Things were...strange, as of late. Ed honestly had no idea what was going on with his brother. The story about what had happened with Gio's first kiss, plus the fact that Rory just didn't seem like himself was all just confusing. And then, on top of that, there had been the whole drama with the gambling ring. Never a dull day on Frye Island, obviously. Still, he tried not to think about it all. He had other things to concentrate on. Like school. And, more importantly, his very beautiful girlfriend. She'd been upset and feeling down for obvious reasons, and he really had just wanted to make her smile. The flowers seemed like a good way to at least start doing that. Orange was her favorite color, after all. And he knew that she liked less showy flowers, like carnations.
The texting after she'd found the flowers was nice, and he was glad that he'd helped to make her day better. Glad that he could make her smile. She didn't deserve to be upset and he wouldn't have been a good boyfriend at all if he couldn't make things better.
It was getting closer to eight o'clock when Ed made his way to the restaurant. His hands were slung in the pockets of his coat as he walked, though already he was itching to hold hands with Mal. He found that that feeling happened rather often now that he could hold her hand. Being close to her just made everything better. In his mind, three words were lingering. Three words that he'd never once used with a girl before. It was a strange thought, but a good one.
He came up on the front entrance, opening the door to go inside. When he saw Mal, he smiled. "Hey, beautiful." The words rolled off his tongue easily. She really was beautiful. And sometimes he had to stop and ask himself why she was still around for a guy like him.