KISS: Road Trip

Ch 60: Pizza, Perhaps (Paul)

My phone buzzed and I looked at the message, immediately feeling a smile spreading across my face.

Hey! Dinner tonight, right? @7 or am I dumb?

Lol nah ur right, we said 7!

Alright perfect! See u then! ;)

Can't wait! :)

I set my phone down, running a hand through my hair before shaking my head. "Not yet, don't get your hopes up yet. You got mad at Gene but that's because you were drunk and he was right and you knew it. Don't get your hopes up until you know he feels the same way," I muttered to myself.

Still really excited to see Eric, I pulled open my closet, looking at my clothes. "Mm, okay. It's just a chill pizza place so t-shirt and jeans it is," I said, getting changed and finally driving to the restaurant. I took a deep breath before pushing open the door and walking inside. Eric gave me a huge smile, rising to his feet. "Hey, Paul! Good to see you!" he said cheerfully, hesitating for a moment before giving me a quick hug.

I smiled back, running a hand through my hair. "Yeah, good to see you too! I'm looking forward to catching up with you." I was relieved to see he was also in nothing more than a t-shirt and jeans, paired with his usual trademark headband. "Okay so what are we thinking for dinner? Like I'm hungry, but I don't eat even close to as much as other Eric, so do we want to split a pizza?"

"That works for me! I really just like all kinds of pizza, so whatever you want is fine with me," I said, leaning my elbows on the table. He gave me a shy smile, cheeks turning pink. "Okay well my favorite pizza is Hawaiian so yeah if you're cool with pineapple on the pizza that's all I really care about."

"Pineapple, really?! I mean it's not bad, but that's your favorite?" I asked. He shrugged defensively. "Yeah! I like the combination of the sweet from the pineapple and the savory from the...well, from the rest of the pizza. But if you don't like that I get it, most people don't!" "No, no it's fine! Like I said, I like all kinds of pizza. I like eating it as much as I like making it," I said with a grin.

His face lit up and he gave me a huge smile, blue eyes shining. "You make pizza?! That's so cool!" "Yeah! It's fun, I'll have to have you over sometime to teach you." "Hey, sounds like a date," he teased, flagging down the waitress and putting in our order.

The food arrived and Eric rested his chin on his hand, giving me a smile and setting a slice of pizza on my plate. "Okay so there's a whole lot to catch up on but I've got dibs on the first question! You said you came out as bi senior year, right? When did you do that? Like if it was during football season that's my bad for not noticing! I'm kind of clueless though, the whole dumb blond and all that."

I laughed, shaking my head. "No, no, you're fine! It was in the spring! I don't remember the exact date, maybe like March or something? April?" Eric nodded, giving me a sweet smile. "And you dated Ace, right?" I grinned, nodding. "Yeah. I mean I wasn't like out to a ton of people but at the same time I mean...we went to prom with each other."

"Damn see I thought maybe you guys were dating then but also like I wasn't sure if you guys were just going as friends, you know? I didn't want to assume anything and I also had no idea how to ask you to be honest. But that's cool though! Cool they got married too! And apparently Simmons is married, which came completely out of left field."

"Right?! I show up to his house in California and I can hear this woman talking in his house and I was like 'who's that' and he's like 'oh that's my wife she's pregnant' like what??" Eric burst into laughter, shaking his head. "Gosh he would do that. He hella would run off to California and make himself a little family. Sweet though, I've seen pictures and he honestly looks like he adores his son. Nick, right?"

I nodded, smiling fondly. "Yeah, it's adorable. He complains about some of the difficulties of raising a kid but also non-stop praises his son. It's honestly so cute." Eric grinned, taking a bite of pizza. "That's nice, I'm happy for him! After everything he went through in high school he deserves to have a nice family. Man, he'd talk about it in math sometimes, I used to sit in front of him, and it was just like...damn, he went through a lot."

"Yeah. Yeah, he did. But it's gotten a lot better for him, and it's nice to see. Anyway, my turn! How was college for you?" He rolled his eyes, shaking his head with a smile. "Hey, I graduated, that's what matters! I got an English degree and I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it. It was fun though! Partied and stuff, dated around and all that, but yeah, it was fun! Might've wasted my time but I'll get it figured out!"

We spent the rest of dinner chatting happily with each other, swapping stories and jokes and just having a really good time. After we split the bill we both rose to our feet, walking to the parking lot together.

"This was really fun," I said softly, and he nodded, bright blue eyes shining in the streetlights. My heart was absolutely racing as he took a half-step toward me, blushing slightly. "Yeah. It really was," he murmured, before leaning forward and kissing me.

It was weird but absolutely wonderful to stand there and kiss him. His lips were soft against mine, and I slipped an arm around his waist, pulling him closer until at last we broke apart. Cheeks pink, he gave me a smile. "Hey so...so are we going to call this a date instead of just a friendly get-together?" he asked after a pause. I shrugged, pretty certain my own face was a bright pink. "I mean...if you want it to be, it can be."

"Damn Paul, I thought I was supposed to be the dumb blond! I very much want this to be a date, that's why I fucking kissed you!"

I laughed, shrugging helplessly. "I just wanted to make sure!" I cried. Still smiling, he took my hand, giving it a squeeze and walking to his car, which was thankfully parked next to mine. "Are we dating though? Or was this just like a one-off date?" I blurted out. He gave me a startled look, dropping my hand. "Oh! Oh um...well I had kind of...I mean I hoped maybe we could...actually date? Like b-be boyfriends?" he said hesitantly. "But-but obviously if you don't want to that's totally fine!"

I gave him a soft smile, tucking his hair behind his ears. "I like you, Eric. You're a good person and I'd love to date you! You're fun to be around and talk to and I like being with you. Plus I think you're cute," I teased. He gave me a relieved smile and a hug. "Sick. Guess we're dating!" he said happily, reaching up and kissing me again.