As it Was / A Joseph Quinn story.

7.

That night I didn't sleep at all.

I kept on touching my lips, thinking about Joe and his kiss. My stomach was twisted upside down, my heart was racing and bumping as soon as I remembered what just happen.
I felt so weird.

I was supposed to go to work in the morning, but I woke up after only two hours sleep and I felt nauseous so I texted Hunter and asked for the day off. I really didn't feel good. I stayed the whole morning in bed reading and checking on my phone. I wanted to tell Lucy so bad but I didn't want to hear her screaming and fangirling all over. I wanted to text Joe, but at the same time I was so puzzled that I didn't even know what to say. I wrote a chilled text but then it sounded too chill. You don't write "What's up?" To the guy that kissed you the night before.

All those thoughts reminded me why I didn't date and didn't want to have a boyfriend. Too much anxiety about even the dumbest thing. That's when I decided to stop acting like a 13 year old girl. I didn't text him and I just moved on with my day. I know we're not robots, but I really needed to switch off whatever that feeling was. I was seeing Joe in two days and I would have acted like nothing happened.

He texted me on Friday to set things up for our date due on Saturday. Seemed like nothing happened, like that kiss never happened. We were supposed to attend Ian McEwan's book presentation on Saturday afternoon, then going to have dinner somewhere.

I was in front of my wardrobe and on the phone with Lucy, who still didn't know about the kiss.

"Put something nice on! You always wear jeans and t-shirts!"

"I feel comfortable"

"You can feel comfy in a nice dress as well! And please put some make up on!"

I didn't have a lot of choice in dresses or nice girly stuff. I had tons of jeans, trousers -mostly black ones-, shirts and t-shirts. I never felt the urge of wearing something to impress someone else. But for once I listened to Lucy and chose the only black (of course) tight dress with long sleeves hanging in the wardrobe.

"At least let me wear my converse!"

"Only if you let your hair down and wear make up! Send me a picture before you go!"

I have quite long hair, but I always tie them up in a bun or in a ponytail. And don't even start with make up: I rarely put it on. That day, I used a bit of eyeliner and mascara and it felt even too much. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and sent Lucy the picture she asked.

"OMG you look stunning! You should dress like that more often! Joseph is going to be speechless!"

We managed to meet in Piccadilly Circus, right under the fountain. For the whole way on the tube I felt nervous and asked myself if I was making a huge mistake dressing like that. I felt quite comfortable but at the same time I kinda felt weird. It wasn't really me. It was someone who looked like me.

When I got to the fountain he was already there. When he saw me his eyes opened up wide in disbelief.

"Who are you and what you did to Andy?" I laughed

"This is too much, I knew it!"

"Hell no! You look amazing!" He looked pretty amazing too, in that brown suit. Very elegant.

We walked to the bookstore and had a seat where the presentation would have started.
The place was full of people. The author arrived and the whole thing lasted an hour straight; at the end I waited in line to get my book signed. I was so happy. Meeting one of your favorite writer is always a joy. Joe also took a picture of me with him.

"Are you happy?" He asked once we were out in the street.

"Yes! It was so cool! I hope you didn't get bored"