SavingGrace626

Grace's P.O.V.

As I pulled on my litle black dress and zipped up the
closure in the back, Dougie's bathroom door opened and
he walked out into his bedroom, a towel wrapped around
his hips. Our eyes met and I felt my stomach jump as
my focus traveled down his wet chest. He paused in the
doorway for a second before walking into his closet
and closing the door behind me. I sighed as I put on
some light makeup and pulled my wavy hair half-up,
then walked downstairs to wait for Doug.

"Ready?" he said cooly as he entered the family room.
I nodded and forced a smile. The carride to the
restaraunt was painfully silent. A few times I opened
my mouth to start a conversation, but no words came to
mind. Finally, after what seemed like an hour long
carride into town, we pulled into the parking lot of
Spinelli's, the nicest Italian restaraunt around.
Dougie hopped out and I hestitated, unbuckling my seat
belt as he rushed around to open the door for me. I
smiled and stiffled a giggle as I hoppd out in front
of him. He smiled at me sideways before closing the
door behind me as we walked towards the restaraunt
door. I began to feel like this night might not be
so bad after all.

The dinner was fantastic. After appetizers, we
ordered a main course and the conversation finally
began to take off.
"Hows your chicken parm?" Doug asked me.
I giggled, dabbing my mouth with my napkin.
"Absolutely delicious, yours?"
He smiled cutely, "pretty good...."
"Im really glad the night worked out" I admitted, "I
was a little unsure after this afternoon"
He frowned and sighed heavily. "Its not that I dont
want you to meet the guys, its really not that...and
I'm not in the least embarrased of you..."
"Dougie, you dont have to..." I tried to cut him off,
and give him a way out of this conversation.
"No..No..." he stopped me, waving a hand, "I want to.
I'm not embarrased of you..." he said as he reached
across the table and grabbed my hand in his. I felt my
skin tingle. Even such a small touch had a huge impact
on my nerves. "...I...I think I love you" he admitted.
I gasped, seemingly unable to think, comprehend,
breath or swallow.

I stared for a few minutes at him. He looked
absolutely terrified, like the words escaped him
before he had really thought them through, or like he
regretted saying it too soon and taking me off guard.
"I...I..."
"I'm sorry..I shouldn't.." Dougie fumbled around
words, looking away and feeling anxious, lie he wanted
to get out of there. I looked around helplessly,
feeling guilty. "No..Doug..I.." I closed my eyes,
trying to focus my thoughts long enough to figure this
out. I opened them back up and Dougie had his hand
over his face, mortified. I took a deep breath,
gathered my courage and leaned foward across the
table, lifting his head from his hand and running my
fingers along the back of his neck as I pulled his
head towards me.

I felt the heat from the candle below me against the
bare skin of my upperchest as I felt his breath close
around me, as his lips pressed against mine. In that
one moment, maybe it was the heat of the flame, but
the very touch of his soft lips against mine ignited
what felt like a burning fire inside my chest, warming
my body all over to the point where I felt dizzy. I
pulled away from his lips slowly as I broke the kiss
and leaned back in my seat. Looking around the room
briefly, I took note that we had the attention of many
surrounding tables. Dougie's gaze was frozen on me.

Throughout dessert, we kept playing stare tag. I tried
not to laugh as I forked my chocolate mousse cake.
After dinner, I excused myself to the bathroom. By the
time I finished and walked back outside, Doug was
waiting in the main lobby for me. "Ready?" he said. I
nodded and we headed for the door, his hands stuffed
into his pockets messily. Did I mention how dreamy he
was in a shirt and tie? One word...drool.
As we slowly meandered through the parkinglot towards
the car under the stars, I looked around the
relatively deserted streets, before feeling Dougie's
fingertips on my elbow, down my arm and eventually
slipping into my hand, his fingers laced with mine.

I bit back a huge smile and closd my fingers around
his, my heels clomping on the pavement the only
additional sound to the thumping of my heart.

Dougie's P.O.V.

After a close call for utter embarrasment at dinner,
the overall night turned out to be quite successful.
When we got back to my apartment, we were singing
along to a Paul McCartney song on the radio, and
continued the duet to my door and into the family
room, collapsing onto the couch for the finale. I
slumped down on the couch as Grace sat next to and
laid across me, resting her head on the arm of the
couch next to my shoulder. "Thank you..." she
whispered sleepily, her eyes closed. I smiled, tracing
her features with my eyes breathelessly. I felt a
little silly staring at her like that, somewhat afraid
that she'd open her eyes and catch me. I didnt want
to look creepy.

I brushed my thumb over her cheek as she breathed in
heavily and snugled against me. I yawned, my arms
wrapped around her curled up body on the couch. We
hadn't even taken our shoes off, but the moment was
too peaceful to interrupt with sometime so small. So I
laid there, relaxed- my eyes closed, breathing the
same air as we both drifted towards sleep. "I love you
too..." I heard her whisper before completely entering
a dreamworld...a world where people floated naked and
free above the clouds, feeling this amazing all the
time- without experiencing the lows that make good
things seem so great. Absolute perfection.

Piczo