Page 38 of Play to Win
13
Ethan’s loft was neat as she entered it two nights later. His furnishings were sparse and there were no knick-knacks on tables or pictures on the walls. There was a plush dove gray rug in the center of his living room space. She’d taken off her shoes so that she could bury her toes in it while surveying his extensive movie and music collection.
In this digital age, Portia was shocked to see that he had CDs lined neatly on four of the six built-in shelves on one side of the large flat screen television that hung in the center of the living room wall. He kept them in alphabetical order. The movies, however, were in order according to genre. Action, Westerns and Sci-Fi. She smiled when she saw a familiar case.
“Oh wow, you’re a Star Wars fan too!” she exclaimed.
Ethan looked up from the island in the center of the kitchen. The completely open floor plan and lack of furniture caused an echo throughout the space, but was consistent with the contemporary look of the building.
“Of course. All the cool kids are,” Ethan joked.
He’d been doing that a lot in the past few days. Actually, it seemed they’d both relaxed into a comfortable existence. Which was why she hadn’t hesitated when he invited her to his loft for a replacement dinner. He’d wanted to make it up to her for burning the grilled cheese sandwiches the night of the hurricane. She’d offered to cook, but he’d insisted he could prepare something edible. From the scents wafting in the air, she was beginning to believe he could.
“Pick out your favorite. I’m almost done here so we can watch while we eat,” he yelled from the kitchen after they’d been there for half an hour.
She got up from the couch where she’d been sitting and went to the shelf again, quickly pulling a case from many. She’d found the remote control to the television a while ago on one of the sleek metal tables beside the black cushioned sofa. Ethan came into the living room area then. He moved past her and came back with two small tables. He unfolded both, sitting them in front of the chair while she opened the case and inserted the disk into the Blu Ray player.
A comfortable existence indeed.
Minutes later Ethan called from the kitchen again. “All done. Can you come get our drinks?”
“Sure.” She walked into the kitchen to pick up the bottle of beer and glass of Sprite he’d poured for her.
She tried not to feel any kind of way about the fact that he remembered she liked Sprite. He was a bartender after all.
“You made spaghetti and meatballs?” she asked after glancing at the two plates he carried into the living room.
“Yes. I did.”
“All by yourself?”
When he turned, giving her a mock hurt look, she chuckled.
“What? It’s a valid question. I mean, I watched you destroy two slices of bread and cheese, and this looks and smells amazing.”
“I have garlic bread too, with freshly made garlic butter. It’s warming in the over. Be right back.”
Before he left, he dropped a kiss on her forehead. Portia smiled at how much she liked that small gesture. She also sat down on the couch in front of one of the tables. In seconds Ethan was back with the bread, setting two slices on each of their tables.
“Start the movie,” he told her.
After she pressed the start button on the remote, Ethan grabbed her hand and she looked over to see that he was bowing his head. She followed and they blessed their food together.
“You didn’t ask which one I selected,” she said when he took a drink of his beer.
“They’re all favorites so it really doesn’t matter.”
Until the words came up on the screen.
“How did I know you were on my team? Episode IV is the best always and forever,” Ethan said.
“Always and forever,” Portia agreed and took a forkful of her food.
She moaned with how good the food tasted. Ethan smiled and his chest poked out a little further.
“Yeah, you can thank me later,” he joked and forked spaghetti into his mouth as well.
They were halfway through the movie and stuffed from two plates of food and more bread than Portia ever wanted to admit consuming, when Ethan’s house phone rang. He seemed surprised at the sound and looked over to the other end table where a cordless phone sat on its charger. After another ring, he finally leaned over and grabbed the phone. Two very stiff, but cordial, sentences later and he stood up, walking toward the front door with the phone in his hand.
