A quiet laugh escapes my lips as Alex and I run into the restaurant, our hands intertwined as I pull her along behind me. Our situation is comical and our similarity to bad ninjas makes me want to stop and laugh until I'm breathless.

But I can't because even as we approach the restaurant and I put my hand on the cool steel of the door, my ears are on constant alert for something to happen. Someone to take a photo of us dressed up and running into a restaurant together would look awful and it would be a photo that neither of us would be able to explain.

The street is desolate, however, and there's not even a whisper of sound due the nosiest movements coming from ourselves. Pulling open the door, the aroma of garlic and tomato washes over me and the heat of the place making my decision to not bring a jacket be a good one.

The restaurant is completely empty apart from a faint sizzling coming from what I presume is the kitchen. Tables lay ready, but none of them have plates. The dark red and golden colour scheme is obvious as we shut the door behind us, fully immersing in the serenity of the building.

Alerted to our entrance by the sound of the door, I let out a breath of relief as the chef, Maria, peeks her head around the door. She's renowned for her classic yet modern Italian food and with her classy, comfortable restaurants - she's quickly becoming one of New York's rising restaurants.

"Ciao, how are we this evening?" She greets, a smile on her face.

Alex stands beside me and slips her hand into my own. Gently leaning against me, a smile takes over her face before she answers. "We're great! Thank you so much for opening for us."

"It was really kind of you." I add.

Maria places a hand on her chest in affection before saying, "It's my pleasure. Now please grab a seat, your first course is almost ready."

Smiling at us once more, she takes off back into the kitchen. Turning to look at Alex, I shrug my shoulders before leading her to one of the tables by the window. All of Maria's restaurants have blacked out windows, to add to the romantic vibe, which is actually perfect for our current situation.

Unable to be seen, we both take a seat and I feel myself relax for the first time in a while. Alex places her bag on the floor before she grins up at me.

"This is amazing." She says softly, her eye wide in wonderment.

I nod in agreement with her, my eyes roaming around the place. "I know, I'm impressed Noah and Clara actually managed this."

"You underestimate them." Alex teases.

"Only because I've seen Noah forget his ticket to a red carpet event once - my trust in his organisation disappeared that night, and never returned."

"Well, he's earned my trust back. That's for sure." Alex smiles.

Our conversation is brought to a close as Maria walks out. She holds two wine glasses in one hand, with a bottle of wine in the other. Setting it down, she explains, "I brought you some white wine. You're fist course should be out in five minutes. However, I don't want to ruin any conversations, so I'll just chime a bell and you can come and collect it over there."

She points to a windowsill that's obviously connected to the kitchen. Loving this idea of finally getting some quality time alone with Alex, I grin at Maria in agreement. She smiles back at us both before walking off back into the kitchen, leaving Alex and I alone.

In a place that isn't either of our apartments for once.

Reaching over the table, I take Alex's small hand in my own and run my thumb back and forth across the skin of her knuckles. Silence consumes us but it's a welcome rest compared to the incessant noise that usually surrounds us both.

"I can't believe I finally have you alone." I smile.

"Without anyone around as well. This is practically unheard of. God, is it selfish to wish for this to happen every day - that we can just disappear for a few hours?"

"I want to make it happen, but we might just need to settle for forts made out of blankets in our apartments." I say, a smile tugging at my lips as Alex's eyes widen in awe of my comments.

"Let's so do that!" She agrees enthusiastically.

"I don't think I would ever let you leave if we did." I say honestly, shrugging my shoulders.

Alex squeezes my hand that's in hers before murmuring, "I think Clara would drag me out of there - but we would get a day together, at least."

"It would be so worth it." I reassure her.

My smile spreads wider as the conversation goes on and I think I nearly leave my chair to kiss Alex when she starts talking about upcoming work issues. She's so determined and even as her status rises, the nervousness over every role still finds her - making her look innocent in a way that makes my heart beat faster.

My moment of adoration for her is broken as Maria rings the bell, two red plates appearing on the windowsill at the same time. An aroma of rich flavors filters through the air and I sit up straighter as my hunger comes back with vengeance. Standing up from the table, I walk across and grab the plates.

A napkin underneath the plates reads: Parmesan crusted tortellini bites. The plate is filled with golden brown bites, arranged in a circle and I almost fall rushing back to the table to start eating them.

"What's this?" Alex asks in delight, her eyes trained on the plate as I set it down in front of her.

"Well madam, tonight we have Parmesan crusted tortellini bites that are cooked by yours truly." I cheekily reply, sitting down opposite her again.

"Yeah right." She scoffs. "I think you're scared of the stove at my place."

I roll my eyes and try to dull my feeling of embarrassment. Wanting to prove that I can do something, I say, "One day I'll cook you dinner."

"I'm scared for my stomach." She smiles back, the low lighting in the restaurant catching her eye and giving them the illusion of sparkling.

Her looks often stun me but it's at moments like these where I see the full effect of them. Her full lips which I love to kiss seem to be calling my name and as she sweeps her hair away from her shoulders, I want to leave dinner and just take her home to have her to myself.

But as soon as I try a tortellini bite, I decide to postpone my plans for a while.

Alex lets out a low hum of enjoyment at the food and when she catches me watching her intently, a rosy blush blossoms under her skin. Smiling at me, she decides to change the subject.

"Heard your management is talking about getting you into more modelling roles?" Alex asks playfully.

I let out a groan. "I don't want to do them. God, I feel so awkward in front of a camera."

"You don't look it in the photos." Alex sneakily replies, raising an eyebrow at me.

Hoping to keep the conversation table worthy, I ask, "I think I'm better repeating the wrong lines for an angry director." I say.

She laughs and tilts her head back before slowly shaking her head in what looks like disbelief. "Oh yeah, what was that? Three attempts? That's poor, Williams."

"Lay off, I had your beautiful body in a pencil skirt and a reporter at my shoulder at the same time - I was very overwhelmed." I sigh, before saying, "The director was so angry."

"I know." Alex nods, before a her smile fades as a flash of sadness passes over her face.

Leaving my plate, I reach over and grab her hand in my own. "What's wrong?"

"I just hope we never make him angry over our relationship." She says and her vulnerable tone creating am aching ball inside of my chest.

"We won't, gorgeous. We've only got to get till the end of this season and the we can announce it. That's like what? Four months?" I say, my voice going soft in a way that only Alex hears.

She nods in agreement with my words, her hair slowly falling in front of her face. Letting go of one of her hands, I reach my hand up and tuck the strand behind her ear. Letting my hand linger, Alex rests her head against it.

A thin blanket of silence drapes over us, dulling out any lingering sounds of New York outside. Her eyes connect with my own and the blue inside of them reassures me that every precaution we've ever taken has been worth it because she's still in my arms. That's the only think that matters.

Shifting her eyes to my own, I retract my hand slowly but grab onto her hand so that I'm holding both yet again.

"You're amazing, you know that?" She asks.

Not trusting my voice in fear it will give away I'm not being as strong as she actually thinks, I shrug and smile slyly at her.

The thin veil of silence s broken by her joyful giggle. Shaking her head in disbelief, she says, "You do know as well."

"Sometimes. I'm not a saint." I shrug, feigning my shock of her accusations.

"I am." Alex winks back and if there wasn't a table between us - I would've leaned over and kissed her until she knew I agree.

We clear our plates quickly before the bell rings for a second time and Alex jumps slightly in fright. Quietly laughing at her usual gullible personality, I squeeze her hand as I go to move.

"I'll get it." She says simply before jumping out of her seat before I had a chance to argue.

Standing up, her dress sways around the bottom of her thighs as she confidently walks towards the windowsill. Leaning over, I can faintly see a smile on her face as she picks both plates up and begins walking back towards out table.

"For second course, Sir, I have prepared a delicious pea and bacon risotto." She bows slightly before she places the plate in front of me.

Despite the ridiculous amount of starter I consumed, the smell hits me like a bullet and my mouth waters instantaneously.

"Thank you very much, Madame. I did not know you were such a professional."

"The toast that I made you last week didn't give you any clues then, huh?" Alex deadpans, her face serious.

"No, it was horrible." I joke back, leaning back in my chair as I watch Alex laugh at me.

"Whatever." She rolls her eyes before starting to eat.

I follow her lead and before I know it, my plate has been cleared and I'm sat wishing I had a second plate of it. My wishes are answered as the bell dings quickly after.

Walking over, I grin at the plates that carry cannoli because I know this is one of Alex's weaknesses. With a strong suspicion that Clara specifically asked for this course, I walk back over to the table.

"I was going to say I'm so full but that's not happening now. Gimme." Alex grins, catching sight of the plate.

I put the plate in front of her and lean over to kiss her forehead, loving how carefree and innocent she looks right now. Sitting down in my chair I finish dessert and swear off eating anything for at least twelve hours.

Profusely thanking Maria for our meal, Alex and I head out the back door of the restaurant to find Mr Walden sitting waiting for us. Checking both ways for any danger, I pull Alex into my side to run to the car. We make it easily and glide into the smooth leather seats, the car door making the satisfying click beside me that allows my mind to rest at ease.

The car journey is quick and our conversation quiet as Mr Walden takes the small streets down to Alex's apartment due to it's closeness. The area outside is dead quiet and I almost want to call Noah right there and thank him.

Once again doing a check, Alex and I run out of the car and straight into the building block. The building is quiet as we make our way up the stairs, not trusting the elevator in fear that we'll meet someone and be trapped for agonizing minutes waiting to get to her floor.

It's happened once.

After a month of dating, we met just inside of her apartment and on the way up, a old lady had to withstand the awful two minutes of silence as she tried to think of how she recognized us both. After denying the claims and making up some lies we made it off and there's been no mention of it in any papers.

No harm, no foul, in my book.

But to avoid that again, we always take the stairs and once we finally make it to Alex's apartment, we walk inside to find the apartment silent and empty.

Taking her jacket off and dropping her keys in the bowl, Alex spins around in a circle before wrapping her arms around me and resting her forehead on my shirt.

Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her in a close as she'll get. "Hi." I whisper.

"Hi." She whispers back before drawing away. "Sorry, I'm so happy I had to hug someone."

"Don't ever apologize for hugging me." I say sternly, hating the idea of her limiting herself because of her doubts.

"I won't." She smiles reassuringly before clearing her throat. "That was amazing."

"I know, I honestly don't know how they pulled that off." I agree, taking her hand and leading her though to the kitchen.

"I don't care ether way." She shrugs, opening the refrigerator and getting two bottles of water out.

Taking one from her with a smile she goes and sits on the work surface, I pull my phone out and text Theo thanking him. He texts back immediately.

Noah: You're welcome, you can change my name to ultimate friend on your phone whenever you want.

I text back an insult but don't worry about his response, knowing that he'll take it well anyway.

"Noah and Clara are fine." I say to Alex.

"Ugh, so relieved." She says, running a hand through her hair. She looks up at me as I stand between her legs with a wicked gleam on her face. A gleam that I've come to know and love. "You know, we do have the apartment to ourselves."

I don't respond, instead I crash my lips onto hers and let my actions talk instead.

~~~~~
Author's Note:

Anyone else in the mood for Italian food?

Mmm, I wish!

Anyway, how did we find this chapter? We got to see a lot of how Alex and Theo interact so I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

I went in-depth into the date as I hate when books skip over it and just say 'the date went well' so I hope you agree with me and didn't find it too long :)

I'll see you all next Friday for another chapter!

Much love,

Jade x