It's Really Happening

For two relatively fit and somewhat active people, Josh and I were extremely good at lying around and doing exactly nothing. After the breakfast dishes had been successfully piled in the sink without being washed, the two of us retired to our room while leaving Eris in the living room to read.

"You know she's just going to assume we're doing something she doesn't want to think about, right?" I remarked when Josh shut the door behind us.

"If she knows us the way I think she does, she knows better." Josh smiled as he stretched out on the bed next to me.

As I rolled over and curled up next to him, I thought about how often we actually did coupley-things like ice-skating the night before. To be fair, it wasn't Josh's fault that we never had much alone time but I wondered how that was going to take its toll once we tied the knot.

"Josh?"

"Hmm?" he asked as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

"Are you scared?"

"About what?"

"Getting married." Josh tightened his grip on me and let out a low chuckle.

"Maybe, but then I remember I'm marrying you." I smiled and blushed a little bit as Josh leaned down to kiss me lightly.

"You always know just what to say." Josh laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Not always." I glanced up at him in question and he smiled. "Remember when we met?"

"The first time or the real first time?"

"Both."

The first time referred to the actual second time Josh and I had met, although it was the first time he had been in Buffalo with the band. As would become their tradition, they were at Mighty Taco getting their daily taco fix. For myself, it had become a tradition of my own to treat myself to Mighty Taco every Thursday night. Especially once school started and I needed to get away from my roommate.

That particular night, I had been sitting in Mighty Taco for around an hour when five tired and hungry boys wandered in. One look at them and I knew they were musicians, mostly because I had been around quite a few as of late and they all seemed to look the same. Obviously, Josh stood out among the rest because of his height, but I also noticed him because of something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

I sat and watched them for a while as they tried to decide what to order. Every so often I'd have to turn away and pretend I wasn't staring, mostly because one of them would turn in my direction and I'd feel embarrassed. Soon I stuck my nose back into my book to avoid being noticed outright, but I kept my ears open to their conversation.

"No, shut up!"

"Dude, she's totally checking you out!"

"Shut up, Dave!"

I peeked at them out of the corner of my eye and saw Josh talking to Dave, who had long blonde hair at the time and I couldn't help but let out a light chuckle. Immediately they turned their heads to look at me and I snapped my eyes back to my book, pretending like something had been amusing on my current page.

Next thing I knew, a tray had been set down on my table and there was a tall, scrawny boy sitting across from me. I looked up from my book and raised an eyebrow as Josh pulled the hood off of his head and ran his hand through the black mop of hair on his head.

"Hi," he said as he began unwrapping his food.

"Hi," I replied. "How are you?"

"Starving." I chuckled lightly as he began eating.

"I see." I put my bookmark in between the pages of my book and set it down on the table before I spoke again. "Do I know you?"

"Josh," he said as he held out his hand to me after putting his taco down. I smiled as I shook his hand.

"Abby. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Josh answered.

"So tell me, Josh, do you often sit down at stranger's tables?"

"I like meeting new people," he replied. "I'm from a small town so anyone not from there is interesting to me."

"Oh? Where are you from?"

"Port Huron, Michigan. Just outside of Detroit."

"I was just in Detroit!" I laughed, not exactly sure why I was telling him this.

"Yeah? What for?"

"Say Anything," I replied. "At the Mi-"

"Michigan Theater?" Josh interrupted. I nodded and he let out a chuckle.

"Were you..." I paused as sudden realization hit me. "You were there! I remember you!"

"Y-You were the girl at the bar!"

The show we were referring to was the first time I had ventured into Detroit by myself, solely to see Say Anything and to finally say I'd been to Detroit. After their set, I was standing at the bar trying to get some water but having the most impossible time getting the bartender to come over.

Somehow, in the two minutes it took Josh to waltz up to the bar, he got the bartender's attention and offered to buy me a drink. Being only 19 at the time, I politely declined and asked for water instead. I'll never forget the way he looked at me when he handed me the glass of water and said,

"Maybe next time."

"Bet you didn't think you'd met your future wife that night." I smiled as I looked up at Josh.

"Definitely didn't. But I'm definitely glad I did."

When we heard Eris call to us briefly before running out the door, Josh and I migrated to the living room where we began watching a movie. As Eris had already discovered, we hadn't bothered to get cable since we were barely home to use it and we normally watched everything on Hulu anyway.

About an hour later, when Eris returned sans cocoa but plus Danny Stevens, the four of us finished watching the tail end of Benny & Joon. Danny had never seen it before so he was slightly confused as to why Johnny Depp was teaching Mary Stuart Masterson how to make grilled cheese with a clothes iron, but Eris told him it wasn't all that important.

"I love Johnny Depp," I remarked once the movie was over.

"...What?" Josh asked a moment later. I rolled my eyes.

"Not more than you, dummy."

"To be fair," Eris interrupted. "Johnny Depp is prettier than Josh."

"Hey!"

"She's got you there, dude." Danny laughed.

"What about Danny?" Josh asked.

"He's not prettier than Johnny Depp either," I scoffed.

"Hey!" Eris and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

"Penis envy," Eris whispered.

"What did you just say?" Danny asked.

"What?" Eris replied.

"You're just jealous of his manpretty," I laughed. Josh let out a chuckle and put his arm around me.

"'Manpretty'? You have such a weird vocabulary."

A few minutes later, Josh's phone went off in the other room so he got up to get it, leaving me in the living room with Eris and Danny. Dexter curled up at Danny's feet and I eyed him suspiciously.

"Since when does Dexter like Danny?" I paused for a moment and before anyone could answer, "And what the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"Well thanks for the warm welcome. Again." Danny remarked.

"She just wanted cocoa," Eris replied. "Don't take it personally."

"Hey, it's not my fault Tim's makes the best cocoa."

When Josh reappeared, he still had his phone in his hand and he was looking a bit more flustered than usual.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just- My cousin Jessica called and she's in town and-"

"She's coming over?" Eris interrupted.

"Yeah." Josh chuckled uneasily.

"Okay, so what? I've met Jessica before." I shrugged. "No big deal."

"Yeah but...she has a baby now." Eris and I looked at each other and both of us smiled largely. Danny and Josh looked at each other and they both sighed.

"This is going to get interesting," Danny commented.

Around half an hour later, Jessica came by with her husband and their 8-month-old baby boy. From the moment she walked in, Eris and I were mesmerized by the beauty of the frailty of her son. We weren't the only ones interested, however. Dexter immediately began following Jessica around to find out what was wrapped up in a bundle in her arms.

When she sat down on the couch, Dexter jumped up and sniffed at her arms before Josh grabbed him and held him away from the baby. He whined a little at first, but while Eris and I were busy fawning over the baby, the guys played with Dexter.

I had only been around a few babies in my life, the most memorable being when I had to babysit a 3-month-old for an hour when I was 16 and I spent the whole time praying that it wouldn't wake up. As I grew up, I found that every time someone passed by with a baby I would always watch them go by and couldn't help but smile.

As I took little Avery into my arms I heard a click behind me and realized that Josh had passed Dexter off to Danny and taken his phone out. As I looked up at him I found that he was smiling down at me as he began taking a video.

"You're not going to put this up on the internet, are you?" I asked with a laugh.

"No, this is for personal use only," Josh replied.

"That sounds wrong, Joshua." Eris rolled her eyes before stretching her arms out to me. I passed Avery gently as to not disturb him too much, and as Eris took him into her arms, Josh turned his phone towards her.

"Who'd have thought Eris loved babies?"

"Who doesn't love babies?" I replied. Eris turned to me and raised an eyebrow.

"Truth be told, I'm scared shitless holding this little guy right now."

"Don't worry," Jessica interrupted. "Everyone is. Even me."

A few moments later, Avery opened his eyes and yawned a little so Eris passed him back to Jessica. The next hour or so was spent making faces and saying silly things to make Avery laugh. Even Danny and Josh had their own time with Avery, although they were trying to teach him to say things that no 8-month-old should be hearing.

"You are just how I remembered you," Jessica said as she was giving Josh a hug before they left.

"A 24-year-old with the mind of a 13-year-old?" Eris offered.

"Pretty much." Jessica laughed.

Once the door closed behind the two and a baby, the four of us were back to square one. This meant that we had to come up with something to do in the next ten minutes or else we'd end up doing something that might not even be legal.

"To the kitchen!" I announced suddenly, jumping up and leaving the other three somewhat confused.

"Let me guess..." Eris remarked as she followed. "Cupcakes?" I chuckled as I turned around to face her with a bag of flour and cupcake pan in hand.

"You know me too well." I nodded. "Cupcakes!"

Unfortunately, with the four of us having the average mental age of seven, the kitchen was a complete and total mess after an hour of making cupcakes. Letting Josh and Danny frost the cupcakes was probably the worst idea anyone had ever had. They used frosting to draw penises, write "fuck" and other dirty words until Eris finally took the frosting away from them.

That, of course, led to them trying to get it back, which turned into a complete cupcake war. Soon enough all four of us were covered in chocolate cupcake mix and vanilla frosting, not to mention it was all over every surface in the kitchen.

"Shame," Eris said with a laugh as she nibbled a bit of a crushed cupcake. "These cupcakes were damn good."

"I cannot believe you two did all this." I laughed as I looked around.

"Us two?!" Danny protested. "No way this is our fault!"

"Bullshit, Stevens. If you and Withenshaw over there hadn't been doodling dicks on the cupcakes, the kitchen wouldn't be a mess." Eris crossed her arms, trying like hell not to break into a smile. I glanced over at Josh, who was currently mid-bite in a cupcake. The look on his face when the three of us began staring at him was absolutely priceless.

"What? They're good cupcakes!" I nodded and started laughing.

"You've got something on your cheek." I leaned over and licked the frosting off of the side of Josh's face, leaving him bewildered.

"Did you really just lick his face?" Danny asked, slightly disgusted.

"What? He had frosting on his face!" I protested. Eris grinned and a moment later, she smushed a cupcake into Danny’s cheek.

"Eww!" Danny groaned. "Gross!" He pulled her into a headlock and she shrieked. Josh and I leaned against the cabinets and watched them fight playfully.

"We have weird friends," I commented.

"We're weird people," Josh replied as he kissed the top of my head.