Coming Home

Chapter 3

A few hours had gone by. Jen and David were downstairs in her kitchen, looking through what she had done the night before.

"The steaks should almost be ready for the grill. The salads are done and in the fridge. Margarita supplies are also put away." Jen was more and more excited as the hours went by, but also more nervous. She kept thinking about the envelope he had on the dresser: what was inside? Why is it such a secret not even SHE could know? She had to keep pushing the thought aside, but it kept creeping back to her.

"Heyyy! Schwimmer!" She heard a man's voice say as she came out of her thoughts. She looked to her right and saw Matt and David having a bro hug. "Hey Matt!" She said before walking over to the man and giving him a hug. "Alright, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to slip into my outfit real fast." She said before walking away.

Matt made sure Jen was completely gone before turning his attention back to David.

"So? Tell her yet?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow slyly. 

David sighed and shook his head. 

"Well why not?! It's 3 words, 8 letters. We all know she's going to say them back!" Matt felt dumbfounded by the fact that David was still playing the shy game. 

David scratched his head, then thought his answer out very carefully. "I know. I just...I have not had too many opportunities to tell her. She's barely been alone all day. When we were alone, it never felt like the right time." He was doing his best to not slip about the news, but it kept getting harder and harder. He wanted to tell Jen about his feelings AFTER he shared the news with everyone.

As Jen was slipping into her dress, she attempted to pull the zipper in the back, but it wouldn't budge. She huffed, feeling irritated that she had to go call out to David or Matt to help.

"Hey, David or Matt, can one of you come up and help with my zipper, please? I can't pull it up. It must be caught in fabric." Jen called out before going back to her room. Seconds later she heard David's footsteps coming toward the room. She turned around to face the door, then she saw him.

David looked at her, and sure enough, his jaw nearly hit the ground. She turned around - teasingly at this rate - to show him where the zipper was. He walked over and examined the zipper, which was near her left butt cheek. "Oh yeah, a bit of fabric is stuck." He said before he tugged a little bit, doing his best to not put his hand too far down, or have it slip. He felt like this was dangerous territory, but he was helping his friend, the woman he loved. After a few seconds, he finally released the stuck fabric and zipped her dress.

When the zipper was fully up, she turned around and looked him in the eyes. "Thanks Schwimmy Schwimster." She said softly, feeling the nerves and butterflies sink in again. He smiled shyly at her, blushing a little bit hearing her call him the nickname he hasn't heard in years. "Anytime."

They then fell into a comfortable silence, forgetting about their guest downstairs as they just stared at each other. He cupped her cheek and smiled even more at her. "You're absolutely gorgeous, by the way." He confessed. His stomach had been doing flips ever since he got there, but in this exact moment, he thought his heart might explode.

She blushed and looked down at the ground before looking back at him again. She suddenly felt like it was hard to breathe as it felt like her and David started leaning in.

"MATT!" They heard a woman shout, causing them to jolt back to reality. They looked at each other, Jen pursed her lips, David just smirked "Guess Lisa's here. Thanks for ruining the moment, appreciate it." He said teasingly. Jen slapped his chest playfully, they both laughed and went back downstairs.