Never Been Kissed

Ch.29 ↬ J

Were candles too much this time as well?

Jesus fuck. What was it with my obsession with attributing Madeline and candles together? Every time we've tried to make something of our evenings, I've always contemplated lighting candles... for way too long and losing track of time as I canvassed my apartment. A frown tugged at my lips, the gentle hum fracturing the stillness of my apartment.

Were candles too romantic?

Fuck yes. They were romantic. And possibly too romantic for tonight. Irrespective of the determination that Madeline exuded when she brazenly turned up at my door still in her workout attire from Zumba, I was letting her take this at her own pace. She was in control of that and I had no qualms regarding that decision. She needed to feel comfortable around me, especially after our fiasco of our first kiss.

Truthfully, so did I. Since confessing my secret from five years ago, we'd not seen much of one another for the rest of the weekend until she virtually banged her fist on my apartment door and scheduled our "date".

Actually, you know what?

It was a date. There're no quotation marks. No question about it.

It was a fucking date... but I still suspected candles would be too much.

Let the candles go already! my mind hollered at my idiocy.

All week we'd only seen one another in passing. My proposal had not long been accepted and now I was having to commence the early stages of the expansion, ensuring everything was completed legitimately and with pertinent documentation. That meant I was leaving the office later than I'd prefer, but as soon as the expansion was fully implemented, it would all pay off in the end.

However, I knew Madeline required to have a meeting with Vincent soon regarding the website maintenance. It was part of our contracts. This was also her chance, as a client, to offer any improvements or criticism gained from her audience and update it, if required. I hadn't checked the website in a while—not since before the expansion work commenced—purely because I've just been too busy to indulge in downtime like that and be unable to shake Madeline from my mind for the next several hours. Even when I'm having to endeavour to immerse myself in mind-numbing meetings, she still somehow lingered.

Okay, that's bullshit. Who the fuck was I kidding?

I could never shake Madeline from my mind.

She had special powers, I swear. Maybe hypnosis.

Notwithstanding our lack of interaction and my obsession with candles, I swear the first thing I did was purchase more buttery popcorn, replenishing my stash in my cupboard. You might think I'm ashamed to admit that I bought eight more bags of the heavenly snacks—I would have bought more but there were only eight bags remaining on the shelf in the store—just for Madeline. Actually, you might think I'm insane.

Ashamed, no. Insane, certifiably.

And to further that point, it might interest you to know that I stocked up on my stash of candles... I splurged on scented candles, resplendent candles, small candles, big candles... a whole lot of candles, basically. I'm pretty sure the woman at the checkout either suspected I was the most romantic guy in the world or I had some major grovelling to do.

I'd like to say both, but maybe I'm biased.

I mean, I can be pretty romantic if I tried.

But whatever. I digress. I had more urgent matters to deal with... like determining a solution for whether I litter the lounge with candles and render my apartment as a potential fire hazard or I save them for a later date and allow the sweetly intoxicating scent of buttery popcorn to waft through the apartment. I liked that scenario better, I mused.