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We eat our crêpes outside of the crêperie. Dante manages to give me a few other expressions than his typical deadpan look and I actually get him to crack a smile or two.

We're outside of the city, so we walk in the countryside, talking about random stuff. When it gets to late afternoon, I tell him that I should get back. He helps me onto his bike and takes me home.

"I want to do this again," he tells me when he drops me off by my house.

I smile shyly and tuck my hair behind my ear. "I'd like that."

He asks to take me out again on Tuesday night. I tell him that I'll have to check with my parents cause it's a school night, but I imagine they will let me.

When I go inside, my mum is waiting the hallway, eager to hear how my date went.

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My alarm on Monday morning is a killer. I drag myself out of bed to get ready for school. I meet with the girls in the common room and tell them about my date this weekend. They still can't believe that Dante Romano took someone on a date. I can't help but feel a bit special that he doesn't do this with everyone.

I don't see Dante until third period. He walks into the Art department wearing his black leather jacket over his uniform instead of his blazer. I gave it back to him at the weekend and, I have to admit, he looks ten times better in it than I do.

He smirks at me as he strides over. The teacher ignores him and continues talking about expressionism. He slides into the chair next to me and drops his bag down.

"Allie."

The way he says my name makes goosebumps rise on my arms. I pull my shirt sleeves down to cover them.

"Dante."

He gets out his sketchpad and I spot a photography notebook in his bag, too.

"You take photography?"

He nods. "Yeah, I just miss the classes sometimes because they're first thing."

My mum would kill me if I even missed one lesson of school. If I don't get out of bed in the morning, she will march upstairs and haul my ass out of bed for me.

"What else do you take?"

He smirks again. "Spanish. Easiest one, I'm fluent in it."

"Lucky you."

Millie and Raquel keep turning around from the row in front, grinning and winking at me for talking with Dante. I swear, they're more excited about this than I am.

After Art finishes, we have lunch. Dante invites me to come sit with his friends on the field. The girls shove me in his direction, telling me to go.

He introduces me to three of his friends, all of whom have the same tattoos on the back of their neck. Unlike Dante, they have some on their arms, too, which they show off by rolling up their shirt sleeves.

I'm glad Dante doesn't have any tattoos on his arms or I don't think my mum would have let me go on the date. The motorbike was a surprise enough for her and she wasn't too keen on me getting on the back of it, but she was used to my old friends riding scooters. Underage tattoos would have been the final straw to saying no.

I'm just grateful she didn't come out and introduce herself. She stayed inside the house and peeked out of the window.

"I don't know what you've done to Romano, but he's smiled more today than he has this whole year," one of his friends, Killian, says to me.

Dante kicks him and he groans. I blush and look down at my phone, not knowing what to say to that.

"Ignore him," Dante mutters to me.

"Yeah, ignore the guy talking facts," Killian grunts, lying on the ground.

"You chat shit, Killian," Dante replies calmly.

"He's right, man. You're always blunt with everyone but her," Rio defends Killian. "Fuck me, when was the last time you took a girl on a date? Year 8?"

Dante punches his arm and two of them start tussling like teenagers. I lean out of the way as they play-fight. It ends in laughter, thank God. I can't ever imagine punching Steph's arm if she teased me.

Other than the alarming amount of swearing and punches being thrown, I enjoy having lunch with Dante and his friends.

I have a free period and Drama with Mikey in the afternoon. I pick up my siblings and take them home and then help Dad cook dinner for everyone. All in all, it's an easy day.

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I finish school and pick up my siblings. When we get home, I get them settled and then start getting ready for my date with Dante. We're going to the cinema and then to a Mexican place for food.

Dante pulls up outside of the house and Mum shouts up from downstairs that he's here. Once again, I beg her and my dad to stay in the house. I do this for a few reasons. My parents are really embarrassing and will probably ask Dante a load of questions. But the main one; both of my parents are white. I'm mixed race.

It'll raise questions that I don't really want to talk about yet. Something tells me that Dante wouldn't pry, especially seeing as he's private about his life, but I don't want him thinking about my family instead of focussing on our date.

I let myself out and walk over to where he is leaning against his bike.

"You ready for the ride of your life?" He teases me.

I roll my eyes and bump him with my helmet. "Shut up and get on, idiot."

I love being back on Dante's bike. It's such a rush, flying down the street and weaving between cars. He's safer than your average boy driver, but he's still a teenager in charge of an engine. He cuts a couple people up and goes faster than he should, but I trust him.

In the cinema, he holds my hand and it feels like a real date. It's like I'm in a teenage romance movie or something. The Mexican food is amazing, we get fajitas and tacos. When Dante gets his wallet out to pay, I can't ignore the giant wad of notes inside.

I know he's in a gang but I don't know what he does for them. Whatever it is, he makes a lot of cash from it. He catches me looking but neither of us say anything.

I really enjoy our date. Dante opens up some more and admits to having a sister that he barely sees, he shows me an old photo of her on his phone. I tell him some more about my siblings and my parents.

Just after eight, he drives me home. He pulls up a block away from my house and gets off the bike. I follow his lead and remove my helmet, too. He places the helmet on the bike and steps towards me.

"Why did you drop me here?" I ask him. "My house is over there."

Dante smirks at me. "I know, but if I parked outside your house, I wouldn't be able to do this..."

He leans in and puts his hand on the back of my neck. My heart races as I realise what he's about to do. My eyes close as his lips meet mine. His lips are warm and soft against mine. He kisses me softly at first but becomes more demanding, pressing them firmly to mine so that my knees go weak.

His arm snakes around my waist, holding me up and pressing me against him. I grab the lapels of his leather jacket and hold on tightly. His tongue swipes teasingly against the seam of my lips but he pulls back before I can open up to him.

He smirks down at me. "Been wanting to do that all night."

I look down so that he won't see how much I'm blushing. "Thanks."

He snorts and then laughs at me. "Did you just thank me for kissing you?"

"Shut up," I mutter and playfully shove him.

He laughs again and wraps his arms around my waist when I try to walk away. He brings me back and kisses me, distracting me completely.

"You're so cute," he mumbles against my lips.

I'm still blushing when he says goodnight and drives off. Dad is quick to point out my red face the second I get through the door.

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I have Art first thing on a Friday morning. I take a seat and get my things out. As the teacher starts the lesson, I keep eagerly looking at the door, waiting for Dante to come in. We have this class together and I want to see him.

After that kiss on Tuesday night, I was worried that things might change between us and turn weird, but they didn't. Dante acted completely normal about it and even sat with his arm around my shoulders at lunch.

Fifteen minutes go by and I make my peace with him being a no-show. Instead of holding onto the silly hope that he'll come in any minute, I write up the notes for him on a spare piece of paper. I don't want him falling behind.

There isn't long before the bell is going to go, about five minutes. It's almost the end of the lesson and Dante rocks up.

He has dark circles under his eyes, messy hair and his shirt is untucked, but he still looks so hot.

"Sorry I'm late, Miss," he says and slinks to the back of the class.

He sits down next to me and dumps his bag down.

"I have to say this is bad, even for you, Dante. Your timing brings a whole new meaning to the word late. You've missed almost the entire lesson," the teacher snaps irritably.

"Sorry," he mutters.

"Luckily for you, Allie was kind enough to make notes for you."

Dante looks over at me and gives me a half-smile. "Yeah, I'm lucky."

I roll my eyes and slide the piece of paper over for him. "Don't lose those notes."

"Yes, Ma'am," he replies teasingly and puts them in his bag.

"Late night?" I ask him.

He drags his hand down his face and nods. "I was working."

Doing what, I wonder?

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For once I managed to make myself wait until The Bachelor had finished so that I could binge watch it. Just got to hometowns 🙈

They had a singer on one of the dates and I'm so in love with his song atm, it gives me wedding vibes.

Have a listen if you haven't heard it!

Aloe Bocc - I Do