Page 26 of On The Run

Finally, I decided I teased the poor man enough and pulled two Tupperware containers out of my bag. Aiden’s eyes got wide as I pushed a loaded one toward him.

“What is this?” he asked, peeling back the lid just an inch and peeking in.

“It’s jerk chicken with rice.”

Aiden pulled the lid off the rest of the way, licking his lips. I had to look away to avoid an extremely awkward midday boner. I was way too old to be worrying about that, but something about Aiden brought the horny 21-year-old that’d long since been buried back to the forefront. The last thing I wanted to do was make Aiden uncomfortable, though. So, I thought really hard about that time Laura and I almost walked in on our parents and boom! Boner gone.

“Wow! That smells amazing!” Aiden ripped off the plastic wrapper around the spoon that I also provided and dug right in.

If I could keep that look on his face all the time, I’d be a happy man. His expression was pure pleasure as he experienced the first bite of my dad’s favorite meal.

“Oh my god,” Aiden mumbled around another mouthful. “This is delicious! You cooked this? By yourself?”

I laughed and shook my head in amusement. “Yes. This is the first time I made it on my own though. This is my dad’s specialty. I’m still relatively new to cooking, and my dad’s is so damn good I was afraid to try it.” I left out how Dad had to walk me through it step-by-step on the phone last night. Chef’s secret.

“It’s freaking amazing!” Aiden shoveled a huge bite in, his eyes rolling back into his head with pleasure. Oh fuck, I did not need to see that.Friends, Max.Just friends.“If you ever decide you don’t want to be an engineer anymore, you should open a restaurant. I’d buy the shit out of this.”

I chuckled. “I think it would take the joy out of cooking if I did it for a living.”

Aiden shrugged but didn’t stop eating. “Yeah, maybe.”

I was so mesmerized by watching this man eat, I didn’t realize I’d been staring and hadn’t taken a bite out of my own food yet until Aiden stopped, spoon frozen in midair.

“Aren’t you eating?”

“What?” I was so lost in my trance, I could barely keep track of what he was asking.

Aiden smirked, his tongue peeking out again. Fuck, he needed to stop that. The boundaries had been clearly made. My brain just needed to remember that.

“Your food? You’re not eating.” There was a little bit of concern now as he put his spoon down and looked at his half-eaten Tupperware. “I’m being weird, aren’t I?”

Shit. “No, not at all. I’m sorry. I’m the one being weird, watching you. But I promise it was only because it was bringing me so much joy seeing you enjoy the meal I made.”

Aiden squinted, but there was clear amusement sparkling in those brown eyes. “Ok, yeah, you’re the one being weird.”

Sputtering, I picked up the first thing I saw, a packet of sugar, and flung it at him. It hit him square in the chest. “Hey! That’s not very nice to say to the guy bringing you lunch, is it?”

I made sure to keep my tone light so he knew I was joking. Aiden laughed. “Hey, man. I’m just telling it like I see it.”

Sighing and pretending to be miffed, I finally picked up my spoon and ate my first bite full. Well, damn, he wasn’t kidding. This was fuckinggood. Maybe even better than Dad’s. Though, I’d never tell him that.

Aiden was still laughing at me, so I fixed him with a dirty look. “Brat.”

Aiden laughed harder.

The rest of the lunch went about the same. We were both laughing so hard by the end, I knew we were getting some looks, but neither of us cared. It felt good to just relax and let go in a way I hadn’t in a long time. And Aiden, he was always on edge, always alert. It hadn’t gone away completely, but he seemed to be genuinely having a good time. Even more so than our date, where I could always see the nerves right under the surface.

I knew this café had become a safe place for him in a way. It was why he could relax with me here. I wasn’t sure of Aiden’s past and what he was still going through, but I did know he hadn’t had an easy life. He needed all the safe spaces he could get. And if I hoped that one day I could be another one, well, I’d keep that to myself for now.

Unfortunately, lunch went way too quickly, and I needed to leave to head back to work. “You sure you don’t want me to wash this for you? I feel kind of bad that you make me all this awesome food and then you’re also responsible for cleanup.”

“It’s no problem at all. I like cooking for you”—a little too much—“and I have to clean all the rest of the Tupperware, so what’s one more?”

Aiden seemed skeptical for some reason but still nodded. “I guess. Thank you. Not just for washing up after me or for cooking, but just meeting me for lunch. It’s been really nice.”

Could a grown man preen? Because I feel like I was now. “I’ve really enjoyed it too,” I told him, hoping I sounded remotely casual.

I didn’t know if I pulled it off, but Aiden didn’t say anything and soon we were going our separate ways. We made no plans for a repeat; we never did. Sometimes, I felt like a damn hamster in a wheel as we progressed with this friendship at a pace slower than molasses, but then, right before I was heading to bed later that night, Aiden sent me a text of a meme he’d thought I’d think was funny, and I knew this snail’s pace redo was worth it.

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