We arrive at the Italian restaurant it's not a chain, it's not massive it's just a quiet restaurant where each table has a single rose and a candle. It's perfect. It's just gone half 5 and it's fairly quiet.
Everybody is friendly yet not too intrusive. The waiter sees us to our table near the back. We have space around us and it's quiet and nice. As per usual I take a look around the place whilst Matty is eyeing up the food. He's ordered a bottle of wine for me, which made me chuckle and some water for the table.
"What's caught your eye now?" He asks.
"I'm just looking at the pictures" I laugh feeling like a five year old.
"This one here" he points. Leaning into me.
"Is Michelangelo, well a copy of obviously" he says
Indicating the cherubs in one of the pictures. It's a very famous one, and I've definitely seen it before.
"It's so detailed, I know that's a stupid thing to say. But it captures the innocence. It's ethereal." I say.
I look back at him and he's smiling at me, the expression he wears when he's looking at only me.
"It is. Exactly. He painted a lot of stuff like that one" he says.
The music is soft and unobtrusive. The waiter brings our wine over in a bucket of ice. We order our starters and mains. Me opting for carbonara and Matty goes for meatballs. Matty has half a glass of wine with me, telling me that they are big glasses and that he's got to drive. I sip the wine and it's gorgeous, not too dry but crisp and fruity. Just my type.
"The show was so good, when did you come up with that idea?" I ask him.
"Well I wanted to take you somewhere a bit different and I thought that it made sense. I knew or I hoped you'd enjoy it" he tells me.
"I loved it, it also gave me some ideas for university." I tell him.
He just waits knowing there is more.
"The stage direction and choreography was amazing. And I loved the use of colour and lighting" I say.
He's smiling at me again.
"It was great actually I was thinking it's kinda like art, it's like a series of artistic pictures that move." He says. And I'd never thought of it like that.
"That's such a good way of thinking about it." I say.
I love that we can have conversations like this and that we both have a creative side which we can relate too.
Our food arrives after a few glasses of wine for me. We eat quietly the food is unreal. I would say it's the best pasta I've had. It's the real deal. Matty finishes all of his plate and even though I'm full so do I.
"That too was incredible" I tell him smiling.
"Please tell me you want a desert" he laughs.
I laugh and we order a chocolate brownie for me and a tiramisu for him.
Whilst I'm eating mine, he glances my way.
"So I ugh want you to have something" he says.
"It's nothing much but I want to tell you that it means something because I started it in the time that we weren't together, when we were sort of on a break because of my own stupidity. I wasn't sure what else to do so I started it as like a project. And now it's finished" he tells me.
He pulls out a rolled white piece of drawing paper which he's fastened with a ribbon. He looks so vulnerable and I want to hug him.
I take it from him. Interested. When I unfasten the ribbon I can tell he's drawn me something. I unravel it and I'm stunned by the beauty of the drawing. The shading, details and the perfection of it all.
"So that's you, that's how I see you" he tells me. His hand goes through his hair. He's worried that I won't like it.
"Matty that's stunning" I cry. I've never had anything like this done for me. Ever.
He's drawn me from his memory. He knows me well. I'm posed with my hair flowing down my back, turning my head slightly to capture the eye of the viewer. It manages to capture everything. I marvel at how he sees me, he's made me beautiful, he's managed to show my innocent expression with light colouring on my cheeks. Yet there's a sultry side to the picture with the lines of my back.
"I'm glad you think so. It would have been awful if you hated it" he half laughs.
"No it's wonderful, and nobody has ever drawn me before. You made me so beautiful" I laugh.
"You are so beautiful. I try to tell you that all the time and you can't hear it. So I thought I'd show you instead." He says.
"When did you start doing this? You kept it so so quiet" I ask
"Well to be fair I started it just before the party at Ryan's" he tells me warily watching me. Ryan, Pippa's brothers, party is when it all went down, Jen humiliated me, bringing up when Matty told all of them that he was trying to win me over Ross before we really knew each other. I took a break from him and everybody really after that apart from Rhea.
"You did this while we weren't together?" I ask him, touched by the idea of him sitting around drawing me.
"Yeah I think that's how I completed it so soon. That's all I did. In that time. It gave me something to focus on. And I finished it just before uni but I wanted to give it to you at the right moment" he smiles.
"Matty how can I even match this? I spent that time, well crying. And doing nothing. It means a lot that you did this whilst we weren't together" I laugh.
"It's stunning" I say.
He clasps my hands on the table.
"You are everything to me. You don't have to do anything or give me anything back. I just wanted to show you how beautiful you are" he winks.
I kiss his lips. Then he leans back smiling.
We or should I say I finish the wine and then Matty gets the bill. He puts his arms around me as we leave. It's getting darker now and we stroll back in the general direction of the car park. He keeps his arms around me as we're walking. He's so confident with me all the time. And if other guys look at me he just looks through them, he's not insecure at all. Why would he be? Look at him, he's perfection.
Other girls look at him, a lot. I wouldn't say it gets to me. His reactions are the best, it's like he doesn't even see them, he just is either unaware of them or busy ignoring them. He treats me as if I am special, one of a kind. I do trust him, completely despite our past.