Guy Talk (for fill-in-the-blanks tuesday)
"Reid! I'm so glad you're home," Katie said, spinning around toward him as Reid entered the apartment. "I need to be at my sister's for dinner in forty five minutes; I still have to shower, Jacob needs to be fed, and..............Oh my God. What happened to your face?"
Reid reached up and touched the bruise under his eye, wincing a bit. "It's nothing. I'm fine," Reid said, putting his keys and wallet on the coffee table with a sigh.
"It doesn't look like nothing," Katie said, spooning food into Jacob's mouth, as the boy kicked his feet in his highchair, excited to see Reid. "Who hit you? Was it that smart mouth of yours? Reid, you need to learn to fiter your..."
Reid pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry," Katie said softly, realizing that she wasn't helping the situation. "I get you, Reid. I know that 90 percent of your rudeness is some bullshit defense mechanism, but to the average person, you're just an asshole, so you need to..."
"Enough with the psychoanalysis and lecture.................do you want me to feed the kid so you can get ready?" Reid interrupted, scowling and nodding toward Jacob.
Katie nodded as Reid stepped toward her, and she handed him the baby's spoon. She reached up and ran her thumb over the bruise on Reid's cheekbone. "Oh, sweetie....are you sure you're okay?"
Reid rolled his eyes, but at the same time he sort of liked that Katie was worried about him. "I'm fine. Go get ready and leave Jacob and me to our guy time."
Reid sat down in front of Jacob's highchair as Katie walked toward her room, calling over her shoulder, "Don't eat his food."
"Hey, Jake," Reid said, picking up a jar of baby food off the counter and sniffing it. "How was your day, buddy?"
The baby gurgled, and Reid spooned pureed green beans into his mouth. The boy made a face.
"Yeah, I know...I'm sorry. Here, try this..." Reid picked up the other jar of baby food, labeled, "turkey dinner," and offered some to Jacob, who opened his mouth easily and then smiled.
"Better, huh?"
Jacob banged his hands on the tray and smiled.
"You need to hurry up and get some teeth, and then we can have a boys night out...go get some manly food together...steaks...triple bacon cheeseburgers.............the works."
He spooned some more food into Jacob's mouth, and only some of it stayed in, the rest sliding down his chin.
"You're a mess, kid..." Reid smiled, and Jacob cooed.
Reid continued to feed Jacob. "Can you keep a secret?" Reid asked after a few mintues, nodding his head until Jacob copied his movements.
"Good. I know you can, buddy........so, guess what?" Reid dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Luke and Noah broke up."
Jacob's lip jutted out.
"I know...we're supposed to be sad about that, right?" Reid said, with a fake pout, but then he grinned. "And then, I said some really stupid stuff that I didn't mean."
Jacob banged his hand on the tray.
"I know...I'm such an idiot..........but the thing is," Reid said, lowering his voice. "Then something happened between us.
There was definitely some tension, and not the kind we usually have between us..." Reid spooned some more food into Jacob's mouth and then zoned out for a minute, thinking about Luke's eyes, and the way he was breathing, and the way his own body buzzed when Luke had pushed him. Jacob gurgled and blew raspberries. Reid shook thoughts of Luke out of his head. "Hey, say it, don't spray it," Reid laughed, wiping Jacob's mouth with his bib.
"So," Reid whispered. "Do you think I should ask him out?"
Jacob cocked his head.
"Yeah, you're right...I should wait. Don't want to seem opportunistic or anything..." Reid chuckled. "This is pathetic. I'm discussing my love life with a seven-month-old." Love life? "And Luke can't stand me anyway, so..." Reid sighed.
Jacob made a face and turned red.
"Oh, man....Jakester, you're dropping a deuce, arne't you? Not cool, little dude." But then Reid smiled, leaned forward, and kissed Jacob on the forehead. He picked him up and held him at arm's length. "Let's go find Mommy; she should be out of the shower by now. She can change your stinky little butt."