“What do you have planned for the rest of your day?”
“Not much. I was just going to finish unpacking more of my things. What about you?”
“Same.” He pauses before continuing, “Do you want to get dinner later at the new Italian place on Main Street?”
“Oh, sure, we can do that. Do you know if we need reservations?”
“I’ll take care of it,” he says as we finish up our breakfast in silence.
I’ve always found silence to be comforting and never felt the need to fill it with mindless chatter. I never noticed that Logan would often break the silence with conversation, as if the silence made him uncomfortable.
Ben seems to be not only comfortable but also at ease with the lack of conversation. As I’m getting up to clear my plate, our legs accidentally brush each other. I must imagine the electric charge that passes between us at the casual touch since I don’t see him react other than to move his leg out of my way.
I’m almost done getting ready for dinner when I hear music playing in the living room. I put some lip gloss on and roll my lips together before pursing my lips in the mirror and blowing myself a kiss. The red dress compliments my tanned complexion.
Since breakfast, I’ve gotten a good amount of unpacking and organizing done. I even left to go shopping at the local mall for some decor for the apartment and grabbed some lunch while I was out exploring the area. When I got back, Ben was in the shower. He texted me while I was out to let me know he had made dinner reservations for 6 P.M. That gave me enough time to lie down for a quick nap before I would need to get up and get ready.
It’s about 5:30 P.M., and after giving myself a last glance in the mirror, I walk out to the living room to find Ben seated on the couch with a bottle of wine and two glasses already poured on the table. He’s fiddling on his phone when he notices my approach. I almost laugh at his double-take as he takes in my outfit.
“Hey, I poured you a glass of wine. I figured we could share a drink before we head to dinner.”
“I’d love that. Thank you.” I sit across from him on the loveseat. Spike is sleeping on the back of the loveseat, and I give him a little pet across his head. The cats seemed to have acclimated much faster than I expected. I’m glad to see that he’s happy and content with the new living arrangements.
Ben has some music playing softly in the background. I grab the glass of wine as he hands it over to me, and we settle in.
“You look nice.” I feel heat spreading from my neck at the unexpected compliment and thank him.
We get to talking about our day and move on to other topics. The conversation seems to flow easily and doesn’t feel forced. I’ve never felt so at ease talking to someone before. Ben has a natural ability to make me feel comfortable and not think too hard about what I’m saying.
“Oh, shit!” Ben exclaims as he looks at his watch. “It looks like we missed our dinner reservations.”
Surprised, I look at my phone to find that we had been sitting there for almost an hour, just talking and enjoying our glass of wine together.
“Do you still want to go to the restaurant? I don’t know if they will still seat us,” I ask him.
“We can try another night if you want to just order delivery. Want to try that Chinese place everyone keeps recommending to us?” The Chinese restaurant in town is notorious for its weekend karaoke nights and authentic Chinese food.
“Yeah, that sounds like a great plan, actually.”
I pull up the menu to the restaurant and tell Ben my order so he can call to have it delivered. We resume our conversation as we wait for our food to get here. The doorbell rings about thirty minutes later, and Ben gets up to get the food for us. I hear him thank the delivery guy and make his way back up the stairs.
He sets the bag of food on the coffee table, and I unpack the containers and utensils and set them out. I end up moving to sit next to him on the couch so we are both facing the giant flat-screen TV together. We scroll around for something to watch and eventually settle on the latest Marvel movie.
We sit in comfortable silence and eat our dinner. As the movie picks up, I can’t help but sneak a few glances at him from the corner of my eye.
I’ve always found Ben to be attractive. He’s tall, about six feet, and he’s toned and fit without being too bulky. He has always had a clean-shaven beard for as long as I’ve known him. I’ve never been into bearded men before, but Ben wears it well. What I’ve always noticed about Ben from the beginning, besides his good looks, is that he’s always smiling. His brilliant smile and charisma are dazzling to me. He’s always appeared genuine in his interactions with anyone he talks to. But outside of large group events, we’ve rarely talked one-on-one before moving in together. That and the fact that his ex-girlfriend would give anyone with boobs dirty looks if they dared to approach him.
During the movie, we drift closer together so that our shoulders are touching. Sitting so close to him, I can smell the musk of his cologne. It smells like sandalwood with hints of vanilla. I’m tempted to lay my head on his shoulder, but I resist, if only because he’d probably think it’s weird.
I internally roll my eyes at myself for the ridiculous urge. Despite living together, we barely know each other.
I guess all that wine is getting to me, and I feel my eyes getting heavy. I feel a sense of warmth and belonging as I drift off into sleep.
16
emily
I’m startled awake when Spike jumps onto my shoulder and purrs. He sticks his whiskered nose in my face, and I realize three things at once.
