Chapter 33
thirty-three
LOCKE
I’ve got pancit down to a science.
Rice noodles, vegetables, meat. Grant’s recipe blog uses beef, but Rosie likes shrimp so that’s what I go with. Ghost appreciates the small pieces I not-so-accidentally drop, too.
Cooking is fun. It’s rewarding to see the product of your own hard work, and even better to share it with someone you know will appreciate the time you spent. A lifetime of this is one I would be thankful for every day.
The noodles are nearing a perfect brown as the front door swings open, the love of my life beaming while she walks in and turns this apartment into a home.
I grew up with more money and privileges than one person will ever need, but right now, this is the richest I’ve ever felt.
“Welcome home, Princess.”
The stove clicks when I switch it off. It takes me two long steps to get across the space of our kitchen and straight to my girl, her belongings dropped carelessly onto the floor and hands thrown open for me.
“I missed you.” Rosie mumbles when lean down to press our lips together.
I have to force myself not to get lost in the short welcome home kiss, and wonder how lucky I am to have her as a partner for the rest of my life. “I missed you more.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did.”
We go back and forth while walking back into the kitchen.
We’re still bickering when I lift her onto the counter, sitting her down next to the stove.
Rosie is insisting the intensity in which she missed me today is at a level I could never even fathom—despite only leaving the apartment four hours ago—while I’m stirring the food a final time.
“Let’s just eat it here.” She offers as I’m about to reach for our plates.
“In the kitchen?”
“Yeah.” She kicks her legs up to grab two forks out of the drawer beneath her and holds one out to me. “I don’t feel like doing dishes tonight. Let’s just eat dinner and then watch our favorite shows for the rest of the night.”
I frown. “I’ll do the dishes.”
“I don’t want anyone to do the dishes. I just want to be lazy on the couch and relax, to celebrate how amazing of a day it’s been.”
Rosalie twists her fork into the pancit and smirks. Not a tip of the lips that gets me stirring everywhere, but a mischievous one, like she knows something I don’t. A signature Rosie smirk that I’ve fallen in love with.
Eyes wide, I grab her knees and ask excitedly, “Did you get the internship?!”
“Maybe.” She shrugs. I’m about to ask her not to tease me, and to spill the gossip, but she laughs. “I might’ve. I don’t know. They didn’t explicitly say.”
“And how do you feel about that?”
My girl takes another bite of her dinner and laughs.
There’s a chance she’ll spill food on the carefully ironed dress shirt she’s wearing, but I don’t think she minds.
She’s dressed to the nines, while the man she comes home to is donned in a Zelda apron and plaid pajama pants, but that doesn’t seem to matter.
It’s heaven. Being so comfortable with her and knowing myself, every part of me, is able to exist. Just be. Live.
When she’s done chewing through her food, she says, “I don’t care. They could decide I’m not right for their company, and I don’t care. I’m set up for greatness wherever life takes us and that means more to me than their opinions ever will.”
My heart grows ten sizes. To hear her finally say what everyone knows is true, and to be the person she chooses to share that journey with.
Before she can take another bite of dinner, I splay my large hands across the beautiful skin of her thighs and kiss her. Passionately, to match every part that Rosie is, and to symbolize exactly how I feel about her.
Kissing her is never enough. I’m already craving more when she pulls back and giggles against my lips.
“What was that for?”
“To celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
“How good of a day it’s been, like you said. And to celebrate my love. Our love.” I take a deep breath, kiss her again, and know being her partner is the best part of my life. “I love you, Rosie.”
There’s a moment where it’s nothing else but us. Two souls being with one another while we breathe in the weight of those words, stare into each other’s eyes, and smile. I don’t have to count the seconds. It’s written in fate when she eventually whispers back.
“I love you, too.”
Rosalie and I are destined for each other. To grow, to develop, to live. That’s the part of my life I’ll never take for granted.