(Easton POV)

Aries parked his car in front of a fancy French restaurant named Amour and I was gawking the entire time. Are we going to eat here?

"Let's go." He said as we both got out of the car and made our way towards the entrance of the restaurant. As we came in, a strong aroma of something fragrant hit my nostrils.

"AH!" I moaned. It smells so good. I looked at Aries to see him giving me a weird look.

"Are you having an orgasm or something?"

"What? Oh no! It's just that it smells so good and this place looks really expensive! Are you sure we are going to eat here?"

"Of course and there's no charge for us!" He said.

"What? How is that possible?"

"I own the place, funny boy!" He stated and my jaw dropped open. Is he serious?

"Aunt Carol!" Aries said as he approached a middle-aged woman and gave her a hug. "Aries, my dear boy! So great for you to drop by!" She stated. "Well, we're planning to have dinner here before we start studying for our quiz." He said.

"Of course, make yourself at home." She said in a motherly tone. I like her.

"Oh, by the way, this is my BOYFRIEND, Easton!" Aries said which made me turn my head to him in a full-speed manner.

"Nah! I'm just messing with you. He's going to be my partner for the quiz and we plan on acing it." Aries told his aunt.

"Oh! I am sure you can both rock that and I actually wouldn't mind seeing you have a boyfriend, Aries. Girls for me are just too whiny, bitchy and spoiled. Plus, he's cute and I ship both of you." Carol joked which made me giggle.

"Auntie! Come on, you're embarrassing me." Aries said.

"For you, it might be embarrassing but for Easton, it looks like it's flattering." Carol pointed out which made my face, redden even more.

Oh gosh, this is going to be a long night.

-----

We are looking at the menu and I am totally clueless on what to order because I have never eaten in a French restaurant before. I have never even heard of these dishes before.

"Hey, if you want something, don't hesitate! There's no charge for us." Aries said.

"Aries, are you sure?"

"I own the place, why would I not be sure?" He said and I rolled my eyes.

"So is your aunt the manager?" I asked.

"Yeah, my mother is the founder of Amour and she used to be the head chef while my aunt is the manager. I grew up in a home full of delicious and aromatic cooking. When I was a kid, I still remember playing and running around this restaurant every weekend with my cousins, and we would enjoy complimentary dinner from mom." He said

"I would love to meet her." I smiled.

"I would love that too but she's not with us anymore. She passed away years ago!" He said and I suddenly felt bad for asking.

"I'm sorry about that!"

"It's cool, don't worry about it." He responded. Suddenly, a waiter approached us and asked for our orders.

"Are you ready to order, gentlemen?"

"Yes we are! We are going to have every single one of your specialties. For the appetizers, we will have separate orders of French onion soup and Nicoise salad. For the main course, we will both have Confit de canard and for our dessert, chocolate soufflé." Aries said.

"Very well, sir Aries!" The waiter said before he took our orders and brought it at the kitchen counter.

"Sorry, but I had to do that. Otherwise, you probably would have ordered something you don't know." Aries said.

"It's okay, I am glad you did because I have no idea about French cuisine. The only French food I know is a croissant." I said which made Aries chuckle.

"So anyway, what's this Con-feet de canal that you ordered?" I asked. Out of nowhere, Aries burst into laughter which confused and startled the heck out of me.

"Oh gosh! The way you said it killed me!" He said wiping the tears off his eyes.

"Not funny!" I said as I glared at him.

"It is, funny boy! You look adorable with that cute frown of yours by the way." He joked. He tried to catch his breath and calm himself down after a laughing fit before explaining the dish to me.

"Confit de canard is basically a duck meat that has been marinated with salt, pepper, garlic and thyme for a minimum of three days before slow-cooking it in an oven at low temperature."

"Oh!" I said in amazement.

Yum! I can't wait for the food.

-----

"Aries, way to go! Now I fully get it!" I cheered as Aries has managed to teach me the correct and easy way of solving the problem. At first, I was still getting confused by that particular part but now that Aries has provided scenarios and examples, it made the learning process easier and more fun.

"You got it, see! Just always think about that formula and the examples I gave you, it will be less difficult." He said.

It is 11:00 pm and we're still here in Amour restaurant. It should have been closed earlier but since Aries is the owner and he chose this place as our study area, the staff members have to deal with it. I feel bad for them because they are already exceeding their time of labor because of us and knowing that they still have to go to work early tomorrow makes it even worse.

"Aries, I think we better go now! Look at them, they look so exhausted and tired. Let's get out of here so they can finally clean up and go home." I said.

"Pff, who are they to complain? If they don't like the treatment, there are plenty of people to hire out there." He said cockily.

"Hey there! You should refrain from saying that, Aries! They are human beings too and they are doing this for us." I responded.

"Fine but before we leave, do you have any questions?"

"None. I fully get it now." I reassured him.

"Alright, I also understood the lesson even more when you taught me some of your techniques as well so thank you." Aries said to me.

"No problem, let's ace this quiz, shall we?" I said as I held out my pinky finger at him.

"Yep, we will ace it." Aries said as he wrapped his pinky finger around mine and we did a pinky swear together. We gathered our things and put them in our back packs before exiting the restaurant.

"Thank you!" I said as I waved goodbye to the staff members. I followed Aries all the way to his car and hopped in with him. I fastened my seatbelt as he prepared to drive me home.

Today was pretty eventful. I got to meet Aries' friends, I had a nice meal in a French restaurant, Aries and I helped each other in understanding the geometry exercises and now, I am going home, fully confident that me and him can kill this quiz.

"You enjoyed?"

"I did, as always." I responded with made him smiled and nod at me.

"I did too, it was a nice date!" Aries said.

"It's not dating because dating refers to a couple." I retorted.

"Aren't we a couple?" Aries asked and I looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Hahaha, it's so fun to mess with you, funny boy!" Aries said.

"Whatever."

The drive on the way home was pretty silent and I took the time to reflect about my relationship with Aries. I don't really think that he is the type of guy who would take me seriously. I keep telling myself that maybe he just loves annoying me and making fun of me but a part of me is also saying that he genuinely likes me, which I find somehow, hard to believe.

Aries is extremely attractive, he is well-off and rich and every girls in school is gushing over him. He probably has chosen someone already so I don't really get my hopes up. To even hope or think that he would like me is absolutely absurd but then again, he always protects me from my bullies and he is always by my side. Maybe he sees me as just a friend who's fun to be around with, I don't know.

Ugh, is this what girls think about before they are about to be in a relationship? Do they overanalyze as much as I do as well? Me overanalyzing my relationship with Aries goes to show that I...may truly like him as well.