It's not like there's a lot left to do.

While Joy is happy to finish her character, it doesn't even take 15 minutes until the final preparations for the evening are done. Socketing, some enchantments and her character is good to go. While the wood elf is a little weaker than my foot soldier or Nick's mage, Joy's going to be able to run with us no problem. Which leaves us with nothing to do until the food arrives... and we decide to spend it browsing the internet, laughing at memes and, well, cuddling.

Somewhere during our gaming, we have settled into the desk chair, Joy leaning against me with her head on my shoulder, my left arm pinned against her stomach by her crossed arms while my right hand is free to use the mouse. But still, it's exactly like what I often did with Ellie when we hung out - save for the fact that our connection wasn't quite as close. And somehow, I don't mind one bit, even with the threat of telling everyone I know looming over us. It feels... soothing, someone being there again after the messy breakup with Ellie.

"Are you alright, Matt?" Joy's question snaps me back to the present where I find her looking at me with raised eyebrows. "You stopped scrolling. C'mon, I want to see the next funny kitten!"

"Hm? Oh yeah, sorry. I was... thinking about--"

A knock on the door interrupts me, and both our faces light up. Finally, our grub is here! I get up to walk to the door, still holding Joy's waist with my left, and have my hand already on the door knob when I freeze. I can't open the door like this! The delivery guy will see us. Could I maybe--

"If you don't open the door, I will!" Joy pipes up and twist the knob down energetically. I can barely duck out of sight behind the door as she pulls it open, leaning sideways so only most of her upper body is visible. "Hiii~, are you the guy with our food?"

"Uh, yeah, hi..." The delivery guy seems to be dumbstruck by Joy's beauty. And really, who can blame him? I have the next pageant queen stuck to my pelvis! But I'm also **** into a really awkward position trying to balance out Joy's leaning sideways and forwards. "I have a couple's menu and a few desserts, already paid via our app?"

"Yup, that sounds about right." I hear the plastic bag rustle as my legs start burning due to the strange position with me leaning back and holding onto the radiator on the wall so I don't get pulled to the floor by Joy's body. "Uh, is there something else? Do you need me to sign or something?"

"N-no, I just, uhm..." After stammering around a little, the delivery guy takes a deep breath and continues. "Could I... could I get your number?"

"Buddy, we ordered a couple's menu. Take a wild guess why!" The words burst from my mouth before I can stop myself. How dare he flirt with my... wait. Am I really...? "Don't... don't you have some other deliveries to make?!"

"Oh, uh, sorry, I thought...."

"She'd eat all of this herself? Scram!" My heart is thundering in my ears as I cover my eyes with one hand and continue much more quietly: "What am I doing?"

Rapidly retreating steps tell me it at least had the intended result and I got rid of the delivery guy. Heaving a deep sigh, I begin carrying Joy away from the door after pushing it closed behind us, the big bag of food adding to the weight I lug around now. At least after she righted herself again, the angle is much better - and I can smell the mouth-watering aroma of the burgers and fries. But Joy is not quite ready to eat, turning around towards me as far as she can.

"What was that all about?" She grins her mischievous grin that looks so dazzling on her. "Don't tell me... are you actually jealous?!"

"No, not at all. I just wanted him to leave." Even I can hear how unsure I sound. Which isn't surprising, I am unsure! But can I really have... Do I really see Joy as my girlfriend? I barely know her a day, and she replaced my cock, damn it!

"Suuure. Y'know what, I'm letting it slide until after we've eaten something. Mind taking us over to the table?"

My answer is a non-committal grunt as I do just that, and once we are sitting and our food is unpacked, I realize we face yet another problem - with Joy now so much bigger, her head is in the way and I can't even try to eat without messing up her hair. Which she lets me know loudly when I grab my burger and move it towards my face and, by extension, her head.

"What are you doing, Matt?!" Twisting around, her own burger already missing a bite, she glares at me. "You're not marinating my hair in that."

"And how do you suppose I should eat, then?" I grouse, pulling a face. I'm hungry, damn it!

"Easy, I just... lean over to the left..." Doing just that, Joy rests on her left elbow and gently pushes me sideways with her right. "And you lean to the right. See? Now we both have enough room."

"Eh, I suppose..." Actually, we barely do. Of course, my left arm is blocked by Joy's body, so I can't really use it to eat without knocking into her, but I'm too hungry to care and start eating one-handed, my left resting against the place where the swell of Joy's hips disappear into mine.

It's kind of like eating with someone sitting in your lap. Not exactly easy, but it's not like we have a choice in this. And, now that I think about it, it's not like we have a lot of time, either: It's soon time to go online and play with Nick! We keep eating like this, actually managing to eat like civilized people and don't make a mess.

"Mhf, damn, I can't... could you pass my fries?" I mumble around a bite of my burger, swallowing and putting down the bun dripping with sauce.

I expect Joy to push the cardboard container over, but I should have known her mischievous nature better: She opts to instead take a few fries and holds them up for me to eat them out of her hand. And again, I fall for her trick - when I try to bite down, she pulls them back, giggling.

"Not so fast, Mattie boy. You're not getting any fries until you're honest to me about earlier."

"What... uh, what do you mean?" I really don't want to talk about this right now. I mean, I'm not really sure about my feelings myself!

"I mean you acting all jealous when the cute delivery guy flirted with me. What was up with that?" Yep, that's the Joy I know and lo-- that I know. Always up for a little teasing.

"Ah, so he was cute, huh?" I grumble, feeling the undeniable pang of jealousy. Not that I'd admit it, though.

"You are jealous!" Joy sounds downright gleeful. And plucks one of my fries from her hand and eats it.

"Ooh, now you've done it! I draw the line at food theft!" Grabbing Joy's wrist, I pull her hand over and grab the rest of the fries, making a triumphant sound, muffled by the amount of fries in my mouth.

Joy's surprised shriek turns into loud giggling, before grabbing another handful of my fries to wolf them down.

"Food theft, huh?" She asks, barely understandable as her cheeks bulge with the amount of food in her mouth.

"Yes, exactly." I lean over until I can just barely grab Joy's fries, pressing against her warm body as I do so. "Wanna see how it feels?"

What follows is basically a competition of who can eat the other's fries the fastest. And I have to admit, it gets kind of close. And even better, I have avoided the talk about my feelings. First, I need to understand them myself, after all. And I think Joy kind of understands that; I don't think she has forgotten just because we stole each other's fries.

The rest of dinner, we talk about everything and nothing, until it is time to go online and meet Nick.