9. 2 Lips, Cold showers and rock stars

(Alexandra)

"Move. Set the table." She said as she drained the pasta inside the white sauce she left bubbling in the pan.

Then she added chopped vegetables and cheese and stirred, and letting it cook, she went back to buttering the chicken.

"Don't just stand and stare, he will be here any minute now."

"It is just Daniel. He is not a guest."

"Logan Forte, do as I say."

"You are so bossy for someone so little." He grumbled. "Why is Daniel coming here, again?" He complained.

Because I can not eat dinner with you alone. And pretend like I don't want to kiss you again. And again.

Oh, she could not say that out loud.

Bad girl, Alex. Naughty, naughty girl. The pesky little inner voice taunted.

"Because I invited him over to celebrate my real first job."

His eyes widened and she remembered what he had said about kissing as a celebration.

"You-" He stopped halfway.

"Don't worry, I don't actually go around kissing people to celebrate my victories. That was just a one time hitch." She giggled when she noticed his ears turning red. He groaned.

"Minx." He pushed his long, lean fingers through his wet hair --he had showered-- mussing it, and she wanted to do the same.

She could still remember the feel of his hair on her fingers, his fingers on her.

Stop. Stop thinking dirty thoughts.

"I am going to set the table, even though I still don't know why Daniel need such special treatments. It is just Dan."

She switched the stove off when the pasta was ready. It looked mouthwatering. Yummy. She thought as she took a sample bite.

Not yummier than Logan.

God. This thing was irritating.

The chicken was almost ready.

She looked for the spices to apply over the half roasted chicken and realized it was on the top shelf.

"Logan, I can't reach the spices jar." She called out to him and he chuckled.

"Midget."

"I am not a midget. You are a giant. Who keeps spice jars at the top of the shelf, anyw-"

She trailed off when he came behind her and leaned over her to reach for it. His smell was all over her body. Her body was alive. Sparkling. A touch of electric wire.

What the hell was he doing? If he had asked, she could have moved.

It felt like an eternity before he took the jar and handed it to her.

His fingers brushed hers.

Her fingers itched to grab him by his T-shirt that looked like it was made for him, and then kiss him senseless.

And then he would, maybe, ovethink it. Overthink everything.

But no. She-

He moved a little closer or it felt like that to Alexandra.

She wanted to move back, but her legs were totally not heading to her warning.

He should post caution symbol over his head.

⚠ heartbreak ahead.

She could smell him. His musky Cologne. Logan. His wet hair.

� Do Not Cross.

Okay, the space between them was getting smaller and smaller.

The bell rang. She jumped apart and hissed when her back hit the kitchen slab.

He cursed something unintelligible and walked away.

Saved by the bell.

Haha.

"Hey Dan." Okay, tune down, girl. You sound too eager.

He gave her a single white rose. It was beautiful. "Thank you. It is so beautiful." She said.

"You are so beautiful." He smiled and winked and she giggled.

"Stop loitering. I am hungry." Logan sounded moody.

"What crawled up your ass?" Daniel asked as they took a seat at the table. She sat next to Logan. Daniel sat opposite to them.

"So that I can keep seeing your beautiful face." He smiled with a wink.

"You are unusually charming today? Eh?" Alex threw a grape at him and he caught it deftly.

"What!" He looked offended. "I am always charming."

"Yeah, as charming as a toad. Shut up and let me eat peacefully, you two. Keep your flirting away from my table."

"Is he always this grumpy?"

"What, no way. You are looking at the guy who had once did some legendary comedy acts without even laughing. Like asking rents off rats!"

"Really? Tell me more." She looked at his flushed face and laughed.

"Shut up, Dan." Logan grunted.

"Really, Alex. So- it was our third year, I suppose, in the university, and he kept shouting at his room mate Rick for stealing his bread and whatnot. One day we realized it wasn't Rick, but a mouse. And what did Logan do? He caught the mouse, and gave it an earful."

"What? He yelled at the poor mouse?"

"More like strictly talked. But yeah. He said and I quote, 'you see, little thief, you are here illegally. You can not be here without paying quarter of the rent, at the very least. And not only did you not pay, you have also stolen considerably from me. Now is that an acceptable behavior?' And the poor thing kept squeaking and squeaking and squeaking, as if saying 'yes sir.' And then with a warning not to come anywhere closer to his dorm, he let it go and the poor baby scurried away."

Alex was laughing by the time Daniel finished.

"God, Logan. You did that?"

"What?" He sounded indignant. "It worked. The little thief never came back. " Logan said as Alex wiped her tears from too much laughing.

She looked at the two men in front of her.

Just days ago, she was hopeless and almost gave up. But now here she was, laughing and being happy.

It felt good.

"You are - that is simply inconceivable. God, you are unbelievable. I thought you only lecture humans and there you go, breaking another one of my misconceptions." She chuckled as he scratched his cheek with an unabashed smile.

"That is not a compliment." She added.

"What? All I heard was, 'Logan, you are so amazing.'" He mimicked in a poor imitation of Alex and she punched him in the shoulder.

"I don't sound nasally like that."

"Hey."

And they laughed and talked the whole way through the dinner and deserts. And Daniel and Logan did the dishes before Dan left.

She was surfing the TV when he called her.

"Alex?"

"Yes?"

"This Sunday, my mom asked me for a family lunch. I think it is the right time to bring you in. What do you think?"

She thought it was a very wrong idea. But she didn't say so.

"Okay. If you are sure."

"Of course. We have one month to convince everyone and then we have to get married before Stacy left for Paris."

"Oh Stacy." Alex pushed the remote button with a frown, with an unnecessary force. "Yes, whatever. You are the boss."

(Logan)

It was Sunday already and he felt like a nervous school boy introducing his first ever girlfriend to his family.

But she wasn't even his real girlfriend. It was okay if his family didn't like her. She would be gone in a year.

And the thought of her not being here anymore was not a pleasant feeling.

As he walked inside their kitchen, he could smell the herbs.

Yesterday, they had gome snd bought the herbs she wanted to grow in the kitchen. Thyme. Rosemarie. Mint. Oregano. Parsley. Dill. Basil.

She had placed the pots painstakingly in order, in the side of the French window. And she had stared at it and changed and stared and finally she was all satisfied with how it looked. As she had stared at the plants, he was staring at her.

And then they sat in the comfort of their kitchen and ate the steak and burger and fries they bought on the way back from the nursery.

It was all so simple, the meal, but still with her laughter ringing and his voice sounding almost too happy, it felt much more wonderful than a dimly lit private table at the back of some fancy restaurant.

After lunch, they sat together in his home office, and they had talked about Mathilda Shine's M-project. Alex was so eager to start that and like a sponge, she had absorbed everything he had said about Mathilda, what she was expecting. He gave Alex many of the business cards he had, from various shop owners to wholesale dealers to furniture firms and he was proud when she put them all in a small card holder and kept it secured.

He was sure she would be the best option for Mathilda. Mathilda was known for her eccentricity and for her uniqueness. Alex would satiate both. She already had so many ideas plotted in his laptop. He made a note to himself to buy her a new laptop.

He grabbed his Porsche keys as she walked down the stairs, looking cute in a denim dress that flared around her knees, wearing a strappy sandal. She looked so young, so radiant.

"Ready?"

She bit her lips and nodded.

"Don't be nervous." He said.

She shook her head. But she still looked nervous. She bounced on her toes and twisted her belt and pulled her dress down.

"Hey, everyone will like you." He was sure of that. She was easily the most friendly, most kind, most likeable person he had met.

"Umm."

She sat in the car, staring at nothing in particular. "Relax." He said as he touched her shoulder.

"I think I am going to puke. I feel exactly how I feel during every exam."

"It is not a test. They like or they don't like, but it will not be your failure. I mean, we can not ask everyone to like us."

"You, Mr. Cool, you can be like that. Totally mature about anything. I can not."

He patted her hands.

"I will be there. Remember that. And I hope you remember that, and not abandon me and turn against me after meeting my sisters and mom."

"Thank you and I will try to remember you."

And then they sat in the silence, and he turned the radio on when she asked him to.

And a song came. She immediately perked up.

"God, his voice is so- it's one of a kind." She said dreamily.

And Logan wanted to grit his teeth. Why the hell did he turned the radio on?

"Leo Shine is an ass." He said. He wasn't, not really, but Logan had never really liked that man and now, he didn't like him, at all, after Alex was looking moony eyes just by hearing his so-called one-of-a-kind voice.

God. It was just a voice. It wasn't like there was anything special in it. Maybe there was something, after all, his songs were off the charts always.

"Oh, a hot ass. I don't mind." She smiled. "Hey you suppose I will meet him when I work at Mathilda's house?"

Now, he didn't want to let her go anywhere near Mathilda's house, but he could not do that. So he just shrugged and pushed the accelerator.

"You are going to work, not play. Keep that in mind." He grunted.

"Ugh. You are no fun at all. But still, I hope I can meet him. I wanna know if he is just as handsome in flesh as he is in the TV."

"Handsome! My hair is more handsome than him." He said with a disgusted frown and she chuckled.

"Sometimes even you can be funny."

Funny? Damn it. He wasn't being funny.

He was 100% serious.