To Be Named At A Later Date

Hazel watched Jasmin slam pots and pans while she made them dinner for over an hour, sipping at his beer. When she nicked
her hand using a serrated knife Hazel finally spoke up. "You okay?"

Jasmin sniffed as she wrapped a bandaid around it. "Yeah, barely nicked the skin."

"That's not what I'm talking about, Jazz." He chuckled tenderly. "What's really wrong?"

She glanced at him over her shoulder. "You ever get angry for no reason?"

Hazel laughed. "I'm always angry about something. It's my default."

The clock ticked for a while, building the anticipation for no reason other than to begin to worry him. He stood and abandoned his beer in favor of pulling her into a hug. "What's going on?"

"Sometimes I can't keep my mouth shut. It's still happening sometimes," She confessed. "It's like sometimes, I don't even have any sort of filter. Alex says mean shit but it's easy to translate because he's just a big cat boy." She tore her gaze from his and stared at the pot simmering. "Jacob does the tiniest thing and it sets me off for no reason lately."

Hazel couldn't help but crack a smile. "What  did he do this time?" He'd heard this same story a million times in the past couple months, and it seemed that every time he set her off and she blew up, it wasn't as much of a blow up as it was a thunderstorm. Not great, but manageable.

"He left without saying goodbye this morning, and I gave him a real earful." She looked so humiliated he sat her down in a stool. Immediately she rested her head on the table. "I told him he may as well not even come home if he's not telling me where he's going. I'm pretty sure I made him cry."

"Why?"

"Because he cleared his throat like he does and told me he'd call me back later." Her voice got smaller, shriller suddenly. "He's never going to ask me to marry him."

Steven had paused before he entered the kitchen out of respect but almost had to hold back an epiphany shout. Jasmin was rather crabby lately, and it seemed Hazel was on the same track at the noise of understanding. He did however hit a creaky floorboard that altered them to the third presence. He walked in just as Adam jogged up from the workout room.

"Sorry, I wasn't being nosy," Steven promised.

Adam shrugged as he grabbed a water. "I totally was. Jazz, why don't you just ask him?"

The tomboy groaned and shook her head. "No way, that's not how it works! He has to ask me! If I ask, that's the same as pressuring him!"

Steven tipped his head. "Well, Connie and I ended up proposing one after the other. She asked me if we could get married at 3:30 in the morning, and the next week I asked her to marry me with a ring. I wouldn't say she pressured me as much as she kicked me in the pants about it since I was in my head over asking." He took in her expression before a grin broke through. "As the Romance Expert of the house, I say you woo him."

Jasmin wrinkled her nose. "With flowers? I think I'd die of embarrassment."

"At least an apology and an explanation why," Adam told her seriously.

Jasmin looked at him guiltily. "You got a call?"

Steven winced. "Yeah, something like that." Jasmin started to tear up and he felt so bad he blurted, "It was barely anything, just a sighing emoji."

"Jasmin, if you want that title of fiancé you have to tell him that. He might not even know you wanna get married in general." Hazel glanced at the others for a split second and an understanding was had. "He... does know you want to get married, right?"