A la Carte

Chapter 10

The past week had been a blur and flurry of work and Derek Tyson. Charlotte had been busy, as it seemed that the Bistro had an evening function on for every evening of the week and in between prep for the events and the Bistro, she had been cooking with Tyler, taking him up on her offer, not to mention Derek had been popping in at the apartment occasionally to spend time with her. It was on one of these days that Tyler and Derek arrived at the same time, causing a bit of a misunderstanding between the two and a long explanation from Charlotte to clear it up.

"So he's teaching you how to cook?" Derek clarified for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

"That's what I said," Charlotte answered, "Are you jealous?" She asked suddenly. Derek looked away, a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks.

"You are!" Charlotte, let out a loud laugh and immediately covered her mouth as she laughed even harder when he sent a glare her way, clenching his jaw as he sat next to her on the couch.

"It's not funny."

"It is." Charlotte said solemnly, before laughing once again. She stopped when she realised her was staring at her with what seemed to be a look of awe in his eyes.

"What?"

"Did I ever tell you, you're really beautiful?" He asked, his voice husky.

"Many times." Charlotte said with a small smile. He leaned closer and captured her mouth with his, it was sweet, but demanding and it was only after they both needed oxygen that they stopped.

"Do you want to stay for supper?" Charlotte asked, "Tyler and I are cooking."

"Yeah that would be nice." Derek said.

"Great! I'll quickly let Tyler know we have one more guest." She said before hopping off the couch and going to Betty's room, making sure to knock before entering.

"Hey! " Tyler was sprawled on Betty's bed, while Betty was seated at the desk.

"Hey." They both said in unison.

"So, Derek is staying for dinner, if that's okay."

"Sure! The more the merrier." Tyler said as he leafed through the pages of various cookbooks.

"Shit! I completely forgot to let you guys know!" Betty exclaimed.

"What?" Tyler and Charlotte both asked.

"I invited Tanya, my sister, to come over because I knew you two were cooking."

"And that's bad because...?" Charlotte asked.

"She is going to feel like such a third wheel." Betty said, "And she hates that."

"We'll just invite Dimitri over." Tyler said.

"You know Dimitri?" Charlotte asked surprised.

"Yeah, I catered for his mom once and I bump into him quite often since I spend so much time here." Tyler explained.

"Okay then, you invite him then and I'll get cracking." Charlotte said, standing up and leaving before Tyler could argue.
Charlotte got started with finding ingredients for the Fettuccine Alfredo that she and Tyler had decided to make. Tyler joined her a couple minutes later and got started on his dessert.

"Dimitri accepted, he'll be here in an hour."

"Great!" Charlotte said, ignoring the feeling of unease at the pit of her stomach and concentrated on the task instead.
The doorbell rang just as Charlotte was draining the fettuccine.

"I've got it!" Betty called, her heels clacking against the tiled floor, she was dressed in a 1950 style dress that was plain black, her red hair was curled and hung down her back.