Changing Tides 《COMPLETE》

Chapter 35

I swallow hard and Roland chuckles, shaking his head and lightly punching me on the shoulder.

"Relax," he says and moves towards the sliding door of his apartment. "I'm kidding."

I follow behind him and quickly drain the remainder of my second beer. I'm not tipsy yet, but the combination of coffee and beer is causing an annoying headache to form in between my temples. My jumbled nerves can't be helping the situation either.

"So you never told me," Roland says. "What are you up to the rest of the day?"

The coolness of his AC is a welcome change in temperature compared to outside. I plunk down on one of his fancy silver stools and gingerly rub at my temples. Roland swipes up my empty beer bottle and heads towards the kitchen sink to wash them out before throwing them in the recycling bin.

For a split second I wonder how different things would be between us if we were...you know, a couple. I'm used to being Roland's roommate. It was easy. It felt right.

Would being his lover enhance that? Or make things weird?

"I've got to go to the store to get ingredients," I answer, shooing away the distracting thoughts. "I promised Jordan I'd cook her dinner tonight."

Roland turns towards me and leans against the counter. His eyes brighten at the subject of cooking. He crosses his arms over his chest, and the denim material of his shirt tightens over his muscular arms and torso. I've always thought Roland was a good-looking dude. Is it possible I've always been attracted to him on some level...and just refused to acknowledge it?

"Picking up a pizza from the frozen section?" Roland jokes.

"Har-har. No, I think I'm going to attempt making my mom's chicken parmesan casserole."

"Impressive. Well if it's half as good as your mom's, I'd chalk it up to a success."

The conversation reminds me that I do in fact need to leave Roland's apartment sometime soon to start shopping for dinner tonight. And with that reminder comes the realization that I don't want to leave. It's been months since I've been able to enjoy Roland's company. I've missed it.

"You should join us," I say suddenly.

Roland looks genuinely surprised by the invitation. "For dinner?"

"Yea. Or for cooking. Or shopping. Or all three." I hear the excitement in my voice and quickly add, "that way I can pawn off all the work on you."

Roland's lips twitch in amusement. "Charming."

I smirk. "You know it."

He returns the grin, and once again that fluttery feeling happens in my stomach. Roland runs a hand through his hair before nodding in agreement.

"Alright," he says. "We taking two cars or one?"

_______________________

Despite not hearing from Bennett, the day seems to fly by with Roland by my side. The two of us grocery shop and the introductions between him and Jordan go as smooth as butter. They immediately find a common ground with school and jump into a conversation that I can only categorize as book smart nerd status.

"How long am I supposed to cook it for?" I ask, shouting over Roland's lecture about who-knows-what.

Jordan glares at the interruption and Roland's reaction isn't far off. But after a moment his look softens, and he moves around the table to stand beside me at the oven. Roland silently checks to see that I've set the oven to the correct temperature before opening the door and nodding for me to set the casserole inside.