Cooking Up A Storm - A Norman Reedus Fanfic Romance

Chapter 31 - Hip Hip Puree'!

BENNY

Grabbing my cup of tea, I wandered into the staff room.

Sat down at the table and plonked yesterday's newspaper in front of me. That's where it stayed, unopened for the next twenty minutes. Today anyways.

This is my normal routine when I arrive each morning, savouring my solitude before Liev arrives. Then the rest of my brigade will eventually dribble in an hour or so later. Ready for the start of the lunch prep.

Though today my mind isn't on world events. It's too busy replaying episodes of the soap opera known as 'The Life and Times of Albany Tennyson'.

Norman has been away for seven weeks now and I'm missing him dreadfully. Not just in body but always in mind. Snatched minutes of Facetime, phone calls and daily texts can't make up for having him here in the flesh.

Being able to touch, smell and taste him....listen to his voice and hear him laugh.

I'm still shocked at how much I've let my guard down. Especially when it comes to some of the things we've said and done. If you'd told me six months ago that I'd be eagerly getting my gear and rocks off, watching him do the same via Facetime?

Well....I'd have said snowflakes chance in hell!

Yet here I am doing just that. Or sending him naughty pics to accompany just as naughty texts. Not as good as the real thing though.

Shit, gotta be honest....it doesn't even come close.

But it keeps us both going in what Norman says are 'our times of need'. And he calls me his 'little pornographic memory'.

But I trust him and I'm pretty sure that's the biggest contributing factor. To how safe I feel in just....letting go. Never knew I've got so much in me to let go of. He's woken me from a deep sleep in more ways than one.

A lot of nights though? We'll just be content to lay there and talk until we both admit that sleep might come to us.

Last night he glumly told me he'll be out of contact for a few days, and I couldn't help the feeling I got in the pit of my stomach.

I'm trying so hard to not let him see how much I miss him. Don't want him to feel as if I'm being clingy or possessive? Especially as we're still seeing where this is taking us.

Colleagues who became friends who became....lovers. So much more than besties?

Trying....

....so hard....

He'll be back in a couple of weeks. But only for mere days before heading on the publicity trail for a movie he made last year. Then he's off for a few 'Walker Stalker'  conventions before filming of the next series begins.

But this is his life and I'll never ask him to change a thing for me. Just as he hasn't expected me to give up my life for him.

If we can keep doing that? Just accept each other's busy lives and commitments, work our way through the loneliness? Then who knows what tomorrow will bring.

And lord knows I'm busy, but still loving it....mostly. Even though there's no filming or 'Dead stars'  around Senoia at the mo, the restaurant is still a beacon. Drawing in absolute hordes, it's a pretty even split between locals and tourists.

We certainly have our regulars.

Cal started to thaw out a bit towards me upon our return in January. And the first time he asked me to help him rejig a recipe to increase orders? Well....I almost tripped over my jaw in surprise.