A Different Slice

3- Waffles (Naomi)

Naomi grinned as Shivanna cooked homemade waffles. The scent of the sweet batter filled the kitchen alongside the grocery store's fresh fruit. Naomi couldn't wait till July when the strawberry and Saskatoon berry season would start, and they'd pick so many buckets Shivanna would struggle to keep up with her ambitious collection of fruit-themed meals. Only a couple of months to go.

"Heard anything from he who shall not be named?" Shivanna asked with a smile. After Naomi vented to her best friend at the club yesterday, she'd come up with that nickname.

Shivanna's short black curly hair was tied back with a white and yellow lemon headscarf, which matched the colour of the cabinets the previous owners had kept in immaculate conditions from their installation in the 60s.

"Nothing yet, either hung over or enjoying time with last night's mystery girl."

"That was shitty of him. You two were vibing when I left you."

"I had to tell him how great I thought he was."

Shivanna scoffed as she cut up a papaya. "Oh yeah, sounds like a real mood killer, Nomi."

Naomi poured containers of raspberries and blueberries into a metal strainer and hit them with a stream of water. "It was probably too intense for him."

"What about the other guy? Did you get his number?"

She didn't even get his name. "It wasn't a get his number situation. But he was interesting."

"Greg sure noticed."

Naomi shook the strainer and dumped the contents into a teal clay-fired bowl from Shivanna's pottery phase. "When he wasn't otherwise occupied?"

Shivanna continued chopping, the cutting board filling. "C'mon, it's good that you're not his immediate rebound after Tara. He'll get that out of his system. Maybe he left to give himself time to process what you said."

It worried her Greg had that side of him. All of her exes were allosexual guys, and even with the best intentions, they couldn't find a compromise to satisfy them. While Greg wasn't ace, she thought he might be less focused on sex since they didn't discuss it nor did he brag about it when they hung out with their friends.

"Ever the optimist," Naomi said.

"It is too depressing not to be. So, tell me about the mystery guy."

Naomi placed her fruit bowl on the white Formica table they'd picked up at a yard sale. After, she reached up to the top shelf for a larger one to give to Shivanna. "He's from Ontario, lives with his brother, and drives a pickup, assuming he didn't lie to hide his murder motive."

"You did not accuse him of that, did you?"

"It was more of an ask than a statement."

"Naomi!" Shivanna dropped the knife on the board dramatically.

"Shivanna." Naomi stared down at her friend until her face cracked into a smile. "You never know why people relocate. Manitoba is not anyone's ideal destination. But he seemed chill, especially about the ace situation."

Shivanna nudged the papaya into the bowl with her knife. "Your ace situation? Which you shared with a stranger?"

Now that Shivanna said it aloud, it was hasty and unthinkable that Naomi had blurted it out to someone who didn't understand. But perhaps she'd enlightened him a little. "I figured by talking to him I'd work up the courage to tell Greg."

After the waffle maker beeped, Shivanna popped out the mouthwatering creation and placed it on a pie plate that she tossed in the toaster oven.

"Is the new guy ace?"