Disclaimer: I do not own House of Anubis or any of the characters related to it.

I hate your big dumb combat boots,

And the way you read my mind…

Eddie and Patricia's first date since their kiss, and Patricia's mum just had to choose that night to upset her. She just had to call about Piper and rub it in that she'd just won top of the class, and grill Patricia about how her grades were slipping just slightly. Patricia was sick of feeling like this over the same thing; it was always the same thing.
Her mother had made her feel bad many times before, but tonight was different. Patricia had told Piper about Eddie, and her mother just had to bring him up; but unlike any normal mum, she took it too far.
"Oh, Patricia, has he met Piper? If he did, I'm sure he'd really like her. Just like you… but different!" She'd said, sounding ridiculously upbeat and happy after having just totally offended her other daughter. Her seemingly less important daughter.

Thanks to the fact that Eddie had totally broken down her walls and taken away any sense of self-independence that she had, he was now a sore spot. So, for her mother to come in and combine her two weakest spots – Piper and now, apparently, Eddie too – well, that made Patricia feel horrendous.
Why did she have to pick tonight? Their first proper date?

They'd tried to go on an actual date for a couple weeks now, but things had gotten in the way.
But now they finally found a free night to just sit at the dinner table and eat; alone. Just the two of them.

Eddie wore combat boots to their date.
She wore heels, but Eddie just had to wear his boots, unlaced, and still somehow made it look gorgeous.

"Wow," Eddie said, grinning shyly as Patricia walked down the stairs, her heels making a noise with every step. "You look… amazing."

"Thanks."

He noticed her looking at his boots and he looked down at them nervously.

"Oh, yeah, uh… sorry I didn't wear nicer shoes. These are my most decent ones…"

"It's okay," she shrugged. "They actually look surprisingly nice." A smirk crept on to both of their faces and Eddie raised an eyebrow.

"Is that right?"

"Mhmm."

Eddie grinned at her as they got in to the dining room and pulled her chair out for her.

"M'lady." He smirked, and Patricia rolled her eyes.

"Don't call me that ever again."

"Should've known you'd have that reaction," Eddie smiled as he walked to the other side of the table and sat opposite her. "It's so nice to just be here with you, finally. How long have we been trying now? Two, three weeks?"

"Two." Patricia answered, looking down at the table in front of her.
Eddie couldn't help but notice the slight sadness to her voice, even though she was still smiling, but he chose to shake it off.

"So, what's for dinner?" he asked, tucking his chair further under the table.

"I made burgers," she stood up and went to the kitchen to find Trudy silently putting the burgers together. Patricia mumbled a quick thanks to her before walking out with two plates in her hands.

"Wow; who'd have thought you could cook, Yacker?"

She just smiled slightly and put one of the plates down in front of him. "Trudy helped me a bit."

"Well," Eddie said before taking a big bite of the burger. The next sentence he spoke was through a mouthful of burger and bread. "I think it's amazing."

Patricia couldn't help laughing lightly at him because, even with a mouthful of food, he was still cute. And she loved how she could speak with her mouthful around him, because he did it, too.

But tonight, she didn't feel like talking much.
And that annoyed her because talking to Eddie was something she loved; but she wasn't feeling up to it tonight. Her confidence was completely battered and she had a sneaky feeling that, if Eddie did meet Piper, he'd choose her—just like her mum had said that night; and in fact, just like Eddie had said weeks ago. Yeah, he'd regretted it, but the words couldn't be taken back.

Thinking about this made Patricia look down at her burger and start pushing around the salad with her fork.

"Are… you okay, Yacker? You seem a little quiet." Eddie commented after swallowing a mouthful of food.

"Yeah…," Patricia said distantly, shrugging down at the table. "Fine."

Eddie tried to look at her. "Okay… if you're sure."

"I'm sure."

He didn't want to hassle her about it, so he just looked back down at his plate before shoving another mouthful of burger in to his mouth.

Patricia watched him and smiled lightly.

"What?" Eddie asked blankly, through yet another completely full mouth of burger.

"Nothing," she looked down at her plate.

"You're all stare-y tonight. What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Patricia snapped slightly, narrowing her eyes. "Stop hassling me, would you?"

For a moment he looked slightly taken aback but then his face straightened again and he looked down at his burger. She didn't mean to snap at him – really, she didn't – and she honestly did want to enjoy this date. It was all her mother's fault that she felt like this.

"Sorry," she mumbled, picking her burger up in one hand. "I, uh… didn't mean to snap."

"Wait, did Patricia Williamson just… apologise?"

Patricia smirked and took a bite of her burger. "Maybe."

He grinned, and for a few minutes they ate in silence. It wasn't a bad silence; it was a silence that didn't need to be filled. It was fine just the way it was and, to be honest, Patricia didn't feel like talking, anyway. She knew that if Piper were here, she would be much more entertaining for Eddie to speak to.

"Seriously though," Eddie cut through the silence, his voice sounding loud compared to the quiet but still soft. "You don't seem like yourself tonight. You know that if anything's wrong, you can talk to me about it, right?" He was worried that he may have done something wrong, because she hadn't been in a bad mood before their date and now all of a sudden she was sulky. Wracking his brains, he couldn't think of anything he may have done to annoy her.

She nodded down at the table, tracing her finger along a pattern in the wood. "Thanks. I'm fine though."

He sighed frustratedly. "Look, Yacker, if you don't want to be on this date right now, that's not a problem. But I don't wanna sit here with you while you're all sulky and won't admit it, because I feel like I've done something wrong—"

"You haven't done anything wrong," she made sure to cut him off and sound deadly serious.

"Then what is it?" Eddie asked, practically begging for a response now. He was worried, and Patricia could see that. She'd thought her fake smile had been rather convincing, but ever since day one, Eddie had been the one who knew how to make her tick. He always knew exactly how to wind her up and push her buttons, so maybe that meant that he knew exactly when she wasn't okay, too.

"You're reading my mind," Patricia pointed out, not properly looking at him. "I hate it when you do that."

Eddie smirked proudly and leaned his hand over the table to place it on top of hers. "It's what I do," he shrugged playfully.

Rolling her eyes, she smiled at him and then looked down to their hands. "I know. And I hate it."

"You love it really."

"No, I don't."

"Whatever," Eddie spoke in a sing-song tune. "You can bluff all you like, Yacker. Firstly, I know you love that I can read your mind. And secondly, I know you're not okay right now. I'm not going to make you talk about it, but I just want you to admit you're not okay; I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me."

Patricia looked up at him without moving her head and felt a familiar feeling emerge in her chest. He was being all nice and gentle with her again, and as ever, she wasn't really sure what to do about it. She wasn't used to people being able to read her mind; normally, the walls were enough to keep people away and thinking everything was fine.

But the fact that Eddie seemed to have the power to drive her crazy, and the power to make her feel things, and the power to read her mind; it made her feel weird. She didn't like it.
But still, something inside of her just wouldn't push him away—not completely, anyway. It was what she was used to doing, but not this time. Even though she hated it, she also sort of loved it.

"Okay," Patricia sighed, letting her body relax under his touch as his thumb smoothed the top of her hand. "Fine. I'm not okay. There, are you happy now?"

"Thanks for finally admitting it," he grinned bittersweetly before letting her hand go and moving back to his burger.

/\O\/O/\

Once they'd finished eating, Eddie took a sip of his water before speaking again. "Now... why don't we talk about when you kissed me and how it was the best kiss ever, right?"

Patricia's heart plummeted in to her nervous stomach and her eyes widened a little. How had she not told him yet that he'd been her first ever kiss?
She was terrified of telling him. 17 years old and she'd only just had her first kiss, with the boy sitting in front of her. She didn't even want to think of all the girls Eddie had kissed; and thinking of how much more experienced both he and those girls were made her feel even worse.

Eddie noticed the look on her face and faltered a little. He didn't notice Patricia's insecurity and, somehow, slipped in to his own.

"Second best at least?" His voice was growing higher pitched as she stared at him nervously. "Third? Fourth?"

"First," she cut him off, her voice louder than she'd expected it to be. Her cheeks turned even redder. "You were the first boy I, um, I ever… kissed…"

He pulled his head back in surprise, his eyebrows rising. "Oh," he said lightly, watching as she hunched over nervously. "How am I the first boy you ever kissed!?"

"Boys are scared of me." She shrugged, only just looking at him.

Eddie smirked confidently. "Well, I guess you could call me fearless…" He pushed his chair back and came around, sitting in the chair next to her.

"What are you doing?" Patricia asked, trying not to sound too terrified.

"Serving you up your second kiss," A smirk was on his face as he leaned closer, and when he looked up from her lips he noted the look on her face. She looked as if she'd just seen a ghost. Ever the gentleman, he backed off a little. "If… that's okay with you…"

Smiling nervously, Patricia nodded and watched as he grinned, leaning closer. Knowing their usual luck, Victor would drop a pin right at this moment, stopping them from kissing again.

But for once, something went their way, and Eddie kissed her.

People always go on about first kisses and how amazing they are. But what they never tell you is about second kisses, and how they can be just as amazing as the first; maybe even better.

He kissed her just once and then pulled away only slightly. He grinned shyly.

"So, how about your second kiss then, Yacker?" Eddie asked, only to be taken completely by surprise when she leaned back in and kissed him again. Her lips were slightly parted this time, now that she felt she knew what she was doing a little more. Third kiss ever.
He was grinning when her lips left his.

Now it was her turn to be taken by surprise when he leaned back in, his mouth open this time; he brought his hand up to touch her face and kissed her like she'd only ever seen in movies, their lips moving in sync together as much as she could manage. They were both kissing slightly tentatively, Eddie moving slowly, knowing she'd never done this before. And suddenly, she felt even more nervous. She didn't know what she was doing.

"Sorry," Eddie said quietly when she leaned away and looked down at her lap. "I just… couldn't help myself."

Just as she was about to reply, Victor's voice boomed through the halls.

"Guess that's our cue." Eddie moved his head away, slightly disappointed, and backed away from her.

"Yeah."

"Night, Yacker." He was about to get up when she brought her hand up to his cheek that was furthest away from her and kissed the one closest.

"Night." She smiled. He grinned even wider and leaned in to kiss her once on the lips before hurrying off in the direction of his room.

Yeah, he drove her crazy. Yeah, he drove her car better than she ever could. And yeah, he could read her mind sometimes.

But as much as she pretended to hate it…

A/N: So, I sort of adapted the end of the first date a bit from the original, but I wanted to get it in there somehow! I love their first date so much (in fact I had to re-watch it to write this scene as accurately as possible... what a shame) but I do wish it had a different ending. So I decided to write one myself; oh the wonderfulness of fanfiction:')

I hope you liked this chapter! Please let me know what you think in a review :)

Love :* xxx