ONE: Vanilla on My Hands

4: A Little Less Vanilla, A Little More Aerated Cream

"Can I help you at all?"

Frank hadn't realized that he had been standing for so long in the aisle. It had been about an hour before he finished his shift he had received a text from Ryan who had asked him to pick up milk. That was it, literally all they needed; they had finished the last of the milk in their coffee this morning. He wanted to drink coffee over the weekend after all.

He had genuinely forgotten where he was for at least five minutes. The bright lights, soft music overhead, and the sounds of metal carts were all droned out of his brain when he got into the dairy aisle. He was still reeling from what had happened on Tuesday. He was still cresting his high, riding his tantric wave and in his gut, he felt like there was some sort of change that was happening in his relationship.

Ryan had been different. Ryan had mixed it up to the point that Frank hadn't been able to wipe the nearly-permanent grin from his face. Ryan had been so adventurous and chose to go in the complete opposite direction of what they usually did. As much as Frank loved sex, he had to admit that he found it dull to always be on top. It was always him on top, always on his side of the bed, always doing all of the work for the two of them. He didn't mind too much; sex was sex either way.

He had been on the highest hope since Tuesday, he had been so hopeful all week that there would be a definite change. It had gotten so bad that Frank had completely lost himself in the middle of the aisle when he saw something. He stopped and did a small backtrack, milk in one hand. He stared at the small row of tinned dairy and wondered if he should actually get it. Frank liked to think of himself as a pretty adventurous kind of guy with a head full of thoughts. They were only ideas and had remained that way for so long because he knew that Ryan would find his suggestions horrifying and perverted, but still. Maybe Ryan was trying to put a spark back into their relationship.

Frank didn't even realize that he had been standing long enough for his knees to feel stiff from the lack of movement. It was the whipped cream that had caught his attention. The idea had hit him so suddenly that he had almost felt a twinge of whiplash. The potential for Ryan to be into this was slight but definitely not impossible. Spicing up their sex life with something new, that's for sure. Food and sex. It had evolved into a monstrosity of absolute genius in Frank's brain. Then he had been thrown from the tracks by a sudden female voice asking him if he needed help.

"Uh," Frank stuttered out, trying not to blush because his mind was awash with impure thoughts about which no one else needed to know. He blinked at her, wondering what the fuck he was going to say.

"Sir?"

"I-I think I'm good."

The assistant asked, "You sure?"

"I'm good, dude, honestly." Frank smiled nervously at the assistant, ignoring the way she was watching him, chewing gum with hair scraped back into a bun, purple lipstick smiling at him. Her smile made him more nervous as he reached out and grabbed a can. He stuffed it under his arm, trying to hide the blush that had formed on his face before he walked off. He was thankful that no one could read his mind. It wasn't so obvious at least, it wasn't like he had picked up a box of condoms or anything.

He got back into his car, putting the items in his shoulder bag on the passenger seat. Frank wondered how he could bring it up to Ryan as he started the car, pulling out of the parking space before driving off. He knew that he couldn't just surprise Ryan with it. Ryan wasn't one for surprises, even though this was going to be a surprise no matter how Frank approached it. It hadn't been discussed. It wasn't exactly like Ryan had texted him earlier, saying "Buy some whipped cream so you can eat it off my body." A little less vanilla. That was what Frank was hoping for.