Eventually, Dallas had to go home.

He only lived about twenty minutes, give or take with traffic, away. But I couldn't shake the feeling I would never see him again when he kissed me at my front door. It was just another nagging, toxic nervosity of mine, but a valid one, considering our history. I had work the following day and he had some things he needed to work out with his new job in the city.

I took it upon myself to fill everybody in since it was official and everything. Carlos and Chris didn't need much more than a text in the group chat to send back a 'Congrats, man' or 'Well, slap my ass and call me Susan' from Carlos. Erick, however, needed to hear me say it out loud after calling me on the phone.

"It's true," I said with an eye roll.

"You're welcome."

That made me nearly choke on the leftover eggs I had made from the carton Dallas had brought home for me. "For what?" I asked.

"He asked me where you work, so I told him. I am the sole reason you are going to get married, brother," Erick said, sounding way too proud to have played such a minor role in this. "I'm glad everything's good. It's been a long time coming and, well, we've all been tired of your sad era."

I hate my best friend. "Jokes on you, I'm still in my sad era. I'm just getting dick on the side," I said, making myself laugh.

"And we love that for you," Erick said. "Oh, by the way, I'm gonna be a dad."

"You're already a dad."

"Again. Phoebe's knocked up!"

I decided I didn't want to ruin his fun, so I played along as if I didn't already get the inside scoop from my boyfriend, his brother-in-law. We talked about how excited he was and if he predicted a girl or a boy. He asked what exactly went down with Dallas and I, then proceeded to make fun of how corny making up with a New Years kiss was. I felt light as air, unable to fight the smile on my face every time I thought about Dallas.

My mom was probably going to have a strong opinion on the matter. I wasn't going to tell her right away to let the dust settle.

He called me when I was getting out of the shower. "Already miss me?" I teased, slipping on some clean underwear and jeans.

"Of course," Dallas schmoozed. "I was thinking about everything and I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date with me this Friday night."

My stomach swirled with butterflies while I tried to search for a clean work shirt amongst the piles that covered my dresser and desk. "Another date, huh? Crab legs and sex again?" I joked, finally finding one that wasn't too dirty at the foot of my bed. "I'd love to go on a date with you, Dal."

"Ew, don't call me Dal."

"Yeah, it sounded weird coming out."

"No problem, Tom-Tom."

"You are vile," I snorted, putting the phone in speaker and slipping the shirt over my head. "Do you have a plan in mind for our date?" I heard the sound of a car honking on the other end and he cursed under his breath. It sounded like he was in the city.

Dallas finally found a quiet place, or probably walked into a building, because the background noise came down significantly. "Of course I already have a plan and I'm not telling you what it is. I'll let you know later in the week what time to be ready. Yes, I'm dressing nice, and no, you don't have to."

"Yes, I do," I muttered. He told me he had to go so we bid goodbyes and hung up. At least I was home this time and had my own nice clothes to wear instead of—shiver—Frasier's.

—

Friday came quickly.

I stared at myself in the mirror, my cheeks flushing at the sight. This was the first time I put actual effort into my appearance in a while. My hair was styled—or attempted to be—and I put on a nice dress shirt the color of sheet metal. I had a decent pair of knockoff pants like Dallas's endless supply of Chino's that hugged my ass. I looked good, but I couldn't help the feeling that I just didn't look worthy of a man like my boyfriend.

He was near perfection. I don't know if he even had any birth marks.

A knock at my door saved me from more self criticism. I took a deep breath and glanced one last time at myself before walking over to the open it. He took my breath away when I did.

I couldn't help it, my jaw slackened and I felt the heat return to my cheeks once again. Dallas stood at the door, dressed to the nines, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. This again. He smiled widely when I greeted him, his eyes basking in my body from head to toe.

"Wow, you . . ." he stopped and swallowed. "You look so handsome."

Handsome. That was his word, not mine. I wasn't worthy. How could he stand there looking like that and call me the word that described him best? I mumbled a thank you as I took the flowers from his outstretched hands.

They were pretty, but I was shit at naming kinds of flowers, but I just took a sniff of them anyway and turned back into my apartment. Dallas followed and closed the door behind him, making Nelly Furtado scurry away from the doorway she was curiously peeking out of. I had nowhere to put flowers, so I just grabbed a clean reusable popcorn bucket from the movies and put them in there, earning me a knowing smile from Dallas.

He looked like a million dollars. Dressed similarly to the night of New Years, he out-dressed me in every single category. I slipped on my nicest winter coat, a black puffer jacket, and pulled on my Vans. I didn't own dress shoes, let alone expensive looking ones like Dallas wore.

It didn't seem to bother him as he muttered something along the lines of, "Can't believe you're finally mine," as we walked out the door. I felt the heat creeping up my neck until the icy outdoor air hit me like a ton of bricks.

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

He led me to his car, parked out front of my building with the engine running, and I was eager to get out of the cold. "Dinner," he said plainly after we buckled our seatbelts. Not that I was complaining, but I'd expected a little more from him now that we were officially together. I'd go to dinner with him any day of the year. It truly didn't matter what we were doing, but just dinner seemed suspicious for Dallas.

"Well, where are we going?" I asked, holding my elbows in an attempt to curl up in the warmth of the heater.

"You'll see."

I narrowed my eyes at him but he just ignored me, sliding a hand over the center console and to my thigh. He smiled, and from the side I had a perfect view of his dimple. We drove on and I played with his fingers in my lap, staring out at my town.

The night was already among us, the sky dark but cloudless, and the cluttered stars shone brightly upon us. I didn't know how well Dallas knew this town, or if he was planning on taking me closer to where he lived. Whatever it was, and wherever we were going, I was buzzing with nerves. A new kind of pressure fell onto me as not just a summer fling, or a one-night stand, but a boyfriend. Even though we'd been through enough to almost guarantee a life-bond with him, I felt like I had to behave in order to keep the man around. It was a silly, high school feeling.

Some twenty minutes or so, we arrived. It was a dimly lit, massive building with a red brick exterior and a huge neon sign that read The Jewel. I had never heard of it.

"Is this a strip club?" I asked accusingly.

Dallas laughed while he parked the car. He backed into the spot and put a hand on the back of my seat to look over his shoulder, and I watched his every move. The stretch of the smooth, tanned skin of his neck, his blue eyes slightly tinted purple from the red of his brake lights. It made my mouth water and I soaked in the sight of him, breathing in his smell from the proximity.

"It's not a strip club," he said tauntingly. We got out of the car and before we could head inside, I tugged on his hand.

He faced me in confusion and I kissed him. I kissed the beautiful man I got to call mine, just because I could. Dallas kissed back, immediately immersed in my mouth, and I resisted the urge to run my fingers through his hair and ruin it. He pulled away with a deep breath, lips darker and eyes equally so.

When we got inside, my ears were immediately bombarded by noise. Loud, bass-thumbing music met my ears as we were greeted by an older woman at the door. I clutched onto Dallas's hand, forgetting the fact that this was technically our first outing together as a couple, and in our home town at that. He probably didn't care about that, though.

"Reservation for Dallas Barnes," he said to the woman who looked over her book for just a split second before gathering menus and leading us through the building.

It was as big as it looked on the outside, if not bigger. We walked past swarms of people socializing and drinking around a bar area. To the right there was a dance floor, though not very many people were actually using it. The woman brought us into a much quieter, much fancier section of the building. It was a large dining room with white tablecloths and candles in the middle and I felt my stomach churning with nervosities.

When we were seated in a table with a little Reserved sign and a bucket of ice with a brand of wine I'd never even heard of in it, I looked at Dallas incredulously.

"What the hell is this place?" I said, keeping my voice low.

He smiled, looking around the dining room with a shrug. "It was recommended to me by one of my colleagues. He said the food is great and the atmosphere is, well . . . you saw," Dallas said with a grin. I matched it.

"We could have just gone to IHOP," I said and I felt his leg brushing mine under the table. "This is so fancy."

"Well, IHOP doesn't have our second part of our date."

I raised an eyebrow. "Second part?"

Dallas leaned forward and glanced at my lips, then back to my eyes. "My dad took my mom dancing on their first date," he said and I felt my cheeks get warmer and redder. "I heard someone say at the beach house that you liked to dance."

"Oh, God. When I'm drunk!"

He smiled and took the bottle of wine out of the ice bucket. "Then let's drink."

—

wattpad is bugging with formatting
also i literally don't remember
if i said dallas's last name before???
i just made one up
hope u like the boyfriends fluff <3