I took one last look in the mirror before heading out. The silk blouse I was wearing was a gift from my sister, Hana, and I had been saving it for a special occasion as it was a bit fancier than what I usually wore. It wasn’t quite my style, as it was more formal than the loose-fitting, casual clothes I usually wore, but it was pretty and I wanted to look good for Connor. He had been busy with work, so we hadn’t met up in a while. I was just going over to his place, but I felt it counted as a date, so I had made sure to try to tame my hair a bit and put on some makeup, along with the new blouse. My period had started today which always made me feel a bit down, along with feeling bloated and irritated. So, even while I tried to like the person I saw in the mirror, I just wasn’t her biggest fan today. 

As I parked in front of Connor’s apartment building, I shook my head at myself as I thought back on how I had been sitting there all night like a real loser, I must have lost my mind. What had I been thinking? Well, it didn’t matter now, because the thought of seeing Connor soon was enough to make me smile. My night-time stake-out would be all forgotten when I got to see him. 

I rang Connor’s doorbell eagerly, smoothing my hair and already beaming for anticipation. He casually pushed open the door with one hand at the same time as he turned around and walked back into his apartment. 

“Finally. Took you long enough. Let’s order food, I’m starving.”, Connor said over his shoulder as he retreaded back towards the living-room from the entrance. He was wearing a fitted white t-shirt and some sweatpants. He had broad shoulders that my head barely reached even while wearing heels. I always felt tiny compared to him, although I wasn’t particularly short nor skinny. Connor was tall and liked to workout, which was the reason I seemed small in comparison to him. 

“Sorry! Sounds good, I’m hungry too!”, I called after him as I entered the cramped entrance. Connor’s shoes filled the entrance floor, he had way too many pairs, in my opinion. Eating sounded good, though, as I really was hungry and craving something sweet for dessert. 

Connor slouched down on the couch, already on his phone, ready to pick out what to order, but I felt a bit ignored and had hoped for a more enthusiastic welcome so I couldn’t help but to try to get his attention first. 

“Babe look, isn’t this blouse Hana got me so pretty? How do I look?”, I asked expectantly as I twirled around in front of Connor. 

“Trying to look like your sister? Don’t bother, she’s prettier.”, Connor said, barely glancing at me or the outfit, eyes glued to the phone screen. 

“What?”, I said in disbelief. “You think Hana is prettier than me?”, I sounded close to tears and I was. My boyfriend thought my sister was prettier than me? 

“Just kidding.”, Connor said, finally looking up from his phone. “Come on! I can’t even joke? Are you seriously about to cry right now?”, he said in a frustrated tone as he saw my eyes and the tears that were so clearly about to spill over any second now. “Damn, girl, you’re so sensitive… Can’t even take a joke.”, he muttered as he rolled his eyes at me. 

“Are you sure it was just a joke? It wasn’t funny!”, I sounded insecure and annoying even to myself, but I couldn’t stop the words from spilling out and just barely stopped the tears from spilling over. “Do you really think my sister is prettier than me?”, my voice almost broke as I asked the question, not really sure if I even wanted to know the answer. 

“Seriously? Why are you like this, Ella? I was just joking, relax.”, Connor said in a soothing voice and stood up. He came over to me and grabbed me by the wrist. I looked up at him, hurt written all over my face and a pout to my lower lip. “Come on, don’t look at me like that. It was just a joke. So easily offended, my Ella…”, he pulled me in for a hug, my face pressed to his toned chest. I tried to resist a little as I was still upset, but it was useless and melted a little at the use of “my” in front of my name. Maybe he was just joking… I didn’t always get his jokes, but he didn’t mean any harm by them. 

“Just joking, right?”, I murmured against Connor’s chest. 

“Yes. Just joking.”, Connor confirmed. I melted further into his embrace, wrapping my arms around his middle. 

“Okay, is my drama queen done with her tantrum now?”, Connor joked, as we untangled and sat down on the couch together, at least it better had been a joke again, because I was not having it. I side-eyed him and he just laughed at me. “Joking!”, he exclaimed, hands in the air in mock-surrender. 

Connor soon pulled out his phone again and got to browsing the different options for food near us. I sat beside him, leaning my head against his arm. 

“Let’s just get pad Thai from this place, it’s close by so it shouldn’t take too long to arrive.”, Connor said as he added the orders to the shopping cart on the food delivery app. I made a displeased noise. “Damn, woman, what now?”, Connor sighed as he turned to me. 

“Nothing, just you know I can’t eat peanuts and even if they remove it, I’m scared there could still be some traces…”, I hated to be an inconvenience, but I was deathly allergic to peanuts and didn’t trust take-out places after they once forgot to remove them completely and I ended up in the hospital because of it. Connor knew this, I had told him the story back when we first started dating. “Should we get pizza instead? There’s a really good place around here, so it shouldn’t take too long…”, I suggested carefully.

“Ugh, fine, but you’re paying. This one?”, Connor clicked on the restaurant rather aggressively, the arm I had been resting against moving so much I decided to sit up while he ordered the pizzas for us. I agreed to pay. 

Soon the doorbell rang, the pizzas were here. I trailed awkwardly behind Connor as he got up to get them. He grabbed them from the delivery man without a word, so I said a meek “Thanks!” and flashed a forced smile, as I met the delivery man’s eyes before the door slammed shut. Connor must be hangry, I thought to myself, he would be in a better mood once we got some food in us. Yes, that must be it…