Together

139. Lighthouse

In This Shirt (Violin)
-Joel Sunny, Dramatic Violin

JJ drives Kie's Jeep to a restaurant that's a little more up scale than they usually do in downtown town Kildare. It had a romantic atmosphere with stone pillars and dim lighting. There was soft guitar playing in the background as the hostess gestured to the booth she was seating them at, and they slide into dark leather, legs hidden under a cream colored table cloth.

The warm atmosphere has him removing the jacket he is wearing, resting it beside him before turn back to see Kie engrossed on her phone.

"What you lookin' at?" he wonders to her with a teasing tone, arms spread over the back of the booth, resting behind her shoulders.

Kie looks up. "I'm looking at the pictures Sarah sent of us," she excuses, flashing him the front of her phone to prove it.

It was a cute photo, he'd admit. Joyful smiles on both their faces despite the embarrassment from their friends cooing at them like proud parents. That may have been a part of it. Even after a year, JJ and Kie still couldn't handle the playful teasing about how close they were without blushing or feeling butterflies in their stomachs.

Sometimes it was still strange to both of them, that their mutual feelings weren't a secret to anyone. No longer hidden within themselves but out in the open. After years of pining, you could understand how it felt almost unbelievable.

"You're right," JJ agrees. "You look incredible."

She rolls her eyes, because she can't keep openly reacting this way. They've been dating a year, he wasn't supposed to make her feel more giddy, right?

"You're impossible," she feigns.

"I'm serious," he says, matter of factly, kissing her temple. "Don't know why you settled for me."

She chuckles, affectionately rolling her eyes at the familiar self deprecating humor he likes to cast on himself. "Settle, did I?" He shrugs indifferently. She hums her disagreement. "I think you're the settler."

"What?" he can't help but balk.

"Yeah, I practically had to force you into dating me," she argues. Wasn't completely wrong. She was the one that was way more open to the idea than he was initially. Not because she showed more interest or that he didn't feel for her, that he certainly did. He just had a lot of his own shit he was dealing with. Didn't know how he could deserve someone like her.

Took him a long time to realize that people don't deserve anything or anyone. They choose them.

"Yeah, well," he teases. "I said I love you first, so. You're the settler."

"I am not! You are," she pouts, protesting the one up. A few people make eyes over towards them when JJ just laughs after she crosses her arms in mock tantrum.

He shakes his head with a less than subtle no, nose scrunched up with skepticism.

"You didn't even mean to say it, though," she continues to defend.

"I still meant it," he tells her, eye catching in an endearing sort of way. She reflects his gaze with a nod, and nestles in closer to him when his hand finds her shoulder.

"I'm not the settler," she comments. All he can do is chuckle and kiss her temple, murmuring an I love you into her ear.

They order their meals and enjoy cream sodas, because unlike sketchy dive bars, this place actually will card them. JJ knows because he tried to slightly joke with the bar tender on the way back from a bathroom trip, and he just got a dead pan expression.