Graham knocked on Aubreys apartment the next evening, just before 6. As the door opened he could smell dinner and his stomach growled in anticipation.
Gina welcomed him into the apartment and let him know that Aubrey was in the kitchen. He thanked her and went to find Aubrey. Her back was turned to him and he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the back of her head. "It smells amazing in here." He said in a low voice by her ear.
Aubrey turned to see him and kissed him hello. "Thanks, it's almost ready. I just need you to let me go so I can finish."
Graham reluctantly pulled away and found a place he could be out of her way. He leaned on the counter and watched Aubrey for a few minutes before asking if he could do anything to help. He really loved just watching her move gracefully around the kitchen but wanted to make himself useful.
"Sure, you can get the plates and utensils on the table. The plates are there and the utensils are there." Aubrey pointed to the locations of each as she spoke.
Graham got the dishes out and put them on the table. Aubrey put dinner on the table as he finished. He met her and pulled her in for a hug after her hands were empty. She wrapped her arms around him.
"Thank you for cooking me dinner." Graham said as he looked into her blue eyes. Then he bent down and kissed her. After a minute she pulled back and looked up at him.
"We should eat before it gets cold." She said. "But we can continue this later."
Graham smiled as he pulled away. "It would be horrible for your hard work to go to waste, but yeah we should continue this later. I'm excited to eat this meal too because it looks amazing."
"I only hope you got your workout in today, this is 900 calorie Mac and Cheese." Aubrey said.
"Wow that's a few. No wonder it looks amazing." Graham took a bite and moaned with pleasure. "And tastes amazing. Definitely not something I'd want to eat everyday but wow this is just wow."
"Thanks, it's a bit more gourmet than the typical college student Mac and Cheese."
"A lot more, don't downplay your cooking." Graham chastised. "And this asparagus is great too."
"That's actually super easy. Just toss it in salt and oil and bake in the oven. I think even you can handle that." Aubrey smiled.
"Maybe with a few more instructions and a supervisor." Graham replied.
"You can't really be that bad can you?" Aubrey laughed.
"Almost." Graham admitted. "Supervision might not be necessary but if it you were the supervisor I think it would be best if I had one." He winked.
"Maybe I could give you beginner lessons and we could cook dinners together a few times a week. It would be a win-win because then we'd spend a bit more time together and you can learn basics for when you move to wherever your job will be." Aubrey said.
At the job comment, Graham suddenly got worried about the future. He wasn't sure he wanted to move because he liked spending time with Aubrey. He didn't want to do the long distance thing. He also knew that summer was coming and she might be gone for those months. Too many mixed emotions swirled around his brain.
"You're frowning, does that mean you don't like the idea?" Aubrey asked.
"Oh I like that idea I just don't like the idea of me moving away from you." Graham answered truthfully. "We haven't really talked about what we're doing past this semester."
"Well, we can take it as it comes. I like spending time with you and want to explore our relationship, but I also don't want either of us to be held back by it either." Aubrey said. "Like you settling for a job here instead of one that would be a better fit for you somewhere else. Although I do hope it's closer rather than farther."
"Actually the one I'm looking closely at, which is also the best fit for me is in Chicago. So only 3 hours away, but that would only give us weekends. But would be better than nothing." Graham said. "And it's only 6 weeks until graduation so doesn't seem like that far away."
"Six weeks can seem like a while, I mean it's been just over half that weeks since we did that spit test and it's seemed to not go super fast."
"But one of those weeks was Spring Break and I didn't get to see you so it went super slow." Graham pointed out.
"Fair point. For now let's just see what happens, you may decide you don't like me after another six weeks." Aubrey said casually.
"More like you'd get tired of me. I highly doubt the other way around." Graham response. "But we don't need to get into an argument about that."
Aubrey smiled. "It would be a pretty silly reason for a first argument."
"Very true." Graham agreed. "I'm stuffed. Seriously thank you for the effort you put into this meal, I'm very impressed and my stomach thanks you. My arteries may not, but I'm not in speaking terms with them like I am with my stomach so it wins."
"I can send you home with some leftovers so you can reheat them in the microwave and enjoy it for lunch tomorrow." Aubrey said.
"I would love that. I was going to suggest we eat them together for dinner but remembered it's Wednesday and I'll be eating with my housemates." Graham sighed.
"I'm starting to not like Wednesdays." Aubrey sulked.
"We could always meet up for lunch if our schedules will allow it. Then I'd just eat the leftovers on Thursday instead of tomorrow." Graham suggested.
They discussed their schedules and found they had time to be able to do lunches on Wednesdays which made Graham happy. He really liked spending time with Aubrey and was glad they wouldn't have to skip Wednesday anymore.
Graham helped Aubrey take everything back to the kitchen and put it away. As they finished he said. "I think we need to get back to where we were before eating. But maybe in a more comfortable spot."
Aubrey led him to her room. "Comfortable and private."
Graham hesitated and Aubrey spoke up, "I'm not saying we have to do more than kiss, but I'm not a huge fan of PDA."
"Do you want to do more than just kiss? Because this should be about both of us not just my old fashioned upbringing." Graham said they walked in.
"I'm up for more but don't want to push you, so this is fine for now." Aubrey said.
"You know I'm pretty sure this conversation usually happens the other way around gender wise." Graham laughed, then grew more serious, "But I don't have protection tonight, sorry I wasn't thinking and I'm not in the habit of just having it since I don't do casual sex."
"I understand but if we decide to go beyond kissing we can keep that in mind and not go full out." And with that Aubrey kissed him and Graham was happy to be done talking for now. He relaxed and enjoyed the feeling of her lips on his.