'I love ass', or 'urgh, you're so hot' which was nice, don't get me wrong but they felt almost generic. Here I was, showing Roman a natural feature of myself and he liked it. He complimented it. And I stupidly didn't know how to take it.
I hesitantly took his advice and put some cream in it to help define my curls more so they didn't get frizzy. I finished up the rest of my makeup and went to grab some clothes. "Where are we going then? The last thing I wanted to do was dress up for the entirely wrong occasion.
"I told you, it's a surprise." He answered, his back facing me as he dropped the towel. Instinctively, I turned away and heard a small chuckle leave his lips. God, Sienna, you've had sex with this guy and you're suddenly so shy to see him naked? What the hell?
I gulped and took in a long breath. "What should I wear then?"
He took a minute to respond, "I don't know, a top and pants." The vagueness of boys when it came to women's fashion really made me roll my eyes.
"Wow, thanks." I sarcastically muttered and decided to grab a pair of leggings and a cropped, white hoodie. I slipped on the new sneakers Rya had gotten me for Christmas with gold detailing around the laces and put on a pair hoop earrings. By the time I was ready, Roman was too and we made our way downstairs to the kitchen.
Everything had been cleared and my mom was busy playing some memory game on her phone. I swore she was on level three-hundred-and-something with that thing.
She took a double take as I came back downstairs and smiled widely. "I absolutely love your hair like that." I knew she did. I knew my dad did too, but I always assumed they said it because I was their daughter and parents always had a thing about their kid's 'natural beauty'. I mean, check every Facebook photo of theirs I am in.
"Are going to be gone all day?"
I looked up at Roman.
"Probably." He replied. My mom nodded with a smile still glued to her face.
"Well, you kids have fun." She waved us off and I didn't miss her subtle wink.
Roman chuckled as he walked to his chair. "I love your parents."
We drove to his house and he told me to wait in the car as he got changed. I suspected he had family round for the day and the thought of him coming in with a girl would obviously cause some sort of chaos or gossip he wasn't prepared for. I waited, listening to the radio playing lightly in the car until he came back. This time he wore a pair of denim jeans, a grey hoodie with a jean jacket over the top, looking a little flustered which I assumed was due to the efforts of trying to dodge his pestering relatives.
When he got back in, I finally asked, "Now can you tell me where we're going?"
"Nope." He said, popping the 'p', a smile glued to his lips. I rolled my eyes and leaned back in the seat as he began to drive.
❦❤︎❦
A museum. That's where we stood. In front of a freaking museum. And it didn't surprise me one bit. It looked rather busy for a Sunday and I kept wondering why the hell he had brought me here. Glancing back at Roman, he checked his phone before stuffing it in his pocket and then looked down at me.
"Care to explain?" I gestured to the grand building in front of us in confusion.
"I'll explain once we're in." I couldn't help but feel like there was something more to the museum than what he was letting on to. I decided to leave it and hesitantly followed him up the steps to the main doors.
The last time I had been in this museum was for a field trip in 6th Grade when we were learning about the Ancient Egyptians. That was the day Rya punched Christopher in the face because he stole her Twinkie. Ah memories.
As we stepped inside, nothing had change. The same warm, wooden floors and pristine white walls with picture frames of the same old art hanging on the walls. Roman went to the front desk to grab two pamphlets before heading back over to me.
"Okay, this is nice and all but why the hell are we here?" I demanded to know.
"Can't you live a little?" He teased and I rolled my eyes once more. "I want to show you something." He finally answered. I furrowed my brows.
"And what's that?"
"That is the surprise. C'mon." he walked ahead, and I was left to follow. I kept to his side the whole time as I had no clue as to where I was going whereas Roman evidently seemed to have the place memorised like the back of his hand.
Shifting through the many different sections, I couldn't help but stare at the impressive exhibitions and displays. As a kid, you thought they were all fun and games, spending most of the time playing hide and seek with your friends, but now that I was older, I felt like I was able to appreciate it. It was crazy how every single country had a history so unique and interesting whether it be fashion, political systems, religion, architecture, entertainment, king and queens, Gods and Goddesses. Each so intricate, each so fascinating.
We arrived at the section Roman obviously wanted us to be in. The Ancient Greek section. It wasn't as busy as the other sections but still had many people wondering around, admiring the many statues and paintings.
I found myself staring at one of the statues. A woman draped in white cloths being carried up by a man with wings. There was a longing look in the way they stared at each other that gave me the impression they were in love.
"Eros and Psyche." Roman came up behind me.
"Huh?" I turned to look up at him.
"The statue. Eros and Psyche." He explained. I took a look down at the plaque before the art and saw the names carved in. "Eros, probably more known as Cupid, was originally supposed to hate Psyche and was sent on a mission to kill her but accidentally hit himself with his own arrow when admiring the mortal princess, who the most beautiful woman in her town, and fell deeply in love with her."
"What happened?" I stared back at the statue.
"Eros used to admire Psyche from afar, never letting anyone know, and refused to let another man fall in love with her. Long story short, she ended up being taken to his palace, but he only ever visited her at night, loving her so intensely yet refused to show her who he was in fear."
"What happened?" I asked again looking back.
He smiled lightly and continued, "She ended up finding out what he looked like and he left her in feelings betrayal. Years later, she fought for him, completed horrible tasks to prove her love for him."
"And then?"
"They ended up married, Psyche turned immortal, and they lived the rest of their lives full of deep love and pleasure."
"That's sweet." I stared back at it. Roman nodded in response.
"It is."
My eyes flickered around until it met another piece of art. A painting. A man dressed in dark clothing sitting on a throne with a woman with gorgeous red locks, flowers woven in them, sitting on his lap.
"What about them, hmm?" I nodded towards it in interest.
"Hades and Persephone." I recognised the names.
"Isn't Hades that dude with the blue fire hair in 'Hercules'?"
"Yeah." Roman nodded and softly laughed, "That's him. A Disney representation of him but still him." I studied another look of longing painted in their eyes. "Hades fell in love with Persephone, daughter of Demeter, after being hit by Eros's arrow as revenge from Aphrodite being sick of how Demeter and other Gods and Goddesses avoided her influence. Hades kidnapped Persephone to the Underworld. When Demeter found her, she was already bound to Hades after eating some fruit he gave her, but Hades made a deal with her mother; Persephone would spend half of the year with her mother and then the other with him as Queen of the Underworld. That's how the seasons were born."
"That's horrible." I let out a long breath.
"Yeah, but I think Persephone was able to see past the darkness of Hades and truly loved him. He actually really loved and respected her."
"The classic good girl-bad boy, huh?" I raised a playful brow.
Roman laughed. "You could say that."
I stared around the room, admiring all the art. "You come here often then?"
He shrugged with his hands in his pockets. "My mom used to take Skye and I here when we were kids. Skye loved this room the most because of all the art and so I learned tons of Greek Mythology to be able to tell her about it. We used to come here every Sunday, she'd pick a statue to study and I'd sit and tell her the story." I could imagine it. A little Roman and Skye sitting by a statue as Skye listened intently to Roman's story telling. It was so cute my heart melted.
"Did she have a favourite?"
He smiled knowingly before leading me to another painting near the side of the room. It was so bright and colourful. A beautiful woman flying in the clouds amongst a shimmering, vivid rainbow.
"Iris." He then said. "She loved how Iris got to paint the skies with so many colours. She would sit there and stare at the painting for hours, studying every aspect of it."
I smiled, "Sounds like Skye." I could imagine her being mesmerised with all the art not even in this section but everywhere.
"Yeah, she reminds of Skye a lot. So bright and bubbly and witty." That was certainly true.
"Do I remind you of any of them?" I asked before I could think and as soon as the world left my lips a redness flooded my face. Why the hell did I just ask that?
Without a word, he wandered over to another statue. An extraordinarily beautiful woman draped in, what I assumed was, silk clothes, most of her body exposed. I read the plaque. Aphrodite.
"Goddess of Love and Beauty." He spoke. Love and Beauty.
"Sounds vain." Of all the things you could have said...
Roman looked back at with sudden worries spreading across his expression.
"Sorry." I shook my head. "I wasn't thinking. Thank you, I just... why?"
He stared at me. Questioning his words. Thinking intensively. "She loves love, she loves seeing the beauty in things; a hopeless romantic almost. I get that vibe from you."
"A hopeless romantic?" I questioned and cocked my head to the side.
"You're telling me that you read all of those books and don't want some epic love story for yourself?" he had a point. Shit, he had a point. Maybe that was why my relationships sucked? Because I wanted the epic, intense, all-consuming love, and everyone I wanted never wanted the same.
"I think you feel a lot, Sienna. More than you let on. More than most." I knew he was right. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I knew it. A sudden sadness crept inside me, closing my throat, dropping a glaze over my vision. I wiped it all away before he could see.
"Did... did she have any lovers?" I changed the subject. I felt Roman straighten up beside me.
"Lots." He replied. "As I said, she loves to fall in love."
My eyes wandered to a statue beside Aphrodite. A man holding a golden shield and spear, a helmet resting on his head as he stood tall and menacing. "What about him?"
"Ares. God of War." Roman answered effortlessly and every time it made my heart melt because he learnt it all for his little sister.
"Did he and Aphrodite...?"
"Yeah. She was his main lover, if not only." He swallowed and answered. "Aphrodite was originally forced to marry Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, but it was loveless, and she was lonely." He continued on.
"And what about Ares?"
He paused a moment before carrying on, "He wasn't that popular among a lot of people. Not many people truly wanted to get to know him but..."
"But?"
"She did." There was a hesitance in his voice as he said it. "She saw beyond and wasn't afraid. Their relationship was mainly... sexual at first." I waited for him to say more. "After Hephaestus found out, they got an annulment, and Aphrodite and Ares got to be together."
"And they were happy?" I gazed back at him. The storm of his eyes battling between blue and silver caught me and held me there intensely.
"Very."
I suddenly felt a plummet in my chest, like all the air had been knocked out of my lungs and I didn't know how to react. I began to ask myself why I was here; why did Roman take me here? What was the purpose? I knew this room meant something to him and Skye and it felt nice to know how comfortable he was around me to let me in. Yet, I could help but feel there was something more.
I turned my head to look away from his gaze and stared down at the floor. "Erm, it there a reason as to why I'm here." I waited nervously in the silence that came after.
Roman coughed awkwardly, "Um, yeah.... Follow me." When I had turned back around, he was already walking away, and I had to run to catch up with him.
He led me to another room in the same section but this one had tons of old artifacts such as vases and bowls, old helmets lined behind glass cases. The whole room seemed as if it was being held up by pillars to give into the Ancient Greece aesthetic. Near a corner was a gap made for a pair of double doors but instead caution tape and a 'NO ENTRY' sign was put out front. That was exactly where Roman was heading.
He walked close to the wall, looking back to check if security was there before walking straight to it.
"Um... Roman?" I called after him. "This feels illegal."
We got to the doors and he held up some of the tape for me to duck under. "It is." Was all he said before gesturing for me to go under. I bit my lip and went through, finding myself completely submerged in darkness. Yep, this is the start to a horror movie.
Soon after, Roman climbed in and grabbed a flashlight out of his jacket pocket.
"What the hell are we – "
"Shh!" he cut me off and placed his fingers on his lips.
"Sorry." I winced, "What the hell are we doing here?" I hissed.
He didn't reply and slowly surveyed the darkness, nodding his head forward, "C'mon, and watch where you step." This would probably be how I died. Death by museum, ironic, isn't it?
I followed him through the room, keeping close behind but sometimes sneaked a look behind me to make sure some mummified zombie wasn't chasing after me. When we got to the exact place Roman wanted, he flicked on a small lamp behind me and the whole room dimly lit up with a tender, yellow glow.
Books.
That was the first thing that came to mind.
Hundreds of books stacked in old, looking bookshelves like a labyrinth. A library. My breath got taken away as my eyes trailed over every single shelf, studying the dust-jackets of each novel, some with intricate detailing, others smothered with dusk. The whole of my heart pounded with pure excitement as I took one step forward and admired the sheer beauty of it all.
"Wow..." I gasped, holding my breath. Roman came up my side and smiled softly.
"C'mon, I want to show you something." He walked past and into the isles. They weren't astonishingly tall but they were certainly a good few meters taller than Roman. I followed behind, not being able to take my eyes of the books for one second. I had never been in a library like this before, it felt like I had stepped back in time to a Victorian bookshop.
He stopped in front of a shelf and pulled out a book, it was covered in dust and he carefully blew it off revealing the title. Pride & Prejudice.
"Here." He handed it to me. I took it between my palms, afraid it'd disintegrate at my mere touch. "Look inside."
I flipped over the cover to see handwriting marking the first page in smudged, black ink. "No way." I gasped, placing a hand over my mouth. This couldn't be possible. I was going to faint.
"The first edition of 'Pride & Prejudice' signed by Jane Austen herself in..." he pointed to a date in the corner. "1813, the 1st of February."
Holy shit, I was about to faint. "That's four days after the publication date." I whispered awestruck.
"Mm hm." Roman nodding, smiling to himself as he watched my reaction.
"This could go up for thousands."
"Hundreds of thousands." He corrected me.
"What the hell is it doing here?" I gazed up at him breathlessly. A frown took over his expression as he looked down at the book.
"This used to be an exhibit for old literature, tons of these were bought at auctions but when this was first opened, barely anyone came."
I gawked at him. "Why the hell not?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "People just weren't that interested." I couldn't believe it. These books were goldmines. Pure goldmines that I could feel myself hyperventilating at. Yet no one was as interested.
"So, it closed down?"
He nodded sadly in response.
"What's going to happen to it?"
"The museum sees it as a complete waste. I came here a couple of days ago after I blew off some steam at boxing to take a picture of one of the statues to send to Skye because she wanted to draw a picture of it. I talked to the woman at the front desk to ask what they were planning on doing with it and she said 'nothing'."
"Nothing?!" I whisper-shouted. Nothing?! Fucking nothing?!
"They don't see a point in it because it flopped so bad. The only thing they could do is sell them in auctions, but they'd mostly go to people who'd place them in a glass cabinet for show and never make good use out of them."
"And what's so bad about that?" I always thought books as décor looked pretty.
"Don't you think these authors would rather someone read and fall in love with their work than admire the pretty cover and old date?" he had a point. He always had a point and it always made me look from a new perspective. People would write these stories to bring their readers on some many different journeys and fill them with a variety of strong emotions, yet the people who admired their work the most were easily overtaken by those who wanted some expensive décor to make them look educated when, in reality, they didn't care about what these things truly meant.
"So then why are we here?" I asked.
He looked down at me and smiled, "Take them." I could have died on the spot when he said that.
I blinked. "I'm sorry what?"
"Take them."
There was no way he was saying this. No way. "I... I-I can't." this was so... bad.
"If I was some famous author, I'd rather my work no matter how old or precious it is, be enjoyed and cherished by someone, not be kept behind a glass case for décor." He had such a good point, but I couldn't take these... they were so precious. They didn't belong with me. Out of everyone in the world, I was the last person that deserved them.
"But... But what if we get in trouble?" anxiety rose in my stomach.
"Please." He scoffed. "This whole exhibition has been here for years and no one has done anything about it. If there is one person in this whole world who would cherish these like their life depended on it, it'd be you, Sienna."
Take the books. No, leave them. Take them. Leave them. Take. Leave. Take. Leave. The angel and devil on my shoulders were having a raging argument.
"We could get in so much trouble for this." I whispered nervously, fiddling with my fingers.
"And is Sienna Callum scared of trouble?" he raised a brow and walked over to me. "Because last time I checked, trouble was her middle name." for fuck's sake, he knew how to get to me. Did I want these books? Hell yes. God, I'd read them again and again and again. Was it wrong to take them? Completely. Yet sometimes... you had to let the devil win.
"You got a bag?"
Roman smiled widely and took a folded, material bag from his pocket and opened it up. It looked like something his mom owned and I didn't doubt that she did for one second. He took out some tissue paper and carefully wrapped it around the Jane Austen book before placing it in.
I scavenged down the isles until my eyes landed on another book. 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte. First edition and also signed. I tried not to faint as I passed it over to Roman as my heart pounded against the cage of my chest. Holy shit, I was really doing this.
'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott, 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte, 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickins, 'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy, 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett. All first edition, most signed. Some even with little messages from the authors in them. It astounded me how no one cared. These novels weren't just classics, they made history in so many different genres. They caved paths for more stories to come, and my eyes welled up just looking at them.
Stories meant so much to me. As a child, whenever I felt things going wrong, I fell into those stories to give myself comfort, to lift me up in a whirlwind of emotions. I couldn't even describe what holding these books meant to me.
"Will we get caught?" I nervously asked as Roman wrapped and placed the last book in the bag.
"This place is mainly forgotten about, so I don't think that –"
"Hello?! Who's in here?!" the voice of a security guard bellowed through the room. My stomach dropped to the core of the earth. Shit.
"Shit." Roman whispered under his breath.
"Come out! Whoever you are!" the security guard angrily demanded.
Within a matter of seconds, Roman grabbed my hand and bolted. "C'mon!" he exclaimed. Before I knew it, I was being pulled along, down the aisles as the shouts of the security guard got louder as he became to chase us.
"Shit, shit, shit!" I cursed as we sped through the dozens and dozens of aisles.
"Stop right there!" the security guard yelled but we had no plan to. My feet slammed down on the ground hard as we sprinted, my hand never leaving his in fear I'd fall behind. Holy shit, this was really happening.
"Where to?!" I called out to Roman who was busy running away. We took a sharp turn and he kicked open a small door, pushing me inside, following soon after. It was pitch black, but he used his flashlight to light the way.
"This way." He said and grabbed my hand again before we went chasing down. I could hear the slaps of feet echoing far behind us which let me know the security guard was chasing but far from being close.
I tightened my grip around him, only being able to hold two of his fingers due to how big his hands were and tried my best to keep up.
My pulse was hammering against my skin, sweat breaking out down my back and forehead from fear and exhaustion as he kept going.
A peak of light shone through a small window at the end of the hallways and a tinge of relief shot through my body. Hallelujah!
"Here!" Roman stopped and clasped his hands together to boost me up. I placed my foot down and he helped me up to undo the clasp. Shimmying my body through, I tumbled to the grass round the back of the museum and pulled myself up to pull Roman through. He fell down also but managed to pull himself up where we once again went bolting to his car.
"Oh my god!" I squealed when I jumped in the passenger's seat, sinking below the window in case anyone saw and caught us. Roman fumbled with his car keys before shoving them in the ignition and the vehicle rumbled to life.
"I think that was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me." I admitted, trying to regain my breath as the car took off. I glanced back at Roman and we broke into an abundance of insane laughter.
"Fuck." He laughed. "That's got to go down as the coolest thing I've ever done." My laughter erupted even more, and I had to hold my hand over my mouth to die it down a little. "That's something to tell my kids one day." He sighed.
I caught his gaze once more when silence came and it instantly broke as we both burst into another round of laughs.
❦❤︎❦
Tip-Top's Diner was the place we stopped off next. Being at the other end of town, it was quite a drive, but we needed it in order to calm ourselves down. Once we arrived, we stepped in and the little bell tinkled to announce our arrival.
"I think we order up front, what d'you want?" Roman questioned as we reached the bar.
"Cheeseburger and fries." I replied, taking a quick glance at the special's written on the blackboard up front. "I'll find us a seat."
"Cool." He replied and walked up to the waitress at the bar.
I slid into the cool, red leather booth and rested my hands on the white table lined with a pastel blue colour, making it pop. Taking a deep breath, I rested my head back on the seat and closed my eyes.
It was only noon and I felt utterly shattered. Who knew my Sunday would turn out like this, huh? Still, I wasn't complaining. It was the most excitement I'd had in what felt like forever.
Roman returned with two bottles of Coke and slid one over to me. "Thanks." I took it and gulped the bubbly sweetness down in large gulps.
He chuckled and slid opposite me. "I don't think I've ever seen you so tired."
I placed the bottle down and let out a long sigh. "I don't think I've ever ran so much in my life!"
"Fair enough." He smiled and popped off the top of his bottle. Carefully, he placed the bag of books on the table. I snatched them away by my side before anyone could see.
"I don't think I've ever felt so guilty for doing something." I chuckled anxiously.
"If it makes you feel any better, they were probably going to sit there for several more years." True. I snuck a peak in and smiled at the beauty of them.
"Maybe I'll make them into a family heirloom of sorts." I joked, tying the bag back up so no one could see.
"If your kids ever get your love of reading, I'm sure they'll be thrilled." He teased.
"And if your kids ever get your thieving ways, I'm sure they'll help them in stealing more." I bit my lip to contain my giggles.
"'Thieving ways', hmm?" a little glint sparkled in his eyes as a grin broke out across his lips. "I've never heard that one before."
"Well, now you have." I shot back, smiling like an idiot.
Our food arrived quickly after and my mouth watered at the crisp looking fries and juicy cheeseburger. Roman seemed to get the same with another side order of chicken nuggets too. The boy was a boxer and could probably eat half his body mass in a matter of minutes.
"You know," I dipped a fry in ketchup. "You could probably put all those bad boys to shame with your rebellious act today." I raised a brow and teased. Roman wasn't that amused however as he cringed.
"Out of all the consequences I could get from what happened, that seems like the worst."
I laughed and took a bite of my burger. "Thank you, though." He looked up at me like my gratitude needed explaining. "Thank you for taking me there. I loved it." I noticed a faint blush heat up his neck and he gave a small smile.
"I'm glad."
"Maybe we should go there again during the summer – not to steal books, but to explore."
"Really?" his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He must've not expected me to say anything like that.
"Yeah." I nodded, taking another bite of my burger. "I mean, it was interesting. Plus, you can tell me about all the other Greek Mythology stories you know." He seemed to like the idea of that as I caught his wide smile before he popped a chicken nugget into his mouth. Fuck, now I wanted chicken nuggets. Me and my rashness didn't bother to look closer at the menu and see them on there.
"You look like you want to break my fingers off." Roman commented as he wiped his hands on a napkin.
"I should have gotten chicken nuggets too." I pouted. Amusement lit up on his face as he took a nugget, dripped it in ketchup and handed it to me. Just as I was about to reach for it, he pulled it away and raised a playful eyebrow. Catching on, I leaned forward and bit it out of his fingers, not letting my eyes leave his and, feeling a boost of confidence, I wrapped my lips around his fingers and sucked them clean, making a popping noise as they came out of my mouth.
"You are insatiable." He whispered lowly, a lust staring to cloud his eyes.
"And you are so turned on." I threw back feeling the same desire rise in me. Just then, his phone went on and I noticed the contact name 'Mom' flash up.
"Hello?" he picked it up and I heard his mom's voice quietly speak through the other line. "... Yeah, I'm out with Sienna." He rolled his eyes as his mom said something and held the phone away to tell me, "My mom says 'hi'."
"Hi, Samantha!" I exclaimed happily so she could hear me. Roman rolled his eyes once more but I didn't fail to see the small smile pulling up the corners of his lips.
"... where are you going?" he then continued the conversation through the phone, and I decided to finish the rest of my burger. "... Okay, I've got house keys anyways... Bye... love you too." He shoved his phone in his pocket.
"What's that?" I wiped my mouth with my napkin.
"Just my mom giving me an update on what's happening with my relatives round." He explained.
We finished up the rest of our meal and Roman insisted he'd pay. In all fairness, the three dollars I had in my pocket didn't do that much but I still would've given them to him.
As he finished paying at the front desk, one of the older waitress came up to me a smiling kindly, "Sorry to be out of the blue, but I have to say that you and your boyfriend look very cut together."
My eyes widened and I was at a sudden lost for words. "Boy... B-Boyfriend?"
The old waitress sweetly laughed, "You remind me of when my husband and I first started dating. So full of young love. Anyhow, have a nice day!" I was glued on the spot as she gave me a little wave and wandered back into the kitchen. Boyfriend? Love? I stared back at Roman stuffing the change into his jacket pocket. Did we look the way to others? In love?
Love was such a strong word and I'd only ever used it to describe what I felt for Adam, but I now know that that wasn't love. It was comfortably, all I ever knew. But I wasn't in love with Roman. Sure, I thought he was an amazing guy but love? It was such a scary word. So intense and passionate. Did I share that with Roman? No. I couldn't. Roman liked Emily. So, even if there were a smidgen of those feelings, I wouldn't jeopardise that for him. Besides, I wasn't in love with him. I wasn't.
"What did she want?" Roman asked me as we walked back to his car.
"Hmm?"
"The woman talking to you?"
"Oh, nothing." I answered a little too quickly. "She just liked my outfit." I brushed it off with a lie. I climbed into the passenger seat and fiddled with my hands in my lap, anxiously staring at the window. Did we look like a couple in the museum today? Is that what everyone thought? I didn't think twice about it, us hanging out felt so... natural. Did I like Roman? Did I? No, get it together, Sienna.
"Where to now?" I pushed down those thoughts and questioned when he started the engine.
"My house." He answered before looking back at me. A mischievous grin teasingly glimmered in flickers of desire across his face. "No one's home."