Who do you love?

16

An: Meri told me it's my day to update and I'm trusting her bc I don't even remember what my days are anymore so have an update! See y'all Friday or whenever I update bc what even is a schedule anymore 🤦🏻‍♀️
-Sav 🖤

"I hope you don't mind that I picked something a bit more low key for us." Calum said as he led Riliegh back to the guest house of the mansion where he had been staying for the duration of filming the show.

Their fingers were intertwined, Rileigh's doing and he didn't separate them as he pushed open the door and proceeded to the kitchen.

"You gonna cook for me?" She asked, her eyebrows raised to show that she was impressed.

"Gonna try anyway. There's takeout on standby if this goes south." He laughed and she joined him.

His first thought was that her laugh was so much different than Teal's. Where Teal's was melodic and soft, Riliegh's was loud and boisterous and he hated that he had even had the thought. He shouldn't be thinking about someone else while he was entertaining Rileigh.

"So what are we having?"

"You're not allergic to peanuts right?" Calum asked, looking up from the kitchen island to meet Rileigh's eyes as she settled on one of the four bar stools that lined the counter.

"Nope, no food allergies." She told him, leaning forwards, her elbows on the counter and her chin in the palms of her hands.

"Good, because I can only make this one sort of impressive dish and I'd have been fucked. We're having a thai rice noodle dish with peanut sauce." He said, the corners of his lips twitching upwards in a bashful smile. He'd never cooked for a girl and he was a bit concerned about completely screwing it up but he was hopeful this would go well.

"Well, it sounds delicious. I've never had a man cook for me before." She told him, leaning forward on her elbows as she watched him.

"Okay, so we have a few options here. I'm gonna do mine veggie but if you'd like I can add in chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, whatever your heart desires." He told her, glancing up to await her reply.

"I'll just have mine like yours. I don't have to have meat every meal." She shrugged.

"Cool, okay then." He pressed his palms on the counter and stared at his ingredients trying to make sure he knew what he needed to do so that he wouldn't embarrass himself. Perhaps he shouldn't have made this a date. He wasn't a chef by any standards. The idea had seemed fun at the time he had picked it. Just he and one of the ladies cooking together, sharing a meal and letting the night evolve naturally. It had seemed so normal, so completely something that he would do with a girl he had met in any scenario and after weeks of his life feeling anything but typical he had been thrilled by it. He put the rice noodles in the pot to cook and then moved on to his sauce.

"You wanna help me?" He asked, his eyes lifting to find Rileigh's that were watching him.

"Sure!" She stood from the stool and came around the island, leaning softly against his shoulder as he listed off the ingredients to her and she added them to a bowl. He reached around her, moving so that her back was pressed against him, whisk in hand and together they stirred the sauce, his heart hammering against his ribcage and daring him to be more bold than he typically would. It was that embolden attitude that had him dipping a freshly washed finger into the sauce and smearing it across her nose.

She gasped and he couldn't help but snicker at her shocked face as she turned to him, orange sauce trailed across her nose. A satisfied look appeared on her own face as she repaid him, spinning so that their noses were inches apart, her back against the counter, smearing the same sauce across his cheek and leaving him staring at her stunned.