“You can’t come with me,” Drew told her again. “Only service animals are allowed at Quality Foods.”
She simply settled down until she was perched comfortably on him.
Drew turned and walked back up the stairs, and awkwardly manoeuvred her off his shoulder and back onto the sofa. “Stay,” he instructed.
He managed to get out the front door this time, only to find her waiting for him on the porch.
“For fuck’s sake. You’re not going to stay behind, are you?”
How could a chicken convey so easily with a simple look that she thought he was severely lacking in intelligence?
“Fine,” he huffed. “But when they don’t let us inside, I’m making you stay out the front. It won’t be my fault if someone steals you.”
Leila once again flew up to his shoulder and got comfortable.
It wasn’t a long walk to the store, only a few streets, but the neighbourhood was busy. Drew hadn’t even reached the nearest corner before he passed a couple walking their beagle. They nodded politely at him as he said hello, but they didn’t stop and stare or ask him why he had a hen on his shoulder.
Next to pass him were three young boys on scooters who didn’t even acknowledge him as they zoomed on by.
By the time a young family with their two small children had come and gone with nothing more than a friendly greeting, Drew’s suspicions began to be confirmed.
“They can’t see you, can they?” he muttered to Leila.
She made the cute little trilling-purr sound he was beginning to understand meant that she was happy and content. The fact that Drew seemed to understand the situation definitely made her happy.
“That’s pretty cool,” he said. “We’ll have to test how it works when Zach’s with us so he can make some observations. Like, is it just you they can’t see? Are you actually invisible, or do they just not notice you? If I’m petting you, would they think I’m petting air? Or does your invisibility to regular folk transfer to me as well? No, wait, those people said hello to me, didn’t they? That must mean it’s just you, yeah?”
Of course she didn’t answer, but Drew hadn’t expected her to. She was just a handy sounding board for now.
They soon reached Quality Foods, and Drew grabbed a cart. Leila fluttered down from his shoulder and perched on the handle between his hands, content to allow Drew to be her concierge around the store. He pulled the list he’d made from his pocket and began loading the cart with everything he needed to make dinner tonight extra special for their anniversary. The plan was to make marinated chicken with potato salad and a garden salad, then a banana cream pie for dessert. He wondered if he’d be able to sneak the chicken into the cart without Leila noticing, but when he got to the meat section, she didn’t look at all perturbed that he was planning on eating one of her cousins. He was just grateful she didn’t cause a ruckus.
He scanned the list again, checking if he’d missed anything. They had wine at home, as well as candles, but he needed to grab some more lube. They seemed to go through it ridiculously fast. Not that he was complaining. He’d been a virgin when he’d met Zach and had honestly suspected he might be asexual since he’d never found himself attracted to anyone before then. Zach had changed all of that. Drew couldn’t get enough of his tall, dark, handsome angel. He still wasn’t a huge fan of blow jobs, though. Drew loved having Zach’s silky, heavy cock on his tongue, but he still couldn’t handle cum in his mouth. He mostly used it as foreplay, before Zach fucked him until he didn’t know his own name anymore. He was looking forward to the epic celebration sex tonight after Zach accepted his proposal.
Fuck, he really hoped he’d accept.
Surely he would. Wouldn’t he? At first glance, they might appear to be chalk and cheese, but their relationship still worked. They were happy and had already discussed their plans for the future. They hadn’t discussed marriage per se, but they both wanted to be together for as long as possible.Zach would be happy to have their dedication to one another documented legally, wouldn’t he?
A sharp pinch startled Drew from his thoughts, and he glanced down to see that Leila had turned around on her perch on the cart’s handle and had pecked at his hand. As he lifted his hand to make sure it wasn’t bleeding, he realized he’d been gripping the cart’s handle so tightly his knuckles had turned white. Leila clucked at him in reprimand, even as he let go completely and shook the circulation back into his hands. “Thanks,” he muttered to her after looking around furtively to ensure no one would see him talking to himself and think he was crazy. “I got a little lost in my head.”
Leila bobbed her head and then jumped down into the cart and began pecking at his lettuce.
“Hey, no, don’t eat that!”
She ignored him and continued to tear one of the outer leaves into strips before gobbling them down.
Sighing, Drew reached down and pulled the leaf off the lettuce for her to eat, then he shoved the bag under several other items so she couldn’t get at it. “You’re a menace,” he told her, before heading for the cashier.
Once he’d paid for his groceries, Drew returned the cart and loaded up his hands with the two reusable shopping bags he’d brought with him. Leila flew up onto his shoulder, and they headed for home. It was a lovely day, and the fifteen-minute walk was always enjoyable. Drew was slowly getting used to the nicer neighbourhood. It wasn’t as fancy as over near Westwood Lake, where his friend Dom lived, but it was quite a step up from his old place.
They’d met a few of the neighbours and were friendly with them, but not overly so. More in the “wave and smile when seeing each other” kind of way, not the “always dropping by unexpectedly” way. It was nice. He wasn’t constantly worried about getting mugged or having someone break into the house, but the strata fees weren’t sky high and the property taxes were manageable.
Once they’d reached the house, Leila retired to the couch to nap, settling herself down on top of Zach’s favourite cushion. Drew unpacked the groceries and got to work on dinner. He had cheated and bought pre-marinated chicken, so he didn’t have to worry about that, but he threw together a green salad and boiled some potatoes for the simple potato salad that Harriett always used to make. He’d never managed to recreate it so it tasted just like hers, and it always seemed either too crunchy or too mushy, but Zach had learned never to complain too loudly. Yes, he still teased, but after Drew had threatened to make Zach cookallthe time instead of the way they normally shared the chore, he’d remained quiet and ate what was on offer.
Drew looked over at the clock and realized with a start he was quickly running out of time. Zach was going to be home soon. He was pretty sure Zach had already guessed that Drew was going to be cooking something special for him. The fact that dinner wasn’t thepropersurprise for the night stopped him from fretting over Zach walking in with the meal only half prepared. Still, he wanted to be organized. So he began to make the shortcrust pastry for the pie and got it in the oven to par-bake while he whipped together the custard filling.
The front door opened and closed downstairs just as Drew was layering the pie crust with sliced bananas. He quickly poured the filling over them and slid the dish into the oven just as Zach appeared at the top of the stairs. “Hi,” he greeted him with a smile.
“Hey,” Zach said, crossing to him and pressing a kiss to his lips. “How was your day?”
