He Who Wants A Rose, Must Respect The Thorn

Moving Day

"c'mon! Spill! I wanna know everything!!" Olivia smirked the next evening when I saw her at my brothers place. I snorted and rolled my eyes. "there's nothing to say" I shrugged. "like hell there isn't. You failed to speak about it last night and you told me you were busy at lunch today, so what's the deal?!"

I tried to hold back a smile with a huff, but her expectant face and beaming smile got me. I grinned and blushed shaking my head. "I met him for lunch okay?" I said, ending with O squealing. "and?!" she gasped. "and what?" I shrugged. Olivia winked at me, "come on O, don't make it a big deal..." I sighed a little. She frowned at me, "I just... I don't want it to be a big thing," I shrugged, "not after, y'know... I just... I don't even know what I'm doing" I said, staring down into my coffee. We were both silent for a few moments, "did you have a good time with him though?" I looked up at her and nodded, "then what's the problem?" she frowned. I huffed and shrugged, us both knowing exactly what the problem was. "just take it for what it is, and don't think about anything else. He's hot, available and obviously likes you. What could go wrong?"

........

The following week, was moving day. It was a pretty simple task as I didn't have too much stuff to move from my brother's house. I'd had deliveries of a couch and new bed during the week, so now it was finally Friday and my moving day, most of my bigger stuff was already in place.

It was handy that it was all done that morning, because I then had to go out and get food and beer for tonight. I was having a little get together with everyone at my place for a house warming. Of course Nick and Ally were coming, O and Danny too. That was kind of a big deal. So was the fact Jake was coming too and bringing a couple of his friends too.

........

I put some music on, not too loud obviously, I didn't want to piss off the neighbours on my first night here. Right as I did there was a loud knock on the door, "hey!!" Olivia squealed out, holding a bottle of wine in her hand, flowers in the other and a huge smile on her face. I laughed and let her in, Danny following behind her. "hey Danny" I smiled up at him, "hey Pen, congratulations on the place," he said, glancing around, I closed the door and he pulled me in for a hug. "nice to see you finally here" he whispered to me. It was the first time I'd seen him since I got here. I'd text him a few times, but that was it, a certain someone was always a huge concern. "same here. I missed your adorable self" I teased him, making him laugh. "go grab a drink, before she takes all that wine" I added making him wink.

Not too long later, my brother arrived, 'fashionably late' with Ally. They came baring gifts too, annoyingly Nick brought me a house plant, knowing I kill anything that lives in soil, and a batch of cookies my mum used to make when we were kids to make me feel at home. "woah, woah no crying little sis!" he gasped, grabbing me into a hug once he saw my teary eyes. "I'll happily take em back with us tonight if you don't want em" he said, and I know he wasn't joking. "I might let you take one for the journey" I replied with a smile. "happy new home" he winked as he pulled away, smiling at me. "thanks" I smiled, blinking away the tears. "c'mon I assume Liv is monitoring the wine?" Ally said, grabbing my arm, pulling me away from my brother. I laughed and went along with her to my kitchen area to see how much she was measuring out for herself.

.......

"so is he coming?" I heard Ally whisper to O as I passed them coming out of my bathroom. I smirked, "I think so, but I thought he'd be here by now" Olivia replied in a low voice. I chose not to answer her and made my way though to where Danny and Nick were standing, picking my Dvd collection to pieces. "who even has dvd's anymore?" Nick sniggered, "hey, they're my classics" I bit back, him knowing how to wind me up. "do they even play on a US player?" Danny asked, "fear not, I had my friend back home at my old job tinker around and has told me what to do"

knock knock

"yeah, he's probably told her to bin em" Nick sniggered, causing me to snort at him and roll my eyes as I made my way to my door. I grabbed the handle and let the door swing open, revealing about 6 lean, handsome looking men standing there. One of them, who was carrying flowers, was Jake. "Hey beautiful" He smiled at me, immediately stepping forward and kissing me on the cheek. "sorry we're a little late, some of us take hours to get ready" he rolled his eyes, hearing a voice a the back comment something back at him. I shook my head and smiled, "no problem, glad you could come" I said, stepping back. "awesome, Pen, these are my friends;" he started, ready to introduce each one as they walked through my door. "Phil...Mark...Jason...Wyatt...and-

"Gronkowski" I said, a little unexpectedly. The huge mountain of a guy looked back at me with the same shocked expression. "Penelope?!"

"uh, you two know each other?" Jake interrupted our stare. We both looked at Jake and then back at each other. "uh, kinda" Rob answered.

............

"why didn't you tell me you dated Julian Edelman?" Jake asked me as we sat in the empty kitchen area later on, once everyone else had left. I laughed a little and shook my head, "we've been on like three dates, it's not like I'm just going to randomly blurt out hey, the last guy I dated played for the Patriots" I said, looking down at my swinging legs as we sat perched on the counter top. "uh well I get that, but still."

"and it's not like I knew you were friends with Gronk is it" I added, "well no, or you were with Danny" he added. I nodded, "so...like, you and Edelman....he's the one that... "

"broke my heart? yep" I said, popping the 'p'. "I was friends with Olivia and we set her and Danny up. Things got complicated and tonight was the first night I've seen Danny since I moved here." I found myself telling him more than I thought I would. "do you ever see...him?" he asked with a hard swallow. "god no." I shook my head. "I've seen him once since I got here" I added. Jake nodded, "look, everything I said about him hurting me, and wanting to explain and all that, it's all true. The only thing I didn't tell you was who he was" I shrugged. Jake sighed, "I'm kinda glad...I mean, who could come up against Edelman, like he's who all the guys wanna be and who all the girls wanna be with" he sort of laughed. "that's the problem" I scoffed. "you know what I mean though" Jake added, "well, no, cause I hope that you're nothing like him. I don't wanna be dating another douche bag" I muttered. "well I can promise you I'm not" he said, holding his hand up like he was under oath. I laughed and bumped shoulders with him.
"how do you think he'll take it when he hears Rob and Danny were here tonight?" he asked. I laughed lightly, "that's not what will piss him off, it'll be knowing you were here"