"This is all great, but I'm a vegetarian!" Rachel states.
You feel your face drop "since when?" You exclaim, unable to filter the disappointment out of the voice.
Rachel looks at you and after a couple of seconds she is unable to keep a straight face and a huge grin spreads across her face. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Of course I love steak, this is wonderful" She says "How long until dinner?"
You glance at your watch "the steak has five minutes left in the oven. Dinner will be served just after".
Rachel smiles "cool. I have enough time to freshen up and change. I'll be back soon.
You take the wine glass off her and head back into the kitchen as she goes upstairs.
Several minutes later you see her come down the stairs. You notice that she has changed into a skirt which shows off her long legs. As she walks into the kitchen you see her take in the lit candles, the various condiments/ sauces and the glasses of wine. However her attention is drawn to her plate which consists of a load of sweet potato chips & vegetables.
"Hey, where is my steak?" She exclaims.
"I thought you were a veggie" you reply with an amused expression on your face "so you have plenty of veg on your plate".
Rachel makes a face at you until you finally relent and you retrieve her steak from the oven. As you both sit down, you pick up your wine glasses.
"What are we toasting to?" Rachel asks.
After a moment of consideration "here's to glorious sunshine and the gas leak at the gym" you respond. "Oh and good housemates" you hastily add.
Rachel smiles and clinks her glass against yours.
....................................................................................................
With a certain amount of satisfaction you think to yourself that dinner had gone perfectly as you serve up the Cheesecake. The food had gone down a treat, and the conversation between the pair of you had been great, with plenty of laughter and banter.
You had her in hysterics again as you told her about the time your previous housemate Jack had moved the wardrobe in his (which is now Rachel's) bedroom.
"So I said to Jack 'lets take all that stuff off the top. It will make it easier for us to move it'. Naturally he declined, claiming it wasn't worth the effort taking all the stuff off and putting it all back on. So as we moved it a lamp fell off the top of the wardrobe and smacked him right on top of his head".
Rachel giggles uncontrollably, her laughter is music to your ears. "So what happened next?" She asks.
"Well, after I realised he was concussed-which wasn't that difficult considering he couldn't focus on anything- I drove up to the hospital with him. At the Reception was his mother who works as a Nurse. When she sees me dragging her boy in with him clutching a bloody great big bag of frozen peas to his head, she shrieks my name and says 'what have you done to my boy now?' And starts trying to hit me."
Rachel's giggling intensifies "did you make a habit out of getting him admitted to A&E?" She asks with a broad grin.
'No" you reply a bit defensively "Jack was a little bit clumsy and enjoyed a drink or two. Put the two together.......'
Rachel laughed again and wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye.
"Look, this has been wonderful and I appreciate it a lot" Rachel begins once you refilled the wine glasses and sat down again "But, we have been skirting around 'you know what' all evening. I'm sure you have plenty of questions."
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