Okay

A date

'At yours tonight?'

'Yeah sure'

'Could you pick up takeaway on your way here?' He added

'Sure'

'I'll see you at 6'

Paul couldn't help but smile at his phone.

How lucky he was, was an understatement; to think just a mere 3 months ago he could barely talk to the hot beanies barista, to now where they were— well whatever they were.

"What are you smiling at?" He pulled his phone to his chest as he felt Ted loom over him.

"Nothing" he responded nonchalantly.

"Why don't you ever share anything with me anymore?" Ted whined.

"I don't recall ever sharing anything with you" he laughed.

Ted scoffed, "come on just let me in."

"No. Why do you even want to know?"

"Because." Ted dragged on, "just tell me!"

"Go away Ted."

Ted rolled his eyes, "you're no fun."

Feeling his phone buzz again he lifted it up to read the new text from Emma.

'It's a date Matthews'

–

Emma had nervously shoved her phone back into her apron pocket. She didn't know why it was such a big deal to her, it was a date after all, two people hanging out together, doesn't have to mean anything. Right?

Then why did she feel like she suddenly couldn't breathe.

She didn't regret it per say, but it was new and strange, and the word didn't exactly make her feel comfortable.

yet, it felt like the right word to say.

A date; a social or romantic appointment or engagement. Sure it was usually said in a romantic way, but it didn't have to be, Paul would know she meant it in a casual way.

–

He felt his face flush as he read her text. 'A date' he whispered aloud to himself, that was new. Sure they watched a movie together every Friday night, and they were supposedly dating, but calling their get together a date, that was a big deal.

Did that mean she saw their get together in a romantic sense?

Was this new? Or had she always thought of their Friday nights like that?

What did this mean for them? Where they going to be taking things to the next level?

He got giddy as he thought about it, he couldn't wait to see her tonight.

They're going next level, surely that's what she had meant.

–

He would know, surely he would.

She didn't know whether to feel giddy with excitement or sick to her stomach with anxiety as she made her way to Paul's front door.

Behind it, she knew sat Paul, probably anxiously awaiting her arrival, probably having been sitting on the couch for at least five minutes before her expected arrival time.

Though she didn't know whether that fact was comforting or terrifying.

On one hand, it was Paul, the man who was guaranteed to wipe away all of her worries in as little as a glance.

But on the other hand, what if she fucked things up between them? What was it going to be like between them?

Before she had a chance to rethink her decision and run away like she probably would have done only a few years prior, she began to unlock the door, no turning back now.

Paul had gifted her a key to his place not too long ago and she had done the same with him, both of them reasoning it was wise to keep each others spare key incase one of them were locked out or something, plus they were over at each others so often it just made sense to keep a key.

As soon as Emma had opened the door she made eye contact with Paul, who, as she guessed was sitting on the couch anxiously taping his fingers together.

"Hey" he spoke first.

Emma smiled, shutting the door seamlessly behind her.

"Hey"

***

Like usual they fell into sync immediately in each others presence.

Both of their anxieties from earlier had mostly vanished, for now it was just them.

They had gotten into their usual groove of picking out a movie, while they dished out plates of food.

Then once they were part way through the movie, both of them comfortably sat next to each other, their plates empty and pushed to the side, Emma was feeling confident.

Keeping her eyes trained on the screen she slowly shifted her legs to rest on top of Paul's, her feet continuing to feel their surroundings as she felt Paul's eyes shift in her direction.

Neither said anything, so after a few minutes she snuggled in closer to him, her head resting against his shoulder at first before sliding in further to rest against his chest.

Her whole body practically leaning into Paul at this point.

This time after moving however, Paul made his move, snaking his arm around her side, pulling her closer to him before testing the limits and resting his hand on her hip.

He heard her inhale a small breathe of air and he thought she was going to ask him to remove it, but no sooner than the breath was taken in it was released and they fell back into their peaceful silence.

And that's where they stayed for the remainder of the movie, each of them slowly making another move until there was physically no way of getting closer to each other.

As the end credits rolled Paul looked down at the short woman in his arms, her eyes were shut and a soft smile was resting on her relaxed face. She looked at peace in his arms, a fact that made Paul feel calm for once.

He was happy that they had finally reached this point in their relationship, but he was more happy that Emma could finally relax, finally finding her meaning in life; him.