no questions asked | ethma

19

Emma
March

My shift was from five to eleven one night, and Ethan was at the pizza shop working on a few things. We hadn't opened quite yet, but we were getting closer to the big day.

In the last few weeks, we've had menus professionally made, we've gotten our logo done, t-shirts, pizza boxes, our company phone number, the sign that will display 'E's Pizza' above the door, and everything else that comes with running a pizza shop.

A website, an opening day set for two weeks from now, and invitations sent to some friends and each of our families for a private pizza party before we officially open.

I was nervous only for the fact that I didn't know how the opening was gonna go.

Ethan hadn't met my parents yet, but they knew about him.

I was excited for them to meet him, but he was nervous. He's never really been a meet-the-parents kind of guy, so this was going to be his first time.

I walked into the shop, finding Ethan in the back of the kitchen. He was doing inventory for some of the non-perishable ingredients.

"Hey." I said, setting my car keys down on the metal kitchen counter.

Ethan glanced over at me, then wrote something on the clipboard he was holding. He put it down on the counter before walking over to me and giving me a quick kiss.

"Hey, babe. How was work?"

I wrapped my arms around his stomach in a hug, leaning my cheek against his chest. "It was good, but I missed you."

I mean, between both of our jobs, we hadn't seen each other all day.

"Are you hungry? I made us a pizza." Ethan said. I smiled up at him, and he pressed his lips to mine.

My fingers laced into the back of Ethan's hair as his hands tightened around my waist, pulling me closer to his body.

I moaned into his mouth as his tongue danced with mine. "Damn, you really missed me today, didn't you?" I murmured between kisses.

"Does this answer your question?" Ethan asked, lifting me up and spinning me around as his lips attacked mine.

I giggled into the kiss, and Ethan set me down before he pulled away.

"Should we eat now?"

"Well, the pizza has five more minutes in the oven." Ethan said.

"Perfect. I knew it smelled good in here."

Ethan's hand moved off of the small of my back and cupped my face. "Two more weeks and we'll have a restaurant."

"Two more weeks and my family finally gets to meet you." I said. "They're gonna love you."

"You really think so?" He asked.

I took his hand from my face and kissed it while I held onto it. "You make me happy, so they'll love you."

Ethan smiled. "I hope they'll like me. If not I'll have to steal you away to an undisclosed location and keep you all to myself."

I laughed. "One of my biggest childhood dreams. Running away together with the boy I love."

I realized what I said as soon as it came out of my mouth. I didn't regret it because it was true, but we both hadn't said it yet. It had been almost two months since we'd been dating, so it felt right.

Ethan's lips crashed onto mine, and I couldn't help but smile into this kiss. Ethan was smiling too, and everything in the world felt like it stopped except for us.

He pulled away and smiled at me. "Emmaaaa." He said, almost in a singing voice, which made me giggle again. "I love you."

I raised up on my tiptoes and pressed a long peck to his lips. "I love you too."

And in perfect timing, the timer for the pizza went off.

Ethan got it out of the oven and set it on the counter before he cut it into slices, putting two slices on each of our plates, then taking our food out to one of the tables.

We also each got a drink from the soda fountain.

Finally, we sat down to eat.

"Do you work tomorrow?" I asked. Ethan's been getting random days off lately, even though he put in his two weeks notice.

"No. Do you?"

"No. Naked in bed all day tomorrow?"

"That's what I was hoping you'd ask."

Ethan and I loved spending lazy days together. Between our jobs and getting the pizza shop ready, we've been working really hard, so it's nice to have a lazy day once in a while.

And that's exactly what we did the next morning. We stayed in bed pretty much all day besides when we ordered food.

I loved Ethan's bed because it smelled like him, and his scent was so comforting to me. I felt like I was just so safe when I was with Ethan.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and I was party laying on top of Ethan. His hands were resting on the small of my back, and I was resting my cheek on his bare chest.

"Ethan?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"I'm so proud of you."

"Awe. You're so sweet, Emma. I'm proud of you too, you know. You've been working really hard, monkey."

"We both have something to be proud of. I mean, this pizza shop is our baby, you know?"

Ethan laughed. "Sure feels like it. We haven't got much sleep, we've been working more than anything, and it's taken a lot of money from us."

This made me laugh too. "Right. You know, hopefully it'll pay for itself once we open. Then we'll just be making money, and maybe we'll be able to go away for a weekend again."

"I'm so glad we're finally interviewing people this week. I know it'll be easier to run the restaurant when we actually have employees."

I snuggled into Ethan, loving the feel of his warm skin against mine. "Damn, when I moved here I never expected to fall in love and end up co-owning a restaurant."

"I never expected to commit to a serious relationship, but I can't imagine not being with you."

Our hands laced together, and I pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "To be quite honest, this is the most in love I've ever been."

Ethan smiled. "Really?"

"Really. I mean, you understand me more than anyone ever has. I love that about you."

"You're my missing piece to the puzzle, Em."

I nuzzled my nose into his neck. "Gosh I just love you."

His arms tightened around my waist. "I love you too, monkey." He said. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Can we just go to the shop and make another pizza?"

"Whatever you want sounds absolutely perfect to me."

Damn, this man makes me happy.