Her Unknown Responsibilities

The Date

Mattheo woke me up as he promised. I got up started looking for something to wear plus extra clothes and a bathing suit. Which bathing suit should I pack? They're both cute. Should I ask Mattheo I don't want to weird him out we only just met? Well, he's my new best friend he will just have to get used to me.

"Which bathing suit?" I ask Mattheo who in return gave me a confused look. I walked out and came back to my room in a pink bathing suit top with black bottoms. The top was kind of like a bow and the bottoms had ripples in them. I think I shocked him because his eyes went wide. "This one or the next one I show you?" I said walking out to go put on the other bathing suit I had. It had tropical leaves and flowers on it and the bottoms were navy blue because the top has navy blue in the background. I walk back in and he's shocked again. "Which one?" I ask. "Do you want to look cute or hot?" he asked me trying to hind a smirk. I don't know. "Which one would I want to be seen in at a mystery destination?" He looks at me "That one. Save the other one for someone special. If you don't like my response then pick either one you look great in both." He says picking up his stuff. 

"I have to go but I'll be following you the whole time so if anything happens call me." He says walking away but he stops at my doorway and turns around "If you were wondering no I'm not gonna watch you on your date. But I could and you would never know." He smirks and I hit him "Please don't I'm awkward and that would be embarrassing enough without an audience," I say now overthinking today.

He laughs walking out the door. I can't believe out of all the people in the world my new best friend is my bodyguard.

***

I am writing G-ma a note telling her that I'm on my date and to call if she needs anything. I made sure that I asked her if I could go on this date even though I am really upset with her. I always hear her say she doesn't like liars but she has been lying to me my whole life. I grabbed my bag and walked out the front door. Liam was on the porch waiting for me. 

We got in his truck. It was a navy blue 2018 Chevy Colorado. I could tell this drive was going to be long I just hope it wasn't too long. "You can go back to sleep. I'll wake you when we're almost there" He says handing me a blanket. I smiled. I think he knew me a little too well already.

As I was sleeping I could hear him talking on the phone. I was only slightly awake but I heard him say that he thinks he's falling for me. It made me smile. I hope he didn't notice that would be awkward. I fell back asleep after a few minutes.

***

I was dreaming about my sister Maria and her fiance Barrett. There were more like the parents I never had. I do miss them even though I haven't gone over to the house in a few weeks but everything happening here has been stressful. I think I need them now more than ever because of the whole "father" situation.

Liam had lightly started to wake me up. When I opened my eyes he was smiling at me. God is was adorable. I might be falling for him too. "Good morning sleepy head," he says picking me up from the seat. I look up "where are we?" 

"The beach," he says gently setting me on his tailgate. He is pulling what looks like wet suits. "we are going jet skiing. I remember you saying you wanted to go one day" he says handing me a wet suit. My heart was going crazy I told him this one of the first times we had ever spoken on the phone.

"I'm gonna go change on the beach so you can change here." he says starting to walk away. "thank you," I say smiling. I feel like one of those girls in movies that gets all happy around a guy and it is really making me disgusted but let that out later.

I put my bathing suit on and started putting the wet suit on but it was not going past my thighs but I did a little jump like I do with my skinny jeans and it came up. "having technical difficulties over here?" Liam says walking up laughing a little. "Don't laugh at me mister this is hard," I say trying to get my arms through. He moves over "let me help you." We finally got it on. I know I'm not "fat" but I was feeling a little self-conscious. I hear a little voice in my head "Aria Belle Marshall you better stop or we gonna fight" Barrett was right I feel better now. 

It was still dark outside and the beach was so peaceful. I was sitting here waiting for Liam to come back. I didn't even realize he came up to me until he sat down. "The sunrise in key west is so pretty," I say putting my head on his shoulder. I wasn't looking at him but for some reason, I knew he was smiling.

"You ready for this?" he asked standing up and reaching for my hand. I smile "nope but I know it will be fun," I say grabbing his hand to get off the ground. "I got two but you are going to ride with me first so I can show you how to do it. Okay?" he says looking at me for an answer. I nod my head.

We got on the jet ski and he was showing me how to drive it was pretty straight forward I think he just wanted me to ride with him. I got a little bumpy so a wrapped my arms around him. I was internally cringing but it wasn't too bad. 

He drove back to the shore so I could drive my own. We really didn't have to I was having fun riding with him for the past hour and the sun was starting to rise. He stopped before we got there so we could watch the sunrise. It was so pretty and peaceful to watch. Even though it was killing my eyes I wouldn't look away. I could feel eyes on me so I looked towards Liam. He was just watching me with a smirk.

After the sunrise, we went to the shore and I started to drive the jet ski on my own. It was so much fun. We started to race through the water. I don't know how long we have been out here but the sun was really high and I was starting to get hungry. We were stopped by each other just talking. "We better get going it's almost 12. I know your hungry" he looks over at me smirking. "If you keep smiling at me mister I'll have to assume someone's falling for me now," I say laughing. "Maybe. I'll race you to shore. The first person there gets to pick what we have for dessert" he says. "Oh, you are so on," I say.

Well, he had beaten me to the shore. I was very upset inside but it didn't matter. We took the wet suits off. It was even more difficult than before. He drove into town. "What are you feeling seafood? No seafood?" He asked looking at me then back to the road. "Seafood," I said. He looks over at me surprised. "what?" "nothing I just didn't expect you to answer my question." He says looking back to the street. "so you were looking for the girl's response "it doesn't matter" well I was gonna do that but seafood sound great" I say smiling.

He pulls into this really nice-looking restaurant and hops out of the truck to open my door. I am not used to this. Barrett and I normally fight over this but since I was on a date I didn't. He holds my hand walking in and a sweet-looking older lady seats us and we start looking at the menu. "what are you gonna get?" I ask him. "I was thinking lobster but shrimp sounds good too," he says looking up from the menu. "well you should get lobster and I'll get shrimp and we can share," I say. I look back up at him and smiles and laughs "That's a good idea Yeah we can do that." 

"Little secret I've never eaten lobster. Is it good?" I ask him. "Yes, it is. I'm sure you'll like it." He says. A younger girl walks up to the table smiling at "us" I'm pretty sure she wasn't smiling at me but whatever. "What can I get you to drink." the waitress asks looking at Liam acting flirty. I was jealous but I get he wasn't having it because he said "my girlfriend and I will have sweet tea. Thank you." She made a slight face "I'll go get that for you guys" she says walking away. "Sorry I really didn't feel like dealing with that the whole time. I didn't mean to call you my girlfriend," he says looking at me. "It's okay. I totally get it but next time give me a warning." I say laughing a little. 

She came back and we ordered. She didn't look at Liam which I thought was funny but respectful. She walks away going to a different table I hear her flirting with a new guy. I laugh "Sounds like she's flirting with someone else now." I say making him laugh.

After a few minutes past our food came out. I got pasta and shrimp because I couldn't make up my mind and he got all-you-can-eat seafood. We started to eat and he puts the lobster by my mouth. I guess he's feeding me.

Weird by okay. It was so good. The lobster melts in your mouth. "That is amazing," I say feeding him some pasta. It was easy to feed him because we were sitting beside each other instead of face to face. "That is amazing pasta," he says smiling at me. 

After we finish eating I walk to the bathroom to wash my hands and face. I hear the door open but don't pay attention. I look up and see Mattheo. "How's your date going?" he asks smirking. I turn around "what are you doing here? This is the women's bathroom and you said you wouldn't come close." I say giving him and killer look. "I just came to check on you. It is my main job you know. And I can't be seen talking to you out there Liam might see me remember?" he says in a duh tone. "It's going great. I'm okay and we are about to leave so go now so he doesn't see you. Bye. And thank you for checking on me" I say hugging him and walking out the bathroom.

"So there are cute little stores we could walk through around here. What do you think?" He asks. I smile "Yeah that sounds good." We start walking out of the restaurant. The first store we walk into smells really good. The smell wasn't too strong but it smelt so good. 

As we are walking around the small store I see these bracelets with tiny charms. It looks like it was hand made and the charms looked so as well. The dolphin reminded me of my grandma even though we weren't exactly talking at the moment I wanted to get it for her. I grabbed it and a necklace that had a fox charm. The charm on the necklace had gems on it. So I bought them.

We had walked through many of the little stores they were all cute and homey. The last of the stores was a bit bigger than the others. It wasn't homey and it didn't really give me a good vibe when we walked in. I decided that I wasn't going to walk through that store something felt off about it. So instead we walked back through the road with all the little stores.

"Why didn't you want to walk in the last store?" Liam asked me as we were walking up the road. I looked at him "I don't know something about it gave me a bad feeling. Plus there were too many men in there they all looked at us when we were at the door." I said. 

"I've noticed something about you," he says continuing to walk. "Oh yeah, what's that's?" I ask now looking at him. "Well, you are very observant. Also, you don't trust random men that are around you," he says walking up to a booth that sells treats. The first thing I see in funnel cake oh my goodness it looks so good. I wasn't paying attention until Liam grabbed my hand.

"I got you funnel cake," he says handing me the plate. "Thank you," I say kissing his cheek. The funnel cake was so good. No that's an understatement it was the best I've had in my life. I fed him some too. I didn't want to feel like a pig.

After we finished we started walking again. It was now around three in the afternoon. Time has been going by so fast. We get to the top of the street and make a turn which has a long flit of stairs going to a beach I think. As we get down there I realize that it is a big tub built into the ground with all types of fish inside. There are benches connected to the edge. Liam started walking towards one to sit down with me. 

There were so many firefish, tigerfish, clownfish, flame angelfish, and many more I didn't know the name of. It was so cool. We just sat there for a while watching the fish.

This date really was amazing. Nothing crazy but it wasn't boring. I was having a really good day I just hope Liam was too. I put my head on his shoulder as we sat there.

We sat there for a while I guess because when we started to leave the clock said it was almost five. Jesus, we sat there that long. Liam started walking me to these trails that are supposed to lead to an island. The trail was filled with all types of flowers. It was really pretty so I took a selfie for Snapchat and sent it to Mattheo to tell him I was okay.

The walk was starting to get long and my legs were starting to hurt. "I can pick you up if you want," Liam says looking over at me. "Yes! Please." I say getting on his back. My mind won't shut up now. What if I'm too heavy? 

I feel my phone buzz so I check to see who it was.

M: Cute but he needs to watch his hands before they get chopped off. I know a guy who could do it for free.

OH MY GOD. Note to self never show your mafia best friend a picture of you with a guy. We are going to have to talk about that later.

*Mattheo's POV*

I've been keeping my distance from Aria the whole day. She was about to walk into this store it gave me a weird feeling. I guess she got the feeling because she turned around and walked the other way. I decided I would go to the store. As I walked in I notice there were multiple guys just standing in here. I looked at the guy wearing a suit and I knew him. God, I need to get out of this f*****g store before he notices me too. 

I call Oliver my boos to let him know that Reggie the guy in the suit was back in Florida. I'm glad Aria didn't go in there because Reggie would have noticed her. She does look like her dad a little.

"Ollie I got some bad news. Reggie's back in town. I was following Aria on her date and I wondered why she didn't go in this store so I walked in and he was upstairs he didn't notice me but he could have noticed her." I say to the voicemail walking to the car to tag the store.

Reggie is in the business of s*x trafficking women all over the world except for the places Oliver runs. They were enemies. Oliver may be brutal but he would never kidnap, r**e, or enslave women especially considering he has his daughter. He wants to meet Aria but he is scared and disappointed in himself for not coming back sooner for her.

*Aria's POV* *Regular POV*

We finally got to the island and it was pretty. There was a boardwalk that leads to a gazebo where couples were dancing. You could hear the music before you got on the island. 

"Can I have this dance?" Liam asks me smiling as we get to the gazebo. "Yes but I'm warning you I can't dance," I say smiling back at him. He laughs a little but never replies just leads me to the dance floor.

A slow song came on thank god. I don't think I could have danced to the song before. I have two "left feet" is the saying. But this was really fun. A few songs past and we were still dancing and laughing because I couldn't dance. I was having an amazing time. This is the best first date I've ever experienced.

As much fun as we were having it was time to go to dinner. I was nervous because he told me to bring fancy clothes. I brought a dress but I am not used to wearing dresses so my anxiety has risen. The dress was short but not too short. It was black and white with patterns and a brought the black wedges that I've never gotten to wear anywhere before so I was a little excited about that. 

We started walking to the restaurant. As we walked in and heard Liam talking to the girl at the front desk I realized that he made this reservation here. We were taken to a private area. As we're sat down and ordered our beverages I saw a cook walk out of the kitchen the other people. Oh, this was one of those places where they cook in front of you. Kind of like Yamoto's.

Dinner was fabulous. This date was really something else. I can't imagine how long it took to plan this. On the way home, he holds my hand the time which makes me smile. I haven't smiled about a guy in a long time. I hope this time will be different.

After a few hours, we get to my house and he walks to my door. As I was about to say goodbye and kiss him the door opens.