His Game

Chapter Twenty Two

His Game: Chapter Twenty Two

Three weeks.

It's been three weeks since October 9th; the day I asked Joey to play the game.

Tuesday is the last day. Tuesday is November 9th. We have this weekend, Monday, and that's it.

My mom wouldn't leave the topic alone. She kept nagging me to tell her who the girl was, and when I denied that there was one, she hit me with a new range of questions. Where I ended up every day after school if not with Dino and Roger, who Belle kept referring to at dinners, and who has me in such a 'chipper mood,' as she put it.

I ended up just admitting it to her. Of course, she made a huge deal out of something that's no cause for alarm and insisted Joey come over for dinner.

I have never brought a girl from the game home to meet my mom. Then again, I've never even introduced any of them to Belle either. There's a lot of things about Joey that haven't happened before.

I've said all along she's different. I just didn't realize how much her being different would effect my feelings towards her.

So, here I am, standing on Joey's front porch unannounced with a bouquet of flowers my mom forced me to buy, waiting for her to answer so that I can invite her over for dinner.

And once Joey does open the door, the surprise on her face is hard to miss. There's no reason for me to be here. First of all it's a Friday, which means she's planned to stay in with her brother and father for board-games and Jeopardy. Second, I showed up completely unannounced.

"Hear me out," I start as she opens her mouth with slight worry on her face, "I know it's Friday, and that means the day is dedicated to Jacob, but my mom really wants to meet you. And I brought you flowers, so you kind of have to say yes so that you don't seem ungrateful," I finish with a small smirk.

Her eyes drop to the bouquet of flowers as she calculates what to do, and after a few moments her confusion drops into a small smile and she snorts as she takes the flowers. "I guess I can skip Jeopardy just this once."

I grin, "Skipping family traditions just for me? I feel special."

"Don't."

She winks at me as she turns to put the flowers away, silently letting me into the house. After she puts the flowers in a vase, she heads upstairs to change since she had been wearing a baggy sweatshirt and pajama pants, and I make my way to the living room to sit with her dad and Jacob and play out a round of Jeopardy as I wait.

Somehow, I actually end up getting more answers right than Jacob, and he freaks out in excitement that I 'improved so much since last time.'

"I'd keep an eye on him, Jacob. He could be cheating."

I turn to face the steps from Joey's wild accusation, ready to defend myself, but my words stop once I see her. She's not wearing anything extravagant, hasn't done her hair up nicely, and doesn't have a face filled with makeup.

But she doesn't need any of that to make my knees go weak.

All she's wearing is a simple blue dress, stopping above her knees, hugging her curves beautifully, and accentuating the brown in her eyes.

As she walks into the living room, I stand from my perch on the armrest of the couch and meet her halfway.

"How do I look?" She asks with a small grin.

I take her hand in mind and let her use it to twirl herself around, watching with mesmerized eyes as her dress flows with her. When she faces me again, I meet her gaze and can't stop my smile as I dip down to kiss her cheek.