At exactly five o'clock on the dot, her phone buzzed on the desk next to her. She had her headphones in so the vibrations resounding from the device had caught her of guard. Looking up, she pulled out the cords from her ears, closed her laptop and grabbed her phone before stepping out of the lab to answer the phone.

"Hello?" She answered, her lips already pulling into a smile as her eyes glanced at the caller ID.

"Do I have the pleasure of seeing you this evening?" His voice was as deliciously deep and throaty as usual.

She couldn't help but smile wider. "I don't know, I'm kind of busy." She paused for dramatic effect. "But I guess I can make some time for you since you keep pestering me."

Thelonious laughed softly. "You love it when I pester you." He wasn't wrong and they both knew it.

Darcy didn't reply to that, she just threw her head back and laughed.

"I'll swing by and pick you up in 30 minutes if that's okay." He told her, leaving just enough room for her to deny his offer if she really desired to. She didn't. "I hope you're hungry."

"Starving."

Thelonious shook his head, laughing slightly. Not that she was able to see it, of course. "It's never a dull moment with you." He noted aloud.

She smirked and leaned against the wall behind her, her hand tapping on it unconsciously. "You'll have your hands full with me."

"I'll have to see about that myself." Warmth spread from within her as she flushed at the innuendo.

Once Thelonious had texted her that he was waiting outside for her, she packed up all her stuff and made her way outside. She found him leaning against his car, just as he had been that same morning.

"Let me place your bag in the car," he offered, taking it from her and placing it in the boot of his car before proceeding to lock it.

"What's the plan for tonight?" She asked, slipping her hand in his when he held his out in front of them both; expectant.

He looked down at her, a small smile gracing his lips. "I was thinking a basic dinner and movie." He suggested. "How does that sound?"

She gushed internally at how thoughtful he was. "That sounds like a cute first date."

He frowned slightly, pondering for a moment before he voiced his concern. "This isn't our first date."

"It isn't?"

"No," he shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. She wanted to reach out and smooth the line that had gathered there. "Our first date was at the hotel." He pointed out, coming to a gradual stop as she stared up at him, confused.

A pregnant pause passed between them.

"You never said it was a date." Her voice was quiet as she stared up at him. He looked almost sad, that she hadn't recognised their first meal together as their first date. She hated that she was the reason for it, but things hadn't been clear between them from the very beginning.

They should have discussed this earlier on.

"Let me make this clear now so there isn't any confusion later on," he began, determined. He held both of her hands, one in each of his to ensure that he had her full attention. When he noticed the worried look on her face, her laced their fingers together and brought one of her hands up to his mouth, pressing his mouth against the back of it. "I really, really like you and would love to see where this is going because this," he gestured between the two of them. "Whatever we have going on between us is something very special, and I've never felt like this with anyone else."

"That's exactly what I want." She released a breath of relief. It was like a huge weight had lifted off of her now that she knew that they were both in the same place. "I can't explain what I feel like when I'm with you, but I just know that when you leave, I want to go with you. I want to be around you all the time even though I know that's not possible or sane." She laughed quietly at the end.

He leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. Her eyes fluttered closed as his nose rubbed gently against hers. He used their interlocked hands to pull her closer into him. "I feel exactly the same." He murmured against her lips before he pulled her bottom lip into his mouth and sucked on it gently.

She didn't hesitate to grant him access when his tongue licked against the seam of her lips, begging for entrance. His tongue tangled with hers, teasing.

Darcy slanted her head up to grant him better access, allowing his tongue to slide in deeper.

A breathy moan escaped her, followed closely by a quiet groan from him as he pecked her one more before pulling away, aware that they were stood in the middle of the car park. Trailing his lips up her face, he kissed her nose with his mouth before he pulled away from her.

He refused to let go of her hand though. "I was thinking we could go back to Darcy's." He suggested.

"That sounds great," she beamed up at him, suddenly feeling like she was walking on clouds, an equally giddy smile on her face.

It was a short walk to the diner from the university diner, less than five minutes. It didn't make sense to take the car.

His hand squeezed hers as they walked into the restaurant together and waited to be seated.

Darcy reached across the table and laid her hand in his as he rested his palm up. His lips twitched at the gesture.

She leaned forward against the table. "Just to be clear, we're exclusive, right?"

His eyebrows knitted together again. "You want to see other people?" The words were accusatory, but there was no malice or anger behind them. He was masking his feelings, though a tinge of hurt did manage to pass through.

"No! That's not what I meant." Her eyes widened and she shook her head frantically. "I just want things to be completely transparent between us. I definitely don't want to see other people."

He visible relaxed at her declaration. "Me neither."

She hesitated for a second and when he noticed this, he squeezed her hand reassuringly, urging her to voice her thoughts. "Are we in a relationship?"

Thelonious didn't hesitate with his answer. "I want us to be in a relationship."

Her lips turned up into a little smile. "Then I guess you're my boyfriend."

He smirked and propped his elbows on the table. "Then that would make you my girlfriend." He leaned in and pecked her lips, applying just a slight amount of pressure to leave her wanting more. When he pulled away, his eyes were hooded. "I love kissing you."

She chuckled and leaned back against her chair.

"I really need to get better at expressing my feelings." He mumbled under his breath, almost as if he was speaking to himself. Though his voice was just loud enough that she was able to hear. "I don't like when we're both not on the same page." He confessed, pursing his lips just the slightest.

She nodded in understanding. "We need to work on our communication."

"We'll do it together." He lifted her hand to his mouth and sealing the promise with a kiss against the back of it.

She felt like she was melting again.

Luckily, that was not the case as the waiter had arrived at the table with a pen and little notepad in hand, a large smile on his face. "My name is Ben and I'll be your waiter for tonight. What can I get you both?"

Thelonious glanced up at Darcy since he hadn't had the chance to glance at the menu. Darcy nodded and turned to the waiter. She had been here before a few times so knew what she liked. "I'll have the steak, well-done. With a side of greens and potatoes, please."

Ben, the waiter, nodded and made a note of her order before glancing up at Thelonious. "And you, sir?"

"I'll have the same, but the steak medium-rare and with the cheese platter, please."

"And to drink?"

Thelonious glanced at Darcy before he answered. "We'll both have a Coke."

Thelonious turned to her once the waiter had left. "You like your stake well-done?"

"I burn a lot of my food so I guess I'm just used to it." She shrugged, brushing her hair back over her shoulder.

He chuckled at her answer. "How was your day today?"

"It was good," she started. "The lecture was a little boring so it was kind of hard staying awake."

Thelonious laughed. "I used to sleep through all my classes in college. That's why I dropped out."

"You dropped out of college?" Darcy asked, surprised just as the waiter returned with their drinks. They both thanked him.

As soon as he left, Thelonious answered. "Education isn't really my strong-suit."

"I always loved school." She sipped her drink through the paper straw.

Thelonious smiled widely. "And I used to get sent out of the class for being a distraction."

Darcy giggled. "We would have never got along then."

"I was so stupid aback then." He shook his head, remembering his school days and all the mischief he had gotten up to.

"What are some of the things you used to do back in school?" She asked, studying him. Thelonious didn't really talk about himself much, so she savoured this moment where she was able to learn more about him.

"I burnt all the school's copies of Macbeth a week before the GCSE exams started." He admitted, wincing visibly at the memory.

"No!" She exclaimed, shocked. "Why would you do that?"

"I absolutely despised English. And my teacher was even worse." His face soured at the thought of the despicable man. "He never liked me." He muttered quietly, almost as if an afterthought.

"What was your vendetta against Shakespeare though?"

"Nothing," he shrugged. "I just wanted to see my English teacher absolutely fume. You know, my friend and I, Ryland, we gathered all the books and waited until after school. We threw them all in a pile in the school field and when the bell rang and every one came out the building, we lit it all on fire!"

Darcy's eyes widened at the confession. It seemed like she had a bad boy on her hands. "How did you not get expelled for that?"

Thelonious chuckled and carried on with the story, enjoying the reminiscing. "We had some cheap Jonas brother masks on and made sure to start running as soon as the teacher's started coming after us. They definitely had their suspicions but they couldn't prove anything."

"And the English teacher?"

"Looked like steam was going to start coming out of his ears like in the cartoons." His smile was so wide then as he recounted the look on that fat, bald man, that his face began to ache slightly. "We never did get caught for it and the school went crazy trying to get a new batch of books before exams started."

At this point in the story, Darcy was holding her stomach as she laughed. "You're right," she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "We definitely would not have got along at school. I was such a goody-two shoes."

"Come on, surely you weren't as bad as you're making out." The irony was not lost on them.

Darcy thought for a second before she answered. There was no point holding back. "I used to be the kid that reminded the teacher that we had homework due."

Thelonious winced. She was right. They definitely wouldn't have gotten along. "Did you even have any friends?" He joked.

Darcy laughed. "A few."

Ben, the waiter arrived then with their food. He had arrived just at the perfect time. Darcy did not intend to indulge in her anecdotes from school as most of them included her spending time in the library with the rest of the school Math team, working through the extra Math homework they would all but beg the teacher for.

"Thank you," they both replied politely.

The waiter smiled widely. "Enjoy your food."

Thelonious and Darcy tucked in immediately.

She raised a questioning brow in his direction when he nudged the cheese board to the middle of the table so it sat perfectly between both of them.

He waited to finish the cut of steak in his mouth before he explained. Her eyes did not waver once. "I won't be able to finish it all."

"Then you should have asked for a smaller portion." She chastised him lightly, a teasing smirk on her lips.

He stared back at her lazily, his eyes slightly hooded. "Then I wouldn't have been able to share it with you."

Darcy felt like she was melting again. She really needed to get a hold of herself.

They proceeded to share small snippets of their lives over food, Thelonious finishing Darcy's steak when she couldn't finish it herself. She made sure to leave some room for some cheese since he had gotten with the sole intention that they could share it.

Her heart skipped a beat at the thought.

Before they knew it, all the food was had disappeared and the waiter cleared the table, returning with the bill when prompted.

They had both opted out of desert.

For now, at least.

Just as Darcy reached into her pocket, Thelonious handed over his card. Ben accepted graciously before slotting it into the machine and completing the transaction, handing it over momentarily over to Thelonious to punch in his pin.

When he left, Darcy looked over at him with a determined look in his eyes. "I'm getting the next one." She dared him to oppose her.

He merely smirked as she shrugged on his denim jacket. "We'll see about that."

Once they were stood outside of the diner, Darcy turned to him with a wide smile on her face. "How about we ditch the movies and head to the club instead?"

Thelonious grinned. "As long as you promise to dance with me all night."

"You've got yourself a deal."

-

NOTE - not edited

The next chapter will be uploaded on 14/02/2020

All my stories can be found on Inkitt for FREE: https://inkitt.app.link/RA__illuminating_

Chapters of Beating Hearts [Knight's Rest #1] will be uploaded on Inkitt a week earlier than on Wattpad as well as exclusive bonus chapters at the end of the story. So, be sure to check out Beating Hearts on Inkitt here: https://inkitt.app.link/RA__illuminating_

Chapter 17 is available on Inkitt NOW!

Layla Knight

08.09.19