(Niall)

"Do you like breakfast food?", I asked Lila as I drove.

"Sure. I like any food, actually. I'm easy to please", she smiled, squinting from the sun, looking out of the window.

I believed that.
This girl was so cool.

I pulled an extra pair of sunglasses out of my console and handed them to her.
She politely thanked me and put them on.

I looked over at her.
She held her hand out of the car window and watched the wind make her fingers dance.

My eyes looked down at her dress, the shoes and I thought of the underwear that I picked out.

She looks hot as hell, but I probably went a little over the top
I chuckled to myself.

I just couldn't miss the opportunity to dress her how I wanted to see her.

I couldn't think of any other girl that would just go with it, let me dress her up like this.

Lila didn't care what other people thought. She simply did whatever she felt like doing.

I pulled up to the valet in front of Le Heureux Matin.
"Have you eaten here?", I asked her.

She shook her head.
"No. It's beautiful", she said, looking at the mostly glass restaurant.

"I know it's lunchtime now, but the breakfast food here is the best. They serve it all day", I told her.

"I'm all about it, sure!", she said as the valet opened her door.
I saw his eyes bulge as he took in the sight of her.

She thanked him and waited for me to catch up to her. I walked behind her, unable to take my eyes off of the back of her dress.

Another valet opened the doors for us and greeted, "Good afternoon, Mr. Horan", he nodded at me and I said hello to Lila.

"How often do you eat here?", she turned to look at me and smiled as she asked.
"Probably three or four times a week. The food is amazing".

We were seated and given menus, but Lila slid hers over to me and asked me to order for her.

I ordered the Eggs Benedict, hash brown potatoes, bacon, sausage gravy and biscuits for both of us.

Lila bit her fingernail and wrinkled her nose and looked like a child asking for ice cream when she asked the waiter if she could have watermelon slices, as well.

He laughed and told her of course and winked. I could tell that was just being friendly, but before I knew what I was doing I held the menus up for him to take, blocking his view of Lila.

"Thank you", I said and he smiled, "Yes, Sir", he said, then took the menus.

"So what do you do, Niall Horan?", Lila asked with a friendly smile and took a sip of her water.

"I own a catering business", I leaned back in my chair, "All these fancy parties people throw here in this town, the charity events, gallery openings, weddings, showers, they all need lavish spreads of luxurious food at their events", I smiled widely, "I'm proud to say that mine is the number one preferred catering service here".

"Wow, that's amazing, Niall", she said, seeming very impressed, which made me feel so good.

"That explains how you can afford to feed me in restaurants like this", she said, holding up a finger and twirled it around, "and clothe me like Call Girl Barbie", she laughed, making me grin.

"Well, Lila Heart, how do you pay your bills?", I leaned forward in my seat.

"I'm a photographer", she said with a smile, but then it suddenly vanished. Her face went pale and she looked down, breaking eye-contact with me.

"Are you okay?", I started to get up, but she held her hand out.

"Oh, no! I'm fine!", she forced a laugh.

"I just forgot about something until just now, it's all good!", she said waving her hand and then drank a few big gulps of her water.

"Okay. Um, well, what do you photograph?"

"Landscapes mostly. I sell them to magazines, advertisement agencies, whoever", she said happily, "I've always enjoyed taking pictures, so I'm lucky that I can make a living doing one of the things I love".

"Gwen mentioned you like to surf?"

"No." she looked up and her eyes seemed more alive than I'd ever seen them.

"I love it. I can't...", she started to fade away, but came back.

"Sometimes surfing is the only time I feel like I can breathe", she said and for the first time I saw her eyes lock on mine with total passion.
It made my heart beat faster.

But then I felt a space in my heart. I couldn't identify why.

It was like I wished there was a way that I could somehow "take in" all of Lila and it made me feel very possessive. I'm normally not like that, so it made me a little uncomfortable.

Lila's already filled with such bright positivity, so to watch her energy strengthen about something she clearly felt intense about made me jealous of that something.

If I could ever be a reason that her eyes brightened like that.

Wherever she was, I wanted to be.

Whatever she liked, I liked from now on.

Whoever was in her life, I wanted them in mine too, just to keep her closer.

I've been around her twice and these are my thoughts?
I need to slow the fuck down.

Our food was served and I heard Lila quietly hum.
"This does look amazing", she said.
"And it tastes even better than it looks", I said back.

I watched as she cut into her Eggs Benedict and take a bite.
Her eyes rolled back and she closed them and I don't think I've ever smiled bigger.

"Hm?", I leaned in.
"Oh. My. GOD.", she said with her eyes still closed.
"I just had a foodgasm", she said and I laughed out loud.

Our waiter came over, smiling at Lila.
"How is everything?", he then looked to me.

"I've got a very happy girl on my hands", I looked adoringly at Lila.

She looked up at the waiter and didn't smile. With a very serious look in her face she held his gaze.
"Lead me to the person who made this food. I need to marry or adopt them."

Both the waiter and I laughed at this, so thrilled that she was loving the food so much.

The waiter left us alone and we talked about each of the things we ate, relishing in the exquisite flavors.

"Tell me more about yourself", I said to her.

"Mmm...", she narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular, mulling what I said over in her head as she chewed her food.

"I'm an animal person", she stated, "I love them. All of them", she picked up a slice of watermelon, "And....lets see, I love fire....I love the moon, in all of its stages", she added.

I sat and waited for her to go on.

"My favorite color changes every day. Today it's black, influenced by your fashion choices", she pointed her finger from her neck down to her shoes.

"I love glitter, especially gold glitter. I wish I could sprinkle it everywhere I go"

I smiled at her.
You do

She smiled chewing some of her biscuits and gravy and covered her mouth because she had food in it, "I love movies".

"Name one of your favorites", I had to ask.

"The Emperor's New Groove", she replied, instantly.

I put my elbow on the table and the palm of my hand under my chin, smiling at this beautiful creature sitting across from me.

"So you just moved here, right? Where did you move from?", I took a bite of my hash browns.

"Stratsberg", she said, smiling, "I thought I'd miss the city, but living here after only just a few days, I really don't. I've never seen whiter sands or clearer beaches and I've been to almost every beach on these coasts"

"Won't you miss your friends?", I asked and she smiled a shy smile.

"Honestly, I don't really have any", she shrugged and then cleared her throat with a sincere look in her eyes, her eyebrows pinched together.

"It's not that I don't love people, because I do, I've just always kind of "run on my own" for lack of a better way of putting it".

I could completely see that, I thought, smiling at her.

I cleared my throat, then continued my questions.
"So where do you live?", I said as I leaned over and took one of her watermelon slices, but she didn't see me.

She was looking away from me with a strange look on her face.

"Lila? Are you okay?", I asked her for the second time since we sat down.

"Will you excuse me, Niall? Ladies room", she explained and I nodded, telling her of course.

She tried to hide it, but was clearly upset. I hope I didn't embarrass her or anything. Like if she's ashamed of where she lives or something.
I felt horrible.

I waited for about ten minutes and decided to go check on her.

I tapped on the Ladies Room door.
"Lila?", I cracked it open and saw a lady washing her hands, "Sorry! I'm sorry! I'm just looking for my friend"

"There's no one else in here", she said to me.