Just a Taste (Private Relations 1)

After both he and Chris had said hello and shaken her hand, Chloe asked, “Wanna sit down or did you guys have big plans?”

Making eye contact with Chris, he received a nod, so they both sat down. Kelli was short, blonde, and bubbly. All of Chris’s requirements. That explained the easy agreement.

Smiling, he made idle conversation for a bit while Chris chatted up his sister’s friend.

At one point, he must’ve drifted off because Chloe said, “Deak?”

Shaking his head, he said, “Sorry. Long day. I was drifting. What did you say?”

Chloe said, “I asked what you did today.”

“Not much. I went and got some ramen. Ran into Sara there. We walked around Little Tokyo for a while. Got some coffee. Witnessed some of the most god-awful karaoke of all time. Bought someone’s birthday gift.”

Eyebrows raised, Chloe asked, “Oh really? How’s that strictly professional relationship going for you?”

Deacon frowned and said, “Shut it. You were totally right, you brat. We’ll see where it goes.”

He looked across the table and saw Chris smirking at him.

Chris snickered and said, “Try not to fuck it up this time. Her food is freaking awesome.”

Chloe agreed, chiming in with, “Yeah. I had some leftovers of the jambalaya she made the other day. It was freaking amazing!”

After a few more minutes of good natured ribbing, Deacon was able to refocus attention away from himself.

Three hours later, the chatter had died down and the group split up. Chloe, Kelli, and Chris had decided to go to a club, but Deacon just wanted to go home and relax. Taking a rain check, he headed home.

Deciding that he’d had enough beer for the night, he grabbed a bottle of water and turned on the television. Flipping channels, he finally settled on a movie, then promptly fell asleep.

Waking up to the alarm on his cell phone, he blinked confusedly until he realized he was on his couch. Shuffling into the shower, he managed to work out the kinks in his neck and back. Feeling more refreshed and relaxed, he moved into the kitchen to search for food.

Opening the fridge, he realized it was bare. Clearly he needed to hit a grocery store today. And the gym. He hadn’t done either yesterday. Smiling, he thought about yesterday.

Impulsively picking up his phone, he texted Sara. Thinking of you.

After deciding there was no breakfast to be found, he grabbed his jacket, wallet, cell phone, and keys. He swung by the little bagel shop on the corner and grabbed breakfast, then drove to the grocery store.

He picked up some basic items, and the ingredients for the pork chop dish that Sara recommended. It looked the easiest by far, but he didn’t want to make a total ass out of himself in the kitchen.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket as he approached the register. Stopping, he grabbed it and saw he had a new text from Sara. Thanks. But who is this?

Narrowing his eyes, then smirking, he quickly texted back, Apologies. Wrong number.

His phone immediately buzzed. Smirking, he read her reply. Thinking of you, too, deacon. Hope your Sunday is awesome.

He responded back with, Same goes. When will i see you next?

After a moment, she responded. Wednesday, I think. Unless I die trying to make all these Swedish meatballs.

Smiling, he said, Now we cant have that. Go kick some Swedish meatball ass. :)

Realizing that he was grinning like a school girl, he stuck his phone back in his pocket. He was really glad no one he knew had seen the exchange. He was in so much trouble, it wasn’t even funny.

He wheeled his cart to the checkout, and paid for his purchases. After a quick trip home to drop it off and put it away, he grabbed his gear and headed for the gym. He hit the weights, ran for a half hour on the treadmill, then soaked in the whirlpool until his muscles felt like jelly.

Having accomplished most of what he wanted to do for the day, he headed home to research more investments. He’d been so wrapped up in the invoicing mess lately that he’d been slacking on other things he needed to accomplish.

He ended up working straight through the afternoon and didn’t tune back into the real world until around 5:00 p.m. Deciding that he needed to eat, he grabbed the recipe Sara gave him for the pork chops and got to work.