Ready or Not

Chapter 21

The rest of the weekend with Austin is nothing short of magical. By Sunday morning, your welt disappears completely, and Austin's hands are almost back to normal. The wound on your thigh stays closed, but the bruise on your forehead has spread down to your eye and on to your cheekbone.

Sunday is spent out of bed. Playing video games, talking, reading, watching TV and attempting to make your baked ziti once more. This time you succeed at it. Austin went out to the store earlier in the day to buy all the necessary ingredients for your second attempt, and you tell him that he is not allowed in the kitchen while you are preparing your lunch. Yes, baked ziti was made for lunch. Austin opens a bottle of red wine, you make the salad. You spritz the outside of the day-old bread with water and bake it in the oven for ten to fifteen minutes. When the bread comes out of the oven, it tastes just like freshly baked bread.

Austin asks, "How did you do that?"

You answer, "Domestic magic."

The meal turns out to be quite satisfactory and Austin showers you with complements for the delicious meal you've made for him. Throughout the day, every chance he got, he tells you that he loves you.

About an hour before Austin has to drive you back home, he lures you into the bedroom and ravages you again. This time, the lovemaking is sweet and tender, none of the aggression and the feel of danger from the previous day. After he drops you off at your apartment building, Austin lingers in the vestibule with you. You can tell that he doesn't want to leave you. So, you wrap your arms around him, and kiss him, When you pull away from him, you say, "I'll see you later, okay? I love you. Text me when you get in."

After another few kisses, Austin finally tears himself away from you and drives off. When you get back into your apartment, you make a bee line to your bathroom to take some time doing close inspection of the damage to your face. You sigh and say, "Would you look at that. I look like I was beaten to the inch of my life." You decide to find your Jackie O sunglasses that you can wear for the rest of the time you are sporting this shiner. Looking up at the clock on your living room wall, you see that it is 7:00 PM. "I need to get some laundry done."

You get all of your dirty clothes together and walk down to the basement of the building to get a couple of loads of wash started. Going back upstairs, you look in your fridge and realize that if you want to eat next week, you are going to have to go grocery shopping. "Mother of God... I should have thought of this when a person with a car was with me. I'm hopeless." You Decide that you are only going to go get the essentials and promise yourself that you'll go back out during the daytime tomorrow to finish the food shopping.

Donning your winter gear again, but this time with a baseball cap pulled down low enough to cover most of the bruise on your face, you grab your reusable grocery bags and head out into the dark cold night. You have a small mom-and-pop grocery store nearby that you go to when you are in a pinch. Things are a bit more expensive there, but you figure you are paying for the convenience and the proximity. About halfway to the said store, you hear a loud car horn blare next to you and you let out a short but loud yelp from being startled. When you turn to see who it is, you see Eric waving from the passenger seat of a Lexus SUV. Past Eric, you see Namjoon in the driver's seat.

You say, "Hi!" but make no attempt to get closer to the car.

Eric waves you over and says, "Hey Honeysuckle, how have you been? It's been a while. Where have you been?"

Before walking over to him, you tug down the hood of your parka and your baseball cap to hide the sorry state of your face. You say, "Hi fellas, how are you guys doing this evening?"

But before you can even finish your sentence, you see Eric's face change from smiles to furrowed brows. He asks, "What the...fuck?"

You can hear Namjoon asking quietly, "What's wrong?"