Anchovies
Rating: PG
Summary: It's never and always about the little things. You try to deny it.
***
Sometimes he'd come up to you and lightly dig his chin into the curve of your neck while you were all relaxed and it hurt and tickled and felt nice at the same time. It's been a while since he's done that though, and you'll never admit it but you're starting to miss it.
He used to complain that he should've chosen the redhead at the grocery store who looked like a strange cross between Barbie and Mick Jagger because you were too tall for him, but you weren't really. It's probably because you felt short all your life compared to the other giants in your family, so you always wear these three inch heels to make up for it, and he likes to go barefoot like he was the Sand Midas and everything he stepped on became a yellow beach. After the first time he cut his foot on a piece of glass you refused to clean it for him because of the way he'd carry on when you tried to disinfect it. And because it was gross too.
Whenever you met someone new or met up with someone who didn't know that you were together he liked to tell the story about how you met. Each time the story changed a little by little until it became that you lost your dog and he offered to help look for her with you. It's really that he couldn't find potatoes in the fruit and vegetables section of the supermarket, and when you helped him find them he then realized that only half his troubles were over because there were more than one type of potato. Sometimes you'd have arguments about it because you think that the original and true story was better than he could make up. You know that he agrees with you except he likes that in his versions he seems more sensitive and knowledgable and manly.
There's a system he follows when he wakes up in the morning and the first time you noticed it was only because he accidentally left the alarm clock on the pillow between you and almost made the both of you deaf when it went off. He likes to have his bottom half dressed, pants before socks, and then he'll brush his teeth and come back to put his shirt on. It's precise and practiced and very unlike anything you've ever seen before because almost everything else in his life is cluttered and messy, and not just by comparison.
He's a religious man and took you to mass once, but it's been a while since you had faith in something more than the fact that the politicians were corrupt, so that didn't work out too well. You found out later that his grandfather had been a Reverend before he died and for a moment you considered going to confession but then you remembered that his grandfather had also been a lieutenant and a dentist. You're afraid of dentists and their tiny saw equipments, so you bought him a packet of mint choc-chip cookies instead. The next day you returned them because he didn't eat chocolate and you were allergic to mint.
The first time you broke up he started babbling about how you were treating him as if he were Amber when Rick found out that Little Eric wasn't their son, and that their real child had actually been stillborn. You didn't know what he was talking about and thought that he was certifiable and maybe you didn't know him that well at all. You then remembered that he was a good cook, and therefore had too many sharp knives than he had a use for, and walked out. A few days when you were home sick and missing how he'd bring you chicken soup when you had a cold, you caught the end of The Bold and the Beautiful and decided that he wasn't mental and thought that, maybe, the next day you'd go to see him.
It really surprised you when he first cooked for you because you were raised by a mother who believed that men work and women stay home and have the dinner on the table when their husbands come home. It's never completely worked because you're a terrible cook and never knew that it was possible to burn water until that one time you tried to boil an egg. You left it on the stove for too long and when you eventually came back to check on it the water had evaporated and little egg pieces were sticking to the exhaust fan thing. The worst part was the smell though, and for a few days afterwards everybody who visited your apartment asked if you were cooking something, but you knew they were just too nice to say straight out that your kitchen had a horribly sour smell of something burnt.
Sometime after the seven-month anniversary of your first kiss you kicked him out because you found a Hershey bar underneath the couch cushion.
It's been a while since you've seen him. You're thinking that maybe you overreacted because even though you once swore that you couldn't eat anchovies and could spot them from miles away, he used to put heaps and heaps on the pizza. You'd always sincerely compliment him and never knew why he had that secret grin every time until he let you in on the secret ingredient. You miss his cooking.
You miss him even more.
Aimlessly, you stir your tea which is now cold and think that maybe you'll join a nunnery, if they still have around or if you'll have to fly to Switzerland or France to find one. When he sits down in front of you, you think that you might take cooking lessons instead because although you're not letting him go again you'd like to be able to recognize anchovies when you see them. ***
END
Summary: It's never and always about the little things. You try to deny it.
***
Sometimes he'd come up to you and lightly dig his chin into the curve of your neck while you were all relaxed and it hurt and tickled and felt nice at the same time. It's been a while since he's done that though, and you'll never admit it but you're starting to miss it.
He used to complain that he should've chosen the redhead at the grocery store who looked like a strange cross between Barbie and Mick Jagger because you were too tall for him, but you weren't really. It's probably because you felt short all your life compared to the other giants in your family, so you always wear these three inch heels to make up for it, and he likes to go barefoot like he was the Sand Midas and everything he stepped on became a yellow beach. After the first time he cut his foot on a piece of glass you refused to clean it for him because of the way he'd carry on when you tried to disinfect it. And because it was gross too.
Whenever you met someone new or met up with someone who didn't know that you were together he liked to tell the story about how you met. Each time the story changed a little by little until it became that you lost your dog and he offered to help look for her with you. It's really that he couldn't find potatoes in the fruit and vegetables section of the supermarket, and when you helped him find them he then realized that only half his troubles were over because there were more than one type of potato. Sometimes you'd have arguments about it because you think that the original and true story was better than he could make up. You know that he agrees with you except he likes that in his versions he seems more sensitive and knowledgable and manly.
There's a system he follows when he wakes up in the morning and the first time you noticed it was only because he accidentally left the alarm clock on the pillow between you and almost made the both of you deaf when it went off. He likes to have his bottom half dressed, pants before socks, and then he'll brush his teeth and come back to put his shirt on. It's precise and practiced and very unlike anything you've ever seen before because almost everything else in his life is cluttered and messy, and not just by comparison.
He's a religious man and took you to mass once, but it's been a while since you had faith in something more than the fact that the politicians were corrupt, so that didn't work out too well. You found out later that his grandfather had been a Reverend before he died and for a moment you considered going to confession but then you remembered that his grandfather had also been a lieutenant and a dentist. You're afraid of dentists and their tiny saw equipments, so you bought him a packet of mint choc-chip cookies instead. The next day you returned them because he didn't eat chocolate and you were allergic to mint.
The first time you broke up he started babbling about how you were treating him as if he were Amber when Rick found out that Little Eric wasn't their son, and that their real child had actually been stillborn. You didn't know what he was talking about and thought that he was certifiable and maybe you didn't know him that well at all. You then remembered that he was a good cook, and therefore had too many sharp knives than he had a use for, and walked out. A few days when you were home sick and missing how he'd bring you chicken soup when you had a cold, you caught the end of The Bold and the Beautiful and decided that he wasn't mental and thought that, maybe, the next day you'd go to see him.
It really surprised you when he first cooked for you because you were raised by a mother who believed that men work and women stay home and have the dinner on the table when their husbands come home. It's never completely worked because you're a terrible cook and never knew that it was possible to burn water until that one time you tried to boil an egg. You left it on the stove for too long and when you eventually came back to check on it the water had evaporated and little egg pieces were sticking to the exhaust fan thing. The worst part was the smell though, and for a few days afterwards everybody who visited your apartment asked if you were cooking something, but you knew they were just too nice to say straight out that your kitchen had a horribly sour smell of something burnt.
Sometime after the seven-month anniversary of your first kiss you kicked him out because you found a Hershey bar underneath the couch cushion.
It's been a while since you've seen him. You're thinking that maybe you overreacted because even though you once swore that you couldn't eat anchovies and could spot them from miles away, he used to put heaps and heaps on the pizza. You'd always sincerely compliment him and never knew why he had that secret grin every time until he let you in on the secret ingredient. You miss his cooking.
You miss him even more.
Aimlessly, you stir your tea which is now cold and think that maybe you'll join a nunnery, if they still have around or if you'll have to fly to Switzerland or France to find one. When he sits down in front of you, you think that you might take cooking lessons instead because although you're not letting him go again you'd like to be able to recognize anchovies when you see them. ***
END