"You look beautiful." I complimented Pedro, who was wearing a powder blue jumper and jeans with his New Balance trainers. His hair was extra curly and I was very smitten. My compliment made him shyly smile at me and give me those puppy dog eyes.
"Thank you honey. I can drive, I really don't mind." Pedro followed me across the driveway to my car. We were going to spend the evening at Olivia's. I was so excited to see her. Pedro had been making comments on how he was looking forward to meeting his 'girlfriend's girlfriend' and how he knew she was going to a lovely human, because of the way I spoke about her.
"My driving really isn't that bad, Pedro." I scoffed as I unlocked the car.
"I'm just saying, you haven't seen Olivia in a while. I understand if you wanna have a drink with her." He waited for the light to flash to indicate it was unlocked but he didn't open the door.
"I'll have tomorrow night with her to have a drink." I climbed into the drivers seat and allowed him to follow my lead. "Besides, I should probably stay sober. You keep calling her your wife. And she's my best friend but if you two runaway together, I might have to throws fists at her."
"You'd get your knuckles bloody for me?" He joked as he fastened his seat belt. "I didn't think you were the physical type, Parker."
"Oh I am when it comes to you. Outrageously possessive. Wanna keep you all to myself."
"Well," He picked up my hand and kissed my knuckles. "These soft hands will remain untouched, cos I only have eyes for you."
"Would you let me drive your Audi?"
"Absolutely no way!" There was no hesitation to his reply which made me laugh. "I love you, but no."
"My driving really isn't bad..."
"Oh no, you're a great driver. And you're my girlfriend, my love. But she, she's my baby." His comment made me roll my eyes.
"Your baby?"
"Yeah she's a beauty."
"Me or your car?"
"Don't ask me questions you don't want to know the answer to, darling!" He goofily grinned at me.
"I'm gonna warn you, Olivia's boyfriend might be a bit, er, full on when he first meets you. Olivia has warned him. Though I'm not sure she'll be any better." I pulled off the drive.
"It's no bother, I can handle them."
"You know, when we met in Starbucks? She was the first person I text. I kinda knew who you were but hadn't seen you in anything. Olivia was the one who knew about you. She and Jack have watched you in so many things. I'd met Andrew Garfield a few weeks before you and I thought she was jealous then but she was so annoyed when I met you."
"Bet she was furious when you started sleeping with him and made him your boyfriend, huh?" He winked at me.
"If I recall correctly, you were the one who asked me to be your girlfriend, Pascal."
"Best decision I ever made." He squeezed my knee at the red light. "Wait, you met Andrew Garfield?"
"Yeah."
"And he didn't ask you out?"
"Nope. Why would he? I wouldn't have said yes anyway."
"Why not? He's a good looking man."
"Not my cup of tea!" I grabbed his hand and kissed it. Pedro smiled at my gesture and winked at me. It was in these simple moments that I really appreciated how lucky I was. I knew I was every single day. It was obvious when you looked at him and then at me. He was naturally gorgeous. But the light, the joy, the comfort, the happiness this man exuded was indescribable.
"Your last day of being 28, Parker. How you feeling?"
"Doesn't bother me. I still feel like a kid at heart. Are you OK with tomorrow's plans?"
"Babe, stop asking me if I'm happy to do all these things with you. I'll go wherever you are. I'm enjoying myself. I'm happiest when I'm with you. If you're enjoying yourself, believe me, I will be too."
"You are the cutest." I pulled off into the direction of my best friends house. "How's your back?"
"A lot better. Thanks honey."
"I was wondering, if it's OK with you?"
"Yeah?"
"You know how I booked the hotel spa thing for us on Friday? Well, if your back is alright, would you be OK if I let Oli and Jess go instead? I was gonna offer to look after Theo for the night. Let them have a break away and I get to spend quality time with Theo before we go back? It's ok if you'd prefer me not to, or if you wanna-"
"Elle!" Pedro cut me off and squeezed my knee, "I think that's a wonderful idea. I'm sure they'll love that."
"I'll make it up to you, promise."
"I'm looking forward to that more than I'd have enjoyed the spa!" He winked at me.
*****************************************
"Elle!" My name was being screamed to me before I even got out the car. Olivia and Jack stood on the doorway, waiting for me and Pedro. I bounced out of the car and straight towards her, scooping her up in my arms and squeezing her as hard as I could! "I've missed you so much!"
"I've missed you!" We stood rocking each other in each others arms, enjoying the feeling of being reunited.
"Look at you, you look so perfect!" She held me at arms length as she scanned every inch of my body. "I hate you."
"Oh shut up, you know I'll always be the ugly one compared to you."
"Fuck off! Look at you with your toned and tanned body! I hate you!"
"I've started yoga, though I'm not sure you'll see any results yet!"
"Hey Pedro!" Olivia held her arms open for Pedro, who smiled at her and brought her into his big arms.
"Hey Olivia. It's so nice to meet you." He gripped her as she whispered "oh my god" to me over his shoulder. I couldn't help but giggle.
"Come on in." She beckoned us into the house. Jack was waiting by the staircase, a giddy look plastered across his face.
"Hey Pedro. I'm Jack." He held out his hand for Pedro, who took it and said hello. I'd never seen Jack this quiet.
"It's killing him, isn't it?" I whispered to Olivia, as we watched her fiancé try to keep his composure.
"You have no idea. I had to beg him not to show off his Mandalorian funkopop to Pedro." She rolled her eyes. "I've missed you so much."
"I've missed you too." I hugged her again, bathing in her warm energy and vice like grip as she hugged me.
"These are for you, Olivia." Pedro gave Olivia a bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine.
"Wow, for me? Thank you!" She took them from him and inspected the flowers. "They're beautiful!"
"You wanna beer, Pedro?" Jack asked as he lead Pedro into the kitchen.
"These are beautiful, thanks Elle."
"Pedro's idea. He said he didn't wanna turn up without something for you."
"Ugh, fuck sake. Of course he has to be so fucking perfect." She smirked at me before she was calling me into the kitchen too. We stood around, Pedro and Jack leading the conversation whilst me and Olivia would chime in with comments. It warmed my heart to see Pedro instantly feel at ease with Jack and Liv, though I didn't expect anything less. Jack and Pedro left the room, leaving me and Liv alone. "Want a drink?"