Page 63 of Riverside Reverie

I took a bite too, the flavours exploding on my tongue. It wasn’t just homecooked good, it was restaurant-level good. The sauce was creamy and rich, the mushrooms were sauteed to perfection, and the grilled chicken was flavourful and not at all dry. “It really is, where’d you learn to cook like this?”

“Mainly boredom,” Lux admitted with a shy smile. “My mom’s not much of a cook and my dad’s the chief of Cardiovascular Surgery, he’s usually really busy. We have a chef, Maria, that comes over and prepares a bunch of meals. I learned how to make a few dishes from her.”

“A chef, huh? That’s pretty fancy,” I commented with a grin. I knew Jasmine came from a higher tax bracket, what with her family being in politics. I guess it made sense that Lux came from money, too, especially if her father was the chief of Cardiovascular Surgery.

“Yeah, I guess,” Lux’s gaze dropped as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat and took a bite of her pasta. I could tell the topic of her family was a sore one for Lux. If her sister’s actions were any indication, Lux’s family had a complicated dynamic.

“Maria’s an excellent chef, I used to love going over to Lux’s for dinner. It was like eating at a five-star restaurant, but at someone’s house,” Jasmine grinned. “Does she still work for your parents?”

“Every Monday, she comes over with a ton of groceries and preps enough meals for the week.” Lux confirmed. “I definitely missed her cooking when I was at college. Cafeteria food didn’t hit the same, and our dorms didn’t exactly have kitchens to cook in. There was a hot plate, a microwave, and a refrigerator.”

“Well, this is delicious. You could have been a chef yourself,” I told her, already halfway through the pasta. Lux gifted me with a smile that reached her eyes.

With everyone eating, we fell into a comfortable silence. Once the food was consumed, Desmond and I offered to tidy up the kitchen. There wasn’t much to do, the cookware Lux had used to prepare the meal was already soaking in the sink. Less than ten minutes of effort, and everything was spotless.

Once the dishwasher was loaded, the four of us made our way into the living room, the girls carrying a bottle of white wine while Desmond and I cracked open some beers.

“Anyone want to play a game?” Jasmine held up a black box that said Answer This on it.

“How do you play it?” Desmond asked, mildly curious.

“You answer questions about your friends. The first to answer ten questions correctly wins the game.”

“Sounds interesting,” Lux said, her lips twitching.

Jasmine looked at the three of us with hopeful eyes.

“We could play one round,” Desmond managed, unable to tell her no even though I knew he detested games like this—games that could force him to tell a lie to avoid potentially exposing his true feelings.

Jasmine clapped her hands, delighted. “Okay, great,” she wiggled into a more comfortable position on the couch and opened the box, grabbing four of the dry-erase boards and markers and passing them out. Then she shuffled the cards inside before handing them out. “You’ll have to show your answers on the dry-erase board, and if your answer matches the answer of the person who asked the question, you get a point. The first to get ten points wins.”

“I don’t really know everybody here all that well, Jas,” Lux said, worrying her bottom lip.

“It’s okay,” Jasmine assured her. “You can take wild guesses and it’ll still be fun, plus you’ll hear the answers at the end so you’ll get to know these guys pretty well.”

There was no talking Jasmine out of an idea once she had it, and Lux knew this. She nodded, relenting, and settled onto the couch cross-legged with her dry-erase board on her lap.

The game started with Jasmine going first to show us how it was done.

“Which public figure annoys me the most?” Lux and Desmond scribbled quickly on their boards. I was less sure, jotting down Killian Barker after remembering a heated rant Jasmine went on recently about the American punk-rock singer and songwriter.

“It’s Dudley Wadsworth, although Killian is a close second!” Jasmine laughed. Lux and Desmond had answered the question correctly, both earning a point.

Then Lux went. “When is my birthday?”

I wish I could say I guessed right, but that honour went to Jasmine. “July 15th!”

So she was a Cancer; it checked out. Lux had an emotional depth to her and was highly empathetic. I couldn’t help but absorb each new detail she revealed about herself like rain on dirt after a drought.

We kept playing, getting through several rounds with Jasmine and Desmond neck and neck before Desmond ended up accumulating ten points and winning the game.

“Well, that was fun.” He stood up, quitting while he was ahead. “Thanks for dinner, ladies. I need to get back and force myself to sleep for a bit,” he added, sounding like it was the last thing he wanted to do. He sent a covert look at Jasmine, but I don’t think she caught it as she was putting the game away.

“Oh, bye Des. See you later,” Jasmine said, looking up at him with a smile. Desmond nodded, then headed to the back door.

“What now?” I grinned, looking between them.

It was nearly nine o’clock, still early, but I was no longer interested in playing board games. Lux and I had kept stealing glances at each other as the game had worn on, and the desire between us was palpable. I was eager to get her alone; eager to claim her lips and her body again.

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