Seth listened to Madison telling about her unfinished book and her job as an advice columnist. While listening he grabbed a few more books out of the box and put them on the shelf. He didn't put them in any particular order, he thought she would probably do that on her own later on.
At least it's in the right place... She continued with answering his earlier question. It sounded like Madison and her parents were a bad match. If it would have been a relationship it would have been long over, so Madison and her parents splitting up sounded like an excellent choice. All three were probably better off like this.
Seth had never been big on family, so he was happy to meet a like-minded person. A tradition of obligations and sorrow inherited at birth, a journey leading nowhere.
"Sounds like the relationship with your parents would be enough to write a trilogy about." As an advice columnist she is probably able to use a lot of her personal life in her columns. She sat down on the couch and lit up a cigarette.
"Oh, um, sorry I didn't ask this before. You don't mind me smoking around you, do you?" Seth sat down next to her and lit one of his own.
"Not a problem at all." He took a drag and enjoyed the little break. While smoking he simultaneously ate another piece of pizza. Before he started unpacking a new box he wiped his mouth with the napkin provided by the pizza delivery man.
The next box had a number of little statues and photo frames. They all seemed to be display items, so he just took the box and placed stuff around the room. The frames looked very nice on the mantel piece. Most of them depicted Madison at different ages. One looked like a 10 year old Madison in a leotard, while another showed a 16 year old Madison with a big smile on her face.
"Some nice childhood pictures over here," he said holding the one of the 10 year old,
"tell me, gymnast or dancer?" Whatever he answer, both were correct in his opinion. They provided a certain level of flexibility he surely appreciated.
He thought back to her job.
"So...," he started slowly,
"if you would get a letter asking for advise with this situation." The smile on his lips grew as he started his story.
"Dear Maddie, I have a problem I could really use your advise on. I've met this girl only a few hours ago, and we seem to click. I want to ask her out on a date, but I really don't know how, her looks are a bit intimidating as well." He read it from the pretend letter he was holding in his hand.
"Thank you for the advice. PS: I would like to kiss her at the end of the night, but don't feel much for the possible slap that follows." He put the pretend letter back in the pretend envelope.
"Wow, you get to deal with some nut cases, don't you?"
As the door opened a giant dog came storming out. Now Ben was not particularly scared of dogs, he even used to have one when he was younger. But this elephant of a dog was a bit more than he was used to. Thank goodness the dog seemed to like him, sniffing frantically around his feet. Before Ben actually got his first dog he had been scared of them. Up to a point where he was even bitten by this little monster of a creature. His grandfather than told him that all the dog wanted to do was to smell his hands and that the dog only bit him since Ben wouldn't let him smell his hands. Being reminded of that scary feeling now, Ben held his hands out for her dog to sniff them. He felt the wet nose of the dog on his hand not a second later. Apparently approving the dog let go and left him alone.
Ben's hands were actually a bit shaky after asking Francesca on a date for the very next evening. This evening had been a success for him and it really looked like she was having fun as well. In order not to let her show his shaking hands he put them in his pockets and hoped for the answer he'd been waiting for. When he heard the resounding
"No!" his heart sank so far he was about to shit it out. Although he had given the 'no' option about a 30% chance, he had not expected her to shout it out quite like that. As his jaw dropped Francesca sprinted towards to elevator.
Ben was a bit confused, but after a few seconds he understood what was going on. Francesca looked a bit fuzzed getting the dog back in the apartment as soon she could, but after a short while she appeared back at the front door of her apartment apologizing for the dog's behaviour. Together with the unneeded apology came the answer he had been waiting for.
"I meant to respond with a yes, I'd love to." It was about all he could do to not start floating in the air and clicking his heels together. A good thing however, that he didn't. Francesca leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek and whispered in his ear. It was the most sensual thing she could have done at the moment. It filled him up with an energy, adrenaline rush, that he couldn't seem to get rid off.
For a moment Francesca went inside. Ben used the time to jump up and down a few times trying to shake the energy off of him. When she came back he tried to act like he hadn't and she handed him a piece of paper.
Must be a successful evening, one girl actually gave me two phone numbers... "My home and my cell." Ben grabbed the piece of paper and put it in his back pocket.
"You can expect a call tomorrow. I'll confirm with you tomorrow, but pick you up at 7?" Not turning his back towards Francesca he walked backwards to the elevator and got in. With a sheepish smile he gave a slight wave just before the doors closed. After they did he leaned back into the wall and waited till the doors opened on the right floor.
Quite a few floors down the doors opened again. Moving out he turned to the left and walked up to his apartment. He decided to leave the mess in the kitchen for what it was and go to bed. He had to get up early for his shift the next morning, no matter how late it was now. He sat his alarm, undressed and crept beneath the warm sheets. With a big smile on his face he fell asleep.
...
It only seemed minutes later when the alarm started to bug Ben. He was ever so tempted to press the snooze button, but he knew it would mean certain death if he did. He grunted while getting up although there was no one around to hear it. A smile was brought to his face when he thought about the previous night and tonight's date. He quickly jumped under a cold shower in order to try and wake up. When he got out he got dressed in some easy clothes. He smelled the coffee from the machine that went on by itself.
A little preparation goes a very long way... He grabbed a to go mug from the cupboard and filled it with coffee. In the corner of the room he also found his already prepared bag with working clothes and so he jumped out of the door not even 10 minutes after waking up.
...
The morning rush was a busy one today. And although most chefs are known for having a bit of a temper, he was the sunshine of the kitchen that morning. Around 11 he turned to one of the kitchen assistants.
"Hey Detlev, aren't you from the Ukraine?" Upon his positive answer Ben continued:
"Do you perhaps know anyone from Moldavia? Preferably female and preferably old." The request for old and female showed to be an awkward request. Seeing the look on Detlev's face pushed Ben to explain it a bit more. After explaining, the kitchen assistant wrote down an address for Ben to visit.
With the continues happy look on his face he finished his shift without any hassles. When his shift was finally over he handed everything to the head chef for the dinner shift. He stuffed his work clothes in his locker fr the next day. Coming outside he looked at the address that was given to him, he noticed the Harlem part and prepared for the journey ahead. First things first he called Francesca to confirm for tonight. He called her cell phone number which was already stored in his. He asked her if she would still be available at 7. He would pick her up at her door.
After the conversation he stepped into the metro towards Harlem. It took him about an hour to find the place, but when he was there he was welcomed like family. The old lady grabbed him by the cheeks and gave a big kiss on either side. Apparently her son had already told her that he was coming and what he was coming for. At least that's what he seemed to gather from her very basic English. Over the net hour she showed him how to make the dish and even gave him the Woodpile cake, or Guguta's hat as she called it, they made together. With another two kisses, and with a baking tray in his hands, he left the cosy apartment that reminded him of his grandmothers room. On his way home he dropped off the Guguta's hat with his friend, who would be the chef for the dinner tonight. His friend was clever enough to demand a slice for himself as being the chef to serve it.
"That's fine Steve, as long as you take off your slice after you take off ours. If you like it, I'll make you five of these cakes so you can use it as your next Saturday night dessert special." The offer interested Steve as made apparent by his face.
"Oh and of course, I'll only do it if our dinner for tonight is absolutely perfect." With a wave he left his friends kitchen.
"Oh and thanks for the awesome wine paring for tonight."It took another half hour to get home, which made it 6 already. He jumped in the shower to wash off the smells of the day. He dressed up
nicely, although he was not wearing the glasses Francesca had given him the day before. He stood in front of Francesca's door about two minutes early, but he didn't knock until it was 7 on the dot. He was curious to see what drop dead gorgeous dress Francesca would be wearing tonight.
