A Little Bit Pitchy

Part 10

     As Joel drives down the road, I stare out the window, watching the sun set across the horizon. I feel a slight blush run across my cheeks, and a content smile finds its way onto my lips. I have never felt so lucky to have such an amazing man in my life, even if it's only been about a week. I find myself daydreaming about our future, and I try to stop myself from being too hopeful, but I can't help it. My smile grows as I picture Joel standing at the altar, eyes glued to me and tears threatening to fall from his crystal eyes. I hear the "I dos" and feel his lips on mine. I open my eyes to see him holding the hand of our little boy and on his hip our baby girl, smiling brightly.

    I feel my face grow warmer, and my face is just beaming at the thoughts. I picture us sitting on a bench in the fall, leaves falling around us, tossing bread crumbs to the baby birds. I look over and see his wrinkles crinkle as he smiles at the animals pecking at the ground. He looks at me, and the lines by his eyes grow at the sight of me. I lean against him as he rests his head on mine, and we watch kids play and dogs leap, couples holding hands and teens hanging out. I smile to myself, knowing this is the life I want and can not wait to have.

    "Y/n? We're here." I whip my head over to the drivers seat and feel my face burn. "Everything alright?" I smile and rub his hand. "Everything is just fine." He smiles and opens his door. I get out as well, and he locks the vehicle. I look up to where he has brought me, and I can only smile. Nothing extremely fancy but nothing cheap for a more casual thing. I finally noticed that he actually changed before coming to get me, wearing a nice button-up shirt and some khaki pants. The building name read HH Brazilian Steakhouse, and it was pretty nice, pretty fancy, but still not gala worthy, which was just fine with me.

    We make our way in and are sat at a window seat. We get a menu, and the lady walks off, giving us time to read over the items. "Well, to drink, I guess I'll get a Corona. Just one so I can actually drive us home." He smirks, and I giggle, glancing up at him, finding his eyes on me. "I might just get a hard seltzer. I've never really drank before, but I guess I can try it." I look up, and he shakes his head. "Don't drink too much now. I won't be carrying you home." We laugh, and I shake my head at him. "Oh please, I won't be downing these left and right. I just want to try it. Now, what are you eating?" He looks back down and looks for the vegan options. "Well, they really only have the one thing, so I suppose I'll be getting that."

    The waitress returns and takes our drink order. "Are you guys ready to order, or do you need more time?" He looks at me, and I close my menu. "I think we're ready." He looks up to her, and I can't help but stare. My eyes follow his jawline up to his chin until finding his smile. I watch as he orders and can't help but feel my heart flutter. "I'll take the Vegan Zucchini Pasta, please." She nods, writing it down and turns to me. I feel my face warm up, and my mind goes blank for a second. "I'll just have what he's having." She changes it to two orders and gives us a smile. "Alright, your food shall be out shortly."

    She takes our menus, and Joel thanks her as she walks away. "Like me so much you want to match my meal?" He smiles, and I shrug, then hide a laugh. "No! I just didn't know what to get, so yeah." He laughs, and I blush at the sound of his laughter. We sit there, and he tells me a bit about growing up and how life was in Sweden. I told him about growing up in H/S (Home State) and about the family and how I didn't have too many friends or anything. He asked why that was, but I just shook my head. "I was just the quiet kid, keeping to myself and everything."

    I purposely left out the mental breakdowns and late nights binge watching videos, the days I wouldn't eat, and the days I thought of ending it all. I could feel my eyes watering but decided to change the topic before I lost every ounce of liquid in me today from crying. "So, when you moved here, how was that for you and your family? How did your parents react?" He shrugs and opens his mouth to speak, but the woman returned with our drinks. "Here you are." She sits them down and returns to where she came from.

    He takes a sip and clears his throat. "Well, she wasn't too keen on me leaving the Europe area, but I had to remind her that there are so many opportunities out there and that if I wasn't safe, I would return. She finally said alright but I have to text her at least once a day to prove I'm still alive." He chuckles, and I smile. His mom sounds amazing. "What about you? You left your home to come here. How did they feel?" I take a sip of my drink this time, and it takes me a second to swallow it, never having one of these before, so the flavor kind of shocked me.

    "Well, I had my sister help me pack, and I did some research before I left. I got everything ready and told them I had found a nice place for not too much, and they were happy until I told them it was down here. They weren't very pleased but they told me that if something happens don't go crying to them that life fell apart." I took another sip and fiddled with my fingers. I glanced up at him and saw him eyeing me, and he reached across the table to hold my hands. "I will never do that to you. You are stuck with me for now and for as long as I am able to keep you close." I feel a single tear fall, and he wipes it away with his thumb.

    Our food shortly arrives ,we eat and make some small talk. We finish our drinks, him actually, I just took a few sips, not really enjoying it. He offers to pay, but I want to help. He insists, so I force him to let me tip. After we finish up, we head to the vehicle and hop in. It's getting late so we decided to go back to his place. We make our way there, and he goes to his room to find me some clothes to sleep in. I change into the shorts and shirt he finds me and go to the restroom to wash the makeup off. I head back to the room to him already in his bed. I slide in, and he removes his glasses and sits them on the nightstand.

    He shuts his lamp off, and I hit mine. I roll over to face him, and he faces me. We just kind of stare at each other, knowing that just last night, we were in here on different terms. He leans in and kisses me passionately before brushing my hair behind my ear. "Goodnight, Y/n." I place a kiss on his nose and smile. "Goodnight Joel."