"Love," Aaina's light and colorful voice was always something I loved to hear in the morning, "what exactly are you doing? Sweetheart, you look like you're going to hurt yourself."
"Yoga," I answered proudly, "see? I can be sporty too."
"Yoga isn't really a sport, love, but whatever makes you happy. Leslie's coming over at seven, and I'm going to be making biryani and momos for dinner."
"Yes!" I yelled before crashing onto the mat, "I love it when you make biryani and momos for dinner. In fact, I love it when you introduce me to any aspect of your Indian heritage. It makes me feel, hmm, cultured."
Biryani is a spiced rice dish that's usually cooked with several spices, like saffron, and a marinated meat chopped up into pieces and mixed through. Aaina usually makes it with chicken, since she doesn't eat the meat from cows. It's one of my favorite meals, honestly.
Aaina always warms us up with momos before the main course of biryani. Momos are basically Indian dumplings. They're my favorite part.
"I'm happy that you're excited for dinner, Xannie," Aaina smiled, "and are you still excited to meet Leslie? I want you to know that it's totally okay if you're not."
"Of course I am! My best friend in the whole wide world likes someone, and so I just know that I'm going to like them too."
I got up from my failed yoga position. Yoga would probably be a lot more fun if I were more coordinated.
She giggled. "I'm glad you feel that way, Xannie. Now I've got to go to work, I'm signed on for a heart transplant today and so I've got to stay focused. Only text me during work if it's really important, alright? I love you, and make sure that you wash the dishes so that the kitchen doesn't look messy. Alright? I've got to go, bye." She kissed me on the forehead and left.
...
I've got the whole apartment to myself today.
What to do, what to do.
...
After washing all of the dishes, it was still only ten o'clock. I figured that I might as well go out and do something.
I wanted to see the people from work. I knew that at least Brennan or Zack or someone would be at the Jeffersonian. But I didn't want them to think that I'm desperate to have some new friends. Although I totally am. But I didn't want them to think that I was.
So, I decided to go to another one of the team's favorite places: Founding Fathers.
I figured that I had approximately a 50/50 chance of seeing one of them there, and even if I didn't see any of them there, I could still get some food. I'm starving.
...
After making my way to the restaurant, I decided to sit down and look around to see if anyone was there.
Nope.
I was a little disappointed, to be honest, but that's okay. I'll stuff my disappointment with fries and I'll be just fine.
Wait, I think that's... Yeah, I'm pretty sure that is-
"Hello," Brennan said.
"Hi!" I said. I immediately regretted my eagerness. Xandra, don't make yourself seem desperate...
"May I sit at this table with you?"
"Yes, of course! You can absolutely sit with me." Again, try not to seem so eager.
She immediately sat down and pulled out her laptop. She seemed to be doing some research.
Should I start talking? Should I try to make small talk with her? Oh my gosh, I have no idea what to say at all. What am I supposed to do in this kind of situation?
"One of the earliest mentions of female homosexuality was with the early Greek poet Sappho." Brennan spoke without looking away from her laptop.
"That's interesting." I nodded while eating another fry.
"Sweets told me that your friend Aaina is a lesbian."
"Yes, she is. She just came out to me yesterday."
Brennan closed her laptop and turned towards me. "Is this something you're okay with?"
"Of course it is, I see no reason not to be."
"I'm glad you see it that way. Are you religious?"
"Sometimes. It depends," I answered, "am I correct in assuming that you're not religious?"
Brennan nodded, and then knitted her eyebrows in confusion. "No, I am most certainly not religious. May I ask what you mean when you say that you are sometimes religious?"
I thought for a moment. "The way that I see it, religion is there to comfort people. Sometimes religion comforts me, and sometimes it does not."
"I was under the impression that you were a woman of science."
"Actually, science and religion have nothing to do with each other. You see, it doesn't matter to me whether God is real or not. Whether it's real or not doesn't matter because that's not what religion's for. I believe in science. However, with the way that I see it, science is there to give me information, while religion is there to give me comfort. Neither of those are conflicting matters."
"Your reasoning is completely comprehensive, which is quite uncommon with people of religion."
"Thank you, Dr. Brennan," I smiled at her.
...
It was almost time. By the time that I got home from lunch with Dr. Brennan, it was already six o'clock. That means I have thirty minutes to get our apartment ready before Leslie and Aaina come.
Aaina and I both filled in each other's gaps, which is something that works well for someone you're living with.
Aaina's a good cook, a great cook, actually. I'm not. I suck at anything that involves a kitchen. So, she cooks all of our meals, and I clean the apartment for the both of us.
It works well.
I put on some music to clean along to, and I got started on picking up all of the clothes and other things on the floor. Thankfully, I'm quite organized, which is good because Aaina is truly one of the messiest people I've ever met. It kinda balances itself out.
...
Aaina came busting through the door, still in her work clothes, with groceries.
"Hey, babe, I see that you've cleaned the apartment. Thanks so much, Xannie; it means a lot to me that you're helping me make a good impression." She hugged me after placing the groceries onto our dinner table.
"No problem! How about I get all of the groceries put away while you start getting ready."
"Thank you so much," She kissed me on the forehead and ran off to get dressed up.
...
When she came out, she looked like some sort of goddess. I've always admired her impeccable ability to create amazing works of art with clothes and makeup. She always looked so good.
"What do you think? Do I look okay, Xan?"
I smiled. "You never look just okay, Aaina. You look absolutely stunning."
"Thank you, Xandra," she went over to the kitchen, "now, how much time do we have?"
"About fourty-five minutes."
"Oh, crap," her eyes widened, "I really need to start cooking!"
...
Now, since we were ready, we just had to wait.
I'm super excited to meet her.
I just hope that Leslie treats Aaina right. Aaina deserves so much.
I just hope that Leslie's good enough for her.
...
I heard a knock on the door, and so I straightened my shirt, fixed my hair, and went to answer it.
Leslie was shorter than I imagined.
Aaina really wasn't kidding when she said Leslie was tiny, was she?
"You're Aaina'a roomate, Xandra, right? I'm Leslie." She held out a hand for me to shake.
She seemed friendly. And Aaina was right, she is really cute. She had blonde hair which was short enough that it barely grazed her ears, and deep-set hazel eyes which looked welcoming.
"Yeah, I am, I'm Xandra," I smiled and shook her hand, "come on in, Aaina's, uh, just getting dinner ready."
She was really pretty. And, quite fashionable, just like Aaina is. She was wearing a colorful halter top, with skinny jeans and flats. When she turned around to walk to Aaina I could see the bright butterfly tattoos on her back. They were pretty.
When they saw each other, they immediately embraced and kissed on the lips. They were cute together.
"Hey, love," Aaina said while looking into Leslie's eyes.
"Hi," Leslie giggled while replying, "you know I love it when you call me love," she whispered to Aaina.
...
We all sat down together at the table once Aaina was finished setting it. Aaina explained what biryani was and what momos were, and Leslie seemed to be quite interested.
"So," Leslie looked up at me, "Aaina tells me that you're a forensic psychologist."
"Yep! And she's right. I work in conjunction with the Jeffersonian, which is a scientific organization which works to solve murders."
"Wow! That's damn interesting. I'm just a kickboxing instructor. But, hey, fitness is cool too, just not as cool as murder," she smiled at me, before realizing she just said that murder was cool.
"I mean, not that murder's cool, I just mean that it's more interesting than diets and working out."
I laughed. "I know what you mean; it's actually pretty cool to work with these brilliant people all the time."
"From what I hear, you're actually definitely one of those brilliant people. It's nice that you're humble though, that's a good quality."
I actually really like Leslie. She's honest. I like honesty, it helps bring the anxiety out of normal everyday conversations because I actually know what the other person's thinking.
"She is," Aaina added, "she's absolutely amazing at what she does."
The rest of the night consisted of somewhat awkward pleasantries. I'm not complaining, though. I really, genuinely like Leslie.
...
I wrote in my journal that night:
"Leslie's nice. I like her. I think they're a good pair.
I feel like a door's been opened right in front of me. I'd never realized it until now, but I've never actually talked about relationships or dating with Aaina. I always just thought she was completely uninterested in romance until now, and so it never came up between us.
I'm excited for this because it means that there's this whole new aspect of our friendship that we both get to explore."
.....................................................................................................
Thanks for reading! Don't forget to comment if you want to be able to read the next part, and vote, and follow for more of my stories!