On and Off the Track

T H I R T Y O N E.

I took a deep breath and began the long walk up a flight of stairs and to Charles apartment. I knocked lightly on the door, it opened within seconds. Smiling awkwardly, I waited for him to let me in, while his eyes glanced over my entire body. He stepped to the side and welcomed me in. This was my second time being here and still was taken aback by the cleanliness of it. Lando was messy so I guess I just assumed all men were. But there he was changing every expectation I had of what a man was. He strolled cheerily over to the kitchen, and I followed behind.
"So I was thinking we could just chill tonight, are you hungry?" he turned his head back to face me, resting casually on the door frame.
"Yeah, I could eat" little did he know I was starving but my politeness prevented me from letting him know that.
"Perfect" he whipped round and started fetching all different sorts of foods out the fridge and placing them onto the kitchen counter. Flour, tomatoes, basil, peperoni, mozzarella ect. Even with my incredibly lacking cooking skill, I recognised that they were ingredients for pizza. He finally had everything out on the counter, and with a contentful sigh he looked up towards me.
"Were making pizza" I questioned, my face and tone slightly cautious.
"We are indeed making pizza" he said sarcastically. "Is that okay"
"No it's perfect" I said quickly, but he could tell I was holding something back.
"But..." he narrowed his eyes and his mind worked. Suddenly his face slackened "do you not know how to make pizza?" he blurted, totally shocked.
"I've always ordered it, I've never made it." I said shamefully.
"Bronte, that is embarrassing" he shook his head and chuckled with his face facing downwards. '"Are you telling me you have never made homemade pizza?" his jaw dropped as I hesitated to speak,
"Yep" turning my head to the side in embarrassment, I slowly looked back up at him. His face was still the same, in absolute disbelief. Then, his face relaxed, a subtle smile forming at his lips. He opened his arm up and I walked over to him. When I got close enough he pulled me in and kissed my forehead.
"It's all good, no one's perfect," he whispered into my forehead. I rolled my eyes and pulled up my sleeves, ready to make the best pizza he's ever seen. He began measuring out all the  ingredients for the dough and placing them into a bowl. I watched him carefully, almost hypnotised by his movements. "Right you knead it" he moved the bowl over towards me. I nodded my head and began kneading. Trying to focus on my task, but those eyes kept me distracted, as well as this annoying strand of hair that kept falling into my eyes. I pushed it back multiple times but it just kept falling. I went to do it again but was stopped when I felt Charles' fingertip run along my cheek and gently place the stand behind my ear. I didn't know if it was his action or the intense eye contact afterwards but I was blushing like crazy and choking on my words. "You also have a bit here" he pulled his hand up to my cheek and wiped away flour that must have gotten there after one of the multiple attempts to push my hair back. I pushed the bowl over towards him,
"Right what's next" he nodded his head promptly and began forming the dough into a pizza shape. I couldn't help but watch him. I pushed myself up onto the counter and sat there while he put the sauce onto the base. I took a photo to remember this memory.