Unannounced (Romance in the air part 1)

They always give each other a heads up before they go visit each other. Not because they weren't okay with each other showing up uninvited or anything, but because it was such a long trip that was usually only made for the express intention of seeing each other. There wasn't any "Oh, I was just in the neighborhood" when your neighborhoods were two hours apart. In the simplest of analogies, it was like scheduling play dates every week (not that kind of play dates). When you're going to drive two hours to go see your girlfriend, you wanna make sure it'll be a good time for her too. You wanna check beforehand.

Ask if they'll be busy when you get there in two hours before you start your car.

Really, scheduling play dates two hours in advance was really if they didn't already have one planned for then. It was a bit more inconvenient than if they lived in the same city, but a middle-distance relationship was a whole lot easier than a long-distance relationship. A two hour drive wasn't that bad. A one hour drive was like a daily commute, right? Lots of people live an hour away from their work, and work five days a week. An hour drive was considered a work commute, and Amy lived twice the distance of that. But a two hour commute to your girlfriend was a lot more rewarding- and a way better destination.

Technically it was a two hour drive there, and a two hour drive back, so the commute was four hours total, but it was doable. And so worth it. The two hour drive meant that Jake got to see his girlfriend in person and hang out for awhile at least once a week (one to two times a week, normally), so he didn't have any complaints.

Sometimes it was more often, and sometimes less cause, you know, college (and life in general), but it wasn't unmanageable.

So, on average, they hung out once a week, and they didn't have to check in advance before they started driving over cause they already set it up the day, or days, before. So texting two hours in advance was really just the "You up?" of a middle-distance relationship.

Plus, the technology age was a wonderful one to live in. A middle distance relationship was no trouble with instant messaging, phone calls, and hanging out like normal.

Anyways, if they didn't already know the answer, they always asked to make sure the other person would be home and free at the time they would get there before they started their drive. Always gave a warning they were heading over and would be there in two hours. There wasn't any dropping by unannounced in a middle-distance relationship. No surprise visits. They looked forward to each and every one.

Amy:

Hey, you home?

Jake:

Yeah, you wanna talk? I'll call you? You call me? You know it always messes up when we call each other at the same time

A:

No, I don't want to talk to you on the phone. You could open your front door for me in the next 10 seconds if you wanted to, though.

Amy was only standing on the porch a few seconds after she sent the message before she heard Jake clambering around inside. Scrambling, by the sounds of it. Honestly, it sounded like a wet cat trapped in a wind tunnel. She was wondering how much longer it could take anyone to get to their front door, cat or not, when she heard him bump into something very loud and very heavy that had to have hurt.

She was then greeted by Jake, clutching his shin with a grimace of pain as he opened the door for her.

"Need some help?" She teased, carefully sidestepping the wooden chest that was usually placed against the wall that Jake had somehow knocked a good two feet out of its normal resting place.

"I hate that stupid thing," he hissed through his teeth. "Gina says it classes up the joint, but I'd rather be low brow than banging into this every week."

"First off, it was unlocked. And second, you could have knocked or used our fully functioning doorbell instead of texting. Is everything okay? Amy Santiago showing up unannounced? Is someone dead?"

They made their way to his bedroom and Amy brought in her bag of surprise that Jake was eying with obvious excitement in between giving her worried looks from how out of character she was acting.

"Texting was my announcement," she informed him. "Knocking on your door really would have been unannounced. Texting on your doorstep and asking if you were even home was my announcement to make sure if I knocked and your roommates answered they wouldn't have to tell me that you weren't home since I didn't check in advance."

Jake gave her a clearly doubtful look- it seemed the ten second announcement story wasn't working for him. For some reason he just wasn't buying it from Amy Santiago who always gave a two hour heads up. Whatever crazy reason that was.

"You sure everything's alright? Do you have cancer? Do I have cancer? Are you here to tell me that I'm gonna die? It must be bad news for you to come all the way out here without planning in advance," he eyed her with as much suspicion as he could muster.

"Don't be a dork, everything's fine."

She took a seat on his bed, setting her stuff down beside her. She smiled back up at him and patted the spot next to her, inviting him to sit down too. Jake stayed standing, squinting like he was trying to figure out what was going on when he was convinced something nefarious was afoot. He gave her a cursory once over, looking very, very suspicious. She gave him her bright, innocent, and cheery face- the sweet one that basically says 'Who? Me? I would never take the cookies from the cookie jar' in that falsetto tone and batted eyelashes from the cookie thief. The sweet face like he was the weird one for thinking something's off for her to drop in unexpected for a 'just cause' visit, when they both knew that was actually very reasonable of him to think. It was a pretty logical conclusion for him to reach.

Jake just stood in front of her, completely silent with a shrewd look as he waited for her to speak. In pursuit of forensic science degrees at college a lot of side classes involved learning some of the basics of other trades of the criminal justice system too. One test she helped Jake study for in his class a few weeks ago had a few questions on interrogation techniques- like the one of remaining silent and waiting for the suspect to start speaking just to fill the silence as human beings are wont to do when faced with a stretch of silence with another human being.

She dropped her sweet face and act, gave him a genuine smile- a normal Amy Santiago smile

"Why do you keep looking at me like I'm going to explode any second?"

"You made the drive out here without telling me to make sure I'm gonna be home in two hours and not on a spontaneous grocery shopping trip because you think I'm crazy for going to get food whenever I need it instead of going once a week at the same time. So expecting you to possibly explode right now is a fair assumption. And at least a valid reason to be concerned." Jake replied. His look was shaded with worry, so she stopped holding out and revealed the surprise she had for him.

Amy reached into her bag and pulled out all the items she had packed, one by one, laying them out on the bed beside her. Boxes of candy (junior mints, sour patch kids, skittles, Reese's pieces), five different bags of microwave popcorn (of varying butter and salt levels), a bottle of his favorite orange soda, a bottle of sprite for herself, and last but not least she pulled out the centerpiece of her grand reveal: the brand new, still in plastic wrapping, DVD case of the one and only Die Hard.

"I already have a copy of the best movie to ever exist. If you wanted to watch it you could've just asked."

After Amy emptied her bag of goodies it was pretty clear what theme she was going with. Movie night. As like a cutsey-date thing. He didn't know why she kept this whole visit a secret, because this would have been a surprise movie night date thing if she gave him a heads up she was heading over to come see him and she'd be there in two hours. Movie night would have been a surprise whether she kept her planned visit a secret or not.

He still wasn't completely sure that that's all this was. Like, he wasn't worried anymore, but he was sure there was at least a bit of a reason she didn't tell him she was coming over until she was already standing at his doorstep. He had a feeling there was a little bit more to it, but that wasn't important. The only thing that mattered was that Amy was here, smiling, grinning really- she planned this whole thing so they could have fun together, and she was smiling so bright. Nothing else mattered, seeing how happy she looked right now. She was so beautiful when she smiled. Well, she was beautiful all the time, even if she was frowning or pissed off. But when her face was lit up like it was now- she was blinding.

"You don't have the collector's edition. I know. I checked. And so I figured I'll finally watch it with you tonight."

Jake smiled that little teasy grin of his that had always been one of her favorites, "Are you breaking up with me and just trying to soften the blow when you break my heart?"

"This is the pinnacle of romance, cause I'm the best girlfriend ever," Amy told him very matter of factly, tapping him on the shoulder with the collectors edition DVD case.

And, because she couldn't resist, kissed him on the cheek- Jake's nose crinkled up like an adorable little chipmunk at the unexpected peck.

"Now here," she said, handing it over to him. "You get this set up, I'll go make the popcorn, and we can get this romantic movie night started. Because Die Hard collector's edition date night is something that would make anyone swoon," she smirked.

"You know you're the greatest, right?"

"I try."

AN:

Eyyyy! Long time no update!
Sorry about that.

Chapter 8 was originally going to be much longer (at 5,000 words ish) but I still wasn't finished with the whole thing, so I decided to split it up into two chapters, so I could post this right now. Chapter 9 will be what was originally the second half of the 5000 word chapter that this used to be before I split them up.
So this is really Romantic Die Hard movie night part 1, and chapter 9 is really Romantic Die Hard movie night part 2 (the conclusion). Once I finish it, that is.

And yes, the summary of Romance in the Air is a direct reference to chapter 7, so I think you guys can guess what is coming up.

Thank you so much for favorites, follow, and reviews. I'm always pleased to hear people enjoy this story.