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Leaning back against the kitchen counter, you let out a sigh as you glanced up at the clock. Five minutes past six. They should have been here by now.
Every week, your group of friends from school would meet up at someone’s place to watch the newest episode of your favorite show. This week, it was your turn to be the host. You had invited Téa, Yugi, Joey and Tristan over two hours early so you could cook dinner together and eat before spending a nice evening in front of the TV together.
And they were late. For Joey and Tristan, that would not be unusual in and of itself, but Yugi and Téa had a way of dragging the both of them along to arrive on time. Not today, it seemed. You silently cursed yourself for your tendency to be ready way too early. When you had been younger, it had annoyed you just how punctual everyone in your family always had to be. Now, you had turned into a perfect example of said over-punctuality yourself.
You spent the next few minutes getting out pans and pots and taking any ingredients you were going to need out of the refrigerator and pantry. If they were going to run any later, you would have to start on your own. You doubted any of them except for maybe Téa were that interested in cooking together anyways.
The very moment you turned on the stove, the doorbell rang. You turned it right back off to get the door, expecting to be met with the whole group.
Instead, you merely came face-to-face with a slightly out of breath Joey.
“Hey! Sorry for being late, I kinda underestimated the distance and left the house too late,” he explained with a bashful grin while squeezing himself past you through the doorway. “Is everyone else here already?”
You closed the door behind him and turned around to walk along with him into the living room.
“Actually, you’re the first to arrive,” you answered while he took off his jacket and put it over the back of a chair. “I thought you guys were coming together. What happened?”
“Yeah, we wanted to, but you know how Téa asked for help with getting some of her heavier stuff to her new flat?”
“Yes, she called me too and we agreed I’d just stay here and prepare everything for tonight until you guys arrived.”
“Well, I kinda overslept, I guess? So I never went there and decided to come straight here. And now it’s almost like I was early!” He laughed.
“Hey, no turning around the facts, Joey,” you replied, unable to hold back a grin. “You were way late. Like, twenty minutes late. The others being later than that just makes you look good in comparison, that’s all.”
“Let me have something for once! I’m never the first one anywhere.”
“Maybe you should mark it in your calendar. It’s an occasion that might never happen again.”
“You hurt me. You really do.” He held a hand to his chest to simulate the pain you caused in his heart and all you could do was shake your head.
Turning around, you went off towards the kitchen, motioning for him to follow you.
“Wanna start on making the food right now? If we wait any longer, it won’t be done in time.”
“You had me at ‘food’. Gotta admit though, my cooking skills include little more than burgers and frozen pizza. I’ve never made chili before.” He leaned back on the counter opposite the stove and crossed his arms in front of his chest, watching as you turned the stove back on and put oil inside the pan.
“To be fair, I’m kind of a control freak when it comes to cooking anyways. So… you just stand there and look pretty and talk to me while I do this.”
And that was exactly what he did for the next half hour while you were preparing the food. At some point you realized that you could not actually remember the last time Joey and you had been alone together. But it had to have been some time. Either way, you had no problem getting along or finding things to talk about. He was able to make you laugh so easily. It was comfortable.
“Just got a text from Téa,” he announced while you kept lazily stirring the basically-done chili inside the pot. “They got a flat tire on the moving van and that’s why it’s taking them so long. They wanna be here by eight though. She says she’s really sorry.”
“Good to know. It’s too bad the rice is almost done right now,” you said, trying to sound annoyed. You were supposed to be annoyed by things like this, were you not? But to be perfectly honest with yourself, you did not mind the situation. The food smelled lovely and you were having fun. There was no reason to complain.
“Can we use that as an excuse to eat right now?” Joey and food. That was never going to change. You turned off the stove and pointed him to the cabinet containing your plates.
“Oh, we not only can, but we will. It’d be a crime not to, don’t you think?”
“True words!”
Thus, you ate together. And then he had a second serving. And then half of a third. And then you stopped him from getting any more so there would still be enough left by the time your friends arrived.
He helped you carry the dishes back into the kitchen. A glance at the clock told you that there was not that much time left before the new episode started on TV, so surely Tristan, Yugi and Téa would be coming soon. Until then…
“So, while I was at the store today, I randomly thought it might be nice to have some beer around for tonight?” You could feel yourself beginning to ramble. “And I didn’t really think it through that Tristan probably has to drive and Yugi and Téa don’t even drink and now I got like, twelve beers in the fridge and I don’t drink alone. So, what I’m saying is: Want a beer?”
“Long buildup for a simple question. Of course I do!” Joey pulled open the refrigerator door, got out two of the small bottles and handed one of them to you.
You could do little but look down at the bottle in your hand while you already heard the small popping sound Joey’s made as he opened it with a lighter. Your eyes met and you already knew what he was going to say next.
“You don’t have a bottle opener, do you?” he asked.
You looked down at your feet in slight embarrassment while laughing at yourself.
“I don’t. And I can’t open it with anything else either. Sorry for misleading you and making you think I was cooler than I am.”
His smile matched your own when he reached out and opened it for you. “You have other redeeming qualities. Like being a good cook. Thanks for the food, by the way.”
“You’re quite welcome.” You clinked bottles before taking a large first sip of the cold beer. “At least someone appreciates me. Unlike our awful friends who still haven’t arrived. And it’s almost eight too. They’re about to be late to being late.”
“Guess that means we’re watching it without them.”
“Guess it does.”
Both of you were able to fit on your couch quite comfortably, considering there was no one else to share with. You switched on the TV and spent the last few minutes before the program started talking some more.
It was weird how Joey and you never ran out of things to talk about, no matter of how little importance they were. The good kind of weird. The kind of weird that you were not going to question because it was so nice. You could have kept talking for hours probably, but a calm silence settled over you once the title music started.
Two commercial breaks and also two beers for each of you later, there was still no sign of the rest of your group. You had been checking your phone regularly to see if there was an update on the situation, but with each passing moment you were becoming more sure that even if they were to end up not showing up at all, it would not bother you.
It had been Joey’s turn to get new drinks from the kitchen and when he came back and handed yours to you, he ended up sitting closer to you than he had been before. He did not seem to notice and it seemed largely unintentional. You noticed but did not comment on it.
Since the late afternoon had by now definitely turned into an evening and it had become dark outside, the cool, ever-changing lights from your tv were the only thing illuminating the room.
The episode continued, but you soon found yourself unable to concentrate on what was happening anymore. You were willing to attribute it to the slight buzz you were feeling from the beer already, but you were borderline sure that that was not the case.
Grateful for how dark it was, you turned your body a bit towards Joey and pulled up your knees so your feet were on top of the couch. At least in the darkness, your moves were not quite as obvious in their intention of getting closer to him, saving you a little embarrassment.
“You’re close,” Joey stated, not sounding as surprised as the statement might imply. Maybe you had not been a subtle as you believed. You cocked your head a little, feigning innocence. Your faces were only about fifteen centimeters apart in this position, though your bodies still were not touching anywhere at all.
“I am,” you replied softly, your tone playful but sincere. “Do you mind terribly much?”
“Not at all, to be honest.” A slightly embarrassed smile graced his lips. A good look on him, you decided.
“That’s good.” It was just the encouragement you needed to become a little bolder and move closer towards him yet until you knees were resting against the side of his leg. His reaction was to rest an arm along the back of the couch, opening his personal space to you and inviting you in.
The TV was turning into little more than background noise at this point. This was not the moment to back down, especially not when you were just tipsy enough to be daring without being drunk yet.
Analyzing his facial features one by one, you thought to yourself how nice it was to look at him. His jawline was prominent, his nose straight and the perfect size in relation to everything else. The color of his eyes was so warm and inviting. You were able to see where his stubble would be growing if he did not shave regularly. So many little details that added up to one handsome face.
“You’re staring at me.”
“Not staring, analyzing,” you corrected, discarding your last amount of embarrassment for the sake of seizing the moment. “You’re really nice to look at, Joey.”
A skeptical look washed over his face. “Are you being serious or are you setting me up?” He had never been all that confident, you remembered. A shame, he had reason to be.
“Serious. One hundred percent.”
“Then… thanks, I guess?” He broke your eye contact and was about to pull his arm from where it lay behind you on the couch to scratch the back of his neck when you stopped him and held it down with one hand. The surprise was enough to make him look back at you.
“We’ve been friends forever, you know,” you continued, voice still not much louder than a whisper. Despite his bashfulness, he did not seem to find the lack of space between your faces and bodies uncomfortable. When his answer did not consist of more than a small nod, you kept talking.
“Have you ever considered that we could be more than that?” You were not as ashamed at saying it as you could have been. If you were reading the situation right, you had little reason to be.
“Like what?” You were about to call him out on the stupidity of his question when you noticed that he was trying very hard to keep himself from grinning. You had just given him a conversational position of power and that apparently eased some of his tension.
Your gaze unintentionally slipped to his lips before you pulled it back upwards. “Like, friends that kiss.”
“Is that a thing?”
“We could make it one.” You noticed how his eyes too had found their way to your own mouth. The anticipation of things to come was becoming tangible.
When you moved your body into his own a little more, he apparently had a similar idea and reached for the back of your neck with one hand. His thumb was caressing your hairline while you laid your own, much smaller hand on the side of his face. His skin was softer to the touch than you had been expecting. His jawline seemed to match perfectly with the shape of your hand. You were able to both feel and see him swallowing hard.
You leaned in until your noses were almost touching, deciding to leave the last choice to him alone.
“Do you…” you started, but were unable to finish as he pulled you in to close the distance.
His lips were soft and warm and matched your own so perfectly you sighed into his mouth contentedly. You had wanted to keep your eyes open for another moment or so to assess his reaction, but your lids fell shut on their own accord almost immediately.
Without any clear indication as to who had started it, the kiss soon deepened as he pulled your lower lip between his to softly suck on it. You returned the favor by gently biting his. When your tongues met for the first time it felt almost electrical. A spark spread through your body, bringing a warmth with it that eventually pooled somewhere below your navel.
It was perfect. Better than you could have imagined kissing anyone for the first time might be. As if the both of you were tuned to each other’s wavelength without ever having had to practice.
You pulled back the tiniest bit, lips still almost touching his. “Friends that kiss a lot,” you breathed out, emphasizing the last word.
“All of the time,” he amended, his voice a little strained from the intensity of your kiss.
“Yes, please,” you laughed softly before kissing him again and continuing right where you had left off.
You were suddenly so happy, as if something you had been longing for for the longest time was finally becoming reality. And maybe you had been wanting this for longer than you had realized. Whether that was the case or not however, something lovely was beginning here and you did not wish for it to stop.
And so it did not. You kept kissing him and he kept kissing you senseless for what might as well have been an eternity, but felt like seconds at most to you with how much fun you were having.
Until the doorbell rang, informing you of the arrival of scheduled but at this point incredibly unwelcome visitors.
“Damn it.”