Anyone Else But You

Chapter 19 - In Which There is an Audience

The Verve - Lucky Man

"Players gonna play, play, play, play, play,

and the haters gonna to hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.

I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off!"

Maddie had her earphones in as she shuffled around the kitchen making dinner for that night, her dad was in a meeting until late and it was parents' evening at her mum's school. So dinner was left to her and Kate, although her sister didn't really seem to be helping. She began humming to the Taylor swift song hammering in her ears and shimmying, looking down she noticed Teddy watching her with curiosity.

She bent down and gave him a tickle as he rolled over, surrendering to her touch. Standing up straight she turned back to the cheese sauce she was making and quickly turned the ring down as the liquid began to boil up too much. Grabbing a spoon she stirred the contents of the saucepan and continued to dance with her eyes closed. After a minute she turned the ring off and spun around to grab the pepper mill to season the sauce, stopping dead as she saw Jasper leaning against the doorframe smiling lopsidedly at her.

"Don't stop on my account I was enjoying the show." He stepped toward continuing to grin widely at her, Maddie pulled her earphones out and turned her iPod off.

"How did you get in here?" She moved the saucepan away from the hob and began grinding pepper into it, followed by grated cheese and stirred it through.

"Your sister let me in, she said you were making dinner in here." He dipped his finger in her sauce and tasted it. "Mmm that's good. What are you making?" He tried to dip his finger in the saucepan again but she was too quick for him and moved it out of his reach.

"Macaroni cheese." She answered as she tipped the sauce over the pasta she'd cooked earlier and stirred everything thoroughly. When it had all been mixed in she placed the big dish in the oven and turned back towards Jasper who was licking the spoon she'd just mixed the sauce with. She looked at him like it was the weirdest thing she'd ever seen.

"What? Macaroni cheese is one of my favourites." He put the spoon down and walked towards her, stopping just in front of her. "I forgot to say this earlier, hi." He smiled down at her and put his hands on her waist, pulling her towards him. His face leant down to hers and their lips brushed against each other's.

"Hi." Maddie whispered back as they pulled slowly apart, she sighed as she looked into his eyes. Her stomach was full of butterflies and bubbles and all manner of things that wouldn't stop still, she'd never felt anything like this before and it scared her a little bit; in an exciting terrifying sort of way. "You can stay for dinner if you want, my parents won't mind."

"Are you sure? I don't want it to be awkward or anything."

"It won't be, hopefully. I mean they don't know about us but they're going to have to find out at some point right?" She looked up at him a little unsure, but his smile reassured her.

"Yes they will, because I'm not planning to get rid of you anytime soon." He grinned and pulled her closer again. His lips caught hers and his tongue darted out to lick her lower lip making her moan and letting his tongue in. Her hands slid up to cradle his face, stroking his hair and caressing his cheek.

The sound of someone clearing their throat loudly broke the two of them apart, they both turned expecting to see Kate but coming face to face with Maddie's father. Inspector McCarthy did not look a happy man, he stood with his arms crossed and the type of look that could make any criminal confess. Maddie heard Jasper gulp next to her.

"What do you think you're doing to my daughter?" It was the calmness that was the most disturbing, the way he could ask questions without showing any emotion. It was the reason he was such a good detective.