The Wedding Date

Get On Board, Darling

Dianne woke the next morning with a pain in her stomach. Partially, because she was dreading the first wedding activity today - a pre-wedding family luncheon that she was sure Penny had spent way too much money on - but also partially because she had a heavy weight pressing on her bladder, which she realized after opening her eyes was Joe's forearm.

"Joe," Dianne groaned under her breath, trying to wriggle away from the man who less than 48 hours ago had been a stranger to her, and now, apparently cuddled her at night.

"Mmmph," Joe mumbled something incoherent as he rolled closer to her, nuzzling his face into the space between her back and the mattress. She took a moment to realize how not weird this felt...something about their conversation in the dark the evening before had seemed to open up a weird sense of comfortability between them, but she had to wee too badly to really spend much time thinking about it.

"JOE," Dianne raised her voice, trying to wake him up again.

"What?" he raised his head slightly, blinking his eyes open slowly.

"I'm about to wee the bed," she shot him a glare. "Move your cuddling arse."

"Rude," Joe muttered, but obliged, releasing her middle and rolling onto his back, releasing a loud yawn. "What time is it?"

"Half past six," she quickly checked the time as she scrambled toward the hall, smirking as she heard him release an indignant noise at the early hour.

"Why are you up so early?" he gazed at her blearily when Dianne returned to the bedroom.

She flopped back down on the bed, reaching for a scrap of paper she'd found in the nightstand, ready to draw out another family tree for Joe to refresh his memory.

"Why am I up so early?" Joe reiterated to nobody in particular, yawning loudly.

"We've slept like 18 hours at this point," Dianne pursed her lips, focusing on her drawing. "The better question is how were you still asleep?"

Joe tilted his head before shrugging, "I was comfy."

Trying to withhold the blush she knew was peeking out from her cheeks at the thought that he was comfy next to her  in her bed, she cleared her throat before settling back on the pillows and pushing the piece of paper between them.

"Ready for a quick refresher on my family?" she asked quietly, continuing to draw out each of her mother's siblings and accompanying cousins before adding sarcastically, "So you're prepared for the absolutely thrilling day we have ahead of us."

Joe pulled the blankets back, standing up quickly, "Sure, just give me two minutes to brush my teeth."

Dianne nodded, averting her gaze as he stretched, revealing a muscular abdomen between his t-shirt and the waistband of his shorts. And here she was, blushing again in her own bed.

She settled back into her diagram, losing track of time, before realizing Joe had disappeared for much longer than two minutes.

Just as she was about to go see if he'd had gotten lost between the bathroom and her room, he reappeared, holding two mugs of steaming coffee. Dianne felt her jaw drop, noticing his slight smirk at her surprised expression.

"I thought maybe you fell down the toilet," Dianne quipped after she'd recovered, unable to hold back her smile as Joe rolled his eyes. Taking the mug out of his hands, she took a sip, unable to hold back the sigh of happiness at the taste.

"This is...perfect," Dianne smiled dreamily, before pulling back to look at Joe in confusion. "Wait, how did you know how I like my coffee?

"I may have gotten some help," Joe smirked. "From my best friend, Rina."