"Ethan, let me get this straight, you kidnapped me, so you could take me to a fucking McDonalds drive-through," Mia scoffed as she looked over at me from the passenger seat. "I mean, I like McDonald's as much as the next person, but I'd hardly call it a romantic date," she continued.

Despite her supposed annoyance, I watched amused as Mia's stomach growled and she eyed the menu on the poster with far too keen an interest as we waited in the queue for the drive-through.

I rolled my eyes at her with a smile. "How did I kidnap you? I asked you to come and you got into the car willingly," I laughed.

"I beg to differ," Mia argued, her eyes meeting mine firing with playfulness. "You used the promise of food to coerce me into the car which is a form of manipulation."

I let out a breath of laughter, knowing if I was aiming to manipulate her into getting into my car, I'd use a much more satisfying technique than that. One that would probably involve me taking my top off, knowing myself.

Ignoring her point, I continued. "And secondly, this is only the first stop, we're going somewhere else after," I clarified, feeling vaguely insulted she thought I'd just take her to McDonalds and nowhere else. It was one of her favorite fast-food places, yes, but I wasn't an idiot.

"Which is....," she sang as she looked up at me expectantly. She blinked up at me for effect, using a little manipulative tactic of her own known as 'make Ethan all sexually frustrated so he said yes.' She liked to use that technique a lot.

"Not telling you...," I sang back, imitating her.

As we approached the drive-through window, I rolled down the window to the car. I cleared my throat, locking eyes with a young teenage blonde in the window. "Can I have two chicken nugget meals, two Smartie McFlurries, and a Coke and water," I called out.

Mia turned to me with a furrowed brow. "Wait, how do you know what I order?"

I let out a low chuckle. "Because I pay attention to everything when it concerns you," I said with a wink.

Mia narrowed her eyes, into two curious slits as she surveyed over me slowly. "That seems hard to believe," she said slowly. "What's my favourite TV program then?"

"Vampire Diaries," I said immediately, convinced that had to be one of the easiest questions she could have asked in the world. Her damn background picture had been Damon Salvatore for years. The Brightside was that her background was now the picture I'd taken of me cocked up half-naked on my bed. She'd kept it from months ago when I'd left it on her phone and the little liar, still wouldn't admit she thought it was hot.

"Well, that one was obvious, so whatever," Mia said dismissively, clearly not ready to give in. "What's my biggest pet peeve?" she fired out.

"Easy, people stealing your food," I responded easily.

She shook her head at me." Typical, you know I hate that the most, yet you do that all the time," she snapped accusingly.

"I can't help it, it's fun to wind you up," I laughed.

"I can't help it, it's fun to wind you up," she said childishly imitating me in a ridiculously low-pitched voice. She made me sound like some combination of a deranged bear meets a frat boy.

"We need to work on your impressions, Chubs, you didn't capture the sexiness of my voice in the slightest," I teased.

Noticing the McDonald's worker was finished preparing our food, I dug out my wallet and handed it over to the worker who exchanged it for our brown bag of food.

"Whatever, just drive," Mia said with the roll of her eyes.

I turned to her with a smile. "Firstly, you must put this over your eyes." Rummaging through my car pocket, I pulled out a scarf and dangled it expectantly in front of her.

"I feel like an idiot, please tell me we're not in public," Mia groaned as she stumbled through the woods with her hand in mine. She was blindfolded and I was slowly doing my best to try and lead her through the trees.

"Relax, we're alone," I chuckled as I continued to drag her along while tightening her hand in mine.

She let out a little squeal as she tripped on something on the floor. I quickly grabbed a hold of her waist to steady her before she had a chance to hit the floor.

"You're so clumsy," I said with a snort, noticing Mia's cheeks start to colour red.

"Don't be mean, it's harder than it looks," she mumbled as she shuffled along painfully slowly, clearly terrified of falling again.

I let out a sigh and then stepped closer to her. Wrapping an arm around her back and thighs, she squeaked in surprise as I lifted her up into my arms. The scent of her fanned all around me, causing a wave of heat to rush through me.

I looked down at her with a smile and continued walking. "Sorry, Chubs, but I was hoping to get there at some point today," I laughed.

.Still, in her little blindfold, she just shrugged and wrapped her arms around my neck. "I'm cool with it, I like being carried, "she said, suddenly looking a lot more pleased than she did five seconds ago if the fat smirk on her face was anything to go by.

Finally, after a few minutes of walking, we emerged between two trees, and I found myself back at the clearing in the woods.

Admiring my earlier work, I put her down on the floor gently. "Okay, we're here, you can take your blindfold off."

"Finally," she sighed as she pulled the scarf, quickly away from her face.

She gasped as she took in the sight before her. It was our usual special cliff spot overlooking the city, but I'd added a few fairy lights and lanterns along the trees, to give what I hoped was an enchanting and romantic effect.

On the floor, I'd laid out a picnic blanket, and some pillows for us to lie on that were scattered lightly with rose petals.

I looked towards Mia anxiously, trying to gauge her reaction, and waited for her to say something.

"So, what do you think?" I finally said, unable to help myself.

She turned to me with a massive smile stretched out on her face. "It's amazing, Ethan. I love it. This must have taken you forever," she said as she looked back around in disbelief.

"It did, but I really fancy the girl I did it for, so it was worth it," I admitted with a teasing smile.

She inched her way closer to me, with an amused sparkle in her eyes. "Really? Who is this girl? Do I know her?" She said, playing along.

I immediately let out a chuckle and grabbed a hold of her waist to pull her closer. I stared down at her closely, my stomach dipping foolishly as I took her all in.

"Yeah, she's beautiful, smart, and sexy," I said, my eyes dropping down to her lips with a swallow.

"What else?" Mia whispered as she wrapped her arms smoothly around my neck.

A smile spread across my lips, knowing how to work this in my favor. "She's also a really amazing kisser," I whispered as I brushed my lips teasingly against her own.

She could no longer resist any longer and she captured her lips with mine. I smiled against her lips selfishly and tightened my hold on her waist, so she was pushed flushed up against me. Heat flared within my stomach as a delicious groan escaped past her lips as we moved passionately against each other. It lit up every nerve in my body and reminded me how much I wanted her. How much I loved her.

I finally managed to pull myself back a little with a slight groan. "Our ice cream is melting," I whispered against her lips.

Mia let out an impatient little groan before planting one final peck on my lips before breaking away.

"Good point, we'll pick this up later," she said, a smile on her beautiful lips.

An hour later, we were both full and satisfied after finishing our meals and now lay side by side on the picket blanket. We had just been looking up at the beautiful night sky, enjoying each other's company when a thought popped to mind, that I'd entirely forgotten to ask her.

"Hey Chubs. Can I ask you something?" I asked softly before flipping on my side to face her.

"Yeah sure," Mia said, her eyes brightening in interest as she propped her head up with a lazy hand.

I looked over her slowly before continuing. "Just out of curiosity, when did you realize you loved me?"

It was an incredibly bold question to ask, especially from the look of visible surprise in Mia's eyes but I just couldn't help but wonder. I'd always figured it would take nothing short of a fucking miracle for her to ever love me back.

Mia's eyes briefly raised as she tried to recall the memory, then settled back on mine rather quickly. One corner of her lips crept upward.

"Well, I first realized I had a thing for you when we played seven minutes in heaven, but I realised I loved you when you brought me here, and told me everything," she said, smiling softly at the memory.

I processed her words carefully, shocked that of all moments was the one where she felt closest to me. I remembered being terrified of telling her, but she'd shown me nothing but kindness that day.

Then, naturally being me, my mind flickered back to what she'd said before and I smiled foolishly. "You realised you had a thing for me in 7 minutes of heaven, huh? That hickey must have left you feeling some kind of way," I teased, unable to help myself.

Mia's face flushed with embarrassment. "Shut up, don't be mean," she said as she reached out to smack me lightly on the shoulder.

"Do you want to know a secret about that night?" I suddenly said, remembering something extra funny about that night.

It was arguably something that might get be killed, but I was hoping the fact we were now together might take the edge off.

She narrowed her eyes at me slowly, clearly sensing the mischievous glint in my smile. "Why? What did you do?" she asked slowly.

"Promise you won't get mad," I laughed.

"Well, that depends what it is...," she said slowly, her eyes littered with even more suspicion.

I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. "Well, I might have purposely rigged the seven minutes in heaven game. It wasn't by chance that we matched together, I set it up," I said with a nervous laugh.

Mia gasped, a smile fighting to break through her lips. "You little cheater," she accused.

"Sorry, but did you really think I was going to let you play that game unless I could guarantee you'd end up with me," I said with a snort.

Mia shook her head at me. "You're lucky, I like you now otherwise I would beat the shit out of you, right now," she sighed, her eyes sparkling in amusement.

I paused, tempted to tell her a fight could still be arranged knowing how shamefully fun it would be to roll around with her. The hitting part not so much. I was hoping it could be more of a sexy fight.

Remembering what she said, my eyes then softened. "Yeah, I know, I'm lucky," I said, a smile lifting to my lips as my eyes roamed softly over her face. "It's literally a miracle that you love me back," I said seriously.

"Especially after dragging you into my crap with Connor," I added with a heavy sigh. I looked away from her guilt, still struggling to fully process my shame.

I should have been there to help her, but I'd stupidly let my guard down and drank from a random cup like an idiot. It almost cost her everything.

I was trying my best to forget about it, to pretend it never happened, but it was so fucking hard when I know I'd failed both of us.

"Look at me Ethan," Mia said gently.

Hesitantly, I lifted my eyes back to meet hers. She reached out and traced her fingers softly over my cheek.

"It wasn't your fault, Ethan. You have no control over the way he acts. Only he does and it would take a hell of a lot more than your cousin, for me to ever stop loving you, Ethan. You're stuck with me now, okay. Get used to it," she said, a fiery passion lighting her eyes.

She said it like a threat, and it instantly amused me. I felt my eyes soften, and my lips edge up into a smile. "You're a pretty awesome person to be stuck with Chubs," I whispered, my eyes fanning over her face.

She inched her way closer to me. "Yeah, I know," she smirked as she leaned in and kissed me. 

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Hope you enjoyed xx