323 Tender Way

"It is, I agree. Are you close with yours?"

"I am now, but there were a few years where I wasn't even talking to them. It was probably the biggest mistake of my life in retrospect, not leaning on them when I should have. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, I guess, as they say." He said it casually but his expression was pained.

I got up to clear the table, and Duke jumped up, taking the dish from me.

"Oh no. You made dinner. You’re not cleaning, too. That job gets split down the middle. You cook, I clean. I cook, you eat it."

"You're my guest. I'm not going to let you clean up my house."

"Yes, you are. You're gonna take your cute little self over to the sofa and pick out a movie while I clean all this up."

"Okay. Still feels weird. You don’t have to do a good job. Just throw everything in the dishwasher."

"You've got a dishwasher in your one-bedroom apartment?"

"Yes, I got pretty lucky. Not all the units have them."

"I'd say," he said, collecting all the dishes. "Go relax. I've got this. You already know all about my predilection for improv in cleaning kitchens that are new to me."

“Okay, you can clean, but I’ll make the coffee.”

One thing I had a surplus of in my home was coffee from Perks. I brewed a quick pot and put out the cream and sugar.

Duke had cleared the table and put the leftovers in the fridge.

I smiled at him and watched for a moment as he found his way around my small kitchen, working quickly to clean up. I tiptoed out to the living room and left him to his own devices.

“Where’s the dish soap?” he called over the noise of banging cabinets. “Never mind, found it.”

I picked my favorite movie out and pressed pause while I waited for him. I curled my feet up underneath me on the couch and pulled my sleeves up to my fingertips. I sometimes had a cigarette after dinner, with a black tea or a coffee, but I didn’t want to scare him off and I didn’t want him to know all my bad habits.

When he was finished, he walked over and sat down in the vacant space beside me. His hands were red from the hot water and somehow it struck me as romantic. This gorgeous man had just cleaned my kitchen. It was like a scene out of a movie.

"So what are we watching?"

"The Avengers."

"That's what you picked?"

"Yeah, something wrong with that choice?"

"Nothing, I just assumed you'd pick some chick flick. Like a romantic comedy or a lengthy drama about finding love in wartime, you know—the usual girl stuff."

"I don’t know what kind of girls you’re hanging out with, Duke, but I can't stand your so-called chick flicks. I like action-adventure, like real slap-stick comedy, and anything with super heroes," I said, smiling. “Chick flicks are cringy for me. Guess I’m a tomboy.” I shrugged and started the movie.

Usually, watching a movie on a first date can be sort of awkward, you’re not sure what you’re supposed to do yet, cuddle or stay six inches apart holding hands. I sat right next to Duke and pulled my huge sweater over my bent knees. I laid my head on his shoulder and it all felt perfectly natural. I jumped up once to scream at Loki.

“BooYa! Take that!”

Duke laughed at my antics and pulled me into his lap. I snuggled into his big hard body and listened to his heart. He touched my hair gently and stroked it away from my temples. I could fall asleep like that, listening to the insides of him work in the darkness. I ran my fingers up and down his tatted arm paying attention to the symbols and pictures he’d chosen to mark himself with. I’d never gotten a tatt because I was too flighty—not because I disliked them. I thought tattoos were sexy and if they were meaningful, it made the art even that more beautiful.

“Did you design your own arm?”

“I tatted myself. Each one of these marks a milestone and the tattoo was my reward. I’m a lefty and so I’d have to sit for someone to do my left side.”

“And you don’t trust their skill?”

I gently scratched up and down his left arm. He had so much muscle in his forearm, it was actually surprising.

“No, it’s not that. I guess I just have a difficult time holding still.”

“Holy shit, I do too!”

“You don’t say?” Duke said, smiling.

“Are you ADHD? Oh my God, that’s why we like each other so much!” I sat up straight and screamed it, believing myself to have figured everything out. “I take Guanfacine now, I used to take Ritalin when I was kid. I’ve tried Adderall, too, but that one makes me like a walking talking crazy head. What actually works best for me is coffee, but you know, it’s supposed to be terrible for your adrenal system, especially if you don’t drink enough water, so I switch it up with tea, too. Black and Green, I hate the fruity ones. So, what do you use?”