The Seven Pieces of a Feuilleton

Chapter 29

There was something to be said about watching one's girl try - and fail - to make a gourmet omelette whilst wearing nothing but one's favorite jersey.

At least, Brandon assumed the plan had been a gourmet omelette from the recipe laid out on the counter.

The pan, however, showed something else entirely.

"Need some help there, Kel?" Already dressed for a day of interviews and the covering of politician press conferences, Brandon slid behind his girlfriend.

"You're up," she said with a bright smile that leapt through her sparkling eyes reminiscent of the sky on an especially sunny day.

"Been up," he said. "Had to get a last-minute piece in. Early morning sewage leak over near Casco Bay."

"Eww." Kelly wrinkled her nose. "Next time you're up early, let me know," she said deviously.

"Don't you need your beauty sleep?" Brandon teased, curling her hair around his fingers.

"According to you, I'm already beautiful," she said.

"Well, according to me and the entire senior class of '93." Brandon lifted her towards his waist.

She stroked the back of his neck before letting out a groan. "We made such a big deal out of those superlatives. They didn't really mean anything, did they? I mean, you'd still think it even without my title, right?"

"Kel, I thought it from the first day I saw you."

"When was that, Brandon?"

"What?"

"I mean, when was the first day you noticed me?"

He didn't even have to think about it.

"Marianne Moore's party."

Astonished, Kelly began to laugh and so Brandon questioned her reaction.

"I noticed you then, too," she said. "I thought you only noticed me when Bren introduced us."

"No, I definitely noticed you at Marianne's, and if you'd been anyone else, I probably would've kissed you that night instead of her," Brandon said.

Kelly asked why he hadn't.

He turned off the stove and discarded the burnt omelette.

"Because Steve told me you were his ex. I was the new kid. He was my first friend in town. I couldn't kiss my friend's ex."

"Especially when your friend's ex was like a sister to you," Kelly reminded him jokingly.

"I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

"Nope." She tickled his earlobes.

"Well, let me show you just how much I don't think of us as platonic," he growled into her ear.

"You'll have to catch me first."

She removed herself from his grasp and ran backwards until he caught her, laughing, to toss down on his bed.

A bed that was quickly becoming theirs.

Twenty minutes and one change of Brandon's attire later, they were back at the stove. This time, he cooked. As he diced, she talked.

"David's beside himself. Valerie won't even talk to him. He found out from Steve that she moved in with Clare. I'm really worried about him, Brandon."

"I'm surprised you're not doing a victory dance, Kelly. You're not exactly Val's biggest fan." Brandon shuffled through the spice rack. "Can you hand me the cinnamon?"