Shaforostart It - THE SEQUEL (2016)

Chapter Sixteen // PastaBathMan

"I really wanna get in it." Cameron said as both of us just stared at the literal bathtub full of pasta I had made. I wasn't quite sure why we put it all in the tub. Maybe for volume measurement. It just sounded like a really good idea at the time.

"I don't think Ben would appreciate a tub of pasta as much as if you put your naked ass in it."

"Why would I need to be naked. A clothed pasta bath, Leda. Clothed."

"Either way. We should probably take it out soon and start buying pots to put it in." So rather than look for the biggest containers we had, we just sat on the floor and watched the pasta bath. As if it would move. As if a man made of pasta would emerge and declare himself kind of the land. That would have been cool. That would have been really cool. Cameron pulled out her phone and took a picture of the bathtub. She pulled a plastic rose from the sink displace and stuck in the middle. She said she had planted it. She took more pictures. I took a selfie with it. It felt like an iconic piece of history and I was glad to be around for it. It was pretty damn cool - not pasta man cool, but pretty cool. I heard the front door open - with keys. It was Denis. I got up as fast I could, which isn't very fast at almost eight months pregnant, and ran to the front door. The smile on his face was so big I was sure it might have hurt just a little bit. I couldn't contain my smile.

"I'm all better, baby." I ran over and hugged him as tightly as I could. "I'm home." I felt tears brim in my eyes as I heard Cameron walk around the corner.

"What the fuck?" She said, not accusingly, not confused. I couldn't let go of Denis. After I got all my hugging out for the next five minutes, I turned back to Cam.

"The day of Ciara's funeral, after you dropped me off at home, Denis was here to make sure I was okay. We got talking and everything, and I asked him to come home. He wanted to finish his treatment, and be all better, and now he is." I couldn't stop smiling. I turned around and hugged him again. I heard Cam and Denis giggle a bit. When I pulled away Cam took my place and hugged Denis tightly.

"Well I'm glad your back. I'm glad your better." Their hug was brief, but nice.

"Me too."

"Hey also this is weird but I'm sorry that like five years ago when we all met I tried to steal you from Leda. I didn't ever apologise for that. So sorry." Denis just looked at her curiously and laughed.

"I don't even remember that."

"You punched Ben so I put a tampon up his nose and then Cam came and tried to fuck you and then we got in a fight and I ran away and you took me home and told me you wanted to run away with me." I recited as if it had happened yesterday.

"Oh." Denis laughed. "I remember that. And don't worry about it Cameron, seriously. What were you guys doing when I got here?" Cameron and I just looked at each other.

"Pasta bath." We both whispered at the same time. I grabbed Denis' hand and pulled him into the bathroom, presenting him with the tub full of spaghetti noodles. Pasta man had not yet emerged.

"Why is there a flower in it?" He asked curiously.

"I planted it." Cameron said surely. Denis nodded.

"Okay, that's cool."

"So you don't think that's weird, at all. That we filled a bath tub with noodles?"

"Oh no. You're both fucking crazy." Denis laughed. "Are you sure you're not the ones that should be in the hospitals?" Cameron laughed dramatically.

"I'm off my meds."

"We actually also made a boat load of sauce too. It's all for Ben, as an "I hope you're doing well after this difficult time in your life" casserole thing."

"You made all this for Be- wait. Sauce from a jar or the shit you make?"

"She has been elbow deep in tomato sauce for days making all of this Denis. Elbow, deep." Denis' eyes went wide as a smirk crept onto his lips. Only after his fourth plate, he made a noise that wasn't moaning and groaning.

"Fuck." He sat back on the bar stool, his stomach protruding from all the food. "Fuck. That stuff is so good. I might cry. No offence, but even when we were mad at each other I was still tempted to come over and see if you had any in the fridge. I want to replace my blood with this sauce and have my entire body made out of pasta."

"You would rot." Cameron said quickly.

"No. I would eat myself before I would rot. Duh."

"Wait. You would eat your own ass if it was made out of pasta?"

"Wouldn't you?" Denis said obviously. Cameron thought long and hard about it, before nodding. "Yeah. See. I would eat pasta ass all day." I sighed, happy to have him back.

"Unfortunately, you can't eat any more of it. It's for Ben."

"That's a negative, Leds. Ben can have a bowl, if he's lucky. This is mine." I pulled out all the pots and containers from under the counter.

"That's a negative, Denise. Start packing." He rolled his eyes and grabbed a ladle. We spent the rest of the afternoon packing spaghetti, and catching up. It turns out, that as soon as Denis got back, he had to wait a week for his next meeting with his psychiatrist. As soon as they met, and Denis told him everything that had happened, he said that Denis was perfect fine and ready to check himself out whenever he wanted. That was an hour before Denis got home. We had enough food to fill the entire kitchens counters, going into the bathroom every few minutes to pack another thing of pasta from the tub. Looking at all of it, I could tell that we had made far too much, even to make the point I was going for. We decided Denis could keep half of it. We brought the rest to Ben, all together. When he opened the door, rather than being surprised, Ben just smiled.

"I knew it. I knew it." He shook his head. "You're meant to be." And then he saw the pasta.