12. Gabby
12
Gabby
F umbling around the kitchen, I make sure everything is in place. I’m usually so confident with my cooking, but tonight is a little different. Michelle had a late-night study group, and I invited Alex to come over…alone. It’s not like we haven’t been alone before, but this time will be different. I decided I need to sit down with him and have a heart-to-heart conversation. I’ll tell him that I found his list and that a relationship with me is not going to work. I’m willing to still be his friend, and I’ll go with him as his plus-one to his parents’ anniversary dinner (after all, I agreed before I saw the list), but nothing can go further.
I also changed up a few things for our dinner tonight. If I’m going to let him down, I might as well make myself as unappealing as possible.
My nerves are at their wits’ end when a knock at the door makes me jump. “Come in!” I yell.
“Hello!” Alex appears in the doorway .
“Why did you knock? You know we have an open-door policy.” The only time we keep our doors locked is at night or when everyone is out. Carter and Alex do the same. Jax and Aly are a little more private, which is probably a good thing because no one wants to accidently walk in on them and see something they shouldn’t.
“I know, but things felt more formal for some reason. I felt like I should knock.” He strolls in holding a purple gift bag. Instead of his usual SBFD T-shirt, he’s wearing a baby blue polo that accentuates his eyes. It was the first thing I noticed about him when we met in the parking lot. His light blue eyes shone like a beacon through the darkness and rain surrounding us. I was so taken aback by his presence and the immediate sense of tranquility I felt standing next to a complete stranger, I could barely get any words out to speak. Thankfully, Alex never seems to be at a loss for words and did most of the talking that day. It was heartbreaking to learn that he was a firefighter. Even though I had just met him, I was already afraid to lose him.
As Alex walks farther into the condo, I notice a three-legged dog beside him.
“Is that…Gus?” I don’t know Travis too well, but I know he doesn’t leave home much without his dog.
“Yup!” Alex smiles. “Travis…uh…had something to do and asked me to watch him so he wouldn’t get lonely. Are you okay that I brought him along?”
“Of course! Gus is no trouble at all. I’m just surprised Travis left him with anyone.” I walk over to give the furry hound mix a scratch behind the ears. I’ve always had a soft spot for animals but never had a pet of my own.
“Yeah, well, you know…” Alex saunters farther into the condo. “Travis knows how responsible I am.”
“Okay…” That’s kind of a weird thing to say, but I brush it off and look down at the bag he’s holding.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Happy first day of Peds!” He hands me the gift bag. I started my new position a few days ago, but Alex and I have been two ships passing in the night since then.
“You didn’t have to get me anything. It’s not like I got a promotion. I just moved to a different floor.” I poke through the white tissue paper and pull out some sort of light beige stuffed animal wrapped in a…banana peel?
“It’s a bananasaurus rex!” Alex beams and puffs out his chest. He’s clearly proud of his gift-giving skills.
“It’s so odd but so adorable.” I laugh, hugging the hybrid dinosaur banana to my chest.
“I know you don’t like flowers, but I wanted to get you something.”
“That’s very sweet of you.” I give him a hug. Crap, how am I going to let him down after he just gave me a gift?
“Huh.” I hear him sniff as he lets go from our embrace. “Are you wearing bug spray or something?”
“Oh, umm, no.” I brush a curl behind my ear. “I’m trying out a new shampoo. It has rosemary in it. It’s supposed to be good for hair.”
“It smells a little weird.” He scrunches up his nose. “But whatever you’re cooking smells great!” He walks toward the kitchen while Gus hops on our love seat and promptly falls asleep.
“I hope you don’t mind. I tried something new.” I grab the salad bowl and place it on the table. Besides our drinks, it’s the only thing I haven’t altered. “The girls in Peds were talking about going on a diet,” I lie. “They mentioned how much healthier they felt, so I decided to try one of their recipes.”
“Diet?” He makes a face. “You do not need to go on a diet. You’re perfect just the way you are. ”
“Thank you.” Heat creeps up my cheeks. “But it’s not about losing weight, just a healthier lifestyle.” I’ve never been super skinny, but over the years, I’ve learned to embrace my curves. My confidence has grown even stronger this past year since Alex tells me on a frequent basis how attractive I am to him.
“I guess I can’t argue with wanting to be healthy.” He shrugs.
We sit down for dinner while Gus snores away in our living room. We talk mainly about my first few days at Peds while we eat our salad. There’s nothing unusual about that, but next comes the main course, which, surprisingly, smells pretty good. I wonder if my plan will backfire.
“I know these look like regular cheeseburgers, but I swapped some of the ingredients for healthier ones.”
I hold my breath as Alex takes a huge bite. He chews and chews…and chews.
“Umm…what did you say were in these?” he says with his mouth still full. I’m a little worried he hasn’t swallowed yet.
“I used some plant-based meat in place of ground beef,” I answer.
“You used imposter meat?” He finally swallows.
“It’s not imposter. It’s plant-based.”
“Plants and meat are two totally separate things.” He lifts up the top of the bun. “Is the cheese fake too?”
“Umm…yeah.” I chew on my lower lip. “And the bun is gluten free. I got it from the health food section of the grocery store.”
Alex stands up, abandons his plate, and begins rummaging in the kitchen. He picks the empty cheese package from the top of the garbage can and studies it. “Dairy free, nut free, wheat free, gluten free, soy free, salt free, BPA free—what the hell?! Why would they even put that on the label? ”
“Stop!” I burst into a fit of giggles, watching Alex’s facial expressions morph into various shades of repulsion as he continues to study the label. The nerves I felt earlier diminish the more I laugh. I love his sense of humor. “You’ve got to be making this up.”
“Am not!” He walks over and holds the packaging out for me to see. Sure enough, he wasn’t making anything up. I was so nervous about tonight that I didn’t pay attention to all the ingredients. I just kind of threw everything in my cart.
“It can’t be that bad.” I take a bite to prove him wrong and promptly spit it out into a napkin. “Oh God! Sabe a zapato de cuero mojado en huevos podridos y colgado a secar en una granja de cerdos. That tastes like a leather shoe dipped in melted rotten eggs and hung out to dry on a pig farm.”
“That is a horrifyingly accurate description.”
“How did you manage to swallow that bite?” I grab my iced tea and begin chugging.
“I didn’t want to insult you. You always make such delicious meals.” He looks down at the floor. “I may need my stomach pumped.”
“I would agree if you ate the entire thing, but I think you’ll be okay.” I figured dinner would be subpar, but I wasn’t expecting it to be inedible. “How about we order a pizza and watch a movie?”
“That sounds like a much better plan,” Alex agrees.
While I place an order for a pizza, Alex cleans up our disaster dinner. We argue over what type of movie to watch. He wants a thriller while I prefer a fluffy rom-com.
“You win.” Alex plops himself on the couch. “I think we had enough horror with that meal you made.”
“You’re not going to let me live this down, are you?” I groan, taking a seat next to him.
“Nope.” He grins and presses play on the remote .
Our food arrives about twenty minutes later, and we decide to eat our meal in the living room while continuing to watch the movie. Since things have calmed down, I decide there’s no time like the present to have the hard conversation I’ve been putting off.
“Alex.” I turn to him. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
He cocks his head to the side, watching me curiously. God, I love his face, his defined features, and his enormous smile. Those dimples. Those freaking dimples of his always send my stomach into a flutter, making me feel like I’m a teenager with a huge crush.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, umm…just got distracted there. As I was saying, I wanted to talk to you about…” I stop and sniff the air. “Do you smell something?”
“Yeah, where’s it coming from?” He looks around the couch. “It almost smells like how those fraudulent cheeseburgers tasted.”
As if we can read each other’s minds, we both turn to look at the love seat, which has been abandoned.
“Where’s Gus?” I pray he went into another room to nap and the smell is just some random phenomenon.
We spring off the couch and run toward the kitchen island.
“Oh no!” I cover my mouth with my hands as I take in the overturned garbage can and Gus happily devouring what’s left of our grotesque dinner. His floppy ears are covered in ketchup and melted fake cheese. A squeaking sound comes from Gus’s rear and his wagging tail helps spread the smell throughout the room.
“Oh God, that’s so bad!” I wave my hand over my nose, hoping to fan the stench away. “He’s the slowest dog in the world. How can that food process through him so quickly?!”
“Maybe because it’s not real food,” Alex deadpans.
“You really want to debate that right now?” I put my hands on my hips.
“Later? Yes. But right now, I have to get him away from that plastic food.”
“It’s not plastic!” I smirk. “Remember the label said it was BPA free.”
“Woman!” he huffs. “I’m not in the mood to argue about this!”
The muscles in my face begin to ache as I try to hold back a laugh. He usually refers to me as “baby girl” when he’s flirting and “woman” when I get under his skin. Honestly, I adore both.
Alex walks over to Gus, bends down, and gently tugs on the smelly hound’s collar. “Come on, buddy, you shouldn’t be eating that.” Gus responds with a warning growl and Alex immediately straightens. “Oh, boy. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“He’s just hyper focused on the food right now. He’s not even registering who’s behind him,” I reason and try to think of an alternative plan. The garbage can is wedged in the corner between the counter and fridge. With Gus blocking the way, the only other way to access the trash is from above.
I hop up on the counter. “I can lift the garbage can up and away if you can just pull him back an inch or two.”
“Okay, but we need to be fast.” Alex gets into position by squatting down and hovering his arms over Gus’s torso.
“On the count of three. One. Two—” PRFFTT!
I stand upright on the counter with the garbage can in my hands feeling super proud that my plan was successful. But…
“I’ve been skunked! I’ve been skunked!” Alex starts jumping around the kitchen.
A second later, I notice a rancid smell wafting upward .
“How can it be even worse than before?!” I cover my nose, still watching Alex wiggle all over the place. I imagine that’s how I look when I accidently walk through a spiderweb.
“I think I pulled a little too hard on his stomach and released something from the depths of his bowels. Oh my God, I’ve been skunked!”
“You can’t get skunked by a dog.” I place the garbage can on top of the counter and jump down. I try my hardest not to laugh, but I can’t take it anymore. Between the stress I put on myself today and the craziness of our night, I lose all control and burst out into hysterical laughter.
“This isn’t funny! If the smell is permanent, you’re going to have to marry me now because no one will be able to tolerate being in the same room as me. Oh. My. God. Is this what happened to Stinky?” He begins rummaging through our refrigerator.
“What—what are you doing?” I wipe the tears springing from my eyes. I haven’t had a full-on belly laugh like this since the time Aly told me the story of how Jax was doped up on pain meds and thought he lost his penis.
“Tomato juice!” Alex waves his arms frantically. “I’m looking for tomato juice. Isn’t that how you get the skunk smell out? I think the scent seeped into my pores. Maybe if I drink it, it will counteract everything and I won’t smell like this for the rest of my life!”
“You. Are. Nuts.” I grab onto the countertop, trying to gain what little composure I have left. “One, the tomato juice thing is a myth. Two, we don’t have any. And three, Gus is a dog, not a skunk. We probably need some fresh air.” I walk over to the window in the living room and open it, welcoming the cool breeze that drifts through.
“Fresh air,” Alex says to himself. “Yes, that’s what we need. Come on, Gus!” he yells to the hound, who obediently follows. As he gets to the door, he turns around, giving me a sheepish look. “Umm…sorry about tonight. Rain check?”
“Yeah.” I laugh and wave toward the door. “Go take care of Gus. Hopefully, he can get everything out of his system before you bring him back to Travis.”
“God, I hope so,” Alex says and closes the door.
I walk back to the kitchen and place the garbage can on the floor. Turning, I notice the purple gift bag on the table. I grab it, pull out my wacky present, and give it a squeeze. It’s so uniquely Alex and I love it.
Once things have calmed down, I decide to finish the movie that’s only halfway through. It’s a rom-com about a boy who’s in love with his best friend, but the girl is scared to get into a relationship and keeps pushing him away. Oh, how relatable. I settle on the couch with my bananasaurus rex and realize we never had the chance to talk about his list.
I can’t help but wonder if maybe that’s for the best.