Small Town Talk

chapter 7 - Dinner date closure

Chapter 7

His

She smiled on the way to my house. In the car on the way back, when she opened the doors to hers, when she went up to take a shower and she was still smiling when she came back down. I hated to ruin the moment but I needed to get one thing straight with her.

“Riva, what happened the other day” she turned to face me “I don’t want it to be like that”

“I know” I could see the hurt reflecting in her eyes and it killed me

“For next few weeks can we just try to get along and I don’t know be friends?” I asked

She looked at me analyzing every word I said, weighing each promise she would have to make and in return I would have to keep in line with my boundaries. She still didn’t answer

“I’ve missed you” the words slipped out before I could stop it, a part of me wished I hadn’t and another part wished I hadn’t stopped there.

She took a step towards me and my heart race picked up. Then another step until she was directly in front of me. I gripped the counter behind me for support but the look on her face was not one of affection but hatred. “No you haven’t” she death stared me.

I grabbed her shoulders and turned her so she was pinned against the counter; each hand on either side of her hips. I had the upper hand this way. “I don’t expect you to understand what I’ve been through for the past 2 years”

She opened her mouth to say something but fought for words, being the opportunist that I am. I kissed her. Lightly and in that moment I wanted to melt away. No. I wanted to pull away, I should have. Her lips weren’t sweet but fiery, just like I remembered. I stayed in control and she pushed me back lightly. “Friends don’t kiss each other”

 I stayed quiet “that” she said “was a kiss”

 I leaned in to give her the tiniest kiss that could be labelled as neighborly “That was closure” I grabbed my jacket walked out the door.

***

Hers

 My mind flicked back to this morning after he called me a slut, I wonder what would have happened if I had let him catch up to me. The way he slammed his fist against the door, he was so angry. I’m not sure if he was angry with what I did or what he’d said. And what did he mean I’m not ready for that conversation yet? The one we’d just had or the one where I explained what happened that night at Burbank’s because either way I was mentally and physically unprepared for both.

Half an hour later I got tired of his mood swings. So I went out and found him on the porch staring off into the night. What a drama queen.

“I hate to ruin your super awesome silence” I said sarcastically “but I’m hungry, can we go make dinner now?”

He smiled politely “sure” as if grateful for the ‘get out of jail free card’

I chopped up onions, tomatoes, green peppers and carrots and passed them over to Ben for the Bolognese sauce while he cooked the meat and boiled the water.

“You know,” he said “most chefs spend hours perfecting the perfect sauces, just to ruin it by not straining the pasta well enough”

“Interesting information there chef, I’d love to put my input in but I don’t even know how to cook an egg let alone boil spaghetti”

“Come here,” he chuckled “I’ll teach you”

I let out a very long exaggerated sigh and walked over to where he stood. I was very aware of how close he was and could feel his breath against my neck.

“First you let the water boil” he said “then you put the pasta in for exactly 7 minutes”

“Then you strain it under cold water and ice”

“Why ice?” I asked dumfounded

“well, when  you take the pasta out of hot water it’s still cooking, you need to stop it from becoming  an over cooked mushed up mess”

“Okay, you see I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with this knowledge, like do you expect dinner every night or something?” this guy was a retard if he thought so

“Yeah, no. I wanna live till my next birthday” ukh rude much?

“Jerk” I playfully shoved him

He retaliated by throwing a cup of water at me. that escalated quickly.

“Wow Ben now I’m wet” he quirked an eyebrow

“Are you now?” clearly he was more than amused by the situation, blood rushed to my cheeks and I felt myself blush immensely. I turned around and stomped upstairs. Ben was laughing his ass off in the kitchen

“Shut up Benjamin”

“And the names back! Ladies and gentlemen”

After I cleaned up and went back downstairs for dinner, Ben had the table set up and it was different. Usually it was just dad, Mattie and I sitting in front of the TV. He still remembered where everything was. That’s cute, I guess. I sat at the table and I have to admit right now that everything smelt amazing. And I was drooling over the food on my plate. I could get used to this. Totally.

“I could get used to this” I smirked, totally not taking advantage of the situation.

“Aha, okay but don’t expect it everyday” he retorted and I frowned

“Pfft fine whatever man” disappointing as it was, he was not here to feed me.

“Like tomorrow for example he added”

“What’s happening tomorrow?” very interested in what he was about to say next

“I’ve got a date”