“Where’s your sat nav?” I asked. Rowan pressed a button on his steering wheel, and a small touch screen appeared from a slot on the dashboard.
“Fancy,” I mused, quickly scrolling through the menus to the car’s in-built navigation system. I typed in a postcode and waited for the sat nav to update with directions.
“That’s an hour away,” Rowan said, shooting me a confused look.
“Well, I figured seeing as this is the first step towards branching out and becoming more public, I’d make sure we went somewhere we’re unlikely to run into someone we know.” I paused. “I thought you might be able to relax a little.”
Rowan smiled at me and leaned across to kiss me. “Thank you.”
“It’s no biggie,” I replied, cheeks flushing. “Come on, let’s get going. I’m starving.”
After I’d finished researching and purchasing my birthday gift for Rowan, I’d Googled decent restaurants in the area. There had been plenty of choices locally, of course, but eventually I came across a place that was perfect. If the menu hadn’t swayed me, the photos from the website would have. I’d debated between somewhere fun, versus somewhere romantic and had eventually settled on the former. We’d have all evening to be romantic when we got back to my place. I thought something light-hearted for dinner would be just the ticket. The restaurant I’d selected specialised in delicious food and darts. I was less than useless at it, but it had sounded fun so I’d booked us in. Rowan had no idea what he was in for.
We passed the journey chatting comfortably about anything and everything. I deliberately steered the conversation away from anything too heavy and instead gossiped about how pussy-whipped Oliver seemingly was, much to Rowan’s amusement.
Eventually, Rowan pulled the car up inside a multistorey car park and we hopped out. In the dark, quiet car park stairwell, he allowed me to hold his hand. I made sure to release him as soon as we were out on the street once more, but to my surprise, Rowan snatched my hand back. My heart sped up.
“So, where are we going?” he asked.
“You’ll see,” I replied cryptically. “We’re almost there.”
When I eventually came to a halt outside the restaurant, Rowan looked up at the sign with a grin.
“I take it by that smile I’ve picked a good spot?” I asked, pride blooming in my chest.
“How did you know?” he asked and I raised a brow.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been wanting to come to this place for ages. You didn’t know? I thought I must have mentioned it if you’d picked it out.”
I shook my head. “No, it just looked like fun.”
Something softened in Rowan’s expression and to my surprise, he stepped forward and dragged me into a brief kiss.
“You’re brilliant, you know that?” he murmured.
“Well, I have been told on occasion.” I teased. “Come on, we’re already five minutes late for our booking.” I pushed him towards the door.
The place was bustling, various booths scattered around a bar filled with an eclectic mix of decor that would have looked more at home in someone’s granny’s living room. It was weirdly trendy and somehow suited the vibe of the place perfectly.
We were greeted by a host who took us up a flight of stairs to another large, open plan room with more booths and dart boards. She settled us in, explained the rules and took a drinks order whilst Rowan and I hung our jackets up and got to grips with the clever computer system that would keep our scores.
“Are you any good at darts?” Rowan asked, typing his name into the system.
“Fuck no,” I laughed. “I’m terrible.”
“Me too.” Rowan grinned, stepping to the side and allowing me to enter my details after him. “This should be fun.”
We got stuck in right away, having already played a few turns when our drinks arrived. The host took our food orders and disappeared off through the crowds again.
As I sat back, sipping from my glass of Pepsi, I marvelled at the happiness on Rowan’s face. It occurred to me that I’d never seen him looking so animated. Was this what I had to look forward to once the stress of all the secrets and shame was lifted from his shoulders? I hoped so. His smile had always been attractive, but now it was utterly heart stopping and I was powerless to resist grinning back at him every time.
True to his word, it appeared we had finally found something Rowanwasn’tany good at. I was hardly a darts expert, but I beat him easily. When our food arrived, we took a short break and sat down to eat.
“I told you I was terrible.”
“I know, but fuck. That shit’s embarrassing.” I chuckled, nudging Rowan playfully with my elbow.
