Loved From Afar (COMPLETED)

A Real Date pt 2

Amelia was beaming as Eric told another horrible joke. He seemed to think he was a comedian. Amelia giggled and covered her unladylike snort with her hand.
"Aha!" Eric shouted triumphantly with a finger pointed in her direction.
"I knew it, I knew you were a snorter!" He crossed his arms and smirked as she gaped.
"You little jerk, you knew because Sheila betrayed me." Amelia squinted accusingly at him. She felt more content now than she had in a long time. Sitting across from the man she loved who was giving her his undivided attention.
"Maybe but I also had a hunch, I've never really heard you laugh that hard before." He leaned forward his eyes boring into her suddenly serious. Amelia's heart hammered in her ribcage at the proximity.
"So are you laughing at me or because of me?" He asked his expression completely serious. Amelia blinked almost drowning in those beautiful blue eyes.
"Uh...um b...both I guess." She stuttered then looked intently at her plate. Her hair created a curtain between her and the other diners in the restaurant. She felt her cheeks heat from her seemingly constant blush. The brush of a hand pushing her brown waves back behind her ear had her sitting up quickly. The blush was now fiery red and she bit her lip as Eric stared at her with a faint smile on his lips.
"I've wanted to do that all night."
Amelia's eyes went wide and she felt his eyes on her more intensely than before.

Eric knew he should slow down she didn't realize he was so far gone. He leaned back and ran a hand through his own hair. He thought he saw her eyes follow his movement.
"Eric...you know when I told you that I had a crush on you in highschool?" Amelia began. Eric leaned forward his attention fully on her.
"Well I wanted to tell you that I..." Before she could finish there was a loud screeching noise and they both turned towards it. Standing behind them with a conniving smirk on her face was Amanda.
"Amanda what are you doing here?" Amelia squeaked. Standing next to Amelia was none other than Gizelle.
"I thought Eric's real girlfriend should know that he's cheating on her with a sub par replacement." As she finished she turned to Gizelle who was skillfully hiding her smile.
"Eric, how could you I always knew you'd leave me!" Gizelle sobbed rather convincingly.
"Is it the long hours or the incident with my assistant, Talk to me!" She sobbed but it slowly turned into laughter. Eric was staring at her and his chin was wobbling. Amelia couldn't help it as she realized what Amanda's whole scheme had been about. They all three burst into laughter and Amanda cast them a bewildered glance.
"What is going on!?" She shouted obviously furious. Amelia was muffling her laughs behind her hand as Eric pat his sister on the shoulder and shook his head.
Gizelle took Amanda's silence as an opportunity to explain.
"Amanda please, me and Eric have known each other a long time but we're not involved." Amanda was flabbergasted and eyed Amelia suspiciously.
"You're telling me he's dating my mousy, nobody cousin over a literal supermodel he's known for years, I'm not buying it." She crossed her arms defiantly and waited for further explanation.
"Amanda whether you believe it or not is purely your own choice but it's the truth...at least mostly the truth." Amelia stated, if she was going to tell Amanda the truth now was as good a time as any. Amelia opened her mouth but Eric spoke first.
"We haven't really been dating but today is our first official date, which you've interrupted, thank you very much." Amelia blushed as she tried to comprehend his words. Amanda rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Wow that's a worse lie than you not dating a supermodel, you know what I've wasted enough of my time, I'll see you guys later." She gave them a flippant wave and trotted off. Eric turned back to Amelia and smiled sheepishly.
"So...that was weird." Gizelle stated as she pulled a chair up to their table.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but was that the cousin Eric told me about?" She asked as she took a sip of Eric's iced tea. Amelia sighed and dropped her head into her hands.
"Unfortunately, I'm sorry she bothered you."
Gizelle laughed and waved her hand as if to brush off the whole thing.
"It's fine honestly that was extremely entertaining." Gizelle looked at her watch then clicked her tongue.
"I've got a meeting with my photographer in twenty minutes, I'll see you guys later!" She stood and replaced the chair she had borrowed then waved goodbye.

Eric looked at Amelia as soon as Gizelle left. She was biting the inside of her cheek and he reached across the table without thinking.
"Are you okay, I know you didn't want Amanda to find out we weren't dating." He waited a moment for her reply.
"It's okay I was going to tell her anyway I..." Amelia hesitated then continued.
"I didn't want to force you to deal with this any longer, if you wanted to date someone for real, you know." Amelia shrugged but her eyes looked sad. Eric thought about it for a moment then decided against telling her anything more, she needed a break from all this craziness.
"As much as I appreciate that I'm not interested in anyone right now." He explained with an understanding smile. Amelia smiled back and realized they'd finished their food. Eric called for the check and paid for both meals without Amelia noticing.
"Let me take you home so you can rest and we can figure this out tomorrow." Eric offered his hand as he stood. Amelia nodded and placed her hand in his much larger one. He gave her a reassuring squeeze then pulled her to the exit.

On the way home they settled into a comfortable silence. Eric glanced at Amelia and was glad to see she was dozing off. He could tell that this past few weeks had been extremely stressful for her. He pulled into her apartment complex and parked the car.
"Amelia, we're here." He gave her shoulder a shake and she sat up groggily.
"Oh sorry I didn't mean to fall asleep." She partially mumbled in between a yawn. Eric chuckled and brushed her hair behind her ear again.
"It's alright, I'll walk you up." They climbed out of the car and Amelia didn't protest him walking her to her apartment. It was silent but Eric was nervous the last time he'd dropped her off like this he had kissed her. He definitely wanted to again but he'd refrain for her sake. They came to a stop outside the door and Amelia dug her key out of her bag.
"Thanks for dinner tonight Eric." She smiled at him making his heart thump painfully in his chest.
"You're welcome, I was hoping even though we've stopped dating." He used his fingers to make air quotations around the word "Dating" then continued.
"That we could do this again soon or maybe even get lunch or go to a movie sometime?" He felt his heart thump erratically with nerves as he realized this was step one to actually dating.

Amelia's heart hammered in her chest. He is not asking you on a date don't get your Hope's up, she chided herself. She felt her hand shake as she tried to put the key in the lock and her hair created a safety curtain to hide her blush.
"I'd like that, I can pay next time if you'd like?" She heard a deep chuckle over her shoulder and his hand covered hers.
"You seem like you're having trouble, here let me."
She looked up and those shocking blue eyes were focused on her making her erratically beating heart stop in its tracks.
"Th...thanks." There was that stutter again, since when had that been there? Eric turned the key and popped the door open very slightly.
"I'll text you and we can set up a day okay?" He looked to her for confirmation. Amelia couldn't help the grin that spread across her face.
"Of course." Amelia felt her courage suddenly leap and she tiptoed to kiss him on the cheek. She pulled away and blushed even harder.
"Goodnight Eric."
"Goodnight M'lady."