When Draco and Pepper get to the restaurant, Pepper stops right at the door. She is surprised and amazed at how fancy this restaurant looks. She's never been to such an establishment in her whole life! There are many crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling with multi colored crystals of dark blue, orange, and magenta. The table clothes are matte black with cloth napkins. The tables are all set very elegantly and all the utensils look like gold or at least gold plated.
Once they are seated, the waitress takes thier drink order and leaves. Draco starts to stare at Pepper. Not in a creepy way. No no no. In a loving, caring, way that he's never looked at her before. Almost lustful even.
Pepper tries to make conversation, but she's blushing so hard that her words get caught in her throat, so she's just sitting there the whole time, squeaking every now and then, while blushing like crazy.
After another one of her failed attempts at conversation, Draco sits up straight, clears his throat, and looks away from Pepper so he won't get distracted.
"Just so you know this isn't like an actual real date or anything."
"Uh yeah. I know." Pepper responds, after finally finding her voice.
"Good. I just... didn't want you to be confused about that GG."
"If you're not going to tell me what that means please address me by my name."
Draco looks back at Pepper and smirks. "Never." He breaths and looks away again, admiring one of the chandeliers now.
"Please?"
When Pepper speaks again he looks slightly confused/shocked. "Why?"
"I want to know what GG means. Either you tell me or address me as Pepper."
"I don't want to tell you." He mumbles.
"Then please address me by my name."
"Not gonna happen."
Pepper rolls her eyes and groans at him. Clearly annoyed at this point.
"Gorgeous girl." Pepper barely hear Draco whisper.
She looks up in shock. "Wh-what?"
"GG means... Gorgeous girl." He responds, avoiding eyes contact while starting to get flushed.
"R-really?" Pepper whispers.
He nods and Pepper looks at her feet. It's her turn to blush furiously now.
"I-i'll be right back." Draco slowly gets up and runs off before Pepper can even answer him.
"Okay..." Pepper whimpers as her heart drops.
Draco comes back almost ten minutes later and sits down as if nothing happened.
"Sorry, love. Had to take a phone call."
"Whatever." Pepper crosses her arms
The rest of the date is very quiet. There is a bit of chatting about the food when it got there but other than that it's a very hushed meal.
The car ride home is silent as well. Pepper can tell that something is bothering him, but she can't quite figure out what it could be. He said he had to take a phone call so maybe something happened at home? A bunch of possibilities ran through her head but none of them felt quite right.
It starts to rain and Pepper just looks out the window. Actually at the drops clinging to the window. How they all run down and are instantly replay new ones. How the passing street and car lights glimmer in the wet droplets. How it sparkles.
Before she knows it, they're back home and Draco is getting out of the car to open her door for her. She nods at him to show her thanks and he nods back. He walks her to the door and once they are under the covered porch, he hugs her. It's a tight hug, full of love and care. Pepper stiffens, shocked for a second, before she hugs him back with compassion.
Draco pulls away from the hugs with tears in his eyes and a single tear rolling down his face. "Goodnight Pepper."
"What's wrong?" Pepper whispers as she gently wipes the tear away with her thumb.
"Nothing. Why would anything be wrong?" He wipes his eyes as he tries to smile and rests his hands on Peppers hips.
"You're crying." Pepper frowns
Draco shakes his head
"Liar." She chirps.
"I'm perfectly fine Pepper. Nothings wrong."
"Goodnight." Pepper sighs and turns to open the door.
He sniffles. "Goodnight."
Pepper steps inside and gently closes the door. She watches him discreetly through the front room window.
Draco just stands there for a moment, looking at his feet, before turning and walking home, more tears rolling down his face. As he's walking, he stuffs his hands in his pockets. He kicks a rock as lightning strikes and illuminates the dark night sky.
Pepper, being very overly empathetic, sins down against the wall and starts crying herself. She doesn't like seeing people upset. Especially the people she loves. And what makes it worse is she doesn't know what happened or to make Draco feel better. She's unable to fix the problem and taht alone makes her sad. She finally realizes the time when her brother, Theo, comes down the stairs.
"What's wrong, sis?" He asks, his voice full of concern.
"N-nothing." Pepper gets up and runs to her room where she locks the door and sinks into her bed. She cries long and hard for another twenty minutes before she calms down and looks out the window. She only then notices that her bedroom window looks directly into Dracos bedroom window. She sees him laying on his bed with a pillow over his face. He is clearly still quietly sobbing and Pepper draws the curtains and blinds closed and she does the same until she cries herself to sleep.



Thank you so much for reading this far.
I know this chapter is a long one but I think it's starting to get dramatic enough for some of the reader on this app.
Please be sure to check out the other chapters in this series if you haven't already and give me any feedback or comments you may have. Anything will make my day and hopefully make me a better story teller so I can keep this tale going. Working on the next chapter now so stay tuned! 🫶