Steph anxiously lay with her feet on the back of the couch and her head hanging by the floor. Jer was supposed to have arrived hours ago, but he had bought a stand-by ticket and had gotten stuck in the Long Beach airport for hours. Finally, he had gotten fed up with waiting and just bought a ticket on the next flight.
In a few minutes, Steph and their friend Brian were going to start driving up to Salt Lake to pick him up. It was going to be close to midnight by the time they got back.
---
The drive up to Salt Lake with Brian had been good. They talked about their love lives and common interests. Steph was enjoying their chat, but she couldn't wait to see Jer. A good 20 minutes after their arrival at the park and wait, Jer's flight popped up on the screen for having arrived. A short while later, Steph received a text stating that Jer was headed out of the airport.
Brian pulled into a pick up spot and Steph jumped out of the car with a smile on her face. Jer walked over to her, though it looked suspiciously like he was trying not to look too excited, and gave her a short and very appropriate kiss.
"I missed you," Jer said.
"Well, you wouldn't have had to miss me for so long if you hadn't bought a stand by ticket," Steph teased.
"I learned my lesson."
"Yeah, you did. You missed our blanket fort building time!"
The trio drove back to their apartments. It was close to midnight, so Jer couldn't come over to Steph's apartment, but she still wanted to see him. She suggested that they walk up to Rock Canyon. They didn't quite make it that far.
---
Steph sat on the couch with her legs over Jer's lap. They hung out mostly in Steph's apartment now. Roxie and Charles kind of monopolized Jer's living room. School was going to start soon, so they were enjoying the last of their summer together.
"So you guys have been officially dating, and in the same place, for two weeks now, right," Jane asked.
"Yep," Steph smiled.
"You know that means Steph's likely going to break up with you, right?" Jane looked at Jer.
"What?" Jer looked stunned.
"She hardly ever dates anyone longer than two weeks."
"I told you about that," Steph said to Jer.
Steph knew it was mean to tease Jer like that, but he was just being too cute! To show that she was teasing, and ease some of his discomfort, Steph leaned over and planted a kiss on Jer's cheek.
---
"I have something I want to tell you," Jer said as they hugged good bye in front of Steph's apartment.
They had been dating for over a month now. Steph had an idea of what Jer wanted to say based on how nervous he was acting.
"Go ahead."
Jer chewed on his bottom lip. He hemmed and hawed. He swayed from side to side. He was definitely thinking about telling Steph he loves her. Steph didn't know how she was going to react to that, but she wanted him to say it now. She knew him well enough to know that, if he didn't say it now, it would bug him immensely. He would end up texting it or something, and that was definitely not how Steph wanted to hear it for the first time from him.
"I'm waiting." Steph smiled up at Jer and wiggled her eyebrows. Jer took a calming breath.
"I love you."
Steph's smile grew. Hearing those words from Jer's lips felt new, a good type of new. She didn't get butterflies. She didn't even necessarily feel excited. She just felt right.
"I love you, too."
Jer wasted no time in leaning down to give Steph a deep, passionate kiss.
Steph had surprised herself by repeating those words back to Jer. She knew it felt right to hear them from him, but this was not the feeling she had come to associate with love. Yet she didn't regret saying it back, and that was enough for her to know that she really did mean it when she said she loved Jer.