"I wanna meet him," Zayna told me as we lounged in the living room of our dorm one Saturday afternoon. Benjamin sat beside her as he flipped through a discarded magazine.

I raise an eyebrow at her and take my eyes off the tv. "You wanna meet Jess?" I asked from across her as she nodded her head in confirmation. "Meet, not torture?"

For quite a while, Zayna always spoke about how she much she wanted to punch Jess for making me 'sad'. In my defence, I never really spoke much about him before, but Zayna just had a way of knowing things. Usually through her psychology course.

Benjamin closed the magazine in his hands and sat up straight. "I'm sure she won't torture him," he began as Zayna nodded. "The guy probably gets enough of that if he's dating you," he continued out with a smirk.

Benjamin and I's relationship still hasn't changed much over time, much to Zayna's dismay. Although, our once hostile remarks and comments toward each other has simmered down into some playful banter instead.

"When do we get to meet him?" Zayna ignored Benjamin's dig at me as she leaned forward in her seat. To be honest, I actually really wanted them to meet Jess. Not in the 'I think they're going to be friends' way, but more in the 'Can you believe I got this guy!' Also I wanted to rub it in Benjamin's face about how amazing Jess is.

Turning in my seat, I checked the watch that hung above the refrigerator. "He should be here soon. We're supposed to go out to the park."

"Aw," Zayna cooed as she leaned against Benjamin. "How cute. How come we never go to the park anymore?" She directed her question at Benjamin.

Without any hesitation, he answered his girlfriend. "Because the last time we did you tried to push all the little kids over."

"Right," she recounted sheepishly as I shook my head at the two.

Shortly after, there was a knock at the door. I look over to Zayna and Benjamin who stood up excitedly. "No hitting," I reminded them as I made my way to answer the door.

Opening the door, I saw Jess stood there with a denim jacket on for the chilly autumn weather. He had his hands in his pockets and when he saw me he smiled lightly and gave me a soft kiss.

"You ready?" He asked me.

"Actually, you should come in." I tell him as he raised an eyebrow. "They wanna meet you."

Jess still didn't make a move to come inside, "They?"

"Zayna? And Benjamin?" I told him as he recalled the names from when I had mentioned them briefly.

"Wasn't Benjamin that douche from Washington all those years ago?" He asked me as I dragged him inside by the hand. I nodded my head at his question.

Jess and I stood in the centre of the room opposite Benjamin and Zayna, who had just put on a emerald green hijab. We all stood in silence for a moment before Zayna broke it.

"Hi," she started as she extended her hand to pat Benjamin's shoulder. "This is Benjamin and I'm Zayna."

Jess nodded stiffly and gave her a polite smile. "Jess," he said his name curtly. Despite his statue like demeanour, I could see that he was actually trying to be polite.

Benjamin spoke up and asked Jess a few questions about where he worked and what he did. Jess told him about Truncheon Press but kept out the detail about his upcoming book. I could see that the two weren't on the verge of making any crude remarks toward each other so I saw that as a huge win.

I turned to look at Zayna and saw that she was giving me a look that said, 'Wow, nice catch.' I look back at Jess at the same time she did. His hair was still longer than usual and he spoke in such a way that made you feel that he knew what he was talking about.

I sent her a look that said, 'I know, right?' And I smiled at her as she nodded her head, a sign that she approved of Jess.

"So," Jess turned to me with a slight nod of his head toward the door. "We should probably get going."

Nodding my head, I agreed with him. "Yeah let me just go get my coat, it's in my room." As I made a move for my room Jess stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"I'll get it," he said. Without waiting for my reply he went to fetch my coat. He no doubt didn't want to be left alone with two people he had just me.

"Not bad," Benjamin said surprising me once Jess had left the room.

"Doesn't seem very chatty, but he seems nice." Zayna commented just as Jess came back with my coat in his arms. He handed it to me as we said our goodbyes and headed out the door.

~~~

Jess and I sat on a bench in Central Park. Both of us had a bagel and a cup of coffee in our hands as we played the people game.

The people game was a game that we had invented a while ago where we choose a random passerby and tried to decipher what went on in their lives. Probably a little too judgmental and prying but it passed the time and gave us some laughs.

"Okay that guy," I gestured to a middle-aged man dressed in a suit who sat by the fountain as he screamed angrily into his phone. He had a briefcase in his lap and looked like any other businessman.

Jess sipped on his coffee before replying me. "In the middle of a divorce with his 50 year old wife and is currently screaming at his mum on the phone because she forgot to pack him lunch." He told me after a few seconds of squinting at the man from afar.

"His mum?" I questioned as Jess nodded in confirmation. "The poor lady."

Jess was about to give me a person when a pigeon landed next to me on the bench. Eyeing my bagel with its beady eyes. I tugged on Jess' sleeve as I pointed to the pigeon that got closer to me every inch I moved away from it. I really didn't want to give up our seat.

"What do we do?" I whispered to Jess as we both looked at bird in horror. Animals were a sore spot for both of us. Especially birds.

"Try shoving it away." Jess suggested as I waved my hand at the bird, shooing it away. It flew back a few tiny steps then came back. Pushing Jess toward the end of the bench, I scooted as far away from the bird as possible. "Give it some of the bagel," he tried again.

I looked at bagel in my hand solemnly. "But I like this bagel," I protested as Jess groaned. He took a small piece of his own bagel and tossed it to the bird. It made a happy cooing sound as he munched up the bread.

"Problem solved," Jess said smugly as he looked ahead. I continued to watch the bird, not wanting it to try anything else. "Cherry," Jess called quietly as I tore my eyes away from the bird.

I looked up at Jess to see him staring at the end of his bench with wide eyes. I peered over him to see that a whole flock of pigeons were now looking up at us, eager for food. Grabbing his arm tightly, I turned over to the single bird at my side.

"You little snitch," I told it accusingly as Jess and I stood up to find somewhere else to sit. But every step we took the birds took another one closer. You could say that we were both pretty terrified of the pigeons.

"Should we just give them what they want?" Jess asked as we both looked at the bagels in our hands. We both backed up slowly from the flock of birds as if they had miniature guns attached to them.

I sigh in frustration, "I really like this bagel." I repeated, almost willing to die for it. "Now I really wish I were Dr. Dolittle. I would tell them to piss off."

"Either the bagel goes or it's every man for himself," Jess told me as I gave in with a nod. We both tossed our bagels -without the wrappers, cause that would be littering- far away from us as the birds followed it eagerly.

We watched as the birds slowly dispersed away for us. "Now all we got is coffee and some trash," I said as Jess put his arm around my shoulder and we began to walk aimlessly, making sure to steer clear of any birds. "Or do they want that too?"

"Listen, there's something I need to tell you." Jess said in all seriousness as I motioned for him to continue. "I moved out of my apartment."

"The one where your roommate was high all the time and thought that Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse were siblings?"

"Bingo," he said. "Anyway, I got a better apartment, near your university actually. You know, since I've got a proper job now and stuff. And I was wondering if you'd wanna move in with me?"

I stop walking and stand in front of him with my mouth open. "You want me to move in with you?" I repeat in disbelief as Jess nods in confirmation. "Are you sure? Cause it's not pretty in the morning."

Jess laughed lightly, "I'm sure." He took my hand in his, "I mean, I got it near your university so I thought it'd be easier. But you can totally say no if you want to."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked him with my mouth open. "Of course I'd wanna move in with you!" I exclaim happily as I give him a long kiss on the lips. "But we'd have to wait till I finish this semester for me to move out."

He smiled down at me and kissed me quickly. "We can wait," he assured me. "We'll need to find a huge bookcase for all of our books anyway.

"I doubt we can find one that big," I said with a wide smile on my face. One step closer to completing my lifelong plan.