Culinaria L'amore

Culinaria L'amore Chapter Nineteen

Chapter nineteen already :)

Hope you enjoy this rather shorter chapter! Please vote vote vote :)

Infatuated

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His lips were warm on mine, molding almost perfectly on my mouth. I closed my eyes and let my lips move against him in a smooth motion that made it feel like we had kissed hundreds of times before. He brushed my hair behind my shoulder, tracing my cheek gently as he sucked on my bottom lip. The smell of soap and vanilla washed over me, making me so dizzy that when I came to conscience, I found myself gripping Garrett's pressed collar. His arms came around my waist and he raised his face, staring at me with dark grey eyes.

"And you don't think that shows love?" Maggie's voice rang in the room as she hobbled over to us, a bright smile on her weathered face. "If I had such a handsome man kissing me like that, my clothes would be off in a millisecond."

Garrett didn't let go of me as I thought he would; instead the grip on my waist tightened as the old woman grabbed her coat from the closet.

"Just remember young love birds to... get a room."

I looked at Garrett and his eyes were lit up in humor. My heart warmed more and I gave him a big hug, burying my head into his collar.

"Kirsten..."

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay with this?"

"With what?"

"With... what just happened."

"You mean how an old lady just told us that if a hot guy made out with her she would start stripping for him?"

"Kirsten. Don't be immature."

Garrett's tone startled me. Instead of sounding happy, his voice was bit sharp, distant. When he saw my slightly stricken face, his eyes softened and he muttered in a low tone, "Sorry. But seriously, did you... mind me kissing you?"

"No," I muttered dryly, "that was the worst kiss ever."

"You do know who you're talking about right?" Garrett's cockiness came back as he walked to me, pressing me up against the door. My pulse started to beat faster and I managed to choke out,

"Just because he thinks he has the credibilitly of being a good kisser, but who knows. I mea-"

The rest of my words were muffled as Garrett covered his lips over mine to shut me up.

And then he did it again.

Minutes later when we were washing the pots, Garrett tried to stand as close as possible next to me, and purposely tried to brush his soapy hand against mine. Occasionally he would toy with my hair when no one else was looking -though there were only two senile men cleaning up the floor- and I couldn't help but open my heart up to him a little more.

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When we got inside of his car, warm despite the late September chilliness outside, I finally got the nerve to ask him a question that had been bothering me for a while. "So, what's going to happen to us now?"

Garrett's sigh scared me. It sounded resigned and almost guilty. "Do we have to talk about it now?"

"Yes, yes we do." I replied hotly.

There was an insurmountable amount of pain in his eyes when he looked at me. "I think we should try to... stay friends."

"Friends." I echoed.

"Yeah. Please don't take it the wrong way okay Kirsten? I was serious when I said that I really liked you. But there's so many things going on. Can you understand? First, I'm still your teacher. People only associate horrible things with teacher/student relationships like old pedophiles creeping on young girls or brainwash. I don't want to give you or me a bad reputation. Second, the culinary competition is coming up. It's going to be filmed so that the world can see it. If they see that you and I have a relationship and that I'm your teacher, the paparazzi would go crazy. It could be bad for your restaurant and your family."

"Is that all?" I aasked wearily.

"Please don't be upset." Garrett's voice was ragged as if he was in real pain. "If I could ask you out I would. How about we make a deal. Once the culinary competition is over and I get your mom's permission, I'll ask, alright?"

"You sound like you're from one of those old fashioned gentleman. Getting my mother's permission? You're such a suckup."

"Anything for the beautiful girl." Garrett replied wistfully. At the next red light, he bent forward and gave me another gentle kiss on the lips.

"And just to clarify Kirsten, you loved the kisses right? Even the one in the car last Wednsday?"

"Of course I did."

Five minutes later we arrived at L'amore. The lunch time rush had gone down and only a few visitors were still present. Garrett and I snuck in through the back where Toben was waiting.

"Where did you all go?" Toben asked when we walked through my office door. Several stacks of papers were strewn around his desk and I felt bad for a second until I remembered what had happened that afternoon.

"The soup kitchen." Garrett replied.

I sat down on the black sofa. "How did it go? I'm sorry for leaving you here with all these legal papers and documents."

"I'm done. We can talk about it tonight when we go back. I have quite a few things to go over with you. Like how your new relationship status has been revealed to me without you or my best friend telling me all about it."

Garrett and I gaped at him. "How did you know?"

Toben waved his hand in the air. "Dudes, I'm gay. I know certain things. That look you two just shared when I announced my knowledge is the look of an old married couple. The way y'all walked in, standing closer together than before was an obvious sign. Plus, how could I not notice the messed up hair and red lips? It's so easy to figure it out."

"I thought we were talking about this back at home." I muttered.

"Yeah, we're talking about your restaurant when we get home. But now... spill the beans."

Garrett and I looked at each other. During the car ride back to the restaurant, we had agreed that we would try to keep our new relationship quiet. Did Garrett want to jeopardize that by telling his best friend?

"Well, it's suppose to be a secret actually." Garrett muttered, sliding on to the sofa with me.

Toben's eyebrows rose for a second before he frowned and asked, "Why?"

Garrett sighed, gripping my hand in a comforting manner. "Things. But you just have to really promise not totell anyone. Seriously."

"Alrihgt. But tell me Kirrett. How many times did you snog?"

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So sorry it's short. But please still vote!