LbA: Gorgeous Men Who Cook

“Aleah, if you want me to talk to them, I will,” Detective Stratton said, responding to my concerns of Victoria and Luke. 

I had decided to meet with him and let him know my encounters and that I felt really uncomfortable with them.  And threatened, even though there was nothing specific they had done.

He continued, “But just know it’s more of a favor to you than anything else.  You can file a report, but it would more or less just be to create a paper trail, because they haven’t committed a crime.  If you have another idea, please let me know.”

I sighed.  “I know.  And I don’t.  I just wanted you… wanted someone to know what was going on, just in case it got worse.  I’m sorry if I’m wasting your time,” I said miserably.

“No, I understand.”  His tone softened.  “You know that if either of them really did anything to you, I’d be on my way to pick them up immediately.  You’re like the daughter I’ve never had.”

“Or ever wanted!” I teased him, despite the circumstances.

He chuckled.  “Kids just aren’t for me!” 

He stood up to walk me out of his office, promising to type something up so there would be a paper trail.  As we were walking out, Detective Unknown, er.. Aaron, came strolling in, hands casually draped on his gun and club.  He confidently smiled at me.  “Oh, well, hello Aleah.  Fancy seeing you here.”

I smirked at him and kept walking.  I looked over at Detective Stratton and he was giving me a side eye.  I blushed and looked straight ahead, avoiding his questioning gaze.

I drove back to my apartment with the radio off, appreciative of the silence to collect my thoughts.  I hadn’t had any major interactions with Luke, nor Victoria, but I saw them in passing, and always felt creeped out by their stares.  Victoria always looking at me like I drop kicked her puppy and Luke’s eyes undressing me and then gutting me.

I felt stressed after getting home, so I decided to go for a run.  If we had a bathtub in our campus apartment, I would’ve taken a bath… but we don’t.  So I had to resort to something else.  It was getting cooler outside, consistently, so I elected to wear spandex pants and a long sleeved t-shirt.  I put my hair up in a pony and started to take off, purposefully checking my surroundings when I stepped outside.  But before I could even leave the front sidewalk, Maddie pulled up.  I came to a stop and waited for her to exit the car and get near to me. 

“Hey,” I greeted cautiously.  Ever since my talk with Gavin, I was waiting for the ball to drop.  Or rather, the ring.  I knew they had hung out several times and were talking, but he hadn’t proposed.  I know that’s what Maddie probably wanted, deep down.  To marry the man.  But I warned Gavin that Maddie was old fashioned, and they should probably at least be back together before he just pops off a proposal.  I told him he didn’t want Maddie thinking he bought the ring just to try to win her back.  He had agreed and said he would wait.  He said it was stupid of him to shut her out like that.  He was just so excited and didn’t want to accidentally let anything slip. 

“Hi, Aleah!  Going for a run?”

“Yeah, I need to blow off some steam.”

“If you give me 5 minutes, I’ll go with you.”

“Umm… are you sure?”  I looked at her with doubt, knowing that she being a runner, running with me would be a miserable experience, as a non-runner.

“Of course.  We can go your pace!  I’ll be right back.”  She went jogging towards the apartment.  I’m not a huge stretcher (bad habit), so I decided to utilize the time to stretch.  Coach would be proud.

During our jog, between my huffing and puffing, I asked Maddie how things were going with Gavin.  She smiled broadly and spoke clearly, as if we were just sitting at a table having a regular chat.  She told me that she had apologized profusely for breaking up with him and that she was sorry she freaked out and let her insecurities drive her to that extreme.  She said that he still could’ve give her an exact reason why he distanced himself, but has sworn up and down to her that it wasn’t because of someone else.  I told her that I was sure he was telling the truth, as he had never lied to her before.  She agreed with me.  She said they had committed to going out on dates and hanging out for a couple more weeks to make sure they could work through that hiccup, and talk about their relationship and status at that time.  She seemed giddy and excited.  And I was happy they were both striving to work things out.

After 3 miles, we were almost back home and decided to walk the last couple of blocks to cool down.  We had both worked up a sweat and it felt great.  We decided to make taco salads for dinner, but needed to go to the store first.

We had a small list of things to get, because we had some of the items at home already.  We were inspecting the meat, trying to decide if we wanted 80/20 ground beef or a lower fat percentage, when I heard a silky smooth voice call out, “Aleah!”

I immediately recognized the voice and before turning around coyly asked, “Stalking me?”

I turned to face Aaron with a raised eyebrow.  One side of his mouth was raised into a half-smile.  He quickly did a once over of Maddie and turned his attention back to me.  He had a grocery basket full of very health looking foods (i.e. nothing processed, lot of fresh fruits and veggies) compared to Maddie’s and my shared basket of taco shell bowls and oreos. 

Before he could say anything back, I said, “You cook!”  It was meant to be a question but came out more as a surprised statement.

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow at me.  “Not all men are incompetent in the kitchen.  Just like not all women belong in the kitchen.” 

“Touché,” I grinned.

He looked at me suspiciously, then.  “Are you trying to hint at me asking you on a date to cook for you?”

“I, uh, I mean… no.”  I don’t know why I was so flustered.  His eyes were twinkling, and I knew he was just giving me a hard time.  Although, if he had legitimately offered to cook for me, I don’t know that I would’ve turned him down.  I mean, come on… gorgeous man who is able to cook?  Yes, please!

He laughed and turned to Maddie.  He stuck out his hand.  “Hi, I’m Aaron.  I’m sorry your friend doesn’t have manners to introduce us.”

Maddie looked slightly shell shocked.  Probably by his beauty.  She smiled widely and shook his hand.  “I’m Maddie.  One of Aleah’s roommates.”

“Wow!” He remarked.  “Did they just take the best looking girls at UNL and put you all in the same room?”  He grinned mischievously and turned at that.  He looked over his shoulder and nodded, saying, “Goodbye, ladies.”

As soon as he rounded a corner Maddie hissed at me, “Who was that!”

“Aaron,” I dismissively said, turning back to the meat.

She shoved my shoulder lightly, “Well, duh.  I mean, how do you know him and why aren’t you dating him?”

I turned to face her, grabbing a package of meat and throwing it in the basket.  “He’s a detective.  He works with Brad, you know my family’s friend.  And I’m not dating him firstly because he hasn’t ever asked me out on a date.  And secondly, because I’m dating Chase and I really like him a lot.”

“You aren’t exclusive.  Test the waters.  If he asks you out sometime, I mean.  You’d have beautiful babies together.”

I rolled my eyes and we started walking towards the milk section.  Obviously for the oreos.

On the way home, I texted Sarah to let her know we were going to be having dinner and asked if she wanted to join.  She responded telling me she was out with Matt, but bet if I asked Nellie she would quickly accept, as she was still on her ridiculous “diet.”

The evening passed quickly.  And so did the next day.  It was a Friday, and luckily I had a date planned with Chase.  We usually saw each other 2-3 times per week and texted and/or talked on the phone on the days between.  We hadn’t done anything more than heavily making out, but each time we touched, it was like an instant turn on, and it made me crave more.

He had invited me over to his apartment for the first time, and was going to make me dinner and we were going to watch a movie.  When I arrived at his apartment, he greeted me at the door with a glass of wine, and a heavenly smell was wafting hand in hand with him to where I was standing.  “Oh my goodness, that smells amazing,”I gushed.

He kissed me on the cheek, handed me the wine, and shouted over his shoulder as he went back to the kitchen, “Thanks!  Make yourself at home!”

I tentatively walked in and slipped off my shoes by the door.  It was an open concept apartment, so the “dining room” was right by the door, and beyond that was the living room area and off to the right his kitchen.  To the immediate right of the door was a hallway that I assumed lead to his bedroom and bathroom.

I started to walk into the kitchen area to investigate what we were having when he wrapped an arm around my waist.  “Uh uh,” he sounded, “it’s a surprise.  You can explore and look around my apartment.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.  “You mean, I can go snoop through all your personals?” I teased.

“Well, don’t go through anything that says off limits to Aleah, okay?”  I could hear the smile in his voice. 

I happily took my wine and myself into his living room.  He had his apartment simply decorated, but it was classy and manly, decked out in black and white motif.  The tv was on and quiet, broadcasting sports news.  His table matched the color scheme and was a basic black high-top.  I wandered back to his room, which wasn’t nearly as matchy matchy, but appeared to be appropriate for a man with a blue checkered bedspread, a desk, and a dresser.  He had a walk in closet.  I quickly flipped on the closet light to note his extensive wardrobe of dress shirts, ties, and dress pants.  He also had jeans, sweaters, and polos hanging up.  The man clearly knows how to dress.  I smiled to myself and shut off the light and walked out.  I took in his bathroom which smelled of bleach.  The way Chase always looked, and how spotless his car was, I assumed he was generally a clean person, but I also liked that he made sure his bathroom was extra clean for my arrival.

Dinner was delicious.  He made steaks with blue cheese on top and grilled mushrooms/onions on the side along with garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed asparagus.  As I shoved the last bite in my mouth, I groaned and leaned back.  Conversation had flowed as easily and naturally as the wine.  “Ah. May. Zing.”  Turns out I already had a gorgeous guy who could cook.

He blushed.  “Thank you.  Did you have enough?”

“Oh, yes.  I’m stuffed.”  I started to pick up the plates to take into the kitchen and he grabbed my wrist to try to stop me. 

“I've got them.”

“No, it’s the least I can do.”

“Fine, you take them in there, but don’t wash anything.  I’ll take care of it later.  Tonight is for you, and I don’t want you doing any work.”

I smiled my appreciation and changed the subject.  “So if you could choose any song to describe what you think about me, what would it be?”  I knew it was random, but I’d heard a song on the radio earlier that had reminded me of him, so I was curious what his answer would be.

He was really quiet so I looked over at him from the kitchen and he was staring off, clearly thinking hard about this.  It wasn’t even 15 seconds, though, when he said, “’Use Somebody’ by Kings of Leon.”

I walked over and kissed him.  I knew the song, and was impressed with his choice.  He was still sitting on one of his high-top chairs and I was standing between his legs with my hands on either side of his face kissing him.  One hand of his was really low on my back, pulling him closer to me, and the other hand was entwined in my hair.  He stood up, pulling my body flush against his.  I could feel the bulge in his pants pushing against me, and I wanted him right then.  I stepped forward, guiding his body backwards around the chair and against the wall.  The kiss intensified, and his hand lowered on to my hip.  My hands were on his chest, and his other one had moved to my chin.  He let go of my chin and his hand trailed down to my shoulder, and was cautiously moving even lower. 

Right as his thumb was tracing the top edge of the cup of my bra and about to move downward, my stomach popped and gurgled.  Loudly.  My eyes flew open, and I stopped mid kiss.  Chase pulled backwards and looked at me, concerned.  “What’s wrong?”

“Uh…” I didn’t know what to say.  I knew it was a matter of moments until I would need to be positioned strategically on a toilet, and unfortunately not enough moments for me to make it home.  And there was no way I was holding what was about to happen.  My stomach felt sick and angry, and it was about to take its wrath out on me.  I was frantic to find a way to get us away from each other for a little bit.  Or mainly, to get him out of here so I could wage war in his bathroom.  “Do you have a movie picked out already?  Maybe you should run to Redbox?”

“Oh, no, I already picked up a movie earlier.  Are you okay?”

I could feel my skin was flushed and beads of sweat were forming on my forehead.  I felt like I was about to combust.  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I rushed, “but could you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

I started walking backwards towards his bathroom.  “Could you please go in to your living room and watch tv for a few minutes and wait for me?  And please turn it on loud?”

“Okay?”  He looked confused.

“Please!” I shrieked.  Then I turned and ran to the bathroom, unbuttoning my jeans on the way.