Annika sighed. “And given the look on your face and what you told me a few weeks ago, I can tell that’s not actually what you want.”
I shook my head once again. “I want it all.” It was scary to admit those words out loud, but they were true.
“What about Jax? Have you actually asked her what she wants?”
I could tell by the way she asked the question that Annika already knew the answer.She knows me way too well already.“I’m scared. Ithinkshe feels the same way I do, but I’m letting myself enjoy what we have right now before making it deeper.”
Annika picked a french fry up off of her tray and popped it into her mouth. “That makes sense. Either way, I’mveryexcited to meet her this weekend.”
***
Early Saturday evening, after Jax was home from work and I made sure Annika and Wren didn’t have any allergies, we got to work making dinner. We decided chicken parmigiana was a safe option that we hopefully couldn’t mess up. Jax put rolls into the oven while I started boiling water for the pasta. We worked together to season and cook the chicken. We had gotten so used to cooking together that we now had a system down. It had gotten even better these past two weeks when we started stealing kisses every chance we got while we were making dinner.
I kissed Jax before flipping the chicken and adding cheese to it. Jax kissed me as she grabbed the pot with the pasta off of the stove to strain the water out of it. She kissed me again when she put it back on the stove.
Once everything was done and set to a low heat to stay warm, Jax somehow lifted me up and set me on the kitchen bar. She positioned herself between my legs and leaned in to kiss me, this time deepening the kiss as my arms wrapped around her neck.
I could have stayed lost in this moment forever, but a knock at our apartment door jolted us apart. Speck ran to the door and spun in circles while he waited for us to open it. Jaxhelped me off of the counter, and I ran my hands over my wrinkled shirt before walking over to the door. When I opened the door, Annika and Wren were standing in front of me. Annika was holding a small chocolate cake and Wren had a bottle of wine.
Wren waved the bottle of wine. “For all of us who are able to partake.”
Annika held up the cake. “And this is all for me, of course.”
I stepped to the side so they could walk in, and as soon as I did, Jax stepped up beside me. She reached out her hands toward Annika and Wren. “Here. Let me take that for you.”
She grabbed the cake and wine, set them on the counter and was immediately by my side once again. This time, she held out one hand. “I’m Jax. It’s very nice to meet both of you.”
Annika accepted her handshake first and shook it hard. “It’ssovery nice to meet you. I’ve hearda lotabout you.”
Jax laughed heartily. “All good things I hope.”
“Only the best.” Annika looked at me and raised both eyebrows, then winked at Jax.
Note to self: kill her later.
Jax moved her attention from Annika to Wren. “And you must be Wren. Very nice to meet you as well.”
Once introductions were over, we walked the rest of the way into the apartment. While Annika and Wren pet Speck, Jax and I plated the dinner we had prepared.
Jax set two plates on the bar and two more on the coffee table, then gave Annika and Wren an apologetic look. “Sorry. There’s not much space here. You two can take the bar and we’ll eat at the coffee table.”
“Ah, so I take it Carter hasn’t told you too much about how dinner goes at our house, huh?” Annika asked. “We have a table and still choose to sit in front of the TV. The bar is perfect.”
Throughout dinner, we talked about our jobs and families and Wren and Annika shared more about their story.
“How long have you two known each other?” Annika asked after talking about her and Wren’s disaster of a first date.
Since she already had background knowledge about my relationship with Jax, I figured she was only asking to try to feel out Jax, so I stayed quiet so she could answer.
“We’veknowneach other since college.” Jax elbowed me in the side. “This one just didn’t seem to think too highly of me until a few months ago.”
Did Jax really think that? She actually thought I used to have a problem with her? That wasn’t the case at all. Sure, she made me nervous, which always made my anxiety worse, but that had nothing to do withher.
“How did you two meet?” Wren asked.
I couldn’t tell if he was also in on the interrogation or just genuinely curious, so I took this question. “She was my sister’s roommate freshman year of college, and then they ended up living together every year after that. My sister decided to move to Philly around the same time I got my job at VisuSphere, so I took over her part of the lease and moved in with Jax.”
Jax leaned against me. “Lucky me.”
