KISS: Road Trip

Ch 68: Let's Meet (Paul)

I rolled over in bed, nudging Eric. "Mm hey wake up," I said with a yawn. "W-what?" he asked, stretching. "It's too early for conversations." "It's almost 11 in the morning, shut up. Anyway, Bruce just texted saying he and Eric are hosting dinner tonight for all seven of us." He nodded, closing his eyes and snuggling deeper into the pillows. "That's nice, you have fun," he mumbled.

I grinned, shaking him a bit more awake. "Gosh you really are a dumb blond. All seven of us, that includes you!" He bolted upright, staring at me in shock, hair falling into his eyes. "W-what? Me? But...but why?!" he cried. I sat up, stretching. "Uh, because we're dating so you're part of the group now?" Chest heaving, he shook his head. "But-but those are all your friends, I don't want to intrude!"

Smiling softly, I put a hand on his shoulder. "Eric, you're not! Dude, I love you, I want you to come and spend time with me and my friends! But of course if you don't want to, I won't force you to." He took a deep breath before giving me a smile, blue eyes sparkling. "No, no if you want me there I'll go!"

By the time dinner actually rolled around, he had gone right back to being nervous.

"Okay but you're sure about this?" Eric asked, fidgeting with his hair. I gave him a soft smile, lacing my fingers through his and squeezing his hand. "Eric, yes! You know all of them and they all know you, it'll be fine! But if you don't want to see them again then you don't have to, it's totally up to you," I said. He gave me a nervous smile, shaking his head. "No, no, it's fine! I just...I dunno, I'm nervous I guess. It's been a few years but it still feels weird to talk to people about it."

Heart melting, I nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind his ears and getting lost in his eyes for a moment. "I know, trust me, I get it. But I also know the more you do it, the easier it gets. Like I said though, it's up to you!" Eric took a deep breath, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, no, we can do this. It'll be nice to see them again. They know we're dating, right? Like...like I'm not going to have to explain that, right?"

I kissed him on the forehead with a smile. "I've already told them. Just treat it as meeting up with old classmates after a few years, because that's all it is!" He nodded, taking a deep breath before shaking his head. "No, I can't, I'm sorry," he choked. "I'm sorry." My heart sank and I frowned, running a hand through his hair. "What's wrong? You need to talk or something?" I asked gently.

Eric shook his head again, looking like he was on the verge of tears. "I don't know! I don't know, I'm just scared and I don't know why! They're all nice people, I know all of them, I just...I don't even know, I'm sorry!" "No Eric it's okay, it's okay. Just take a deep breath and calm down. We don't have to see them if you don't want to, I can just say something came up and we can't do it today."

"I'm sorry Paul, I'm being so stupid, I'm sorry," he said miserably. "You're not, Eric it's okay I promise! I get why you feel like that, really I do I promise. We can just go home." He took a deep breath, squeezing my hand. "No, I'm being stupid, let's just do this." "You sure?" I asked, and he nodded, eyes narrowing. "Yeah."

Still holding my hand tightly, Eric rang the doorbell. The door was immediately flung open by Eric, who gave us a huge smile. "Other Eric! Oh man it's been ages!" he said excitedly, giving him a hug. Eric hugged him back, visibly relieved. "Yeah, it's been like what, a week since our calculus lunch?" "Oh shut up I still count that as--shit!"

Eric let go of my Eric in favor of trying to grab the puppy that had bolted out of the open doorway. "Baxter no! We're not doing this again!" he cried. Laughing, I caught the dog before it could get too far, handing it off to Eric. "Nice. Cute dog though!"

"Yeah, he's usually a good boy, aren't you Baxter?" Eric said, scratching the dog behind the ears before ushering us inside. I gave my boyfriend a warm smile. "See? It'll be fine," I said gently, steering him inside. He smiled back, squeezing my hand. "Thank you," he murmured.

Everyone else was equally excited to see Eric, and he grew noticeable relaxed as he sat next to me on the couch, still holding my hand for security. "Okay before we go further we gotta do something about there being two Erics," Ace said, giving us a grin. "I mean...I guess I could go by my real name?" Eric said hesitantly, but Bruce rolled his eyes. "Right, because two Pauls is so much better. No, just go by Charles! We'll call you Charlie!" he teased. "No the fuck you will not!"

"Hey, Charles is better than my middle name," Eric muttered. "Why, what's yours?" Peter asked. Eric heaved a sigh, running a hand through his blond hair. "Doyle." "Hah! That is worse! I don't want to make you go by that, that's just cruel. It's fine, we'll just go by our last names!" Carr said with a grin. Eric gave him a smile, face slightly red. "Works for me."

The seven of us sat chatting happily over dinner and drinks, and it was nice to see how well everyone got along. Even Gene had finally accepted that I was an adult and knew how to take care of myself and Eric wasn't going to break my heart.

The whole evening went really well, and I was glad I had the chance to be with my boyfriend and my best friends. Even if I was also with an ex boyfriend and an unrequited crush, which to be honest could've made things quite awkward.