Never Want to Let You Go

Thank you Lils(outofstyledreams)! I'm still in love with this banner...=)


We all gathered around a picnic table for dinner after everyone got back to the bus and Nick and Rita finished “playing” Mario Kart.

We were going to eat inside, but since the weather was nice and there were cupcakes covering the table and countertops, we opted for the picnic table outside of the bus.

And except for the fact that there was some fans in the distance behind a chain link fence watching us eat, it was nice.

“Joseph, did you even get any school work done today or where you too busy making cupcakes?” Denise asked, her eyebrows raised in a motherly fashion as we passed around a bucket of KFC.

Joe let a proud smile spread across his face. “Yes, mother. I finished my last packet.”

“What?” Denise and Paul both exclaimed.

Everyone chuckled before congratulating Joe.

“I’m impressed, Katy.” Denise smiled at me. “It has taken me weeks just to get him done with the first page. How did you get him to do the whole packet?”

I grinned. “I bribed him with cupcakes.”

She chuckled while nodding her head. “Of course.”

“Would it be alright with you guys if I took Joe out to dinner on Friday in celebration?” I asked Denise and Paul politely.

“Of course dear,” Denise smiled warmly. “That would be perfectly fine with us.”

“Thank you,” I smiled as I felt Joe’s eyes on me.

“Dinner, eh?” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Where to?”

“You’ll have to wait and see,” I stuck my tongue out at him.

“You’re no fun,” he whined.

“Karma,” I muttered with a devious smile.

--

“Well, isn’t this a quaint little restaurant?” Joe smiled at me from across the table.

I giggled. “I didn’t know you had such a large vocabulary.”

“Haha,” he squinted his eyes at me.

“I found it on google,” I told him as I scanned over the menu. “It looked pretty cute, and quaint.”

Joe rolled his eyes at me before turning his attention to his menu. “I’m paying, just so you know,” he stated nonchalantly.

“Huh?” I asked.

“I’m paying for dinner.”

“No, you’re not.” I replied with a hint of attitude. He was not going to pull his I’m a gentleman crap. And why would he bring that up out of nowhere?

“Yes, I am,” he smiled from over his menu.

“No, you’re not. I invited you out to dinner. I asked you out. I pay.” I stated simply.

“And that doesn’t change the fact that I’m paying. It would be totally rude for me to allow you to pay.” He countered.

“And it’s totally rude that you’re insisting on paying when I’m the one who asked you out,” I raised my eyebrows at him. “And I’m treating you to dinner to celebrate the fact that you’re graduating, it’s wrong if you pay.”

“Katy,” he reached across the table and grabbed a hold of my hand. “Please let me pay? I don’t feel right eating an expensive dinner if you’re going to pay.”

“Fine,” I huffed with a roll of my eyes. “But I’m buying ice cream afterwards.”

He smiled at me. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “At least you’re not a cheapskate boyfriend. Even though I feel that it’s my responsibility to pay, since I invited you to dinner, it’s better than you expecting me to pay for everything. It’s sweet that you’re so insistent.”

I noticed a light blush claim his cheeks before he returned his gaze back to his menu.

--

I silently thanked Joe for wanting to pay as we ordered our meals; he had decided to order the most expensive thing on the menu.

Although, I think he just did it despite me.

We were laughing over how funny our game of Mario Kart had turned out earlier that day when our waiter rushed over to our table.

“I just wanted to let you know that the salad you ordered comes with shrimp on it,” he informed Joe. “I know that you are allergic to shrimp so I can be sure to have the chef remove that if you would like.”

“Uh, yes please.” Joe told the waiter before he hurried off to the kitchen.

“You’re allergic to shrimp?” I asked.

Joe chuckled. “Yeah.”

“Wow, I can’t believe our random waiter knew that, but your own girlfriend didn’t.”

He laughed. “Seriously, that was a little weird.”

“So, you’re allergic to shrimp. Is there anything else I need to know about you?” I asked in amusement.

“Well,” he began before diving into a story of why he thought the moon was made of cheese.

--

We conversed for hours, barely touching our food. We mostly laughed and told funny stories, but there were a few times when things got a little deep, like when Joe told me of how scary it was when his family found out that Nick had diabetes.

I had seen a lot of interviews about Nick’s diabetes, but it was different hearing it straight from Joe, his true emotions showing. It was touching to hear and witness the raw emotions.

I was having a fabulous time and even after our half-eaten plates were gone, we continued to talk.

“So how many kids do you want to have when we get older?” He asked, a charming smile on his face.

“Um,” I began. “None, actually.” I told him in a serious tone.

His face dropped, his smile turning completely upside down. “What?”

“Kids aren’t really my thing,” I added before taking a sip of my water.

“Oh-I-uh-wow,” he muttered out, completely shocked. “I-uh.”

I chuckled before breaking out into a grin. “Just kidding.”

His jaw dropped. “I can’t believe you.” He squinted his eyes at me playfully.

“You set yourself up for that one,” I chimed. “I really do want kids, though.”

He smiled with a chuckle. “How many?”

“Around twenty-eight should suffice,” I told him, straight-faced and tone serious.

He tilted his head at me, not believing a single word I was saying.

“What? I want a big family.” I giggled at his expression.

“I always thought five or six was considered big,” he muttered, mouth turning into a wide smile.

“Hey, we’d be guaranteed sex at least twenty eight times,” I offered.

He chuckled. “Alright, I’m sold.”

“And y’know, a baby doesn’t always happen on the first time. So it’s a minimum of twenty eight times.”

He smiled amusedly.

“I think a few kids would be nice,” I finally spoke truthfully. “Probably four at the max.”

“I agree,” he smiled at the idea.

“I would be completely satisfied if I could only have one, though. More would be nice, but if one is all I can have, I’ll take that.” I admitted.

He nodded his head in agreement. “Just as long as it’s with you.”

I smiled lovingly and blushed, taken by his sweet words, before I spoke again. “But if we do happen to have more, you better at least give me one girl.” I threatened, my face turning stern.

“Why do you blame me?” He asked, trying to pull the innocent card.

“Because the men determine the gender,” I told him. “Since girls are XX, they can only offer an X. But guys can offer an X or a Y, thus deciding the gender.” I stated, watching his face contort into weird expressions. “And considering the fact that there’s more boys in your family, the odds are against us in having a girl.”

“Oh,” he formed his mouth into a circle. “That’s a lot of pressure.”

I laughed. “I think I could live with all boys, though. I bet they’d look just like you,” I smiled, watching his face turn into a sweet expression.

I loved how we were discussing everything as a “we”, like we really were going to be together forever. I definitely wanted to spend the rest of my life with him; I had decided that a long time age, but it was nice to hear him say it, it made me feel a little giddy inside.

“But I want a girl so she’ll look just like you,” he offered me a tender smile.

“Then let’s have one of each,” I grinned.

“That sounds perfect,” he replied softly. “So, I was thinking that a good name for either a boy or girl would be Rice,” he told me, his tone sounding so serious that I was a little worried.

“Rice?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, so we could have Noodle and Rice,” he told me excitedly.

I chuckled. “Aw, I miss Noodle.”

“Me, too,” he mused.

“But back to names,” he added after a moment. “What about Pasta? That goes with Noodle…”

I laughed with a shake of my head.

That boy was just too much.