The subway’s deafening whirs and clangs went unnoticed by Joseph. What couldn’t go unnoticed, however, was the elbow jabbed into his arm. “I think I just met the happiest person in the world!”

His brow wrinkled, already uninterested in what his best friend had to say. “Who?” He glanced back down at the screen, three animated dots stared back.

“You! I saw that big dumb grin on your face,”

Joseph merely shrugged, hoping it was enough. But of course Noah was ever the nosy one. “Never not nosy Noah”, as Joseph would mock him with.

But as nosy as Noah was, he still had the common courtesy to never peek at someone else’s private messages without permission. He was definitely more of the upfront type. Unfortunately.

“You went on a date last night right?” He asked, competing with the screech of subway brakes.

Joseph didn’t have to look around to know that despite the ear-piercing screech of the subway’s breaks, Noah was definitely loud enough for people within the direct vicinity to overhear. Although Joseph was used to Noah’s outbursts, it didn’t help his second-hand-embarrassment crawling up his spine. Or the anticipation that was killing him.

“Yeah I did. Had a great time.”

“So… what’s her name?”

Joseph glanced back down again to not only escape from the judgement cast upon him and his friend, but to hopefully find some good news.

Still three dots. Still no answer. “Oh. Her.” He replied plainly.

“Yeah, her!”

He looked back down to the screen, more than content with the red heart and quick “okay” left by the sender.

“Uh, Brian.”

Only a breath’s worth of time and Noah’s strange brand of tact kicked in. “Oh. Sick. When are you gonna see him again?”

Joseph shot his best friend a triumphant grin. “Tonight.”