Beauty and the Dork

Night Out

"Only for you, princess," I announced, making her smile wildly.

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I was so excited for Eddie to meet my friends. I was even more excited for them to meet Eddie. He was my favorite person, and I loved it when he became other people's favorite person. I looked up at him, giddy from the life we shared together, and how I was going to share even more with him. He winked at me before kissing my forehead and pulling me closer to him.

I had met Sydney, Marnie, and Omar in my English class, each of us bonding over our mutual hatred of Beowulf. We had formed a study group that met often, other classmates joining us, but we remained the core group. They were fun and kind, each of us complementing each other. They teased me, in a loving way, about how much I gushed about Eddie, and were excited to meet him.

We finally got to our favorite bar, The Shepard, and Eddie held the door open for me, greeting the bouncer who had come to know us well. Once we stepped in, he immediately had a hand on the small of my back, never letting me far out of reach. I looked up and grinned at him, loving that about him.

"We need a table for five!" I explained, glancing around at the already crowded bar. He kissed the back of my head, guiding me through the crowd. I furrowed my brows when one of the bartenders we had gotten to know was waving at us, smiling widely while pointing to the table he was at. Eddie pulled me along, shaking the bartender's hand once we got to the table.

"It was a pain in the ass keeping everyone away from this," Bruce, the bartender, explained to Eddie. Bruce grinned and winked at me. "Your boy was calling pretty much hourly to make sure we held a table for you guys tonight. Said he needed to make a good impression."

I felt my chest burst with joy and turned to Eddie, grinning as he looked everywhere but at me. I kissed his neck and he finally looked at me.

"You are such a dork," I teased. He winked and kissed my nose.

"Anything for my girl – need to make sure my 'out in public' privileges don't get taken away," he teased. I felt a pang in my chest and set a hand on the side of his face.

"Never ever," I replied, pressing my lips to his. He grinned and kissed me softly again.

"Oh, my god, he's actually real!" a voice cheered, going up an octave. I turned, grinning wildly at my friends, Eddie's arm still around me. Sydney was grinning wildly, flanked by Marnie and Omar, who were both equally excited.

"And he's hotter than you described," Omar added, eyeing Eddie. Marnie and Sydney nodded in agreement, giggling with each other. I looked up at Eddie, grinning at how bashful he got. I leaned into him, excited my worlds were coming together.

"Eddie, this is Sydney, Marnie, and Omar!" I exclaimed, gesturing at each of them. I smiled at them. "Guys, this is Eddie."

"Eddie, it is so nice to finally meet you, we have been dying to meet the man that makes Margot as happy as she is," Marnie said, sitting down. We joined her, each of us laughing and chattering with each other. Eddie grabbed the back of my chair, pulling me close to his and making my stomach flip. Omar set a hand on his chest; jaw dropped.

"That was so hot," he said, making us all laugh. Eddie kissed my temple, making me melt.

"Well, uh, I'm, um, thrilled to meet you g-guys – Go has been saying g-great things about you guys, um, for a while, and it's nice to put f-faces to the names," Eddie replied nervously, making all of them titter with excitement again. Omar turned and sighed when he looked at the door. I furrowed my brows and he grinned apologetically.

"I have to keep checking the door and I'm so sorry about this – when you weren't at the study group today, Jimmy was grilling us on where you were and then someone slipped up and told him what we were doing tonight, and he invited himself along," Omar explained, shooting a glare at Sydney. She grinned awkwardly.