Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 138526 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138526 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
“Unless you made plans?” he asks, still eyeing my belongings with a disinterested look on his face.
“I didn’t but——”
“Then get dressed, we’ll wait,” he orders, using the same tone he uses at work. Firm and to the point.
After six months I should be used to him, but he still makes me nervous.
“Well… actually…” I chew on my lip. “I already ordered Chinese food. They do the best duck ever.”
He clicks his tongue against his palate. “Too late to cancel?”
“Definitely, but I ordered loads. Enough for all of us, if you want to stay and join me?”
He looks around my apartment once more. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Then he kicks off his shoes, takes off his jacket, sits on my sofa and asks, “What are we watching?”
Is it bad that I was hoping he’d say no, thank you and leave?
This is weird.
“Bumblebee.”
“Haven’t seen this one yet,” he comments and restarts the movie.
“Wine, whiskey, or soda?” I ask, moving to my little kitchen space.
“Whiskey,” he replies.
“Me too,” Maria jokes.
I stick my tongue out at her and pour the drinks. Pouring myself two fingers of whiskey and mixing it with a dash of water. I add ice to his and give it to him neat. I get Maria a grape soda that I buy for when Laurie comes. She loves sugary drinks. They both do.
“Thank you, I’d have brought something with me had I known we’d be staying in.”
“That’s why phones were invented,” I remark playfully, sitting on my favorite recliner seat and bringing my feet up to my butt. I hold my glass and tap my fingernails against the side. I know it annoys him when I do that but my house, my rules.
He still gives me a look of irritancy though and I just smile and smile and smile.
Maria wanders around my first-floor apartment for a while, looking at trinkets but not touching. She’s good like that. Well, I say apartment but really, it’s a house that has been separated into two. I share an entrance door with my neighbor but the second apartment is above mine, so I rarely see her. I’m on the first floor.
I sip my whiskey and water in an awkward silence. Mr. C. sips his whiskey in his own awkward silence. The movie plays but nobody is really watching it.
“Why don’t we play a game?” I suggest, chewing on the corner of my mouth. “I have cards. We can play Go Fish?”
“YES!” Maria cheers.
“Why not?” Mr. C mutters, putting his phone away after checking it for the hundredth time.
I sit cross-legged on the sofa, moving to the space beside Mr. C because Maria took my space on the recliner. I don’t mind, she’s a guest and I’d look like a dick if I asked her to move.
After dealing out the deck we play two rounds before food is here. Mr. C retrieves it, muttering about me being indecent despite the fact my body is probably draped in more fabric than I have bedding in this house.
He pays for it too and refuses to take my money when I offer it. That’s sweet but he always does that when we eat together. Money isn’t an object for him.
I get the plates and spread them on the dining room table, pouring us both more whiskey as Mr. C serves it.
“You really did order a lot of food,” he comments quietly, his lips twitching with a smile.
“I usually save it and eat it for breakfast.”
“That’s gross.”
“Meh. Each to their own.”
“Did you know that cold rice houses more bacteria than almost every other food?” Maria asks excitedly and I make a mental note to check that fact out later.
“Kids just know things,” I say, sipping more of my whiskey.
This is so entirely awkward still, even after two boring rounds of Go Fish. Either Mr. C just has no personality when it comes to games, or we have zero chemistry in any way. And I don’t mean romantic chemistry, just chemistry in general. Like if I was sitting here with Laurie right now, we’d be laughing so hard we’d have tears and snot all over our faces.
A gross picture but such truth.
We eat in silence, listening to Maria yammer on about something to do with romance and the Mayans. I didn’t know those two things were related but, apparently, they are. And aliens. Aliens are involved in some way too.
We finish our dinner and I start to clear the plates away. Mr. C helps, wiping down the table and taking the trash to the garbage shoot down the hall. I’ve almost finished when he returns and smiles at me. Still awkward.
Fuck, I wish this night would end.
Maria screeches with glee, holding up a microphone that connects to the TV. We both jumped at her sudden screech, my wet hand goes to my heart and Mr. C looks at it and rolls his eyes, smiling with amusement.