six

By the time the four of them got to the pizzeria, the place was swarming with people. The line of people spilling out the door and onto the sidewalk seemed to grow longer with each passing second.

"E, are you sure we'll be able to get a table?" Danny was helping Sebastian out of the car while Rebekah hovered anxiously nearby.

"Don't worry, Danny Boy," Elise grinned. "This is Nonna Francesca's place." Before Rebekah had a chance to ask who Francesca was, Elise had linked her arm through hers and was half-dragging her to the front of the restaurant where she proceeded to push through the crowd of people. An elderly lady with salt and pepper hair and sparkling grey eyes spotted them and waved.

"Elise! Darling! You made it!" Her words were heavily accented and she smelt of pizza dough as she rushed over and swallowed Elise and Rebekah into a hug. Even though she barely reached five feet, the strength of her hug caught Rebekah by surprise and she sucked in a quick breath.

"Nonna Francesca! How are you?"

"Busy! Very busy!" The tiny woman released the two girls and waved her arms, gesturing animatedly at the crowds. "It's good. Business is good. And how're you, darling? Where's my polpetto?"

"I'm right here, Nonna Francesca." Sebastian appeared in the doorway, closely followed by Danny. A few people noticed Sebastian struggling to get through the crowd and politely made way for him.

"Sebastian! C'mere. Lemme give you a hug, darling." In the blink of an eye, Nonna Francesca had swallowed Sebastian up into a hug and was rapidly shooting questions at him. "How're you? Are you doing okay in your studies? Come, come! Don't stand in the doorway. You must be hungry! What do you want to eat? I see you've brought friends today!" Nonna Francesca clapped her hands in delight. "Ciao! I'm Francesca and I want to know all your names, but first come, I'll bring you to a better spot."

With energy radiating off her, Nonna Francesca led the four of them to a quieter table at the back of the restaurant. It was a smaller booth than the rest, but its isolation provided for a more peaceful environment. Before Rebekah could get around to properly introducing herself, someone was yelling Nonna Francesca's name from the kitchen. She sighed.

"You kids get settled in," she said. "I'll be back in a second. Dario will get your drinks and your order if I can't come back."

"Grazie mille, Nonna Francesca," Elise smiled sweetly. When the woman had hurried away, Elise turned to her friends. "Well, c'mon. Let's take a seat." She slid into the booth first and waved for Rebekah to sit next to her. By the time they were seated, Rebekah found herself squeezed in between the Crawley twins with Danny seated on the other side of Sebastian.

"What should we order? I'm starved." Elise took one of the menus from the centre of the table and scanned the available options. "The vegetarian option sounds really good."

"Me and Elise- we've known Nonna Francesca since we were little." It took a while for Rebekah to realize that Sebastian was speaking to her and when she did, she was startled by just how close they were sitting to each other. "She moved here when Elise and I were eleven or twelve and our families hadn't kept in contact. To be honest, we hadn't even known she'd moved here until Rebekah ran into her recently. Nonna Francesca had opened this place a couple of years ago and she now runs it with her sons and grandchildren helping her."

"She seems really nice."

"She is. She's probably nicer than my own grandma. Just don't tell my grandma I said that." Sebastian chuckled. As he did so, his leg moved slightly and pressed against Rebekah's, making her jump. Somehow, that slight, harmless contact was making her feel as if her entire body was on fire. Her body felt on edge.

"Beck, what would you like to order? Danny and I can't seem to agree. He wants pepperoni but I think the vegetarian option sounds better."

Rebekah could barely register her question. She was only too aware of how Sebastian hadn't moved his leg away. "Why don't we get both?"

"A girl after my own heart." Danny grinned. "Now this is the way to solve conflicts."

Elise rolled her eyes. "Fine. We'll get both. Seb, what about you? Do you particularly want anything? I can read the menu to you if you want."

"No, I'm fine with whatever you guys want. Pizza is pizza. I don't discriminate."

Elise snorted but she was barely reining in a smile. "You two are so full of shit."

"I thought you'd be used to it by now," Danny retorted.

Rebekah smiled at their easy banter, slowly realizing how much she missed her family and friends back home. She missed being able to tease her sister and read bedtime stories to Finn. She suddenly felt nostalgic as she thought of how much she missed watching movies with all four of them- her mum, Chloe, Finn and her- curled up on the couch.

She was so caught up in her memories that she almost- almost- missed the hand that was creeping into hers under the table and intertwining their fingers. Startled, Rebekah glanced over at Sebastian who had a half-smile on his face. She recognised that smile; it meant that he knew exactly what he was doing and he was waiting for her to respond.

"Seb..." Rebekah felt the words falter on the tip of her tongue as he untangled their fingers and began to trace circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. His touch was so light yet Rebekah felt shivers run down her spine. She tried not to think about her well her hand seemed to fit in his and how they were seated so close that if he just tilted his head a little, they might as well be kissing.

She finally snapped out of her daze when she heard a shriek. Elise was trying to suppress a smile as she shoved her glasses higher up her nose and wagged a finger at Danny.

"Stop doing that, Danny," she said in a warning tone. "Or I swear, I will pour a jug of icy water down your shirt. Or better yet, down your pants."

Danny smiled innocently, cocking his head to the side. "Stop? Stop doing what? I'm not doing anything."

Elise narrowed her eyes at him. "You're running your leg up and down mine and it's bloody ticklish. So stop it."

"Are you sure that's me and not Seb? I mean, look at his face. Does that look like the face of an innocent man?"

"Hey, don't draw me in. There are rules for this. You snooze, you lose. Don't try and pin the blame on the blind guy."

Rebekah laughed at the look of mock outrage on Danny's face, trying to ignore the fact that Sebastian was still holding her hand under the table. The act felt so innocent and simple yet she couldn't shake the feeling that this was the beginning of something else. Something more. She wasn't sure what 'more' entailed but she was afraid of what it might mean.

And yet, this felt so right.

This felt safe.

He felt safe.

And for some reason, she never wanted him to let go. This felt too per-

A loud ringing shattered her train of thought and Rebekah jumped upon realizing that it was her phone. Hurriedly wrenching her hand from Sebastian's, she noted the caller ID before picking up the call.

"Chloe? Is everything alright?"

Her sister was sobbing on the other end of the line. "It's my fault, Beck. It's all my fault."

Rebekah felt her body go cold. "What's all your fault? Chloe, what happened?"

Noticing Rebekah on the phone, Elise and Danny stopped talking and the booth suddenly went silent.

Very silent.

Her sister just cried harder.

"Chloe. C'mon. Just take a deep breath and tell me what happened." Rebekah fought to keep her voice steady. She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and she suddenly felt like throwing up. Something was wrong.

"It's Finn, Beck. He's been hit by a car."

A/N Hello fellow Wattpadians!

I am so sorry for the lack of update last week. I do try my best to stick to updating schedules but sometimes, it's just impossible to do so.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'm not very good at writing about the physical aspects of romance (i.e. kissing and *ahem* other stuff) so if you guys could give me any feedback on how I can write it better, I would really appreciate it.

Also, I'm just curious but are there any actors/actresses that you guys picture playing the characters? I'm just curious because I really don't like making a cast for my characters and I'd rather let you guys imagine them for yourselves :)

Stay awesome, everyone and here's to the weekend!

Percy

P.S. if you guys like this story, please vote/comment/share with your friends! I think the watty voting period might have started and the more people supporting this story, the more chance it has of winning.