Things have been going very well for us over the last few weeks. We’ve been training hard for the race, ramping up our distance to well beyond what we will be running just because we both enjoy being out here so much. We’ve exchanged lots of books and music recommendations and spent almost every waking moment with one another. Andrew even began writing again and shared part of his stories with me. They’re amazing.
The only issue is we have about three weeks left until Andrew and I have to go back to school, and we have been completely avoiding the topic. We have done long-distance before as friends but not while we are in a relationship, and our schools are a six-hour flight apart. It’s not the same as living next door to one another all summer.
I think we both realize that, but we have been having such a great time together this summer that neither one of us wants to bring it up.
“We can sign up for the race today. But that will take what… Five minutes? What about the rest of our day? Anything you have in mind?”
I think about it for a moment. “There’s nothing on my ‘really living list’ that we would do indoors.”
He nods. “I have an idea. My parents are leavingin a couple of hours for a client meeting in New York. I’ll have the house all to myself until tomorrow afternoon, but I’d like some company.” He looks at me with sweet puppy-dog eyes.
“I think I can help with that.”
A sly grin blooms on his lips. “I have to get everything ready, so you can come over around four.”
“Four?! It’s only nine o’clock. What am I going to do with the rest of my day?” I challenge.
“Alright, you can come over and I’ll make you some eggs, but then I’m kicking you out! I have big plans!” He winks.
About ten minutes before five, I wrap on the Martins’ door quickly. The rain begins seeping through my coat despite the fact I was only out in the rain for about twenty to thirty seconds.
The sound of music drifts through the door, followed by Andrew’s footsteps coming toward me. He swings the door open, and I throw myself into his arms, squeezing him tight and covering his lips with mine.
“Gosh, I missed you,” I say to him.
“You’re early! And you’re soaked!” He laughs heartily and then kisses me back. “It’s only been a few hours since I’ve seen you. You missed me already?”
“Is it so bad if I did?”
He shakes his head knowingly. “No, it’s definitely not. I missed you too,” he admits as he places another lingering kiss on my lips before grabbing my hand and immediately taking me to his bedroom to get a shirt that isn’t completely soaked through.
As we walk back upstairs, he hesitates before bringing me into the kitchen. “Now bear with me. I lost track of time, and things aren’t really ready.”
I immediately become aware of the smell throughout the house.Is that bread?Then, I see the mess that is the kitchen. My mouth drops open and my eyes pop out of my skull like in the cartoons.
“Oh my gosh! Your mom is going to kill you!” I burst into laughter.
There’s flour all across the counter and the floor. It is even tracked from the kitchen to the front door. There’s a mixer on the counter, what looks like a pasta maker, and several open jars of tomato sauce that have dripped across the counter and stove.
Andrew gives me a sheepish grin. “I’ll clean it up.”
I take in the scene once more. “What are you making?”
He gives a self-deprecating chuckle. “What haven’t I made? I started off trying to make pasta from scratch, but that appears to be a total failure. I was going to make homemade bread and then make garlic bread with it, but now that the pasta is a failure, I just have a loaf of plain bread that may or may not have way too much yeast in it.”
He pulls a mountainous loaf out from the fridge of all places. Just from seeing it, I can tell he definitely let some instant yeast over-rise in that bread.
He looks at me with sorrow in his eyes. “I’m sorry. This was supposed to be a perfect homemade meal for you, and I’m ruining it. I would’ve asked you to come later if I had noticed what time it was.”
I caress his face in reassurance. “It’s okay, Andrew! Honestly, seeing you mess something up makes me feel a little better. I’ve been kind of spoiled lately.” I give him a teasing smirk. “How about we make something together? That would be fun!”
He perks up slightly. “Okay. What would you like to make?”
I look around the kitchen and begin checking the fridge and pantry for ingredients. “I know we already had pizza on a date, but it looks like we’d have all of the ingredients to make a pizzafrom scratch.”
He nods excitedly. “That sounds great! Hang on, let me at least get the mood right in here, the way it was supposed to be.”
I watch him glide across the room to grab a lighter out of the drawer. He begins lighting some candles sitting on the windowsill that I hadn’t noticed before. He lights more on the kitchen table and across the entertainment unit in the living room. Then he shuts the kitchen lights off and closes a few blinds to shut out the last bit of light slipping through the stormy clouds. We are left enveloped in just the soft glow of candlelight.
