Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
MATT
I may have gone overboard. But once Ellie agreed to hanging out, I was determined to make sure she knew this was a good idea. And tacos are always a good idea.
I’m standing outside her apartment building door, freezing my ass off, with two takeout bags full of my favorite tacos and one grocery bag.
Just for us. I also have my backpack on, but I didn’t put any food in there other than some protein bars for the morning.
Wishful thinking and all that. I transfer one bag to the other side so I have a hand free to pull my phone out, bouncing on my feet to fight the cold.
When I pull up Ellie’s contact to text her that I’m here, I see the reason I over-ordered and smile.
Today 12:37PM
Matt
Do you like tacos?
Confidential Fuck Buddy
is Minnesota cold in the winter?
Matt
Noted. See you tonight, C.F.B.
Confidential Fuck Buddy
please stop
Matt
Never :)
I shake my head and chuckle again at her earlier responses before quickly shooting her a new one to let her know I’m out front.
I probably should’ve just asked her what she liked instead of ordering one of almost everything, but my common sense seems to take a backseat with Ellie.
And everything from my favorite taco joint is really good.
Proven by the fact the hole-in-the-wall restaurant is literally always packed.
They also only serve lunch, but I may have called in a favor today.
One of the few perks of being me that I take advantage of—food.
Ellie opens the door and warmth assaults me from the heated foyer and her bright smile.
Her hair is down and looks a little damp, her gray T-shirt dotted with wet marks just beneath her shoulders.
She’s wearing black leggings and thick white socks with smiley faces on them.
There’s a matching smiley face in the middle of her oversized shirt.
I study her bare face and feel a tug of happiness at her casual, comfortable appearance.
She didn’t dress up for our date—for me, Matt Anderson. And I fucking love it.
Ellie pushes up on her toes and surprises me with a quick kiss on my cheek. She shivers and lets out a dramatic brrrr noise. I refrain from touching the tingling spot she kissed on my face.
“Hurry up, it’s freaking freezing,” she says in a chattering voice. She grabs one of the bags and turns to head up the stairs, which she takes two at a time.
I laugh and step inside, shutting the door behind me and following her up to her apartment. By the time I get up there, the door is ajar and Ellie is at the counter, ripping open the bag she carried. She pulls out the carton and holds it up to me, a pout on her confused face.
“This isn’t tacos,” she says.
I toe my shoes off and hold up the two bags I have before I set them on the counter in front of me. She claps and starts rummaging through them while I go shut the door and hang my jacket up, dropping my backpack underneath.
“Can I put this in the freezer?” I ask Ellie as I grab the ice cream from the counter where she left it.
I hear a muffled “Mhm” from where her head is almost literally inside one of the bags.
I chuckle and walk over to the freezer, opening it and looking for a spot to set it.
“Someone joining us for dinner? I’m not really dressed for guests,” she says.
I turn around and see Ellie perched on her knees on a barstool, all ten takeout containers stacked in two piles in front of her.
She peers around them at me with a raised eyebrow and gestures to her outfit.
I’m nearly struck speechless by her casual reference to the fact that I’m not a guest to her, despite it all being a joke.
I swallow it down and answer her while I start opening the containers.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked. And everything from here is really good,” I explain and then name each of the different types of tacos.
She listens and then hops off her stool, rounding the counter to a cabinet where she pulls out two plates.
She hands one to me and then proceeds to grab one of everything except the lengua.
I file that away for next time and follow suit, filling my plate and then trailing Ellie over to the couch where she’s sitting.
There’s already two glasses of water placed on the coffee table she must have filled before I got here.
“I forgot to order drinks in my last grocery delivery, sorry,” she says in between bites of food, nodding her head at the waters. “Yummm, this is good. Thanks for bringing food. I was starving.”
“Water’s always good,” I tell her, leaning over and dropping a quick kiss to her mouth as she chews.
She makes a noise in protest but I pull back before she can actually say something. I smile at her and take a bite of one of my tacos, holding back a groan. So good.
“How was work this week?” I ask her. It’s Wednesday and, despite my intentions otherwise, this was the soonest we could make plans after Friday. I had a game in Denver this weekend and it turns out Ellie works an unusual schedule. I’m still surprised—and impressed—by her long shifts.
Ellie sets her half-finished second taco down and grabs her water. After a few sips, she puts it back on the coffee table and then angles herself toward me on the couch, her crossed legs facing me now.
“It was actually great. Obviously I went to school already and did my training in Boston, but this hospital is really good about continuing education. So yesterday I got to sit in on a training for this new burn treatment and it’s a freaking spray.
It’s so cool,” she gushes. “I won’t go into too much detail, but it will save time and it works better to help keep wounds clean. Science blows my mind.”
Ellie lets out a little bomb noise as her hand makes an exploding gesture. I smile back at her infectious enthusiasm and marvel at her passion for her job. My job is fun and easy to love—but Ellie’s job is important and hard, and her loving it feels so much cooler. Bigger.
“Did you always know you wanted to be a nurse?”
She tilts her head back and forth while she finishes chewing.
“Hmm, I guess yes? But it’s not for the noble reason you might think.
I was like seven or eight and me and my mom were out at the store.
This woman was next to us and I loved her outfit so much.
” She giggles. “Spoiler alert—it was scrubs. I asked my mom what she did for work and she said ‘a nurse, maybe.’ So I committed then and there. Thankfully the actual job appealed to me once I learned more and got into Grey’s Anatomy, but that’s how it started. ”
Imagining a little Ellie infatuated with scrubs is pretty fucking cute. “And do you still love scrubs?”
“Heck yes, I do. I love not thinking about what I have to wear, and I still think they’re pretty cute to be honest.” Ellie smiles at me and takes a drink of water. “How’s your week been?”
She picks up her taco and starts eating again, chewing and focusing on me. I mimic her previous movements and set mine down on my plate. I wipe my mouth with the napkin next to my water and angle myself toward her, resting my arm on the back of the couch.
“My week’s been fine, got back from Denver last night. I don’t love travel nights, but we didn’t have to practice until three today, so there’s that at least.”
“What’s so bad about travel?” Ellie asks around a mouthful of food.
“In general, nothing really. Although we have been performing worse on the road,” I grumble.
“But anyway, my main annoyance with travel games is that we usually leave right after. So we are flying at like ten, eleven, or twelve-ish at night and don’t get home until the early hours of the morning.
It makes sense, but they suck. And the next day can be rough depending on our practice and game schedule,” I explain with a shrug.
“You don’t get the next day off?” Ellie’s nose scrunches when she asks, and I want to kiss the little wrinkle it creates.
I clear my throat and focus on her question. “Sometimes we do. But we have a game tomorrow, so we had a short practice today even though we flew back last night,” I tell her.
“That blows,” she says.
I laugh at that and nod, picking my taco back up.
I look at her empty plate and feel a bit of pride swell in my chest. She obviously liked the food I brought and it’s one of my favorite restaurants.
And she ate five tacos. Only one less than me.
I take the last bite of mine and stand, grabbing her plate and bringing it to the kitchen.
“Ice cream now or later?” I ask her as I put the plates in the sink.
Ellie hums. I look up and see she’s grabbed the remote and is scrolling movie options. “Now is good.”
I grab the ice cream from the freezer and then scan the kitchen for where the utensils might be.
I guess the drawer correctly on the first try and just barely stop myself from giving a fist pump.
No need to highlight my ever-present competitive nature when I’m trying to impress.
Not that Ellie is watching me locate spoons.
I think tonight is my unofficial chance to win Ellie over. I know we talked about it last week, but she seemed hesitant to commit to even a casual arrangement. I’m not sure if she’s fully onboard even now. So the ice cream? Me sucking up, one hundred percent.
I was a little nervous to talk about hockey at all, given how she seems to feel about my job, but I wanted to be honest when she asked about my week. And it makes up my entire life, truthfully, so it would be hard to avoid.
I’m also hoping the dinner portion of our night makes this less of a hangout and more of a date. At least on some subconscious level. Fingers crossed.