F***in' Arizona

Kismet Foreshadowing (Chapter 26)

Ari and I made our way back to my house to continue our "date" which consisted of making dinner and then a movie on my couch. Weirdly enough, I was actually a little excited to hang out with him. Just to catch up and really see inside his head to try and figure out how to help him.

Not gonna lie, I had an exciting time at the grocery store. Ari convinced me to climb my old ass into that dingy bacteria riddled basket like a five-year-old child. I was so concerned with how random strangers were going to perceive me that I almost missed creating another crazy memory with him.
I still couldn't fathom the fact that he really told the security that he impregnated me just so I could stay my grown ass in that basket.

Gotta be the sweetest thing anyone has done for me in a while.

Ari was currently in the kitchen gathering extra items we didn't obtain from the grocery store for dinner. He moved about the kitchen like it belonged to him. Like he was Gordan Ramsey and owned the whole fuckin' area.

I'm not sure why, but the smallest of tingles bounced wildly inside of my stomach as I sat myself down at the island and observed him opening and closing the refrigerator door, pull food items from grocery bags, gathering pots and pans, cleaning and thoroughly seasoning the chicken, and uncorking a bottle of red wine to pour for the both of us.
It was something attractive about watching a man cook.

But I shook off that weird feeling. This was Arizona I was talking about. My gay best friend.

"I didn't know you knew how to cook," I finally spoke after shaking myself from my trance.

"Have you forgotten who my mother is?" He says jokingly, "She's one of the best chefs I know other than my grandmother. My mom made sure that every one of her children knew how to cook so we wouldn't come back home trying to rummage through her house looking for food. She taught us that one of the most sensual things you could do for your significant other is to cook and clean for them."

I hate to admit it, but I blushed a little at his statement. I know I'm just pretending to be his girlfriend, but I could get used to having someone cook for me.

"But don't get used to me cooking for you. This is just because I know how upset you are with me and my dad always told us that the way to get through to a woman's heart is through her stomach."

"I don't think that's how that saying goes, but whatever. You can cook for me anytime you like, boo," I laugh.

Ari laughs back and carefully slides over a glass of the wine he bought from the wine and spirits store we stopped by after our Walmart adventure.

"You don't ever cook?" He asked me as he turned back around to continue browning the pink chicken breast sitting in the pan on the stove-top.

"I do on occasion but not very often. I like cooking things in bulk so I can have leftovers. I'm not really a fan of leftovers but I am lazy at home and am usually too busy with work to have enough energy to cook dinner. So, Maya and I usually take turns cooking so neither of us is cooking every day. Besides, I like baking more than cooking."

"Understandable. Speaking of Maya, did you ever find out who her secret boyfriend was?"

The both of us laugh heartily causing me to lay my head down from all the heaving I was doing, and he to throw his head back to gather more oxygen into his lungs so he could continue laughing.

That was one of the best and most genuine laughs that I believe either of us had experienced in a long time. I'm glad I got to share that with him.

The heavy laugh was backed by a story from the day so long ago that we met up and Maya refused to let us know who she had been dating. So, Ari and I took it upon ourselves to become the true investigators we knew we could be.