Love Among the Pizza Boxes

I got regular pancakes. They’re fluffy. And nummy. I like ‘em. I start thinking about my shower then because I looked at Riku’s hand and thought of the wedding. Then I thought about the words ‘shower’ and ‘whores’. “Guess what?”
Riku looks up from the pancakes in front of him. “Mhm?”
“If you rearrange the letters in shower you can spell whores.”
I’ll bet he didn’t know that.
Riku smiles that crooked smile of his. “Well. You learn something new every day.”
Oh, that smile.
That smile.
I smile too. “Guess what else?”
“What?” he asks, still smilin’.
“I like your smile.”
I already said that.
“Really? Thanks. I’ve always sorta hated it.”
Whaaaa?
“No way. Why? It’s… It’s charming really.”
No way was I gonna say hot or cute or something. Or endearing. Guys don’t like that word for some reason. Endearing is like cute. And I’ll sound like a bimbo if I say hot. So charming it is.
“Well. Thank you.” And he smiles again. And his cheeks are a little pink. “But it’s also lopsided. So it’s weird. It’s always bothered me that one half of my mouth goes up higher than the other half.”
I shake my head. “You shouldn’t. Because it suits you. Who wants to have a creepy symmetrical smile? That’s what photoshop’s for.”
He chuckles some more.
I stuff some pancake in my mouth and swallow without chewing much. It hurts a little on the way down. I shouldn’t do that anymore.
Then I watch Riku eat. He stabs the pancake and twists his fork around until a rather large chunk of pancake breaks off. Then he stuffs it in his mouth. And syrup is sorta dribbling down his chin.
I giggle.
I hate giggling.
It makes me sound like a bimbo.
And then I grab my napkin and dab at the syrup on his chin.
Riku just blinks and stares at me and waits for me to be done wiping his chin off.
It doesn’t come off all the way so I put my napkin back on the table, lick my thumb and start to rub off the syrup again.
Riku still just watches me. Blinks a couple more times.
When I’m done I pat his cheek. “There you go.”
He clears his throat and sorta smiles. “Thanks.”
I’m glad the syrup’s gone. Now I won’t giggle and sound like a bimbo.
I nod. “Sure. Thanks for breakfast.”
He nods, too. “No problem. You looked like you could use some pancakes.”
“Yeah.” I nod a bunch and shovel some more pancake in my mouth. “They’re my favorite.” I say while still chewing.
Riku just smiles and sips his orange juice.