Sliding in the DMs - Joey Bosa

Part V

Three months had passed since Joey and Arty started hooking up on the regular. At some point they lulled into a comfortable routine of nightly dinners together at each other's place and sleepovers.

Joey even came around to bonding with Arty's cat, Cassiopeia. Which was a huge surprise to him as he always considered himself a dog person. Yet, the affectionate tortie was hard not to like as she often greeted him when he entered the apartment and when he woke up in the morning when staying over.

Joey could feel his heart thud in anticipation for the other shoe to drop. They had built a comfortable balance in his life. When living in LA, all he cared about was football. That was the center of his universe. Only back home in Florida did he feel any semblance of normalcy.

Yet, Arty provided him that. He had never realized how much he craved domestication and time with another person. He was always doing his own thing as far back as he could remember. Dating was no different. Arty was the first girl he ever felt the longing to see everyday. The first person he thought of when waking up and the only person he thought of while falling to sleep.

It was terrifying.

Terrifying that he could imagine a future with her beyond whatever was happening currently. It was terrifying that he googled jewelers nearby, honeymoon locations, and when it was ok to say "I love you." It made him question if he ever really felt love in his former relationships. None were ever this strong.

And he knew, like always, that he would fuck it up.

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Arty was flipping through a photobook from her family reunion trip to Greece. She could see her parents holding each other, their eyes expressing so much happiness and love for their each other. In another photo was herself, her sister Athena, her cousins Dementri and Penelope, and her grandparents in the center of the four smiling around them. Just like her parents, her grandparents were sitting close together, her grandpa holding her grandma's hand as it rested on his knee.

In her mind, she knew she wanted that same kind of love. The kind that consumes you and burns from within. The kind of love her grandpa showed her grandma when he would dance with her under the bright lights of Athen's at night. Or the kind of love her parents had where they ran off and eloped, although originally forbidden to do so.

Arty knew she wanted that with Joey. There were no doubts about that. She felt it so strongly some days.

It was the little things. The way he allowed her to brush his hair after a shower or when he washed her hair in the shower. It was him learning how to make matcha, knowing it was her favorite tea. It was him checking on her during the day while she was at work. And all of the other small things he did for her daily. She never had that before.

She hadn't considered that all the guys before him were pretty shitty. He came into her life unexpectedly and, at times, she worried he would leave her just the same.

She could feel his hesitation as of late. He would get a distant look and the tension would take over him. He would get quieter, only uttering a few responses and sometimes choosing to lay down and nap for a bit to clear his mind.

She worried about him a lot and wanted to address it, but she wasn't sure how.

So she didn't because she wanted him to be the one to say something. She was tired of always addressing things in every relationship - this time she wanted someone to make the effort. That someone was Joey.

She'd wait for him to make a move before she did.

As she sat across from him, pondering the situation at hand, she could see Joey rubbing the bridge of his nose, his eyebrows scrunched, as he lay on her couch in silence.