When it comes to Bachelor Nation, fans are used to seeing relationships move very quickly.
On Bachelor in Paradise alone, stars often travel to Mexico and experience a final rose ceremony—and possible proposal—in a matter of weeks.
But for Kendall Long and Joe Amabile, things are a bit different. While getting engaged is certainly a possibility in 2019, there’s no rush for that oh-so-romantic proposal.
“Our whole entire relationship is about being engaged…As two people who are mainly afraid of commitment, it makes it so the idea of talking about engagement isn’t scary,” Kendall shared with E! News exclusively this weekend at iHeartRadio’s ALTer Ego concert. “It just makes it more fun and we think that it will definitely, possibly happen someday but as of now, we want to get so many more things solidified in our life before we take the next step.”
She added, “Right now, there’s just so much going on.”
For starters, Joe is hard at work traveling the country as part of the Dancing With the Stars tour. There’s also the task of finding a place in Los Angeles that could be their permanent home.
While they lived together during Dancing With the Stars, they haven’t officially picked a place that can be both of theirs.
“He has a place in Chicago. But now that he’s on tour, we’re thinking of officially getting our own place together after the tour so that is our goal,” she explained at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. “We want to try it out [in Los Angeles] and then maybe go to Chicago but as of now, my family’s here and work’s here. It just seems to make the most sense.”
Paul Hebert for iHeartRadio
Behind the scenes, Kendall revealed that she’s fallen in love with Joe’s big Italian family. As for Joe, he’s met Kendall’s family on multiple occasions and they all share a love for food and cooking.
When they find themselves in different cities, Joe is big on staying close through phone calls and FaceTime. “He’ll call me like five times a day,” Kendall explained. “I like talking on the phone because text never does anything justice.”
And when they are able to spend time together, date nights are always memorable and unpredictable.
“I’m thrifty and Joe is bougie as hell. So my idea is watching The Great British Bake Off show and chilling and making dinner where as Joe loves going to amazing restaurants,” Kendall explained before enjoying her front-row Hulu seats at the sold-out concert. “I don’t think I’ve ever learned to appreciate food as much as I have when I’ve been with Joe. He loves going to restaurants and theatre shows and yah, he’s very bougie, which I love about him and didn’t know existed about him.”
While a new Bachelor in Paradise season may not hit the small screen until the hot summer months, Kendall is so glad she took a shot at love and signed up for the series.
After all, you just never know when and where sparks will fly.
“I almost feel like when I signed up, I was open to everything but I absolutely did not expect to find somebody,” she explained to us. “It’s hard to 100 percent fall in love with somebody until you don’t have cameras and you don’t have everybody watching your every move. Joe and I really found love with each other after having to go through all of that together and facing our insecurities and facing things we were afraid of and we really grew so much. It feels like we’ve been dating for two years.”