Page 71 of Love at First Sight

‘Let’s go,’ Luigi says. ‘For you two, the best table in the house!’

We sit at the exact table I’d been hoping for, and Leo says, ‘Smell that? The jasmine?’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I love it.’

‘Same,’ he replies. ‘This is my favourite spot. I’m here, like, three times a week. That’s the thing about a bachelor’s life – can’t be arsed to cook, most nights.’

‘I know a little something about that,’ I say, not even needing to look at the menu. Right as I go to tell Leo I always have the Diavola, Leo says: ‘The Diavola here is superb.’

Our words crash into each other and we both laugh.

‘Can you squeeze in a slice?’ I ask. ‘Even though you’ve eaten?’

‘I could probably squeeze in a whole half a pizza,’ he admits, and I explain we’ll have to order two pizzas then, because I’m starving. ‘Half a pizza won’t do it,’ I tell him, patting my stomach. ‘But this is my treat anyway. I owe you.’

‘You don’t owe me anything,’ Leo says. ‘Honestly. I’m happy to help out.’

‘Well,’ I say. ‘Do you want to help out by talking about anything other than Stray Kids? Because I’ve had enough. I’m all for working hard on something you love, but I am at severe risk of becoming incredibly boring if I don’t remember that there’s life outside of the thing.’

‘You couldn’t become boring if you tried,’ Leo says. ‘Not with tits like yours.’

‘What did you just say?!’ I squeak. ‘Leo!’

He holds up his hands. ‘I’m just kidding,’ he laughs. ‘Sorry. I say stupid stuff when I’m nervous.’

‘You’re nervous to sit here and eat pizza?’ I obviously don’t buy it. ‘Mr Cool as a Cucumber?’

‘Common misconception. Something to do with my face. Even at school I’d get in trouble; the teachers always thought I was up to something. But this is just my face! When I’m trying hard, apparently I look mischievous!’

‘Hmmm,’ I say. ‘I think I might be with your teachers on this one.’

He shakes his head sadly. ‘The injustice of it. I try my best to be vulnerable, to put myself out there …’

The way he says it, I suddenly don’t want to take the mick out of him any more. He seems to be genuinely tryingto tell me something, and it feels wrong to tease him about it. I make a choice. I’m going to change tack

‘What else were you like at school?’ I say.

‘Well, I’m dyslexic, but that only came out when I was in Year Eleven, so mostly I was just thought of as thick,’ he says with a shrug. A waiter deposits two beers we didn’t order on the table, but Leo takes his and lifts it in the direction of Luigi back inside, who I catch grinning and wave at in return.

‘Popular?’ I say.

He shrugs. ‘People knew me, yeah. Probably played it all up a bit too much to be honest – Jack the Lad, that sort of thing. Class clown. I’ll bet if we were at school together you wouldn’t have looked twice at me.’

‘I didn’t look twice at any boy until I was about twenty,’ I say. ‘Literally didn’t even know you lot existed.’

‘Seriously?’ Leo says.

‘Seriously. I had my first kiss just before my twenty-first birthday.’

‘And …’ he starts, not quite finding the words to finish his question. It doesn’t matter though, because I know what the question is.

‘My virginity?’ I say, and he gives a sort ofsorry for asking but yeahface. ‘Twenty-one. Felt a bit silly for waiting for so long, to be honest. Tried making up for lost time.’

‘Oh! Now we’re getting to the juicy part!’ Leo chuckles, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

‘That’s all you’re getting from me,’ I say, wagging a finger. ‘I’ve said too much!’

‘Never,’ says Leo, eyes twinkling. ‘I want to know everything about you.’

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