Dinner
The last time she had eaten take-out with someone who wasn’t Es, it’d been in the days leading up to when she started dating Kayden. She didn’t know what had made her so against the idea of it since. Maybe it was the abrupt end to the relationship, maybe it was because she just hadn’t ever been in the mood to invite a boy over and get take out food. Whatever the reason, she’d let it go for Jake. It had felt right. A lazy February afternoon at the tail end of her flu. The cough was the only thing hanging on, and she was still under Alonzo-enforced house arrest. She’d called up her caring warden and asked him to make his way over with some Chinese food. He’d accepted and shown up on her doorstep half an hour later. They sat on the couch as they fiddled with chopsticks. Her feet gently pressed against his while they sat facing each other, allowing her to occasionally peek around her knees at him so she wouldn’t have to sit up. Part of her wanted to ask if this counted as a date. But there had been nothing truly formal about the meal. No sitting and making small talk, no appetizer—unless cough syrup counted on her part—and there certainly wasn’t going to be any dancing. Taking this into consideration, she kept the question to herself, using the mouth she’d opened to ask to stuff a piece of orange chicken into her mouth. “Were you going to say something?” She swallowed, “No. Resisting a cough.” Cam lied and picked at the box. frowning at the sad remains at the bottom. “This chicken was kinda spicy.”