Cosmo's Luck // 𝐊𝐚𝐢 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐳

48.

As I stand in front of the mirror wearing my red, off shoulder, mini cocktail dress, my mind floods with memories from my ex, but weirdly in a good way. I remembered the day we bought it, and how he was begging for me to let him into the changing room whilst I was trying it on. He picked out the dress himself, so he knew what it looked like, but I didn't want to let him see it on until our date. Little did we know that we'd break up three weeks later! We were on the rocks a week or so before, I don't know what we were thinking buying classy outfits for something we knew wasn't true.

Now, I'm wearing it for someone else. Another person who shows me more care and respect than my ex ever did. I'm glad I never wore this in front of him, he didn't deserve to be the first man seeing me in such a glamourous dress. But, this time I'm wearing it to a dinner in my own home rather to some fancy restaurant, and I'm making the blinking food! It's not the scene I had in mind to be wearing this, but it works!

Our food is cooking down stairs, it's more or less ready to be plated up. Trying to impulsively decide on a romantic meal is tricky! I went with a pretty simple dish, but there's way more thought behind it than just going for the 'safe option'. I've chosen spaghetti and meatballs, as it reminds me of the scene from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp where they had the same meal on a box outside a restaurant. I've made the spaghetti myself, which took a lot of arm work, and I've also prepared the meat balls and sauce from scratch. All of the food that I'm about to serve has been made by hand, so hopefully Kai likes it!

Aidan and Mason have done an amazing job on keeping Kai occupied. Aidan set it all up perfectly! He set it all up by telling social media that he's doing a one-time-only live stream on Twitch for charity- he is still doing that by the way, he isn't just stealing money! Then he asked Kai to join him, Mason and Ben as they needed a fourth team player, and Kai was down from the moment he heard that the money was going towards various animal shelters across the UK. Since then, Kai hasn't budged from his PC, like he's completely forgotten I'm in the house.

After putting on my make up and styling my hair out of the scruffy, low, bedraggled ponytail I had it in whilst cooking, I retreated back down stairs and completed the final finishing touches. I served two proportionately sized plates of mouthwatering food to the dining table, making sure the knife, fork and spoon were all in their correct positions. I set up candles around the room with a rose in the middle- typical, I know. I placed a bottle of red wine on the table, along with two empty wine glasses and two small glasses of water. I don't even like red wine, I just know it's the stereotypical drink you have at a romantic meal! I've got the speaker ready, but that's the last thing I want to get going, in case he somehow hears it the boys' excitable screaming and yelling! You'd think there was a child upstairs, not a fully grown man!

I grab my phone, scrambling to text Aidan so quickly that my message is filled with incoherent typos. I then look to my iPad that's set up in the kitchen, which is streaming Aidan's PoV of their game. I intensely stare as he glances to his phone, looks to the game, then looks back to his phone again once he realises who texted him. He pulls one side of his headset off of his ears, letting go of all his controls mid game to quickly send me a text back.

Me > Aidan
Rrady when uou arw
Ready when you are*
Bit nervous soz

Aidan - Now
Couldn't tell
We'll get him off now
Carrying on the stream though
It's doing well

I open up Spotify, which has the playlist I chose ready. I tap the shuffle button, adjusting the volume of the pleasing music, then get one last glance at Aidan's stream before dashing towards the stairs. I don't want to risk going upstairs in case he sees me wearing the outfit, then he'll be suspicious straight away.

"Kai! Come downstairs please!" I yell in my politest voice, baring in mind that his audio might pick up my voice.

I then scramble back to the kitchen, watching Aidan as he plays his game. I hear my voice echo on the video, causing me to cringe. Why is it that hearing your own voice is the most sickening thing in the world? Ben and Mason chuckle with each other, and Aidan's face camera reveals him smirking along with them; if only the boys knew what he did.

"Kai's in trouble with the missus." Ben teases, and I hear Kai scoff at them on his end of the audio.

"She doesn't sound mad." Kai states, and I can hear him rustling about. "I think I've got to go."

"It's fine mate, I think we're going to end the stream here anyway." Aidan lies through his teeth, shooting his audience a wink which makes me cringe once again. "See you in a bit."

"Let me know if you do another video?" Kai asks, and his gamertag shows that he's logged off their game. "Thank you for the donations, see you all soon."

I turn off the iPad and stuff it in the cutlery drawer; I refuse to let technology ruin this moment, whether a notification goes off or the damn thing just ruins the setting. I tuck my phone away on the side, as I might need it to change the music or alter the volume, then stand poised in front of the table ready for him. My nerves grow as I hear him at the top of the stairs, slowly making his way down. Is this enough? Or is it too much? Oh no, what if this makes me look desperate, like I'm trying to get something out of him? No, it's just a nice gesture, I need to stop over thinking everything! Besides, no turning back now, right?

"Cassie? Why is it so-" Kai cuts off his own sentence as he gets to the bottom of the stairs, slowly taking in everything that he's seeing. "Wow."

His cute smile grows bigger and bigger the further he walks into the room, and the last thing he settles his eyes on is me. He gives me a little chuckle, then realises that I'm wearing the dress he pulled out earlier and laughs a little again. I can see it in his eyes that he's anxious, like he doesn't really know what he's done to deserve all of this. I can't help but giggle as well, hoping that the flickering candle light isn't bright enough to show my glowing red cheeks.

"Surprise!" I smile, opening my arms up to the meal.

"What's all this for?" He asks, looking at the meals on the plate that are still steaming hot. "Oh no, do I have headphone hair?"

"No, you look fine!" I tell him, giving him a tight hug, then letting him go to pull out his seat. "For you, sir!"

We both laugh as I teasingly call him 'sir', which I will never be doing again, unless I'm joking of course. Kai calmly takes his seat, his eyes hungrily looking at the food in front of him as I sit down opposite him.

"Did you do all this yourself?" He asks, pointing to the spaghetti and meat balls. "You look incredible, by the way."

"Of course, you think I'd buy this all ready made for such an important person?" I ask, grinning like a mischievous child at his compliment. "And thank you, you always look handsome."

He gives a little hum of approval, as if he's silently thanking me. It's clear now that we both like each other, and thank God for that, huh? After everything that the media and the public has put us through, I'm glad we've still managed to come out on the positive side of the fire rather than the burnt and dishevelled ashes.

"Wine?" I ask, holding up the bottle of red.

"No thanks, I'm not a big fan." He apologises sincerely.

"Are you serious?" I ask in a dead tone, roughly planting the bottom of the bottle on the table, causing him to jump.

"Sorry I should've-"

"No, I didn't aim that at you, sorry." I chuckle, putting a hand on my head. "I don't like it either, I just bought it to go with the meal!"

Kai closes his eyes and puts his head in his hands, laughing at me as my cheeks go bright pink. Well, something is always bound to go the way I don't want it to, but at least it's both of our taste bud's fault for not liking red wine! Maybe I should have asked what he'd like for a drink as well as food!

"Cheers!" I chuckle, shaking my head as I hold up my super-grown-up glass of water.

"Cheers." He repeats back to me, clinking the glasses together.