chapter seven
It didn’t come as a surprise that Jamie’s favourite restaurant was covered in plants, that woman would probably live inside a tree if she could. Soft music was coming through the speakers, probably by some English band Dani didn’t know yet.
The place had a homely feeling, strengthened by all the live candles and the big dog lying in the corner, looking up at the pair. There was a different flower on every table and old paintings covered the walls.
Dani really liked the whole vibe of the restaurant, but she couldn’t think of it too much as she couldn’t help but turn all her attention to the fact that she was having lunch with the florist from across the street, who she very much had a crush on.
She hadn’t even so much as glanced at the menu, she was too occupied with studying the beautiful woman on the other side of the little table. She had taken off her jacket and leaned back in her chair, comfortable and relaxed.
Eventually she had to think of what she wanted to eat. The small menu stood on the table showed dishes like fish’n’chips, shepherds pie and toad in the hole. Awfully English, Dani thought.
”What the fuck is a ’toad in the hole’? I thought it was a French thing to eat frogs.” Dani chuckled.
”Sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, tastes better than it sounds.” The brunette offered a smirk.
”Yeah I won’t be trying that.” Dani said, looking at the amused Brit.
”Get something that sounds good then, lunch’s on me today.” Jamie said looking at Dani, ignoring the menu. She didn’t have to look at it, she’d been here many times enough to learn it by heart. She happened to be very passionate about food - eating, not cooking.
”Oh you don’t have-” Dani was cut off by the florist.
”I forced you to come with me, of course I’ll pay.” Jamie only half-joked.
But Dani hadn’t been forced at all, she was here by every bit of her own will. Jamie didn’t need to force her, she’d follow her to the end of the world.
”Excuse me, I’m here because I want to.” The blonde countered.
”You ready to order?” A bored looking teenage boy asked, notepad in hand.
”Aye, I’ll have a beer to start with and Lancashire hotpot. Tell Mary I said hi, yeah?”
Dani smiled at the boy as he wrote down the order, getting ready to take the American’s as well. Jamie’s eyes traced the curve of her jaw all the way down to the purple turtleneck jumper she was wearing. She then moved on to Dani’s pink lips, keeping the smile as she spoke, Jamie didn’t get a word of her order.
What she said wasn’t as important as the way her lips moved when she talked, the way the corners of them curved upwards and the way her tongue fell between her teeth. Her smile gave Jamie enough joy to last a century and it spread like wildfire, leading to the brunette subconsciously mirroring it.
Apparently Jamie was housing a family of butterflies in her stomach. It didn’t feel right at all, they didn’t pay rent and she wanted them out. They’d moved in very recently and only seemed to be home whenever a certain blonde woman would smile. Jamie would definitely evict them.
She did recognise the unpleasant feeling and she knew it was a side effect of attraction. There was nothing wrong with feeling attraction, she had no problem at all admitting that she was interested in the other woman, but she was a little nervous it would grow stronger and develop into something else.
But worrying does no good, that’s why those feelings always should be repressed and bottled up.
”What?” Dani asked with a puzzled look on her face.
”What?” Jamie snapped out of her trance.
”You were staring.” The blonde asked with a raise of her eyebrows.
”How rude of me, then. Got lost in some thoughts.” Jamie shook her head.
”What thoughts?” Dani pushed.
”What lunch is going to taste like.” The florist lied and earned a laugh from across the table. ”Hey, don’t laugh, that’s actually very important to me.”
”Sure, sorry.” Dani laughed, not meaning it at all.
Jamie chuckled and drew a hand through her brown curls. It seemed that the butterfly family was now having a rave. She could still not get over how pretty Dani’s laugh was and how divine it sounded, she also noticed how the American softly bit her lip to stop herself from grinning. Jamie let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
The brunette didn’t do a lot of talking during lunch, or the walk back to work for that matter, she mostly just listened to what Dani had to say, laughing and smiling in response. As much as she listened, she took in every single feature of the other woman.
She noticed how her eyebrows would furrow when she was thinking and how she would leave her mouth slightly open between sentences. She had unsteady eyes, her look always darted back and forth from things in the room to Jamie’s eyes to Jamie’s lips. Jamie felt quite proud of noticing the latter.
She gripped her glass from above and sipped from it as she maintained eye contact with the English woman. Jamie had never seen eyes so blue before, a piece of heaven probably resided in them, she knew of no other plausible explanation other than that.
Her long, dark eyelashes fluttered whenever Jamie spoke and her cheeks would turn pink after all the cheeky remarks. The florist was addicted to seeing her smile. Every time Jamie said something that made the blonde smile, something in her head was triggered and activated the reward system. She wanted to keep seeing it again and again.
The rush of dopamine released when Dani laughed couldn’t be compared with anything Jamie had tried before. This drug would be dangerous if it weren’t for the fact that it was completely harmless, it only caused Jamie good.
Back outside the coffeeshop, Jamie felt a little lightheaded from all the adoration and her cheeks were almost sore from smiling. This little crush of hers wasn’t especially little anymore. It was Jamie’s turn to blush when they came to a halt and Dani grabbed one of her hands.
The blonde swallowed and looked as if she was contemplating on doing something terrifying. Jamie had learned she was a lot braver than she first had thought.
”So…” Jamie started but drifted off, distracted by how dangerously close Dani was standing. She saw the other woman’s eyes focus on her mouth, but was still surprised when she finally closed the distance and captured her lips in a kiss.
No matter how many times Jamie had thought about kissing the other woman, she wouldn’t come close to how soft, how wonderful, how right it would actually feel. She swore Dani’s lips had been molded specifically to fit hers.
The brunette reached up to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind Dani’s ear and softly rested her hand on the back of her neck, pulling her somewhat closer. She felt the American’s hands on both of her arms, a steady but gentle grip.
Dani eventually pulled back and searched for Jamie’s eyes.
”Can I ask you out for real?” Dani exhaled loudly and asked.
”Yeah.” Jamie nodded with a grin on her lips. ”Yeah you can.”