Match Made in Quarantine

30. One Dance

Even though it was unexpected, I was actually feeling a little giddy on my birthday. 

Every time my gaze fell on the box of roses, which was more often than I'd care to admit, a huge smile consumed my face.

Initially, I'd made plans to spend my birthday bonding with my anatomy textbook but even though I tried to focus on the writing, all the latin expressions would intermingle and become incomprehensible to my mind. My focus was very much elsewhere and I had no idea what to do about it. 

Obviously, I'd made the responsible decision regarding Maddox, in order to avoid starting anything we'd both regret. On the other hand, he clearly wasn't going to make it easy on me. He was dominating my every thought, and with every hour it became harder to resist him. I should have probably stayed away from him as much as I could.

But, today was my birthday and for the first in a long time I wanted to celebrate. I wanted to celebrate with him.

After deciding that today would be the last day I spend time with him before I put into action my avoidance plan, I closed my laptop and made my way out of my room.

As soon as I opened the door, a delicious smell invaded my senses. Peering toward the kitchen, I could see Maddox shuffling around the stove and, surprisingly, this time there was no smoke or fire.

Curious, I made my way to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, making sure I was still out of his way. "You're cooking?"

Maddox just nodded without looking up, a small frown on his lips as he mixed whatever was in the pot, "I thought we could have dinner together."

I just stared at him in silence, long enough for him to look up at me and chuckle at my expression. "Why do you look so shocked?"

"Because you're cooking." I deadpanned, not even trying to hide my reaction to this odd scene.

"I mean, it's pasta. I wouldn't exactly call myself a Michelin star Chef." He raised one eyebrow at me before draining the pasta. I made a move to try and help but he just smiled and waved at me to stay where I was.

Observing him, he didn't even look that uncomfortable in the kitchen. At the same time, I hadn't actually seen him cook a proper meal. During this lockdown, since I actually liked cooking, I had either cooked enough for both of us, or we would order something in. The only time I saw him do anything in the kitchen was the fatal pizza incident. As soon as the memory flashed through my mind, I chuckled. At least we could laugh about it now.

"Well, considering the last time I saw you attempt to cook, you almost started a fire, I'd consider even pasta as impressive." Since he was usually the one making fun of me, I decided to return the favor.

He laughed and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "Jeeze, you're never gonna let me live that down, are you?"

"Not for the rest of your life, no."

"Hm, good," he replied, smirking, and I stared at him with one eyebrow raised. "Well, that means you'd have to be around me for the rest of my life, right?" He elaborated and my cheeks instantly flushed when I realized the meaning behind what I'd said.

"I didn't-I didn't mean it like..." I started fumbling over my words but before I could finish he held out a spoon full of sauce toward me.

"Can you taste this?" He asked, a smirk on his face. Hoping my face wasn't as red as the sauce he'd made, I did as he asked. "Is it good?" There was a contagious smile on his face that had soon spread onto mine as well.

"Yeah, it's really good."