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“Date night, huh?”
“I was thinking we could light some candles, sit down at the table and go on a date,” Alex says, and there’s something so damn sweet about his idea that my heartbeat kicks up a few notches. “We never even tried to date. We just went right to the whole sex thing and since that’s off-limits, I thought, mushroom pasta by candlelight.” He looks down at his feet, avoiding eye contact with me like he’s nervous. I love when he’s like this and as much as I want to tease him for being sweet, I let it go.
“I think that sounds wonderful. And I wouldn’t say the sex thing is totally off limits,” I say, winking at him as I add the pasta to the now boiling water. “We still have that sketchy jug of vodka.”
“Yes,” he calls out, tossing a fist into the air. He’s really funny and endearing when he wants to be. I might not even need the vodka to hop into the sack with him.
With the pastaand more tea now ready, Alex lights the candles and I set the table. If we weren’t trapped in this old, smelly ass cabin, date night would be pretty nice.
“Cheers,” Alex says, holding up his steaming mug of tea. We both added a little bit of the sketchy honey to it and we chiseled off a few chunks of sugar from the hardened brick I found in one of the cabinets.
I pick up my glass and tap it against his. “To getting to know each other with our clothes on.”
“You with your clothes off is pretty great, so I’m guessing with them on will be even better.”
“Oh my god, Alex. Why are you so cheesy?”
“I’m not. I was just trying to make our date night realistic.”
“Realistic? Realistic would be you making some arrogant comment and me rolling my eyes.”
He wets his lips, watching me from across the table and it feels like he’s trying to come up with something to say. I laugh in the waiting silence, biting down on my lip, wondering what he’s going to say.
“What are you thinking about?” I eventually ask, breaking the silence.
“Honestly?” he replies, cocking his head to the side.
“Yes, honestly.”
“I was thinking about that sandwich you made,” he says, and I have no idea what he’s talking about. I narrow my eyes at him, wondering if he’s losing it out here.
“What sandwich? We don’t even have bread.”
“Remember that one you made with the avocado and the bacon and that fancy lettuce. I took it from you and then you kissed me,” he says, clarifying that he’s talking about something that happened a while ago.
“Oh, that one. What made you think about that?”
“We’re about to eat pasta with mushrooms that smell like my childhood. Like VapoRub.”
He has me laughing again. The pasta really does smell like that. Hopefully it tastes better than it smells, not that we have a bunch of options.
“At least we won’t get scurvy,” I reply and now it’s him laughing. “I really would have thought you would’ve been thinking about that kiss rather than the sandwich.”
“Were you thinking about the kiss?” he asks, waiting for me to respond before he does. He’s testing me to see if things between us are good.
They are. They’re really good despite our situation.
13
ALEX
“Iasked you first,” she smirks.
I shake my head at her. This is like our fourth or fifth night in the cabin together, I think anyway, but it somehow feels like we’ve been here for weeks at this point. Both of us have cycled through our emotions, getting pissed at each other, getting angry and sad, and yet still finding our way back to this easy banter we shared before I went and fucked everything up. And underneath it all is the undeniable chemistry we have. Chemistry we almost acted on this morning.
Chemistry I am finding harder and harder to ignore as it grows into something much bigger.
“Laney,” I say, leaning forward, a smile on my face as I rest my forearms on the table and my eyes lock with hers. “I’m always thinking about kissing you.” I pause before adding, “Among other things.”
