24 Dates

Date Eleven

DATE ELEVEN:

Place: The Park Residence

Time: July 22nd, 2016 6:00 pm

Yelp: n/a | Date: 5/5 Mom jokes

Jennie has never actually met anyone's parents before. Okay - stupid thing to think. She's never met the parents of someone she was romantically involved with. Romantically involved. Jennie bites the inside of her cheek, shakes her head. That sounds too detached, all things considered.

She puts her fingers to her lips and thinks about the word love for only a moment. What it sounds like, what it looks like, the color. Maybe Rosie's eyes, Rosie's voice, Rosie. Ah, it's all out of order and the concept dazes her.

"Why are you so smiley?" Rosie asks, and Jennie jolts out of thought. They're in the backseat of the car, so far they've been driving for two hours. Jennie had no idea the place was so far away and now understands why Rosie said they should probably just spend the night there.

Jennie forces her lips to drop. "I'm not."

Rosie leans in closer and pokes her side. "It's Rosie's birthday so Jennie has to answer all questions with complete honesty."

"That sounds like a rule you just made up."

Rosie leans in further, shakes her head and pokes Jennie again.

And she's not exactly ticklish, but the place Rosie keeps poking is one of her sensitive spots. "Stop poking me," Jennie says, only to be poked again.

"Tell me," she sings.

Jennie decides to show instead and kisses her, making sure to grab hold of Rosie's hands so she's not poked anymore. It's short, but does the trick.

Rosie sighs and places her head against Jennie's shoulder, keeps their hands grasped together. "Are you nervous?" she asks.

Jennie shrugs. A little, maybe a lot. "Kind of. I've never done this kind of thing before."

"I've never brought anyone to do this kind of thing," Rosie says before leaning up to kiss Jennie's jaw.

Jennie hums in content, laying back to rest. She nearly falls asleep when she hears Rosie say, "Hey Jennie?"

"Yeah?"

"When is your birthday?"

"April 19th."

Rosie pulls away, and Jennie turns to face her. Her eyes are closed as she breathes in, and then suddenly, she smacks Jennie on the thigh. "You jerk! Why didn't you say something? That was the night of that stupid gala event. We could have skipped it, you know?"

Jennie rolls her eyes. "It's not that big of a deal." She hasn't seriously celebrated her birthday since she graduated from college. It's not like she really needs anything material wise - and having big parties thrown in her honor makes her uncomfortable.

Rosie however doesn't understand that apparently, seeing as she huffs and scoots away. "We could have celebrated together, or something."

"I--sorry," Jennie says, if only because she doesn't want to upset Rosie on her birthday. It still seems pretty stupid, though.

Rosie lightens. "It's okay, I'll just remember this for next year and we'll celebrate twice as much."

Great. But Jennie doesn't fight it because Rosie's entire face lights up and she rests her head on Jennie's shoulder once again. She guesses that she'll just have to deal with it when it comes up.