They continued looking at each other for a moment, before Lilly broke the eye contact.

She was never good when it came to eye contact. It always felt invasive if someone stared at her for too long, she could not help but feel that she was being judged if a person looked at her for longer than was strictly necessary.

And Cute Guy had gone past that point long ago.

As much as she tried to push the feeling of being uncomfortable away, she couldn’t.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and Lilly certainly wasn’t going to become a social creature who could talk to strangers as though she had known them forever, even for Cute American Guys.

His gaze was intense and piercing, as though he could see right through her and know what she was thinking and he was definitely judging her.

He could be a psychopath you know, you should make up some excuse and go before you do something stupid and embarrass yourself. Her inner voice piped up again.

Inner Voice never stayed quiet for too long.

‘Erm… I should probably get going’ she mumbled, reaching for her bag which was on the grass beside her.

‘Oh…’ he said, surprised. ‘Was it something I said?’ He asked, sounding somewhat confused.
Lilly sighed.

She could make up some excuse about how she needed to be somewhere, or had something important to do but she wasn’t a good liar. According to her best friend she got a twinkle in her eye whenever she lied. People could always see right through her when she tried to lie.

Plus, she didn’t know Cute Guy well enough to need to lie to him. It wasn’t like she was ever going to see him again if she was being realistic about the situation.

‘No, I’m just not good at talking to people. Especially strangers.’ She explained, unable to keep the exasperation out of her voice.

He was silent for a few seconds, a thoughtful expression on his face.

‘How do you define a stranger?’ he asked, flashing that charming smile again.

A confused expression flashed across her face. She was puzzled as to where he was going with this.

‘Someone I don’t know.’ She replied cautiously.

‘Well, maybe you should get to know me. Then I wouldn’t be a stranger anymore.’

He said this with such childish simplicity that she couldn’t help but laugh a little.

‘Ask me anything you want.’ he continued. ‘’We can make a game of it, ask me a question and I’ll answer honestly. We’ll take turns asking questions.’

If she wasn’t concerned before, she was now.

‘I don’t know…’ she said, not sure if she was comfortable with his persistence in forming some sort of acquaintance.

‘C’mon…’ he persisted. ‘I won’t ask anything too creepy I promise. You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to. Live a little’

And there he went flashing that smile again.

She wondered if he always used that smile to get what he wanted.

What’s the worst that could happen? If he turned out to be a creep she could just leave.

If he doesn’t murder and or rape you first you mean.

I’m in a public place, stop being so overdramatic!

‘Fine. Ask anything creepy and I’m gone though’ She relented, trying to sound more intimidating than she felt.

‘Deal’ he said, looking overly pleased with himself.

He put his sketch pad on the grass beside him as he focused himself entirely on her.

Lilly couldn’t help the blush that rose to her cheeks as she realised she now had his complete undivided attention, and even though it made her feel uncomfortable, she would be lying if she said a small part didn’t enjoy it.

Hussy.

She really needed to find a way to shut her Inner Voice up. She was beginning to be a real pain in the ass.

‘Okay, you start then seeing as this was your idea.’ She said, curious to see how he would begin.

‘Okay, we’ll start with the basic stuff I suppose. Full name?’

A normal, simple question

Told you she taunted to her Inner Voice.

‘Lilly Imelda Madden.’

‘Gerard Arthur Way.’

He held out his hand, and Lilly felt a sudden jolt of electricity shoot through her body as she clasped her hand in his. His hands were rough, large and he took her hand with a strong grip as he shook it.

You could tell a lot about someone by their handshake, or so Lilly had been told. A strong handshake was a sign of a strong person who was confident. She tried to return his grip with equal strength, trying to show herself to be more confident and strong than she felt.

‘Age?’ she asked as she released her hand from his grip.

‘Twenty Three.’

He looked at her expectedly, awaiting her reply.

‘Oh, a lady never tells’ she said, smiling.

‘Okay, we need some ground rules. Don’t ask anything creepy or anything you wouldn’t answer’ He laughed, showing all his teeth.

They’re freakishly small.

‘Fair enough. I’m twenty two.’

‘Okay, what’s your favourite colour?’

‘Blue.’ She answered without hesitation.

‘Mine too.’

Of course it is, he’s gonna agree with anything you say to make sure he gets in your pants!

Oh, as though he’d actually be interested she mentally hissed back.

‘Star sign?’ She asked.

‘Aries.’

‘Natural born leaders, energetic, somewhat hot tempered. Not a bad sign to be under I suppose.‘

Lilly commented, shrugging her shoulders.

‘And yours is better?’ he asked with a raised eyebrow.

‘Of course, I’m a Sagittarius. We’re smart, funny, wise and always seeking to learn more about life. We’re also the sluts of the zodiac, but that’s just gossip in my opinion.’

Gerard snorted before laughing.

It was nice to hear him laugh she decided, even if it made her feel self conscious that he was laughing at her rather than what she said.

‘Good to know that. Family?’

‘Mom, Dad, one brother, one sister, both older than me.’

‘I’ve one younger brother. Parents are divorced.’

‘Average American family then’ Lilly commented.

‘Pretty much’ he smiled in reply.

‘Favourite movie of all time?’

‘Oh man, that’s tough. It’s hard to pick one when there are so many good movies out there. A Clockwork Orange probably if I have to choose one.’

‘It’s a good movie granted, but how could you not pick the original Star Wars trilogy. Those movies made my childhood.’

‘They are awesome movies. Me and brother use to have a notebook when we were kids all about the movies, we were so into the movies.’

‘Aaww’ Lilly cooed. ‘That’s adorable!’

Gerard actually blushed a little at this.

Lilly felt like it was a little victory, feeling like she broke through his confident exterior somewhat if she could make him blush.

‘Favourite book?’ he asked, trying to deflect from his obvious embarrassment.

‘Easy, it’s gotta be Harry Potter. Best books ever. My life felt sadly empty when I finished the last book.’ She sighed dramatically.

‘I think I have to agree with you on that, although Catcher in the Rye is pretty good too.’

‘I never read it’ she confessed. ‘I was always told it was more of a guy’s book to be honest so I never bothered.’

‘Aw man, it’s a classic. You have to read it sometime.’ He said, smiling sweetly.

All he seemed to do was smile. It was almost annoying, nobody should smile so much.

But God, he did have an amazing smile.

‘What kind of music do you like?’

‘Punk, metal, bit of Brit pop. Any good music really as long as it’s good.’ He laughed.

‘I’m more of a rock, indie, nu-metal girl myself, with a bit of grunge thrown in. You can’t beat Nineties grunge.’

‘Not bad. What’s your favourite band then?’

‘Probably Linkin Park, Interpol are pretty good too.’

‘What? I have to say I’m disappointed. It’s got to be Megadeath and Danzig all the way, man. Black Flag are really good too.’

‘I’ve never heard of Danzig or Black Flag.’ Lilly admitted.

Gerard stared at her with a blank expression.

‘What a sad life you’ve lead’ he said with a mock sympathetic look, shaking his head at her.

‘Whatever’ she said ‘I just had better music to listen too, ok?’ She stuck her tongue out.

‘I can see you’re a very mature person.’ He said, laughing again.

‘So I’ve been told. It’s why I work with kids.’ She said while laughing.

‘Okay, back to the game, any hobbies?’ She asked.

‘Probably drawing, playing guitar really badly.’

‘You’re not athletic then, I admire that. Sports are over rated. ‘

‘I use to play soccer actually; I wasn’t very good though so I took early retirement after middle school.’

Lilly laughed again. She couldn’t remember the last time someone made her laugh so much. It felt good and scary at the same time. She was enjoying his company far too much.

Before she could reply, her phone started to ring. Looking at the screen she saw it was her sister calling.

‘Sorry, gotta take this’ she said, not waiting for his reply before she answered.

‘Hey, what’s up?’ She said answering her phone.

‘Dude, are you still heading out later?’ Her sister was never one to beat around the bush.

‘Oh, I’d forgotten about that. I’m still in, where are we meeting?’

‘Call around to mine, we’ll have a few drinks before heading out.’

‘Sounds good, what time?’

‘Call over for about eight.’

Lilly checked her watch, it was five o’clock now. She’d have to leave now if she wanted to make it on time.

‘Okay, I’ll see you then.’

With that, her sister hung up.

She looked at Gerard, who had been listening the whole time.

‘Sorry about that’ she started, as she suddenly wished she didn’t have to leave.

‘It’s ok.’ He said, that smile still on his face.

‘I actually have to go now, I forgot I made plans for tonight.’

‘Oh’ he said, as a look of disappointment flickered across his face.

‘Sorry. It was really nice to meet you Gerard.’ She said with sincerity, as she felt a wave of disappointment wash through her.

‘Don’t be so over dramatic. It was never going to end any other way.’

Then she suddenly had an idea.

Before she could register that she was talking, she blurted out

‘Would you like to go out with me tonight?’

What the fuck did you just do? Are you CRAZY?

For once, Lilly agreed with Inner Voice.

Her face turned a beetroot red shade as embarrassment flooded through her, wishing the ground
would open up and swallow her whole.

‘Uh, I meant, with me and my sister and her friends not like a date or anything. Oh God, you know what, forgot I said anything’

She said as she packed up her things with lightening speed, feeling like she was digging herself into an even bigger hole as she avoided looking at him.

‘I’d like that.’

She looked at him, and saw a self satisfied smirk on his way too pretty face.

She regretted asking him based on that look alone. His already inflated ego had just been further increased by her stupidity. She hated her foot in mouth disease, especially when it got her into situations like this.

She could hardly take it back now. She was raised with a certain amount of manners.

Plus, as much as she hated the smirk on his face right now, she really did want to see him again.
She wanted to do something crazy or maybe just live a little bit and asking a strange cute American guy out for drinks definitely counted as crazy in her books.

‘Okay, um, do you know where Kennedy’s bar is?’

‘No, but I’ll find it, don’t worry.’

‘Okay, we should be there for about ten.’

‘Could I get your cell phone number? In case I get lost.’

‘Sure, you have a phone I can out my number into?’ she asked.

He rummaged through his messenger bag for a moment before he pulled a phone out and handed it to her.

‘By the way, we call them mobile’s over here, not cell phones.’ She said as she finished typing her number and handed the phone back to him.

‘Thanks’ he said with a smile as their hands briefly touched when he took the phone off her.

She couldn’t control the blush that spread to her cheeks with the sudden contact while he appeared entirely unaffected.

She stood up quickly and mumbled a quick goodbye as she raced from the park before she could embarrass herself further.

Notes

Hi All, another chapter for you lovely folks!
Please read, subscribe, comment and vote if you like, it really makes my day when I get comments.

On an unrelated note, I have fallen in love. With Black Veil Brides. Listened to them for the first time yesterday, and they are amazing!

Til next time! :)