out of the blue | george clarkey

8; birthday date

i've spent the past few days doing everything possible to keep my mind off the thomas situation. and it worked for the most part but i was starting to miss my phone and realised it wasn't a realistic way to live.
"what time is your flight on friday?" i ask alex, as we're all gathered in the kitchen. "5:30, sorry again i'm missing your birthday. alice booked it as a surprise and she didn't know" alex and his girlfriend were taking a weekend break to italy on my birthday but i wasn't too bothered as birthdays were never really my thing. "it's your birthday on friday?" george asks. "yeahh, it's not a big deal though. not a big fan of birthdays" i tell him. "fair enough" he nods and walks back to his room.
friday quickly rolled around and i was hugging alex goodbye for the airport and it was just me and george left. "how are you celebrating your birthday then?" he asks, sat across from me on the sofa. "by staying in this exact position and binging a whole season of new girl" i respond and smirk. "what? you're actually doing nothing" he asks. "well yeah i've been saying this all week" "i thought you were joking! let me take you out, i'll buy you a drink, my treat" george says. "is this your way of asking me out?" i side eye him jokingly. "what, no? unless you want it to be" he smirks backs. "hmmm i don't know, i was looking forward to a night in" i shrug. "i'll buy you a disarono and coke" he says. "fine! you have me sold" i give in to the promise of a disarono and coke. "wanna do dinner as well? means we don't have to cook?" george asks, knowing both of our cooking ability is very poor. "pulling out all the stops" i joke. "well i know how to treat a woman. was going to say satisfy but we all know that's not true" he jokes. i look down at my watch and it's 6pm. "wanna leave at 8?" i ask him. "sounds good to me" he responds so i get up and get showered and ready. i curl my hair and do basic, natural makeup. i decide on a basic dress and an oversized jacket to make it a bit more casual, also to help me combat the cold winter air outside.
i walk out my room at bang on 8, "you ready?" george asks and i nod and we both smile and he leads the way, getting all the doors like the gentleman he is. he lets me pick the restaurant because even though george has only been living with us for two weeks even he knows i'm a fussy eater. i end up choosing this italian restaurant not too far from our house, so we walk there. we get there and sit down. despite the fact neither of us have established what this dinner actually is, a date? just a meal between friends? either way it's not awkward.
the waiter comes over and we take our order, george gets me the disarono like he promised and i'm a happy girl. we eat dinner and by the end of the meal, my cheeks hurt so much from laughing. i'd never tell george this but i did find his dad jokes very funny. it was 9:45 when we finished eating and neither of us wanted to go home yet. george was kind enough to pay the bill, even though i insisted i would, he would not let me.
"there's that new place that's just opened it's like drunk arcades. arthur went and told me it was really good" george suggests, so we hop on the tube and head there.
upon arrival we agree to do two shots each, as it feels like we've just entered a nightclub and we're both definitely too sober for that. we walk in and the inside is insane, there is neon lights everywhere and every single arcade/fair ground stall game you could think of. we started off with air hockey and george beats me by one point, which he does not let me live down and mentions it every five seconds, to which i just roll my eyes at. after a few more games, i notice the stall where you throw beanbags to the back of the tube to win and there was a ginormous unicorn teddy that just had to be mine. i pick up the beanbag and my throw is terrible. i try 3 more times and it just gets worse. "it's the alcohol" i shrug. "do you want me to try for you?" george asks. and i beg him to win me the unicorn. he doesn't get it in either but his throw is still majorly better than mine. george asks for more beanbags and still doesn't get it in. "i'm determined now, you will have that unicorn by the end of the night, if it kills me" george was very adamant on getting this unicorn for me. low and behold, about 10 minutes later, george gets it in! "FUCK YEAH!!" george jumps up and down and cheers. i join in and he runs up and hugs me and continues to jump up and down. the stall runner hands george the unicorn and my eyes go wide. "wait this is so cute, please let me take a photo of you and the unicorn" i ask george and he poses with the teddy and it makes my heart burst. "there you go m'lady" he jokingly says as he hands the teddy over to me. "thank you very much" i say and my smile widens so much i think a squeal of excitement could be heard. we now realise there's not much else we can do due to the size of the teddy so we head home. george kindly offered to carry the teddy home for me on the tube and i find it so funny, so i film it and decide to post it to tiktok. we were both laughing all the way home. we get to the front door and i reach into my bag and i can't find the key, to make matters worse it is throwing it down with rain. we are both slightly tipsy, so definitely don't take this situation as seriously as we should. instead i just fall to the ground laughing at the fact we're stood on the curb outside our flat building in the pouring rain with this giant teddy bear on my birthday. george realises i'm on the floor and immediately reaches his hands out "you're gonna get a soggy bottom" he says but also laughing hysterically like i am, i take his hands and we're now stood inches apart. "thank you for getting the teddy for me, you gave me the best birthday" "if this is the best, i hate to see what your other ones have been like" he jokes. "shut up" i say, lightly smacking his chest. our faces now even closer, and something overtakes me, i don't know what it is. but confidence springs out of nowhere and i decide to connect our lips. i kiss george. i don't know why but i know that in that moment i don't regret anything. i can feel him kiss me back and after a few seconds we both pull away but our foreheads stay connected for a couple seconds before we both pull away, both of our hair dripping from the rain. we just smile and laugh at each other, both tipsy and in slight disbelief. i'm not sober enough to process it all but in the moment i'm happy. however we now have to figure out a solution to get back in the house. "check your bag one last time" george suggests. i look again and what do i find... "george, i have the key" i laugh. "you're joking! we just stood out here for 10 minutes, catching hypothermia and you had the key the whole time" he laughs. "yeah, well you wouldn't have got a kiss if i found it, would you?" i tease him. "that is very true" he smirks and we head inside.