Sunday April 17th 2022

"So. When's the wedding?" Danny asked Sean, who sat at the table with a suit jacket and tie on. Everyone started laughing.

"Ha-ha, very funny." He said and took the jacket off.

"I was gonna ask what the deal was?" Jamie said.

"Sean I think you look great." Eddie said.

"Course he looks great, but I feel under dressed." Frank added.

"So what am I missing here?" Joe asked.

"Nothing." Sean replied.

"Are you eloping?" Henry asked. That made everyone laugh.

"No!" Sean said back quick.

"Oh come on, just tell everyone so they stop yanking your chain." Danny told him.

"I'm asking Emily to be my girlfriend tonight." Sean said, the table filled with "ooos"

"Ohhhh" Eddie said.

"Nowww it makes sense!" Erin said.

"Hold on a second, why do you have to ask? Isn't it just implied when you…" Joe started to say.

"When you what?" Danny raised his eyebrows looking at Joe. Everyone waiting for him to finish the sentence.

"Well you know, when you, like…" he looked around the table at everyone looking at him.

"Kiss. And stuff." He said taking a hard swallow and then a big drink.

"Good save." Erin told him.

"I mean. I guess it's implied but I've learned in my experience that, you get brownie points when you ask them to be your girlfriend, you know with flowers and chocolate." Sean told him. Everyone was impressed, looking at each other.

"Wowww so chivalrous." Eddie said.

"Yeah where'd you learn that?" Jamie asked.

"I'll take the credit." Danny said raising his hand.

"And who do you think taught you?" Frank asked him.

"No no, cause I never got a formal invite to be Jamie's girlfriend." Eddie called him out, some making more "ooos"

"You're right, I skipped that part and just proposed instead, I mean, what was I thinking." Jamie sarcastically said, they laughed and Eddie playfully hit him.

"Woah wait for real?" This was news to Joe.

"Don't get any ideas!" Eddie said pointing to him.

"Noted." Joe laughed.

"For your information, we were partners on the job for years." Jamie clarified.

"There was always a spark there too." Eddie added elbowing Jamie and smiling at him, he smiled back with a little red starting in his cheeks.

"Gotchya. So how long until you got married?" He asked, they looked at each other thinking back.

"About a year." Jamie told him, and Joe nodded.

"See you learn a lot at family dinner." Frank told him.

"You really do." He said with a laugh, and they carried on with eating and conversing about other things.

——

Later that night, when he got home.

He was thinking about what Sean had said about asking women to be your girlfriend. He was interested in trying it, but he didn't wanna mess it up. Commitment was scary, his mom was never good at it, so he doesn't have much to go off of.

He saw a couple of pictures Kelsey posted on her Instagram page and stuff from this weekend trip with friends. Joe had thought it was a girls trip but it was guys and girls. He wasn't bothered by it much, he thought he was still more attractive then all of them.

But then he saw the last picture, it was all of them by a fire at night, Kelsey was sitting on one of their laps, in a bikini wrapped in a towel from the waist down. That made Joe a little jealous. Maybe his feelings for her were stronger then he thought, he just usually isn't the jealous type.

He was learning how independent Kelsey seemed to be. He wasn't used to that in girls he went after, most of them were needy and more clingy. At this point he can't say he has a preference, a balance of both seemed good though.

He decided he'd just call her and chat on the phone about their weekends, maybe get a vibe if she's seeing the one guy she was with.

"Hey, you." He said trying to be all flirty and playful. To hide the jealousy he felt.

"Hey, how's it going?" She asked.

"Good, good. Wanted to hear about your trip, how was it? Looked fun, from the pictures you sent me and stuff." He said walking around his place anxiously, touching and moving around random things, like picture frames, books, the tv remote.

"Oh yeah! It was great! It rained Friday night and a little Saturday but it was fine, we played games and watched movies." She told him.

"Nice, I saw you went swimming then when it was nicer on Saturday? How was that?" He asked unsure if it was being too nosey or not.

"Yeah! We did some cliff jumping, it was insane, the adrenaline was such a rush." She told him.

"I bet, I've only done that once, would do it again."

"Well maybe we can go sometime just us two!" She suggested.

"I'd like that." He was relieved she wanted to spend that kind of time with him.

"It would probably be better to go with a partner honestly."

"What do you mean?" He wondered.

"Like I had fun and all but like the bedrooms are small, and all of them only have one double bed so we had to all kinda bunk up, which was fine! But it's definitely more of a romantic sort of place for couples." She said. Joe was biting his tongue, he wanted to know if she slept with a girlfriend or a guy so bad but he didn't ask. He somehow got the will power to just let it go.

"I gotchya, sounds like we'll have to book a room sometime soon." He said flirty.

"Yeah, maybe when we can benefit from it more." She said laughing.

"What does that mean?"

"Well you know, we're not really sexually involved…yet." She stated.

"Hey I'm ready when you are." He said with a chuckle.

"I know. Soon. I promise. I just, I wanna get to know you more. I take it more seriously now that I'm older." She said.

"There's no rush, I'll be ready for you whenever, that's all I'm trying to say." He said. He felt a little relieved knowing that. She most likely wouldn't have slept with any guys this past weekend if that's how she felt about it.

"I know."

"Good, I missed you this weekend, I'm looking forward to next." He told her.

"Me too!" She said enthusiastically. They talked a couple more minutes and then hung up.

Joe was thinking about asking her to be his official girlfriend a lot. Maybe this weekend, on their hike. He got into bed and stared at the ceiling thinking about how it would go, what he would say, and what she'd say.

——————

Joe seems to be falling for this girl hard now! Do you think he should ask her out officially like Sean talked about? AND do you think he should ask about the guys she went away with? Leave your comments and thoughts!