One Boy. A Thousand Feelings | Duncan

~ Chapter 17 ~

"If anything, you should not fight or argue over a boy." Jojo advised.

After the members of the team went into their  stations regarding the preparations of their dish, the two girls took on working on the appetizer. Jojo's ethnicity bounced in the full bodied curls of contrasted coils and wavy strands with a kind of artisanal topography that made them look soft to the touch. She was mixed with black and Mexican and without her rubber soled sneaker inspired slides—at a 5'2 stature. Over brainstorming an Italian concept, Jojo shared that her mother used to work as a bartender. She honed her abilities of factoring the base spirit, and making syrups when it came to the Hampton Cherry wood "Hide A Bar" cabinet in their basement; inset panels to veneers in parquet frames decorative of different liquor reps and shelves with glasses and tumblers.

She thought of the idea of making Aperitivo or Aperitif, a ritual pre-meal drink that is meant to "open" your stomach or whet your appetite for the food to come, which was practiced in Italian culture.

"It'll be like a mock-tail. The drink is interchangeably known as Spritz because it indicates a cocktail made with Prosecco and tonic water or soda. But of course since we're on a show starring 16 year olds, they wouldn't have alcohol as an applicable option in this situation." She described.
"Ok, so what would we need if we wanna make a non-alcoholic alternative?" Armana queried.
"We can serve it over ice with bitter citrus and herbs like artichoke leaves or botanicals that'll help stimulate Chris's appetite. Use some long steeped tea, or orangey-grapefruitey notes and a touch of rhubarb to come through. There's plenty of ideas when it comes to making these type of drinks."
"Ok, we can go back to the delivery truck to see any fruits and different bitters they could have."
"Sounds like a plan."

As their portion of the coursed meal moved forward, Courtney and Duncan worked on the dessert. Courtney showed apparent reluctance to working with Duncan. There was unreciprocated personal prominence being subordinated by either of them from their intelligible fussing. When Chris delightfully partnered them, Duncan made his disinterest audible in Armana's ear.

"Ugh," He groaned. "I'd rather see how you work in the kitchen, ma."
The blood vessels under her bronze skin sympathetically opened, the blood flooding her cheeks in a rosy warmth from his pet name.
She smiled, "I've said it to you before Duncan. I'm not your mama."
"And I'll say it again, pretty woman, you are. It's an authoritative term in the respect I have for you. It's a role orientation for someone who holds power and domination in a man's life."
"You shouldn't have to explain it."
Duncan chuckled, "I shouldn't, but I wanted it to be known what unique nuances there are about the dynamic. Like things you could do to me."
"Really? You're saying this right now Duncan?"
"I just like to get you roused up, my little woman. For tonight."
"What do you mean by tonight?"
"Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

She hated the way he enticed her but comfortably connoting to her with that come-hither glint in his eyes made her feel like the only girl in the room. When he left her at nothing to comeback with, he took it as an open invitation in the atmosphere between them and winked at her before he walked away. Coming to think of it, Armana felt like she was a character in a chapter book. The book was a omniscient perspective of what it was like for a teenager to be on a tv show, but the chapters embarked on what that risked; different sensualities in her adolescence fueling sexually dimorphic brain circuits. Being a teenager was like living in a developmental sensitive period, entailing the phenotypic traits between herself and the male. She liked that his teal eyes were ocean strong as if you could swim in the warm sunlit currents. She liked that she could fit inside his hugs with his bigger/longer body enveloping her from anything else. She liked that he shelled himself into a rugged rebel because he needed a lot more understanding into what independence he hankered to find his identity. It also made him sexually desirable because it elicited a strong emotional response from her.