Heaven Is In Your Eyes

I didn’t sleep all that well, I was still cold and all too aware that Tony had his arms wrapped around me. The small noises he made kept me awake also, I wanted to be conscious to hear every little breath.
I shook my head softly as I decided to get off of bed.
My stomach begged me to feed it, and in a way… it would distract me from the beautiful stranger that had nested in my bed.
I got up slowly, making sure he stayed comfortable. His head rolled over on my pillow and his arms stretched out in front of him. I continued watching him until I was sure he was comfortable.
I grabbed a large sweater quickly and made my way to the kitchen. Tony had mentioned that he stayed by my side the entire morning, poor guy was probably starving.
I grabbed a cook book off one of my shelves in my living room before heading towards my kitchen.
This dinner wasn’t going to be one of my ham sandwiches, there was no way that something that simple would say ‘Hey, I know I got hammered last night and you had to take care of me. I’m sorry!”
I shook my head while I flipped through the pages, I had no clue what he would like.
I flipped furiously looking at the pictures, everything looked delicious but I found something wrong with every single one.
My head finally settled on ‘Oven Roasted Chicken’ & ‘Red Skin Mashed Potatoes’.
I gave myself a mental high five for remembering to go shopping a couple days before. My refrigerator was fully stocked with every ingredient I needed.
I usually didn’t prepare large meals for myself, actually I rarely ate at home. Most of my meals consisted of the hospital cafeteria food or on-the-go bars.
I had barely started seasoning the chicken and putting the potatoes to boil when my cell phone began vibrating in my pocket.
“Hello?” I placed the phone between my shoulder and my ear, continuing to get dinner ready.
“You’re alive!”
“Oh, hi.” I rolled my eyes to myself, of course it was Naomi.
“Really? Oh hi? That’s the best you could do? What the hell happened last night? Is he still there? Did you hook up with him?”
“Woah calm down!” I stopped her from continuing her laundry list of questions, “I just got drunk off of beer is all.” I shrugged to myself placing the now seasoned chicken aside to let it marinade, “And, I remember most of last night.”
“Most of?” she screamed into my ear making me wince.
I washed my hands and finally held my phone, “Yes most of, I remember going on a walk with him and I don’t know what else happened.”
“He could have raped you!”
I furrowed my eyebrows together at her ignorance, “Because he’s fully tattooed?”
“No! Because he’s a damn stranger getting you wasted off your ass.”
“Well he’s not like that okay!” I felt offended for him and furiously angry at Naomi.
“How do you know? Anyways, do you remember hooking up?”
“I didn’t hook up with him.” I said proudly as I washed a head of Romaine lettuce.
“What?” Naomi laughed, “I doubt that!”
“I didn’t! We just went on a walk along the shore line and got to know each other, like you said, he is a stranger after all.”
“Well…yeah. But he’s a fine ass stranger!” her mood changed quickly.
“Weren’t you just worried about him making me do something I didn’t want to?”
“What? No… Anyways! Is he still there?”
“Yes, he’s sleeping.” I began ripping the lettuce into smaller pieces, fit for a salad.
“On the couch?”
“On my…bed.” I ripped the last piece.
A moment of silence came between the both of us. I sighed softly, letting her process her thoughts.
I watched steam start rising from the potatoes for a couple seconds before she spoke again.
“So you did hook up.” She spoke softly, “Oh my god!”
“No!” I scolded her, “He’s just sleeping dammit!”
“You naughty girl.” She chuckled, “And what are you doing?”
“Cooking dinner.” I stabbed a potato to check if it was soft.
“Well Paula Dean, you’re moving pretty quickly. Let him sleep in your bed, cook him dinner…”
I shook my head, “It’s an apology for being a mess last night and a thank you I guess.”
“Mhmm, a thank you alright.” I could almost see her smirk over the phone.
“I’m so done with you.” I laughed, “I’ll talk to you later, I have to get this finished.”
“By ‘this’ I hope you mean the food.”
“Goodbye Naomi!” I hung up quickly.
I shook my head with laughter as I put the chicken into the oven.
I really hope he was a poultry kind of guy, I didn’t have any steak and I was running out of veggie patties- which I doubt he liked.

I spent around twenty minutes getting the mashed potatoes done, making sure the flavor was right on point.
The smell of the cooking chicken had started to fill the air by the time I had gotten the salad and the potatoes in a dish of their own. I was actually surprising myself with my cooking skills, it had been a while since I had actually put my hands to work for something other than medical reasons.
I smiled happily to myself, he was sure going to love this meal.
“Hey.” I heard from behind me.
Startled, I turned around to face the man that had been sleeping in my bed. His eyes looked drowsy and glossy and his hair was pushed back. He was gorgeous beyond belief, I couldn’t stop myself from examining him if I tried.
“…Hey.” I answered slowly.
“It smells delicious in here.” He smiled beautifully looking around the kitchen.
“Uhm, I remembered that we hadn’t had food in our bodies. And I wanted this to be an apology for last night, and a thanks I guess.”
He chuckled under his breath, “Trust me I’ve been around worse, you didn’t have to. But now that it’s done, what’s on the menu?” he asked eagerly.
“Mashed potatoes, green salad and roasted chicken.” I smiled proudly.
His eyes gleamed but his large smile shrank, I knew I should have gone with the steak, “I mean, I’m not a cook or anything-“
“Oh it’s not that!” He put his hands up, “I uh, I, I’m a vegetarian.