The Hookup

Thirty five

I'm sure the look on my face is one of pure confusion. Or mortification. Both, I'd be willing to bet.

"What text?" I ask Myra over the background noise. All I get is a smirk in response.

And then I remember.. she saw the text Hero sent about my... newly acquired purchase. It's not that hard to put two and two together apparently.

"Jo.. you're as red as a lobster right now," she giggles and leans into me. I know I am.. I can feel it. "You know, I would have never thought he was so.. I don't know.."

"Oh god, stop," I shake my head and she laughs. How is it that we always end up talking about my sex life? It's like a nightmare that keeps on repeating itself.

"Don't be embarrassed. I wish Dan wanted to experiment.."

"Okay, ew," I take a drink. "I don't need to know what you and your husband do together, My. Jesus."

As if God has somehow answered my prayers, Isla picks this moment in time to crash the party. More like save me from anything else I might learn about my best friend and her husband in the sack.

"Sorry I'm late! I had to put Abigail to bed before I came," she seems nearly out of breath as she takes the only seat left at the table. "What'd I miss?"

"Oh we were just.."

"Nothing," I cut Myra off and wave at the waitress to get her attention as she walks by. Isla orders the same drink as us and looks across the table suspiciously.

"You two are acting strange.." she eyes us and I just shrug into my drink. Myra giggles and looks at me. "What's going on?"

"Josephine has herself a boyfriend," Myra pipes up and I watch Isla's eyes widen as she looks between the two of us.

"What?! Who?"

"Dan's friend, Hero. The one from—"

"England?!" Isla gapes And I suddenly feel my face heat again. To be fair, I hadn't found the time to actually tell my friends that Hero and I had decided to be a couple. With him being here and then the whole move happening. This is sort of big news I suppose.

"Jo.. tell me everything," Isla leans further across the table as the waitress brings her her drink.

"It's new.." I shrug. "We just decided that we should try this whole thing out and see where it leads. There's really not much to—"

"The guy is a walking sex god, I." Myra cuts me off and I bury my hands in my face.

"I knew it," Isla takes a drink and crosses her arms. "No one can look that good and not have the skills to please a woman."

"Can we just.. not talk about it?" I whine. "This is so embarrassing."

"Josephine, listen to me. We are your best friends. Yeah, we give you shit but this is amazing! Do you know how long I have waited for you to get out of the slump that Dumb Ass Marvin put you in? So, Hero knows how to please you? So what? Embrace that shit. You deserve it!"

Myra pulls me in for a hug and I laugh at how ridiculous this all is. Myra's never been one to play it cool when it comes to juicy gossip. What made me think this would be any different?

"And you're not even telling her the best part," she continues. Wiggling her eyebrows across the table to her sister.

"Tell me."

"He's moving here," I say and Isla squeals in delight. The bar as gotten busier the longer we've been talking. People crowding from one end of the place to the other. But none of that matters to my friends; I've just dropped the bomb of all bombs.

"Jo is literally living a real life fairytale. I'm jealous," Myra pouts playfully and we all laugh.

"Oh my god!" Isla wiggles in her chair. "So did he find a place here in the city?"

At her question, my face goes blank and I suddenly somewhat sober up. Has he found a place in the city?

Umm.. with all that's happened in the last few weeks, I guess semantics weren't exactly part of the plan. Hero's never mentioned finding a place. Nor did he elude to looking for one. So.. is he just going to stay in a hotel in the meantime? Do I offer up my apartment as a place to crash? What the fuck? How did we never even talk about stuff like this. Is he banking on the fact that I'm wanting him to move in?

My palms have started sweating as I wring my hands together in my lap. "He's got a few options," I lie. Hoping they don't see through it.

Here's the thing; it's one thing for him to be moving here so we can be together. That in itself is a tad bit absurd. But to move in with each other after barely being  together week? That's just downright crazy. Right?

Now I'll be spending the rest of the night worrying that this is all moving too fast. And he's set to be back tomorrow. I have 24 hours to either come to my senses and work through this lust induced haze I've found myself in or jump head first and hope for the best.