From the Start

The Reveal

Gina's POV:

Ej and I start heading out of the room in silence. He has the letters for Kourtney in his hand, and a memorizing smile on his face. I can't help myself but continuously blush at everything that just happened. Not even fifteen minutes ago, we were so mad at each other that we were basically yelling. But then, time-skip to not even 10 minutes ago, we were making out like it was a common occurrence for us. Just the thought of it makes my head spin. As we start to enter the diner part of the building, the anticipation for what comes next instantly grows. I can't help but notice the nerves and butterflies deep down inside of me. I wonder if Ej feels it too?

--

As we get not even three steps through the door, Ashlyn instantly spots us and starts loudly rambling, "There you guys are! Ej, I was looking everywhere for you, are you okay? Gina? You said you were going to talk to him 15 minutes ago, is everything okay?-". 

The girl continues with question after question, seemingly never ending. Look, I love her and all, but this is getting quite awkward. What am I supposed to say? Because I don't know about you, but I don't think, 'Hey Ash! I was just making out with your cousin for about 5 minutes in the other room! No big deal!', is the best thing to admit right now.. Or ever.

She may be my closest friend, but do I want to reveal our relationship to her so soon? Does Ej want to reveal our status to everyone? Speaking of which, what even is our status? Are we dating? Boyfriend and Girlfriend? Kissbuddies-? Okay, I guess my mind is the one rambling now.

Ej looks in my direction and I look back. With his gaze, I can tell he is trying to read what's on my mind. Almost as an assurance, he grabs my hand to place in his, and gives it a reassuring squeeze. Despite the lack of words between the two of us, I know exactly what he's implying. So I simply answer him with a small nod.

He takes my nod as cue to break eye contact, now directing his focus back onto his still-rambling cousin. Without a trace of hesitation, he interrupts the girl with his own words, "We have something we want to tell you guys".

Ej's POV:

Ashlyn almost knowingly smiles as she glances down towards our still interlocked hands. Shit, I forgot about that, but I guess it doesn't matter since we are going to reveal our relationship soon enough. Gina's hand also fits perfectly in mine. It felt like my hand was exactly where it was supposed to be. So I didn't let go, and fortunately, neither did she.

Ashlyn immediately goes into questioning us with a very giddy tone, "What is it? Did you two get married in the past 15 minutes or something?". Voices around her instantly erupt in laughter in response. That's when it fully hits me that literally every single one of our friends are listening to everything that is being said. I guess it might be better anyways to get the whole confession out of the way now. 

I quickly divert my glance towards Gina and can't help but notice the shy and innocent look written on her face. Quite honestly, the look couldn't have been cuter. For such a fierce, talented, and brave girl, it is nice to see the opposite side of her peak through. I really hope I get to see more of that side in the future.

With Gina by my side, hand in hand, we both quite obviously know what we have to do. I allow myself to take a deep breath in before putting all my strength together to take the leap of faith of announcing, "So uh, Gina and I may be- uh- dating now. Hopefully that is okay with you all. But completely respectfully, if it's not, I don't give a shit-". Gina gives me a playful shove in response to the last part, and I just chuckle.

The room is erringly quiet for a couple seconds so Gina nervously speaks up, "Guys?". They let one more second pass by which truly feels like ages, until Kourtney finally breaks the awkward silence, "I knew it. Took y'all long enough". Everyone, including Gina, laughs at the unexpected comment. Gina then lets her body rest comfortably onto my side in a relieved manner. As we stand there in the midst of laughter, Carlos is the next to chirp in, "Told you Ej, about time that you took the chance".

I laugh in response while shockingly Gina confidently responds to her co-choreographer, "Actually, I was the one who took the chance, not him". I gasp jokingly at her in a 'how dare you expose me' type of manner, while then proceeding to nudge her side playfully. The girl simply just giggled back at me. Ricky then spoke up,

"Come on man, haven't you had like a million girlfriends? How do you let the girl who hasn't dated anyone yet make the first move?" 

I would have taken it personally if Ricky didn't have the clear look on his face that he was only joking. So I shoot back at him,

"Be quiet man, only those in a relationship can talk" 

Everyone lets out an exaggerated 'ooo'. To which we all, including Ricky, laugh as the playful banter continues. As the conversation dies down a couple minutes later, Nini stands up and jogs over to Gina. She embraces the girl into a hug and lets her know that she is so happy for her. I smile in delight with the knowledge that our friends fully accept our relationship.

Ashlyn then makes her way over to me and pats my shoulder. "I told you. I told you that you had nothing to worry about. Always listen to the smartest cousin". I can't help but let a small smile pull at my lips as I softly respond, "Ash, you are my only cousin.. But thank you".

--

As the time passes by, we are all now in our seats. Sadly but unsurprisingly, all the middle booths were already taken. Meaning, I couldn't sit next to the girl that I just recently started dating. So we both reluctantly pulled up chairs on opposite ends of the room. However, we didn't let that stop us from constantly stealing glances at each other. Every single minute that passed, we couldn't help but steal glance after glance. Each and every time, without fail, a blush would immediately appear on each of our faces. I swear, I do realize that the way this girl makes me feel so damn giddy from just a simple glance, is nothing less than insanely sappy.. But I still know for a fact, I would never have it any other way.

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Posted: Saturday, Aug. 14th.

Next Update: Sunday, Aug. 15th.