Page 17 of Friend Zone to End Zone

Some were asking where I got my earrings from. But then, after a few seconds the questions started coming through.

@kyliewinters880:Who kissed who first?

@meredithmelrose:Are you going to get married, because if not, I totally volunteer to marry Chad!

@jeffandrachel:How long did you know each other before you went on your first date?

Question after questioncame through as I tried to decide which one to answer first.

I looked at Chad and pointed at a comment. “Should we go with that one first?” I asked.

He removed his arm from my shoulders and leaned forward. After reading what I had indicated, he said, “Sure. That works for me.”

“Okay, awesome.” I looked back at the screen. “So, the first question we’ll answer for you today is, who kissed who first? And do you want to answer first, or should I?” I nodded at Chad.

“I’ll go.” He stared at the phone screen. “It was obviously me who kissed her first.”

“He’s right.” I smiled, remembering our first kiss. Then I explained, “It was my second week here in Denver. I had just gotten a new job at the salon and all the girls wanted to have a girls’ night at the club. When they asked me how long it had been since I’d had a boyfriend, and when I told them I hadn’t had a serious one since high school but just random guys that I’d dated here and there, they were all shocked and basically dared me to go talk to the cutest guy at the bar.”

“Which was obviously me.” Chad winked. “And thank goodness, since what guy wouldn’t want to kiss a babe like Arianna?”

“You know it.” I grinned back, remembering just how good he had looked that night as well. “I wasn’t really looking for a relationship at the time, but after just one conversation with Chad, I was hooked.”

“What can I say?” He shrugged, a hint of pride in his face. “I make a pretty good first impression.”

“Yes, you do,” I said. “Anyway, we talked and danced all night at the club, and then before he left, he asked for my number so he could call me after he got back from the work trip he was leaving on the next morning.”

“And then,” Chad said, taking over the narrative. “Since I couldn’t have her falling for the next guy she ran into while I was out of town, I made sure to leave her with the best first kiss she’d ever had.”

I held my hand to the side of my mouth, acting like I was going to say something to the viewers that I didn’t want Chad to overhear and mock-whispered, “He’s not lying. It was that good!”

Then I fanned myself with my hand for extra effect, like the mere thought of that first kiss made me feel the passion all over again.

“Think that was good enough for that question?” Chad asked.

“I think so.”

I looked at the other questions coming through. “What about this one: ‘Who said I love you first?’”

“You want me to tell this story?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said.

“But first, I guess we need to see if we both remember this correctly. So what is your answer?”

“It was you who said, ‘I love you’ first,” I said.

“Correct.”

We weren’t exactly playing theNewlywed Gamethe way I’d originally planned, but this worked, too.

“And is there a story behind what got you to say it first?” I asked, genuinely curious.

We’d only been dating for a few months when he said it. And it had actually surprised me since I hadn’t really thought about saying those words yet. But when he told me he loved me, I knew immediately that I had loved him too and said it back. It had been so awesome at the time, but now that I knew him a little better and had seen that he wasn’t always so open with his feelings, it made me wonder how he’d gotten there so quickly.

“So, this is the story,” Chad said, leaning forward so his elbows rested on his knees. “Arianna and I had been dating for about four months at this point, and I don’t know about you, but I was starting to wonder if this saintly good girl of mine was ever going to sleep over at my condo.”

Wait, what?

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