INVISIBLE STRING ☆ DANIEL RICCIARDO

fourteen

LOS ANGELES, USA; JUNE 3rd 2022

song of the chapter:
maroon - taylor swift

Daniel had landed in Los Angeles a couple of short days after Isla had, giving the woman just about enough time to mentally prepare herself for what she had done. Inviting Daniel out for a night was definitely not what she had planned to do on their day out in Monaco, but it's the situation she had found herself in later that week.

They were exchanging their goodbyes as he dropped her off at Landos place, he had wanted to do something again the following day but she was going home. He had revealed to her that he was heading to Los Angeles soon too, that he owned a place there in the hills.

Before Isla could properly think through what she was doing, she had invited the man to dinner— her treat this time and he had quickly and excitedly agreed.

Now she was more than frantic, unsure of what they would be doing or where she would be taking him. Milo wasn't making her day any easier, it was like the dog had sensed her anxiety and thought she might need a little more stress. He had been barking and running around with the zoomies for the past hour and a half.

Isla had even let the dog out into the yard, hoping. he would do a couple laps of the area and tire himself out. But he just kept coming back to her and weaving his body between her feet.

She eventually got the call from Daniel asking where they were meeting. Sending him the location to one of her favorite spots for dinner, she finally managed to squeeze herself out the front door with Milo still restless on the back terrace.

Thankfully, Isla had managed to make it to the restaurant before Daniel and placed their names down on the wait list. It was only a twenty minute wait, which she managed to spend almost half of alone before the Australian finally showed up with a cap pulled far down his face.

Isla couldn't help but laugh as she spotted him and waved him over. "You know you're in LA, right? Literally every famous person in the world lives here, you can lose the cap."

"I thought you'd appreciate me trying to keep this lowkey." he chuckled as he pulled her into a quick hug. "What are you doing outside?"

"Oh you know, just enjoying the polluted air." she smiles sarcastically earning herself an eye roll. "I'm waiting for our table, genius. I hope you like Asian!"

"I've actually been here before."

"Wait, really?"

It wasn't that the place wasn't popular, it did well for itself but it definitely wasn't an LA hotspot. She had found the small outdoor restaurant when she was on a her way home from the gym, it was only about fifteen minutes away from her place in Pasadena.

Daniel nods his head enthusiastically, clearly happy with her choice of place. "Michael and I actually came here on our very first trip to LA, I don't think I've been here since. I live on the other side of the city."

"I actually only live a few minutes away from here." she muses, following the hostess through to back area of the restaurant where it was lit with small twinkling lights.

The pair take their seats on opposite sides of the bench, Daniel letting Isla take the reins on their order like she let him do last time; letting her in on his nut allergy, to which she admitted she found slightly weird as she wasn't allergic to anything herself.