𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐳𝐞 | 𝐧. 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟏 | 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨

After the intervention from the guys, I decided to let the picnic date idea sit and marinate for a few days. Ultimately, after fighting myself on whether or not I should do it, I decided that I'd ask Gabi on a date when we got back home. Even if she says no I'll just be proud of myself for even having the guts to ask, I just hope she does say yes. I haven't had a chance to work on the specifics of the date like where it would be and what exactly I'd do, but I don't want to do anything until I ask her and get an answer. It would be awkward if I planned a cute picnic date only for Gabi to say no to it.

Seeing as we're flying back home this afternoon, the guys and I decided to go out for breakfast before we have to come back and finish packing up the rest of our stuff. I place my sunglasses at the top of my head, before spraying some cologne just as Jesper finishes putting on his shoes. "Jack just texted and he said that he and the guys are waiting for us in the lobby. Let's go." Getting up from his bed, he hands me one of the two key cards for the room before we head out the door.

Downstairs, the guys are sitting on the couches in the lobby area on their phones. Jack is the first one to notice us as we walk towards them, standing up. "Good morning! Let's get going." Everyone follows suit getting up from their seats, and following Jack out to the hot California sun. The night before, we'd all agreed to go to a nice breakfast place not too far from our hotel. On our walk there, we all made some small talk about what we planned on getting up to this off-season. Everyone, except for me, planned on flying home to spend time with their families and friends. After talking about it for a few days, my family decided that they wanted to fly to Jersey and stay for most of the summer. I offered to fly to them to make it easier, but they were insistent on coming to the place that I've called home since being drafted.

Walking into the breakfast place, my ears are quick to pick up all the chatter coming from the tables all around. It was fairly busy seeing as it's a Saturday and people want to make the most out of the beautiful weather today. A nice gentleman leads us to a table for six by a window facing the busy palm tree-lined street outside. Passing us menus, he tells us he'll be back in a few minutes to take our orders. We spend the next few minutes talking and figuring out what each of us is getting to eat before ordering.

Waiting for the food, I feel the nerves start to build up in my stomach. I decided the best time to tell the guys about asking Gabi on a picnic date would be now. I feel so lucky to have friends that, despite knowing I've been an idiot for not asking Gabi on a date, they have done what they could to help me build the courage to even consider asking. The guys, by the time I decide to speak up, have all broken out into their little conversations talking about the most random things. Taking a deep breath, I speak up, "Hey, so I know it's been a few days since the intervention you guys gave me and I just wanted to say. I'vedecidedtoaskGabionapicnicdate." The last part of my sentence gets completely lost as the words rush out of me. Not a single word that I said was understood by the guys as they looked at me in confusion.

After a few seconds, Jesper and Jack seemed to be the only ones who took a second to slowly decipher what I said, "What was that Nico?" A sly smile on both Jack and Jesper's faces causes heat to rise to my cheeks. I silently hoped and prayed they wouldn't ask me to repeat what I said, but of course, that was just wishful thinking on my behalf. "Which part?" I tried to act like I didn't know which part they wanted to hear.

"Nico, you know exactly which part we want you to repeat. Now can you please repeat what you said to the rest of the class?" Jack and Jesper motion towards the other seemingly clueless guys around us. "I've decided to ask Gabi on a picnic date." My voice comes out in a low mumble causing Nate to cup his ear in my direction, "What was that? We couldn't hear you?" I couldn't help, but let out a sigh. Where is the food? Where is the server? I look around hoping our server would be my saving grace at this exact moment.