take a guess (your father should know)

one

joel, your father's infamous ex-best friend has flipped your expectations of him right on your head enough times to where you couldn't keep count or track. you'd expected at the tender age of forty-three he'd be married raising teenagers — but no. instead more the artsy, eccentric loner-type.

had spared you questionably long gazes under that thick beard, undoubtedly hiding some natural crow's feet. he wore his age and his experience on his shoulders and exuded a particular, unique nonchalance that left a long lasting impression on you. especially when your father first befriended him.

college started right around the corner around the time you started seeing him swing by to drink and play guitar with your dad pretty frequently. granting you a nod of his head while he kept a toothpick to chew on between his lips.

while you lived in your childhood bedroom, still skating through all your general ed classes your first year he had already stopped coming around. you didn't have the heart to ask your dad whatever had happened, but his name alone became taboo around the house, leaving his brooding looks and exceptionally broad shoulders nothing but a mere memory to you.

all's you heard around town now was that after him and your father had a falling out, joel seemingly resumed his familiarly isolated lifestyle. only hanging around town alone or with his brother Tommy, and you imagine little else being interesting beyond that. he didn't ever even go on a date to your knowledge.

that being said, it still left you a blubbery-stomach'd mess to see him again in the flesh for the first time in over two years at your local coffee shop on a lucky tuesday.

looking about as rugged and worn in as expected, tired bags and a matching stern disposition still present in him when he orders his coffee — black with two sugars. flannel, cross between grunge and lumberjack while those same arms you remember all those years ago still bulge through every shirt.

the trepidation of going up to him suffocates you. it's challenging not to feel as if you're some fan bothering him for an autograph when you go up towards where he sat alone to say your long awaited hello.

the gruff resting frown-face turned into a warm smile at an instant once he looked up and identified who it is that's just approached him.

the words he used and the way he used them still to this day force this feeling of unadulterated electricity down your spine and straight through your core. only alleviated by rubbing your thighs together could you reminisce about the first time he looked up; smiled, grabbed tight on your shoulders to bring you in for a welcoming hug and said—

"hey there, pretty lady. s'been too long since I've seen this face," he smiles. cheeky while those arms start to squeeze you.

joel gave you his number and told you to 'reach out to him sometime'.

taking forty-eight hours just to gain the courage, you swallowed any vile insecurities stopping you from going after what you want. what you've craved ever since.

the first hangout felt casual in nature. joel had cracked open two beers for both of you while you binged horror comedies in his living room. you bonded over his intense and impressive record collection, the vast amount of genres he collected and listened to was yet another reason you'd fallen deep into your attraction to him.

right as summer was barely beginning to set in, you'd say you were at a point where you've had plenty of innocent nights with joel at his flat.

but it wasn't until the hot nights started creeping in that things started to turn around and change.

he started smoking weed with you after he learned that you'd picked up the habit long before college to have a toke and release some stress. you can remember the state of his red cheeks when you told him how some strains make you really horny.