I thought a lot about how I was going to ask him out and I couldn’t come up with anything. It wasn’t everyday that I had to plan something special for a special someone. It was actually the first time that I had to do something like this.
But then I decided that a way to a man’s heart was through his stomach and I knew how much of a foodie Ethan was and I knew what I had to do, all thanks to Keith and his magical hands.
I was going to cook for him. I was going to set it up prettily which would look romantic and then I was going to ask him out. Picturing this in my mind made me so giddy for the evening. I couldn’t wait to get started and pour all of my feelings for him in the dish I’d make.
I had already told him to get off work a little early that usual so that we could have our special dinner before everyone else.
After an hour or two after lunch I was going to start with my cooking and I had asked for me to be alone in the kitchen and for there to be necessary ingredients around so that I wouldn’t have to waste my time searching around for things. I was going to make a full three course meal for the both of us. I was confident and sure that he would love this.
When it was time, I bounded down the stairs, a big smile on my face as I imagined how he would react to me cooking for him.
My smile disappeared when I saw Ethan in the kitchen, eating. “What’re you doing here?”
“Eating.” He said, his mouth stuffed with food.
“I thought you ate out today because you didn’t come during lunch time.”
“There was a lot of work to be done so I didn’t have time to eat. Now I’m free so I don’t have go back.”
Well, crap.
“And this had to happen today?”
“What do you mean?”
I sighed.
“Nothing, just finish up quickly. You must be hungry.”
He nodded and I left. I’d have to wait till he finished up.
Fifteen minutes later, I went back and saw that Ethan had now finished eating but was just sitting there, scrolling on his phone.
“Ethan, you finished eating?”
He looked up. “Yeah.”
“Then what are you doing here? You should go to your room and rest.”
“I’m not sleepy. I’m actually feeling a lot energetic despite having worked a lot today.”
“Why aren’t you tired?” I muttered under my breath. “You should go.”
He looked at me confusedly. “Where?”
“Anywhere. Just not here.”
“Why?”
“Because the helpers are going to clean up here.”
He looked around at the shiny clean kitchen. “It’s spotless here, though. And I’ve cleaned up after myself.”
“That’s just on the surface. You don’t know how many bacteria and germs must still be present on it. They need to? deep? clean it.”
“I don’t recall them ever? deep? cleaning here.”
“You aren’t in the kitchen twenty four by seven.”
“But I know what happens around here.”
I groaned. “Please, Ethan. Please, please leave.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Nothing.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
I sighed. “Why are you so stubborn?”
“Why can’t you just tell me why you’re making me leave?”
“It’s a secret, okay? I have plans.”
“Well carry on with your? plans.? I’m not going disrupt it.”
No! I had ordered all the ingredients fresh this afternoon and I didn’t want to wait for some other day to make it. I wanted to cook when everything was still fresh so that it would exude its utmost flavor and taste.
I wanted this to be a surprise.
“Ethan,” I sat next to him with big eyes and my puppy dog face. I put a hand on his arm and continued, “Please let me have the kitchen for myself for two hours.”
He widened his eyes and mimicked my look. “No.”
I groaned again. “Then don’t complain if it doesn’t turn out to be that romantic or surprising! And if your answer is no, I’m going to blame you for it!”
He blinked. “What?”
I stood up and headed over the kitchen counter to start on making beef tenderloin with red wine sauce. I searched up for recipes and I found this to be easy and an elegant dinner with a special someone.
As I was sorting through the ingredients, I felt Ethan’s presence next to me. “Oh. You were going to cook for me. You’re going to ask me out today.”
“Yes,” I said quietly. “But you kind of ruined it for yourself.”
“You could’ve done it any other day.”
“I ordered these ingredients this afternoon. They are so fresh. I didn’t want it to go to waste.”
He nodded. “Sorry. But don’t worry, I won’t let this come in the way of my decision, I promise.”
“If you say so. I would’ve still preferred it to be a surprise though. I didn’t want to do this just for the sake of asking you out. I genuinely wanted to cook for you and make you happy.”
He smiled and stroked my hair. “Then that’s all that matters.”
“So now that you know, let me work on this.”
“Let me help.” He volunteered.
“No, I want to do this on my own. Besides do you know how to cook? Keith was a God in the kitchen. I miss him so much.” I said, getting an apron for myself.
He cleared his throat. “I don’t think admitting to missing a man who liked you in front of the man you like is flattering to that man.” Then he took the apron from me and slid into it. “I’ll show you how good I am at cooking.” He said, tightening the knot at the back.
“No… I told you I was going to do this.”
“And I’m not going to listen,” he said adamantly. He took off the scrunchie on my wrist and turned me around so that my back was facing him. He gathered my hair, his fingers smoothly running through my hair like a gentle caress and tied my hair back in a decent ponytail. “You can help.”
I had everything planned out meticulously but he was going to ruin my plans.
I whined a little about how this wasn’t supposed to be like this but he had already started with the sauce. Grudgingly I joined in making it.
Two hours later, which would have been an hour and a half had we not played with the food and broke into an impromptu food fight or fought over the quantity of ingredients added, the beef tenderloin sat prettily in our plates. I had set the table while he cleaned up the counter which we had made a mess of.
“This looks good!” I said, poking the beef with my fork.
“I bet it tastes better than whatever Keith had made and fed you.”
“Ethan, Keith is a? chef. It shouldn’t be the case that you are better at this than him because he’s good at this and because this is his profession, likewise how you are better at business matters than him. We all have our own area of expertise.”
“But I am good. You take a bite and tell me.” He argued.
“Fine, shall we start?”
“We shall.”
We dug into our meal at once and when I chewed on the it, I could barely hold back my surprise. Ethan really was good at this. Keith had never made beef tenderloin for me but I knew it would taste better than this. Ethan and I were no chefs but this was pretty decent. Keith was too perfect.
“See? It’s so good. I love it.” He gushed. “I just realized I was so hungry.”
“Me too. We should cook more often, maybe, if you ever get the time.”
“We will.” He promised.
“Here.” I held out my fork towards him. “Eat.”
He smiled and took that bite.?”The sauce is really delicious,” he commented.
We were no longer eating from our own plates. We were sharing even if we had the same thing on our plates.? It was a delightful evening and I didn’t think I could’ve cooked better than what we both did.
After we were both done, Ethan helped me with the dishes after which it was dinner time for the others.
We escaped upstairs and I invited him into my room to sit out in the balcony and gaze up at what few stars we could see or marvel down at the beautiful expansive estate of the Jenson’s.
We had laid out blankets and snuggled closer into some warm ones.
After we had a long conversation about space and the unknown during which I learned that he had an obsessive interest with it, I thought this was the perfect moment to ask him that question. “You already know that I planned this dinner to ask you out, so… would you go out with me?”