Chris POV
"Laura and Spence are down for game day tomorrow," I tell Opal as I set my cell phone back down on the coffee table before sitting next to her on the couch.
" Game day? Why not game night?"
I rest my hand on her thigh that sits closest to me. "Because I have a special date planned for you tomorrow evening."
"A date? I thought you couldn't go out," she asks for clarification, turning her body towards me, moving one leg under her.
I meet the brown eyes that seem to consume my daily thoughts. "Yes, a date. I can't and we aren't going out."
"So..." Opal attempts to get me to continue her sentence with my own thoughts. I look back at her, slowly shaking my head.
"Leave it to me."
She lets out a huff before rolling her eyes at me due to my lack of willingness to let her in on my little secret. I give a slight chuckle before tapping my hand on her knee. "So, soup?"
We both get up at the same time, making our way into the kitchen. Opal hops up onto the counter across from the stove, giving me space to work my magic. "Potato soup okay?"
"Sounds delicious, and also happens to be my favorite next to broccoli and cheddar," she reveals as she swings her legs back and forth a bit.
I grab the celery, carrots, onions and cheese out of the fridge before closing it with a kick of my foot. "Grab me the cutting board out of the dish drain?"
She passes it over to me. "Oh, and the knife with the green handle too." I watch as she carefully pulls it out of the drain before giving it to me.
"Anything else?"
"Actually, yes," I say as I set the knife down on the cutting board. Opal watches me, waiting to hear what I may ask for next. Turning towards her, I move a bit closer. "And a kiss."
"Giving up that easily?" she jokes.
"Nope. I'm just asking for a kiss. If you grant it, then you lose."
"Look at Officer Evans, discovering loopholes in his own plan." For a moment she's gazing back at me, making me wonder if she's considering it. I take another step closer to her, standing between her legs now. After placing both of my hands on her covered thighs I tilt my head up just a bit, offering up a pucker and wait. Opal taps one finger against her chin while chewing the corner of her mouth. Suddenly she places a kiss on her palm and pushes it against my lips, causing me to grab my chest in a boisterous laugh. "Nice try, Evans."
Once I'm able to stop laughing I move back towards the counter where all of the ingredients sit. I toss the celery over to Opal to rinse it off since she's right by the sink. "So," she starts, "is cooking for girls your thing?"
"My thing?"
"You know, wine and dine them, just in your own apartment." She hands the washed celery back over to me.
"I wouldn't call it 'my thing.' Have I cooked for a girlfriend before? Yes. Have I ever given any of them food poisoning? Not that I know of," I jokingly knock on the wood countertop.
"I better not be the first." There's a lull in conversation as I start to chop the celery. I hear Opal hop off of the counter behind me, just before she moves next to me, looking over my shoulder. "Why are you chopping it so small and thin?"
"So it cooks down to hardly anything. I'm not a big celery fan, but it's my grandmother's recipe so I include it just like she did." I continue to slice it thin before tossing it into a pot.
"Fair enough. How can I help?"
I direct her to start washing the potatoes and show her where another cutting board and knife are located. "How about 20 questions?" she asks.
"I'm an open book, let's do it."
I glance over at her and I swear I can see the gears in her head turning. "What's the one thing you tried so hard to like, but just couldn't make yourself like it?"
"Hmm," I hum. "Social media. I think it can be incredibly toxic."
"So much truth in such a simple statement. Like anyone is going to show anything other than the good moments of life, leading people to believe they have all their crap together, when in reality we're all just trying to survive day to day."
She says the words so easily, like it's something that she's dealt with herself. "Sounds like you know exactly what I mean."
I watch as she drops the chopped potatoes into the boiling water, nodding her head. "Unfortunately. But, I will say I am SO thankful that it wasn't around when I was making all of my stupid decisions. I like the fact that those days weren't documented," she chuckles. "Your turn."
"What's the best mistake you've made? Like, something good came out of it." I move on to chopping carrots now.
I hear her exhale a light sigh, the kind that sounds like there's a smile behind it. "Leaving my purse in that Uber two and a half months ago." I look over my shoulder to see her smiling back at me.
"Really?" She nods as a smile takes over her face. I can't help but mirror the expression.
"Want to know my worst mistake?" I question her.
"Okay," she says hesitantly.
"Mentioning that stupid bet," I say, setting down my knife and stepping closer to her. "Because after that admission," I turn her to face me, "I will gladly lose." I bring my lips to hers, softly at first but within another mere moment it grows deeper as I feel her move her hands to rest on my chest just as one of my own finds its place in her hair. I surprise myself by pulling back first. "How far we've come, Ope."
"And how far we still have to go," she adds before going back to soup prep.
~~~~~
Opal POV
"I don't mind taking the couch, Chris." I tell him as I follow behind him once more into his room.
"Not hardly, babe." He motions to my bag that he placed on his bed earlier in the day. "You've got free reign of the bathroom in here. Hopefully it's cleaned to your standards, but let's face it, I'm a guy. Pretty sure I've missed something."
I poke my head into the bathroom quickly, taking a small glance. "Yep, ya did." Chris comes to the door frame, standing next to me. "What do you mean? How can you tell, you're not even inside of it."
I reach out my hand, pointing to a specific spot. "You left the seat up."
Chris hangs his head in mock shame before walking over and putting the toilet seat down while I giggle at his behavior. "So, definitely not use to having a woman in the house?" I tease before moving back into his room.
"It has certainly been a while," he admits. "You wanna get comfortable, watch a movie or just head to bed? I know it's been a long day. Whatever you want to do is fine with me."
"I would like to change," I tell him as I begin to unzip my bag.
"Take as long as you need." Chris walks back through the door, closing it behind him.
I dig through my bag, reaching towards the bottom of the gray and white printed duffle, where my pajamas are folded up. I'm not entirely sure how he keeps the temperature in his apartment at night so I choose to just pull out the black and red buffalo plaid set. It's not super thick, but covers well, quite possibly making me look more modest than what Chris is use to with his girlfriends.
Before I change I move over towards the wall of windows. Standing there in awe of downtown Atlanta. It's already past nightfall by a couple of hours, the sky suppose to be black in the night, but instead the lights of the bustling city cast a glow across the sky.
"You okay?" Chris knocks lightly against the door, pulling me back into the present.
"Yeah, just got sidetracked. Five minutes?"
"Take your time, love," he says before I hear the television in the living room turn on.
'Love.' That's a new term. He's never used it, in any sense. He's never called my love. Does he love me? Do I love him? Is that how this trip is going to go? Escalating quicker than it should. Maybe it's just a simple term of endearment. I'm use to hearing 'gorgeous, sweetheart and babe,' but never love.
"Shut up, brain." I whisper to myself, hoping it's not loud enough for him to think I'm crazy by talking to myself. I give my head a quick shake, and attempt to check my breathing as I quickly change out of the clothes I've spent the day in, finding comfort in my bed clothes.
I pad out of the bedroom to see the living room completely dark, with the exception of the television set. The air filled with the smell of fresh popped popcorn that I see sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. Chris shifts on the couch, having changed into his deep gray sweat pants and a body hugging white tee, before opening up his arm, inviting me to join him. "You look cute," he says with a small smile.
"I look like an old woman, covering herself up to hide all of the wrinkles and saggy skin." I plop down next to him, not quite touching.
"Silly girl," he teases as he slides himself closer to me. "I've seen several parts of you, and I don't recall any wrinkles or sagging skin."
"So, what are we watching?" attempting to change the topic and get the conversation off of my body.
"You're the guest, you pick," Chris offers the remote to me.
"Free reign?" I ask, testing him. He nods in agreement. "No parameters?" He shakes his head. "Oh, you have no idea what you're opening yourself up for."
"Now I may be a little scared." He narrows his eyes at me as I start searching for what I'm looking for. "Please tell me it's not gonna be the sparkly vampires."
A chuckle escapes my lips. "Nope, not this time anyways." I direct the remote to choose the movie.
Chris glances back at the screen seeing what I chose, just before looking back at me, shocked. "Die Hard?"
"What? It's the Christmas season and it's a Christmas classic," I shrug before finally settling in against Chris' side, breathing in his scent.
I feel his fingertips ghost along my upper arm, softly. "I think I'm in love," he says confidently with a mischievous grin upon his lips. I flicked my eyes up just in time to catch the glint cross his deep ocean eyes. I roll my eyes at his joking 'revelation' even though my heart is now attempting to jump out of my chest.