“Thirty-minutes,” he whispered.
“Thanks, I will make it worth your while.”
As the words slipped from my lips, I noticed the look on his face and realized just how that sounded, but he got up, left the room, and allowed me my thirty minutes with my show.
I stoodin the kitchen at eleven at night, staring at the kitchen cupboards I’d just finished reorganizing, when Evan walked through the door. I’d worked until seven and came in to make dinner, frustration hitting as I realized just how unorganized his kitchen was and how much it had been bothering me. I hadn’t intended for my reorganization to take over the entire kitchen, but moving one thing somehow led to moving another, and I ended up moving everything before I realized it.
“What the hell did you do?” he barked, looking up at the cupboards.
I looked over at him. “What?”
“My kitchen,” he said. “Where are my protein containers?”
“Bottom cabinet, left side, by the fridge. Much more logical to have them next to the blender.”
“They were fine where they were.”
“They were on the top shelf across the kitchen,” I said. “This makes much more sense.”
“To you, maybe,” he said, slamming one of the cabinet doors shut way harder than necessary as he made his way to thecupboard where I’d put his protein. “This is my apartment, Alan. You don’t just move in somewhere temporarily and rearrange their space.”
“I’ve been living here a while now, and I noticed you didn’t have an organizational system. I was trying to help.”
“My system was perfect. I know where everything is. Well, knew…” He opened the pantry and looked inside. “Jesus, what have you done? Are those labels?” he said, bringing down one container labeled crackers.
“Yes, and you are welcome,” I said, closing the door to one cupboard, satisfied with what I’d done.
“I didn’t ask for this and you can’t just?—”
“Can’t just what? Make things functional? You had spices in three different locations, Evan. Three! I couldn’t find the pepper, and my dinner almost burned when I went to find the granulated garlic.”
Evan pinched the bridge of his nose. “I knew where they were.”
“Well, maybe you knew, but I found your system to be chaotic, and chaos isn’t a system,” I said, stepping closer to him.
He looked down into my eyes. “Everything was where I needed it. Where I could reach for it without thinking,” he said, his voice dropping.
“I was only trying to help.”
“I told you, I don’t need help. I need things to stay where I put them.”
I looked up into his eyes, pressed my forefinger against his chest. “Control freak,” I muttered.
“Meddler.”
“Oh, and your coffee mugs are now right above the coffeemaker. Makes better sense than having them in three random cabinets. Learn the new system, Callahan, unless, of course, you are too stubborn.”
“I’m not stubborn.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You are the most stubborn person I have ever met.”
I stood there staring up at him, waiting for him to step back, to give us some distance, but he didn’t move. Instead, he leaned in. “If I am so stubborn, then you should know that I’ll just rearrange it back when I get the chance.”
“Do whatever you’d like,” I said, grabbing my water bottle and making my way to my room.
“What did you do with my heating pad?” I heard him ask.
“Top drawer under the microwave,” I called. “Ice pack’s in the freezer.”
