Soldier's Heart

Chapter 3: The Date

                             Roman's POV

I drove up to the address Brian gave me. With a meet lover's pizza, controller and Heineken. I knocked on the door. It seemed like an eternity, but finally I heard the door unlock.

"Glad you could make it." Brian said, "pizza is for me. Come in." He said,

I walked in a nice little bungalow on the beach,

"Wow this is nice!" I exclaimed, walking in,

"It's Eric's place." Brian replied,

"For realsies? Wow." I replied,

"Who was at the door, Bri?" Eric asked, walking out in a backward hat and jeans. I could help but notice that he was shirtless and barefoot, wow,

"Roman. I invited him." Brian replied,

"I brought beer." I said holding up the six pack as I couldn't help but stare at his six pack,

Then this hulking beast of a dog jumped me, barking and growling,

"Bailey! No! Down!" Eric exclaimed, "usually he is friendly. I don't know what's wrong with him." He said as he got the dog - Bailey - off of me,

"It's fine." I said awkwardly as I got up,

"Yeah uh great, we could always use an extra man.... I mean player, uh Heineken, cool that's my favorite." Eric said,

As he turned turned to walk into the kitchen I couldn't help but look at him, when Brian suddenly stepped in front of me, 

"Roman.... be LESS obvious. Bailey already doesn't like you haha." Brian said, "Grab a beer and some snacks and let's just play the game." He suggested,

We had been playing for a while when Eric stood up and said he need some fresh air. He suggested we have a bonfire on the beach,

I started freaking out. Brian looked at me and mouthed 'calm down.' To me,

"Well I gotta go home, Mia is waiting up for me, have fun." Brian said, then he leaned in and whispered to me "I'm telling you right now, this is yours to mess up, Pearce, you better treat him right." Then left,

Eric and I walked Bailey, who truly didn't like me, down to the beach and brought some beer. We built a nice bonfire and sat down with Bailey resting his head on Erics leg,

Eric and I just hung out by the bonfire, drank a little and laughed a lot, the conversation lulled and I was a little drunk,

"You have gorgeous ocean blue eyes." I said,

"Uuhh.... what?" Eric asked confused,

"Oh no, I knew I had said too much man I'm sorry." I said to him,

Eric didn't say anything, he just smiled and leaned in a little kissed me,

"Who do you think noticed you first Roman, I thought you were very attractive since I saw the picture in your file." Eric said to me smirking after he leaned back away from me, "but your still number 11, Pearce." He added with a smile,

I couldn't help but smile at that and leaned in to kiss him and it looked like Bailey was tired because he got off of Eric's leg and headed back to the house,

                               Eric's POV

Roman and I began to make out in front of the bonfire, when he knocked the hat off of my head and started running his hands through my unkempted hair, I then pushed Roman away,

"Is everything okay? Did I go too far?" Roman asked nervously putting his head down on mine as if he was making sure that I was okay,

"Yeah." I said to reassure him, "uh do you wanna head back to the house?" I asked,

"Head haha." He laughed,

I playfully rolled my eyes at him smiling, then got up as Roman did and started walking to my house but stopped after two steps,

I turned around and saw Roman was looking at me smiling, I smiled back at him and held my hand at him and said "come on." And he did,

We walked to my house hand in hand and I was kinda freaking out but thankfully Roman didn't notice and if he did he didn't say anything about it, I was only a little freaked out because I hadn't held hands in a while, but it felt right, so I squeezed hand back and then we got back in the house as I opened the door and let Bailey - who was waiting by the door - in as well as go in with Roman and closed the door behind him.

                           -The Next Morning-

I awoke to sunlight peaking it's way from behind the curtains in my room. I looked over my bed and saw that the left side of my bed was empty,

"Ugh oh no, I knew it." He said,

Roman walked in, in his underwear with two steaming cups of coffee, handed me one and sat on the bed next to me,

"You knew what?" He asked,

"I honestly thought you had left." I said, taking a sip of coffee "this is great, how do you know I take my coffee?" I asked,

"I used to watch you make it." He said,

I laughed and felt butterflies rush my stomach, no, not this, not now,

"Eric I wasn't gonna leave, I don't want to leave, I am really serious about talking you out on a date, I want a relationship, I enjoy just sitting around and talking to you just as much as the other stuff okay." Roman stated to me,

I sighed "Roman I have feelings for you too, but it's not a great idea for me to commit to anyone right now." I said in a sad tone, I liked him but I couldn't be with him and I knew that and I couldn't do that to him because I had responsibilities that he didn't need to have in life,

"Why?" He asked me,

"Because I just can't Roman, I'm sorry." I tell him,

"Eric please, just tell me." Roman said to me,

I sighed "I have kids, twins actually." I said, and I expected him to leave after that, but he didn't he stayed and just sat there on the bed next to me,

"Wow uh how old are your twins?" Roman asked,

"Just turned 4 months, I am very raw emotionally, I planed on finally having a family and I was so happy, I was gonna be with my fiancée and have kids, but  then she uh, she, she hemmoraged to death right after giving birth." I said,

"Wow." Roman said , "That is a lot of information in a few minutes, uh who has been helping you?" Roman asked me,

"Brian and Mia. I don't know what I would do with out them." I said with a little smile,

"You don't even look old enough to have kids." Roman said quietly,

"I'm 30, definitely old enough, my fiancée and I were together for 5 years, I am dealing with hardcore grief, I was put in therapy and on antidepressants and anti anxiety medication, I like you, a lot, but nobody wants that." I stated,

Roman slid over closer to me on the bed and kissed me me gently, wiped the tears from my eyes,

"That is a lot to deal with, but if you let me, we can deal with it together." Roman said to me which caused me to smile a small little smile at him in response.