Silence & Patience

A Peace Offering

After making the soup, I showered and ate breakfast. Then I got dressed again, into a dress and coat this time. I flat ironed my hair and pulled on my boots from last night. I left without letting Josh know I was leaving. After his cryptic warning earlier, I didnt want to hear any other weird comments.

I drove to Alex's place and when I got to the driveway, the gate opened immediately. I wonder if it was him or his butler. I parked beside their water fountain and walked up to the front door. I only knocked once before the door opened. It was Alex looking like death.

"Ava? Is something wrong? What are you doing here?"

I ignored his frantic questioning and walked in. "I brought you some vegetable soup. Its good for colds. Have you eaten?" He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair, still holding the door open, "No not really. I've been trying to sleep."

"Well, you can't sleep on an empty stomach." I invited myself into his kitchen. It was mainly granite and black cupboards. Every appliance looked like it cost a kidney each. I left the soup on the counter and went looking for bowls.

"What are you doing?" He had closed the door and joined me in the kitchen. It was a reverse of this morning. Now I was the one standing in his kitchen. I'd only been to Alex's house a handful of times. A 4th of July party, a few Christmas parties and once, when I was really little and my parents were out of town, Josh and I spent a weekend. Our parents were friends.

My father and Alex's dad went to the same college. They were golf buddies. Our mothers got close thanks to that and then Alex, Josh and I went to the same preppy schools. Marie and Vladimir Volkov were like a second set of parents to us. Mainly to Josh. I spent most of my holidays with my best friend and roommate, Bridget instead.

"Looking for bowls." I was going through every cupboard unsuccessfully. "I've got it." He held out two ceramic bowls. I gave him a grateful grin. "Thank you. Would you look at that? We can set this up and then you can have a meal." He groaned and fell into the bar stool. He looked the most casual I'd ever seen him.

His usually immaculate hair fell over his forehead, flat and unstyled. His face was still pallid and his eyes droopy. He was dressed in a plain white t shirt and plaid pajama bottoms. I found that strangely attractive. He looked good in pajama bottoms. I filled both bowls and then sat opposite him. I pushed his bowl in front of him, "Ready to try my remedy for colds?"

He rolled his eyes without any real vigor and grabbed two spoons from the utensil holder on the table, "You only live once right?" I laughed a little and took my spoon from him. This was nice. We were both here, sitting at the table, eating a meal together. It was almost intimate.

I had got to stop having those thoughts.

He tentatively took his first spoon and slurped some up. I'd never seen Alexei, stern, uptight Alexei slurp before. I almost giggled. Instead, I hid my smile behind my fist. His eyebrows relaxed and I felt relief and slight pride. He looked up at me, approvingly. "This is good."

He cemented his opinion by taking another spoon immediately after. I couldn't hide the pride in my smile. "Thank you. I do think its pretty great myself." I finally felt well enough to take my own first bite. We ate in mostly silence. A few scrapes and slurps filled the room.

I watched Alex eat. He was elegant in all he did. The way he dipped his head, held his spoon, pursed his lips. My eyes were inordinately drawn to his lips. What was wrong with me? He caught me looking once. "What? Is there something on my face?"

Panicking, I nodded. "Yeah. Just um here." I pointed to the corner of my mouth. In reality, there was nothing there. Alex rubbed his chin. "Where?" Before thinking, I leaned forward and touched the corner of his mouth with my thumb. I smudged nothing away. "There." He blinked at me. Up close, his eyes were lighter than I thought. I could see the dark line around the sea of blue.