Personal Chef

Chapter 11

After my dinner with Andrew and Shawn, I stopped by my parents' house to talk to them about the trip to Los Angeles. They were sitting in the living room in their pajamas enjoying a cup of hot cocoa as they watched TV. I declined when they offered me one since I was stuffed from dinner.

"So what do you think?" I asked them after explaining the whole situation.

My mom spoke first. "I think it's a good opportunity for you. You'll get to visit California, you'll make a lot of money, and you'll get to experience the whole album recording process."

The last thing she mentioned excited me. My day to day relationship with Shawn had very little to do with his career. He'd occasionally talk about what he was up to, but I felt that one of the things he liked about me, as a friend, was that the focus wasn't on his music or stardom. We could talk about mundane things like television shows and movies we'd seen. Sometimes he'd play guitar in the living room as I cooked, but mostly he worked out of his studio. If I went to California, I'd see a whole different side of him.

"How many people will you be cooking for?" my dad asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it sounded like maybe four to six, sometimes more."

"That'll be a breeze," he said. "Are they providing a car so you can shop? Or so that you can see the area when you are not working?"

"That's a good question." I took out my phone and opened a memo and typed that in. I'd email Andrew later. A car would come in handy. I didn't want to be dependent on other people for my daily trips to the store, though I could use Uber if I had to.

"What about the girlfriend?" my mom asked.

My parents knew how difficult Kat was to me. I probably shouldn't have told them, but I had to vent to someone.

"She's no longer in the picture."

My mom raised an eyebrow. "Your boss is single?"

"So?" I asked.

"Ignore your mother," my dad said. "Her mind always goes to romance. I think it's from all those books she reads."

"Shawn may be single, but I sort of have a boyfriend," I said to my mom.

"Sort of means what?" she asked.

I shrugged. "We're not that serious, but we might be down the road. Who knows."

My mother just shook her head.

~~~~~~

A couple days later I was sitting on that sort-of-boyfriend's lap in his apartment. I'd just told him the details of my trip.

"A month is a long time. I'll miss you," he said, his dark brown eyes showing his sadness.

"It'll go by quickly. You'll be busy with school. And hey, I'll be back in time for your graduation."

"Just promise me you'll talk to me each day," he said as he gave me a kiss on the nose.

"I'll have plenty of down time. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with myself when I'm not cooking."

"Maybe you can play a back up instrument when Mendes records."

I laughed. "Like maracas? Or the triangle? Because even those would be a reach."

"Triangle for sure. I don't want Mendes watching you shake your maracas."

This made me laugh even harder. The idea that I'd look sexy shaking an instrument was humorous. Even funnier was the thought that Shawn would notice.

"I may have to have a talk with him so that he knows to stay away from my girl," Ben said. I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not.

"You really don't have to worry about that."

"No? He's on the rebound, and he's going to be living in the same house with the most gorgeous girl he's probably ever seen."

Ben was the master of exaggeration when it came to compliments. Part of me loved it, but part of me felt like he went so far over the top that it was clear he was just being hyperbolic.

"Even if that was true, do you really think he'd do that to you? You're his friend."

Ben smiled. "I know. I'm just giving you a hard time."

The subject was dropped and we moved on to kissing. What Ben had said lingered at the back of my mind as we made out. I wasn't worried about what he'd suggested, but it bothered me that he'd even brought it up. It really wasn't like him.

The next day, I talked to Paige about it. We'd met for coffee again since we both had free time in the morning.

"Shawn's single and Ben thinks he might make a move on you?" she asked after sipping her vanilla latte.

"I don't think he was being serious, but it bugs me that his mind went there even jokingly."

"How serious are you and Ben?"

This was the third time that I'd been asked something like this this. I hated the question.

"I don't know. We're not that serious. I sometimes wish things were. I feel like he's the one holding back."

She looked at me intently before speaking. "You know he took his break-up with Karyn really hard, right?"

"He avoids talking about it, but Shawn said something once that implied it."

"I've known them both for years. They had a good thing. I think it was too much for her, though. She wanted to have fun in college and have lots of experiences. That's why she broke up with him."

Part of me understood Karyn's thought process. Settling down when your barely out of being a teenager seemed scary to me, but I had very little dating experience, so what did I know?

"How did she handle the break-up?" I asked. I then took a long sip of my coffee which was finally cool enough for me to enjoy.

"She went a little wild for a while. Partying. Hook-ups. If she missed Ben, she didn't let on."

"Meanwhile he had a broken heart?"

"Yeah, it was bad until he met you. I think you helped him get over her."

"So if he's over her, why's he keeping me at arm's length?" I asked, hoping Paige could give me a little insight.

"That's a good question. You should ask him."

"Ha. No. I'm too new to this whole relationship thing to do that." I thought of something Paige had said a second ago. "You said Karyn went wild for a while. Did she stop?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah, she lost interest in all that fairly fast."

As we stood to go our respective ways, Paige put a hand on my shoulder.

"I know you've said over and over there is nothing between you and Shawn, but do you think Ben brought that up because he saw the same thing I did that night?"

"Maybe he noticed something that night. If he did, he's never even hinted to me about it."

"Maybe it's just the proximity that bugs him. You and Shawn spend a lot of time together. I can see why that could incite a little jealousy."

I realized that Paige was probably right. Kat had the same issue. I spent more time with Shawn than I did with anyone else.