Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
The restaurant was far busier than Alba had expected it to be.
She paused just inside the entrance, scanning the room slowly as her heart rate picked up a little.
Candlelight flickered across white tablecloths and polished glassware, couples dined together, and Alba…
well, she’d definitely made a mistake bringing Ellie here.
This was not the kind of place where people came to eat and leave quickly. No, this was the kind of place designed to make people linger over a fancy bottle of wine, and where conversations stretched long into the evening while the world outside faded away.
It was designed to encourage couples to lean closer to one another across the table, which was a little unfortunate, because Alba already had the distinct feeling that she was going to spend the entire evening trying not to stare at the woman sitting opposite her…
and the ambiance in here wasn’t going to help with that at all.
Ellie followed a server to their table near the window, thanking her politely as she pulled out Alba’s chair before taking her own seat across from her. Even that small gesture felt unexpectedly intimate.
Alba sat down, smoothing the front of her dress as she glanced out through the large window beside them.
The lake stretched out beyond the glass in near darkness now, its surface reflecting scattered lights from the terrace.
It was beautiful, romantic…and quite frankly, perfect. Which, again, was deeply inconvenient.
Alba picked up the menu so she had somewhere safe to look.
“Everything sounds good,” Ellie said as she scanned her own menu. “Actually, everything sounds delicious.”
“That’s usually a bad sign,” Alba replied, refusing to look up. “It means the decision will take forever.”
“You strike me as someone who decides quickly.”
Alba turned the page, nodding as though she was caught between choices. But she wasn’t. She was just doing anything to keep her wits about her. “Oh, I absolutely do, but that won’t stop me from wanting whatever you’ve ordered when it arrives.”
Ellie laughed, and the sound of it settled deep inside Alba.
She couldn’t have stopped that feeling even if she’d tried.
God, she liked that laugh. She loved that laugh.
Especially when it lit Ellie up completely, bright and effortless in a way Alba had rarely seen at school. It was impossible not to react to it.
A waiter approached their table and set a bottle of water down between them. “Good evening. Can I get you both something to drink while you look over the menu?”
Ellie glanced across at Alba. “Wine?”
“Yes, that would be great.”
“Red or white?” Ellie’s bright blue eyes gazed back at Alba across the table, melting her entirely when she very briefly looked her way.
It doesn’t really matter. It’s not going to help me this evening. Alba cleared her throat and forced a polite smile. “Red.”
Ellie turned back to the waiter. “A bottle of your best red would be lovely.”
“Of course.”
As the waiter disappeared again, Alba set the menu down and leaned back in her chair.
She couldn’t spend the entire evening avoiding eye contact.
Ellie had already noticed that she was quieter than usual.
But the truth was…Alba was worried she would start enjoying herself too much.
And once that happened, she would inevitably forget herself and say something she shouldn’t.
Because sitting across from Ellie like this—outside of school and away from everything familiar—felt far too easy.
When Alba finally found the courage to behave like a normal human being, the sight of Ellie nearly knocked the air from her lungs.
The blue dress she’d chosen earlier looked even better beneath the restaurant’s soft lighting.
The candle on the table flickered gently between them, the glow catching in Ellie’s hair and bringing out the colour of her eyes in a way that Alba found deeply distracting.
She forced her attention back on the table.
Focus on literally anything else.
“So,” Ellie said as she closed her menu. “Have you decided?”
“I think so.”
Ellie smirked. “That was quick.”
“I told you. Fast decisions.” Alba lifted a shoulder. “I’ll go for the sea bass.”
“Good choice.” Ellie nodded approvingly. “Risotto for me.”
The waiter returned with their wine and poured two glasses before taking their orders. “Will that be everything for you this evening?”
Ellie glanced at Alba before answering. “Yes, thank you.”
“Lovely. Enjoy your evening.” He paused, glancing between them with a small, knowing smile. “It’s a beautiful place for a romantic getaway.” Then he walked away, entirely oblivious to what he had just done to Alba’s heart rate.
She froze, and Ellie blinked repeatedly. For a second or two, the world seemed to pause around them. Alba picked up her wine glass and took a sip, pretending she hadn’t heard the comment at all.
Romantic getaway? Brilliant.
“Well.” Ellie cleared her throat, but there was a look of amusement dancing in those incredibly blue eyes. “That’s awkward.”
Alba managed a casual shrug even though she was slowly dying inside. “People assume things.”
“Apparently.” Ellie smiled, clearly deciding not to dwell on it. “To be fair…” she lifted her glass and inched it towards Alba’s. “This does look exactly like the sort of place people come for that.”
Alba clinked her glass against Ellie’s. “True.”
She tried to laugh it off, but the comment had already wormed its way into her brain. Because sitting here across from Ellie, it did feel a little romantic.
Oh, it feels a lot romantic, and you know it!
Ellie sipped her wine and relaxed back in her chair. “You seem quiet again.”
“What? I—” Alba looked up. “I-I’m not quiet.”
“You are,” Ellie said. “You usually fill the silence in a room.”
“That’s because most rooms don’t look like this.”
Ellie smiled as she glanced out at the lake. “It is gorgeous, Alba. Thank you again.”
When their food arrived, it gave Alba something else to focus on besides the way Ellie looked across the table in the candlelight.
The conversation shifted naturally after that.
To school gossip and travel stories, and Alba describing one particularly chaotic geography trip that had ended with three students attempting to climb a sheep enclosure.
Ellie laughed more than Alba had ever heard her laugh at work, and every time she did, Alba felt something shift inside her.
Ellie wasn’t doing anything wrong, quite the opposite actually.
She was being exactly the same as she always was.
Kind, easy to talk to, and comfortable to be around.
And that was exactly what made Alba’s situation worse.
Because she had an increasingly strong suspicion that the best thing about this weekend was also the one thing she could never have.
Ellie stood out on their terrace, watching the gentle ripples spreading across the lake below.
The full moon hung high above the dark hills in the distance, its pale light spilling across the water and breaking into silver fragments every time the surface shifted.
It was so quiet here. So…peaceful. It was the perfect solution to soften the noise that usually lived inside her head.
She rested her forearms on the railing and leaned forward a little.
She hadn’t realised how much she needed this.
This space and this stillness. The chance to simply exist somewhere without responsibility waiting for her in the next room.
And then she imagined what it would feel like to stay here longer than the weekend.
To wake up to this view every morning instead of the same old routine waiting for her at home.
The thought of heading back on Sunday suddenly filled her with dread.
Ellie wrapped her arms around herself as the breeze shifted across the terrace and exhaled slowly.
She heard the terrace door slide open behind her, then she heard the clink of glasses, followed by the creak of the wooden boards. She was glad Alba had decided to join her out here. She didn’t want to share this view with anyone else.
“Thought you might want this,” Alba said as she appeared beside her. “I decided on the bottle of red you brought with you, but if you want something else, I’m happy to go down and get you something different.”
Ellie turned, accepting the glass Alba held out to her. Their fingers brushed briefly as she took it, the contact so light she almost wondered if she’d imagined it. “This is perfect, thank you.”
Alba leaned beside her against the railing, their shoulders touching as they both turned their attention back to the lake.
Ellie wasn’t usually someone who enjoyed silence, most of her life had been spent filling moments with conversation or activity, but with Alba, the pauses felt natural and comfortable.
It never seemed necessary to fill them with small talk.
“I, um…” Alba cleared her throat. “I want to apologise for what happened in the restaurant.”
Ellie side-glanced at her. “I’m sorry?”
“The waiter earlier.” Alba offered a small, slightly embarrassed smile. “When he assumed we were here for a romantic weekend.”
“Oh, Alba.” Ellie laughed. “You don’t need to apologise for that.”
“Well, I feel like I should. It must have been a bit awkward, and I don’t want that to be the kind of friendship we have, you know? Where people assume and eventually you fall away because of it.”
Ellie lifted her glass and sipped her wine, the warmth of it settling before she responded.
She could hear the sincerity behind Alba’s words, the concern that she may have made things uncomfortable, but the truth was…
she hadn’t. Not even a little. “Honestly? I could have been accused of being on a date with someone far worse.”
Alba laughed under her breath. “That’s reassuring.”
“I mean it. If people are going to make assumptions, there are worse ones they could land on.”