Aria pov
"I'll never stop fighting for us." His eyes were fierce. "Never stop choosing you. Never stop being grateful that you gave me another chance."
The intensity was building between us, that magnetic pull that always seemed to exist. But then our food arrived, breaking the moment, and we both laughed.
"We're terrible at this," I said. "The light, casual first date thing."
"We're terrible at casual, period." He served us both pasta. "We're intense people who had an intense past and are building an intense future. Might as well embrace it."
"As long as we embrace the good parts too," I said. "The laughter and the comfortable silences and the"
"Normalcy?" he suggested. "The boring, wonderful normalcy of just being together?"
"Exactly."
We ate and talked, and somewhere between the main course and dessert, I realized I was having fun. Real, genuine fun. Not the adrenaline-fueled excitement of our usual drama, but the warm, comfortable enjoyment of being with someone I loved.
