[o] Night Out

As soon as Ian opened the door, he was met with loud welcomes from the four women sat around the large breakfast table in the middle of the kitchen.

He grinned widely and accepted each hug as they came, pressing a kiss to each woman's cheek.

When the last woman came to him - a frail old woman in a wheelchair - he leaned down and cupped her cheek muttering soft nothings to her before pressing a tender kiss to her forehead.

"Lily, you've met my zia, Ersilia and Gioia." Both women advanced on Lily with songs of praise, Ersilia hugging and kissing Lily first, then Gioia repeating the affectionate greeting right after.

"This is my mammi, Fia." The woman that looked no younger than seventy greeted Lily with a smile rather than the full on smothering hugs that her sisters had given her.

"And this is Elda, my Nonni." The woman in the wheelchair looked up at Lily with twinkling brown eyes that did not reflect the age in her appearance.

Lily returned their affections, hugging each woman in return, she had been well practice at doing this with her own overbearing family.

They all seemed so sweet and kind though and their nature was infectious.

"Nice to meet you all."

She replied before leaning down to the elderly woman and pressing a kiss to her cheek, as was custom in most of these families.

Elda's aged old hand patted Lily's cheek gently and she rasped softly at her. "Guardare dopo il mio ragazzo."

Ian ran a hand over Elda's white hair and smiled down at her. "We're going to go spend some time alone."

Esrilia was the first to cackle. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, ah, boy."

He shook his head fondly as he opened up a frosted glass door on the other side of the kitchen and motioned for Lily to step through it. "I've heard what you've done, zia. We wouldn't do half of what you would do."

"Certamente."

She replied with a little smile before standing back up at Ian's side.

Lily couldn't help but chuckle at the woman's warning, trust his family too be far too open than what was normal.

She followed after Ian and walked through the doors as he gestured to them, giving his family a small wave before they shut.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Ian admitted as he tossed his keys into a clay bowl that was obviously made by a child for their favourite uncle.

After a walk down a short hallway in which they passed a closed door with the symbols for Mars and Venus spraypainted onto it, they got to the livingroom.

It was comfortable, a three person white leather couch and a red leather armchair, a red shag rug, white flooring. Red walls with black fabric pinned up to cover most of it. There were three doors in the room. One was painted with an image of a barbell while the other had different coloured and sizes of the letter Z on it. The third door was glass and led out into the large back garden.

"Make yourself comfortable," he bid as he padded towards the coffee maker set up behind the couch.

"Definitely could have been a lot worse."

She replied with a soft laugh as she moved to sit on the couch, leaving her shoes on the floor as she tucked her legs under herself.

"Though I think your Grandmother is going to have me whacked if she thinks I ever upset you."

She honestly didn't know if that was a joke or not....probably not.

Ian snorted.

"Nonni couldn't hurt a fly. Trust me, I've seen her try." Nonni didn't have it in her to hurt anyone or have anyone hurt.

"Want it spiked?" he asked as he poured a generous amount of whiskey into one coffee mug.

"Sure, not too much though, already have a fair amount in my system and I'm a bit of a light weight."

She wouldn't be very good company if she just passed out on the couch half way through the conversation, plus she didn't trust herself when drunk, she got a little bit too flirty.

No doubt she would end up trying to strip off and crawl into Ian's lap, then promptly die of embarrassment when she sobered up.

Ian chuckled softly as he poured the whiskey for her.

Okay, so he didn't give her as much as she had given himself, but it was still pretty heavy-handed. Ian didn't believe in only a little alcohol.

After filing the mugs with coffee, he passed one over to Lily then vaulted the back of the couch and leant over to grab his own coffee before sitting down.

"Thanks."

She replied as she gripped the hot mug of coffee, bringing it to her lips and taking a large sip.

Her eyes fluttered a little in surprise as the strong hit of alcohol hit her.

"Remind me not to let you pour drinks."

If this was his version of weak she would hate to see what strong was.

"Nothing wrong with a little alcohol."

He took a sip of his spiked coffee and relaxed into the couch as it burned pleasantly down his throat.

He kicked his feet up onto a white leather footrest and sipped at the coffee again.

"There is when I end up passed out on your couch."

She replied with a soft laugh, it wasn't too likely to happen if she just had this one coffee.

Any more than that and she wouldn't be held accountable for her actions.

"Are you worried about passing out or what could happen before you pass out?" the man asked with a wide cheeky grin.

He didn't add to the remark or try to push anything; merely laid back more comfortably and took a sip of his coffee.

He didn't want her to worry about him doing anything to her while she was out of it with too much alcohol.

"I don't really want to make an idiot of myself in front of you."

She replied, this was the first time she had been over his house and wouldn't it just be lovely of her to pass out on his couch in a drunken stupor.

"That and I get quite flirty when I'm drunk."

Lily added, her own little grin matching his.

"I don't think you could manage that."

Apart from his jealousy over her being able to eat anything she wanted and not put on weight, there was nothing about her that he disliked and he doubted he would find much else to dislike.

"Is flirty supposed to be bad? Should I have given you a little more whiskey in that?"

Lily raised a brow at him.

"Oh so you want me to be flirty with you?"

She asked, her grin widening a little as she lean up against his shoulder and fluttered her eye lashes at him.

Her hand reached up to stroke and play with the back of his hair as she gave a soft giggle.

When she rested her head on his shoulder, he looked down on her with a fond little smile.

His free hand reached up to smooth over her hair gently before picking up the end of a lock of hair and playing with the ends idly.

"I may do."

He liked Lily. Flirting with her and having the possibility of actually getting to do more than just be her friend was a hope that he could definitely jump at.

They had shared a few quick pecks and held hands, real middle school kind of stuff but she hadn't felt like it hinted toward anything else before tonight.

"I really like you Ian."

She admitted, at the beginning of the night she had tossed up between two choices but she was fairly certain of what she wanted.

To be more specific, who she wanted.

Ian's lips curled upwards a little at her confession.

"I really like you too."

He almost felt like he was back in high school now and he was awkwardly confessing his feelings for the popular girl that he liked while the two of them were hidden away from teachers and other kids behind the bleachers.

His arm slid around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.

There were little things about him that she thought would factor into this, his profession for one, but she really didn't care.

Instead she simply leaned up and pressed her lips to his, giving him a long, slow kiss.

It had been a long time since she had actually properly dated someone, it was nice for a change.

Ian leant down and met her half way when she leaned up to kiss him.

His lips moved just as slowly as hers did. His fingers curled in the lock of hair he had been playing with.

His kiss was long and slow. He didn't want it to end any time soon.

Neither did she, Lily leaned into his touch, her own hand grasping onto his hair as she pulled him closer.

Instead of sitting beside him she put her drink down and moved into his lap.

The height difference was much less significant this way and she could reach his face more easily.

When she moved into his lap, he set his drink down, too.

His hands slid up her back slowly to tangle in the hair at the name of her neck.

She tasted of coffee, alcohol and mints. It was a surprisingly good taste and he didn't think he'd be able to get enough of it tonight.

She didn't pull away from his lips until she was breathless and softly panting, even then she leaned her forehead against his and looked up at him, her cheeks dusted with a soft pink hue.

This really did feel like back in highschool where simply kissing the guy you liked left you giddy and your heart pounding.

Lily let her eyes slide shut for a moment, calming herself, if she got too excited her fangs would make an appearance, her one regret with wanting to be with him would be the necessity of lying to him.

His hands began stroking her back gently as they pulled apart enough to take a breath.

He hadn't felt like this for a long while. His teenage romances died out when he was a teenager. Fifteen years later, he had hardly felt the giddy sensation that was damn near pulsing through him right now.

He leant forwards to capture her lips in another long kiss.