I was in my happy place whenever Johnny was there. He finally agreed to stop by my apartment. He never came by before because he felt like he was always being watched. Personally, I didn’t understand what he meant but there was nothing much I could do besides reassure him.

We were cuddled up on the couch with some tv show in the background that I couldn’t have cared less for. He had his arms around me. My heart was beating rapidly and my chest felt tight. I played with the bracelet around his wrist.

Being in my own territory was more comforting. Usually, we were somewhere that he had planned. It was either his car or the hotel room that he was staying in.

“I’m glad that you decided to give me another chance,” he squeezed me tighter.

I smiled, “Honestly, it was pretty difficult living without you.”

“You know, you’re all I ever think about.” His words created butterflies in my stomach.

“Really?” I turned around to look at him.

“Of course.”

I turn back around and lay against him. I’d always wanted him to say that he wanted me. That meant together after all. During college, we weren’t the most mature. He would tell me that it was stupid of me to think we would be together long-term. This was different. I actually felt like we had a future together.

My heart was beating harder, “Does that mean you want to get back together?”

I didn’t dare look at him. I didn’t want to misinterpret the situation. Maybe he didn’t want anything serious after all and I just jumped to conclusions. Was I happy with the way things were? I guess but more than anything I just wanted us to be together.

He sat up and swung his legs to the front of the couch, forcing me to change my position. I couldn’t look away anymore and he knew it. He gently put his hand under my chin and directed my face toward him.

He grabbed my hand, “Yes.”

A huge grin formed on my face. At that moment everything felt right in the world. My life felt like it was back on track.

Unfortunately for me these moments always got ruined in one or another. I grabbed my phone off the table. It was going off like crazy. 

“Just ignore it,” he instructed.

“I can’t,” I said while still looking at the screen, “It’s Clarisse.”

“Ok and?” he crossed his arms. “Just tell her you’re busy.”

It would be very easy for me to just ignore Clarisse. I’ve done it plenty of times in the past. Ever since the incident though it made me want to be close to the group. It was something we all went through together.

I was having an amazing time with Johnny. I saw the group way more than I saw him. I should’ve wanted this time for just us. Especially now that we were together I wanted to keep the relationship as close to me as I possibly could. The last thing I wanted was for him to leave me again. I had to make sure I did everything right.

“Would you be opposed to meeting them?” I suggested.

He ran his fingers through his hair, “They’re just your coworkers, right? I don’t really see any point.”

“They’re also my friends. I think it would be great if my boyfriend met my friends,” I begged.

“I get what you’re saying, I really do but I just think it’s a waste of time,” he leaned back on the couch.

I narrowed my eyebrows at him, “A waste of time? If the roles were reversed I wouldn’t mind meeting your friends at the gym.”

He sighed, “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean? You’re basically saying that you don’t care about a part of my life.” I stood up with my arms crossed.

He stood up as well and wrapped his arms around me. He gently kissed the top of my head, “I think you’re blowing this out of proportion,” he said gently. “But if you want me to meet your friends then I guess I will.”

I grinned and wrapped my arms around him, “Thank you. Does tonight sound good?”

He put his hands on my arms and backed away, “Really? Tonight?”

“Yes. I know for a fact that they’re all free tonight.”

He was silent for a moment, “Fine. On one condition. You start making more time for me. Deal?”

“Deal,” I rushed towards him and hugged him as deeply as I could.

I could smell his cologne. He was still using the same kind he always had. It was familiar and comforting. I could hear his heart beating. This was the happiest I had been in a while.

An hour later everyone showed up. Johnny and I were sitting on the couch just talking. As it got closer to the time though he started to get irritated. Everything I said to him just ticked him off. Why was it that whenever I wanted to do something, he was always against it?

I heard a knock at the door and rushed over to answer it. Clarisse was in front of everyone else. She had a huge smile on her face and flowers in hand.

“It’s about time you introduced us,” she whispered as she passed by me. 

“She just gets so excited,” Lucas grinned as he caught up with Clarisse.

“Not gonna lie, I thought you were lying when you said you had a boyfriend,” Keira commented.

“What makes you say that?”

“No reason,” Keira responded and plopped on the couch next to Lucas.

I ran into the kitchen to grab some chairs. The couch only fit three people semi-comfortably. I placed them relatively close to each other before sitting down on one. Johnny sat down on the other one. He caught me off guard when he pulled my chair close to his and put his arm around me.

“Smooth,” I could hear Keira whisper as she rolled her eyes.

Lucas glared at her, “Behave yourself.”

Clarisse was fidgeting in her seat, her face was beaming. “I’ll introduce myself first. I’m Clarisse.” Johnny nodded without saying a word.

“This is Lucas and Keira,” I introduced to him.

He continued to say nothing so I elbowed him softly. “Nice to meet you. I’m Johnny.”

“Ok now that the awkward introductions are out of the way-” I glared at him, “-let’s move on to something more fun. Tell them how we met.”

He looked at me and sighed, “We met during college.”

Clarisse nodded her head, “Very interesting. Were you guys in the same program?”

“No,” he said curtly.

I covered my face with my hands. This was not how this was supposed to go.