One For The Road

Chapter Thirty Three

Another month passed mostly without a hitch. On the night of my cafe date with Just, apparently my father had stopped by to speak with my mother, but since she wasn't there, Dan and Chris had to answer the door. They told him she wasn't home and he nodded, bid them goodnight, and had yet to return again. He must have been finished with his business trip long ago, so hopefully he was well away from us. I was just glad he was leaving our family alone.

I got a job at Mars Café and finally got to reward Heidi with her month-long movie theater reward for helping me with my first date with Just, one that had led to two more outings within the month. I took him to the zoo first, mostly to watch him interact with the animals— he was unsurprisingly adorable until we got to the bird house since a fear of birds seemed to run in his family— and then invited him to Kaleb's eighth birthday party, a pool party that we were probably too old for but neither of us cared. He ended up just coming home with us that night and spending the night, borrowing a spare pair of pajamas from me and absolutely slaughtering me with his adorableness. Seriously, who would've thought someone could look so cute in a baggy t-shirt and shorts? C'mon. That wasn't fair.

The next morning, I walked him home and told him he could keep my pajamas for a while if he wanted to. He gladly accepted, and I felt giddy at the thought of him looking at my clothes and thinking happy things. We'd had our fair share of crippling anxieties during that month— I hadn't been in a real relationship before, so I was a total mess who most certainly didn't deserve someone as kind and patient and loving as Just. He stuck with me through thick and thin, and we ultimately made each other happy, and that still made me feel all fuzzy inside.

I walked him home that morning, bringing him up to the porch like a gentleman like I had on our first date. He reached up and kissed my cheek again, and it brought a wobbly smile to my face. That was something I still wasn't quite used to. I could definitely change that, though. As he closed the door, I left his home with the feeling of his lips on my cheek burning into my mind.

A few nights later, we were at Dan's house with Heidi, Gabby, and Chris for a bonfire. It was currently about ten thirty at night, but none of us had any interest in leaving anytime soon. We had been playing truth or dare earlier, but we had decided to stop after Chris had thrown up the combination of salsa, pizza sauce, and soda that Gabby had dared him to drink. That hadn't been a fun experience. Still, the game had resulted in Just sitting in my lap— thanks, Heidi— so I was counting it as a win. My arms were wrapped around his waist to keep him steady, and his hands rested on top of mine, his head leaning back onto my shoulder. He seemed comfortable, and I was, too.

The six of us fell into a comfortable silence, all eyes on the flickering orange flames in front of us. I almost dozed off. Almost.

But then Just was shifting in my lap until he was facing me, his legs wrapping themselves around my waist as he dropped his head back onto my shoulder, and I was wide awake.

"You need to get home eventually," he murmured. "Don't you have an early shift tomorrow?"

"It's only at five in the morning," I muttered. "I've gotten less sleep before." Just squawked angrily in response, eliciting a snicker of amusement from Heidi.

"C'mon. You've been here for hours. You need sleep." He lifted his head to look me in the eyes. I lifted an eyebrow.

"Spend the night?" I offered, and I watched with amusement as the tips of his ears went pink.

"No one here needs to know about your sex life," Gabby joked from her seat. Just choked on his spit, his face going bright red, and I peered over at her, covering Just's ears with my hands.

"How dare you assume something so impure of this precious cinnamon roll?" I asked, feigning offense. Luckily, Gabby seemed to be getting over her pettiness as Just and I became more comfortable around each other. We were currently at a steady level that involved careful jokes and a minimal amount of insults. It was progress.