Real(ity) Feelings

Chapter 6

"I can't believe we get to LEAVE the mansion," Quinn cooed at dusk, raising her voice loud enough for the entire group lounging around the pool to hear.

Joe looked over at Dianne who was sprawled across the pool chair next to him, her hand shielding her eyes from the sharp ray of setting sun. He bit back a laugh at the fire in her eyes as they rolled all the way back into her skull.

"Is she fucking for real?" Dianne hissed. "Every 30 minutes. Another mention of this fucking date."

Joe couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. "Jesus Christ, Di. Two F bombs in a row."

Dianne let out a low growl in response, and Joe laughed again before reaching out and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, pulling her small body over to his chair and into a giant hug. He was surprising himself a bit with how comfortable he felt around her - it usually took him ages to get to know girls. Especially the ones he liked - and he certainly liked Dianne. A lot. Enough to do things without thinking.

"Stay here," Joe whispered against her hair. "I'll be right back."

Dianne let out a quiet whine as he quickly moved out from under her, leaving her alone on the lounge chair again, before exclaiming dramatically, "What are you doing? Where are you going? Joe don't leave me here to die! "

Joe grinned and winked at her, as he beelined across the lawn and into the mansion.

---

Dianne frowned as she checked the clock for what felt like the hundredth time. Joe had been gone for about 30 minutes, and the other couples had slowly begun to make their way inside.

"You coming, Dianne?" Hannah asked brightly, "I think we're going to go inside and play a drinking game! It's too dark out here. I swear they don't' light the backyard so that they don't have to use those creepy night vision cameras."

Dianne smiled and shook her head, "That's okay, I'm going to stay out here a little longer"

"But it's dark," Hannah repeated, her face full of confusion.

Dianne shrugged. Hannah finally moved away from her chair and went to walk inside, confusion still evident on her face. Dianne sighed and checked the clock again. After an entire day of listening to Quinn and Jay flaunt their date in everyone's face, she did feel a bit closer to the other couples, even though their bonding was probably born more from their joint disdain than from anything else. But, she still didn't feel super close to any of them yet and would much rather wait in the dark backyard for Joe to return. Although she was starting to question if that would ever happen.

Finally, she heard the sliding glass door slowly slide open across the lawn. "Dianne?" Joe shouted. "Shut your eyes!"

Dianne smirked before shouting back, "I can't see anything anyway, you've left me out in the dark!"

"Just close them. Promise me they're closed."

"Fine," she sighed dramatically. "They're closed."

She could hear some rustling in the open area of the grass next to the pool, mixed with some hushed profanity laden exclamations, and she tried not to giggle as she tried to envision what Joe was doing in pitch black backyard. Suddenly, his hands were in hers and he was pulling her upright off the chair.

"Okay," he murmured softly. "Open."

Dianne blinked her eyes open, trying to take in her surroundings. Her eyes landed on the area 10 feet in front of her and she felt herself let out a small gasp. A large blanket was laid out on the grass, with about 10 lit candles of varying heights placed all around the edges. In the middle were two pillows, a bottle of red wine and two glasses.