A Different Slice

8.2 - Cinnamon Buns (Kieran)

Shivanna stayed behind with Jake, so only Kieran and Naomi headed into the meat and seafood section. A few solo customers looked through the freezers, but overall it was a pretty quiet evening to shop, especially when you left it until 8:30 at night.

"Have you trained dogs for a long time?" Kieran asked.

"I worked a few boring office jobs before, but three years ago, I took it on part-time, and I quit my other job soon after. It'll never make me rich, but I love going to work, and that's worth it." They turned left and kept going toward the very back aisle of the store where freezers lined the wall.

"That sounds awesome. Probably stressful but awesome."

Naomi nodded. "Do you enjoy what you do?"

Kieran shrugged as they passed the dairy section. "It pays the bills. I don't dread it, and I get to work alone for many of my jobs, so that's a perk, besides clients."

"Sometimes they're worse than the job. I tolerate humans to interact with their dogs."

He laughed because he related to the first part. Often when they booked an appointment for one issue, the client found others, and he stayed longer than he should to resolve the easy ones. "Did it work out with Dance Man?"

Naomi wore a half smile. "You could say that."

"Good for you. Got yourself that pizza in the end," he said gently with a slightly forced smile.

"Thanks. It's not officially a pizza yet, but I've gathered a few ingredients." Her cheeks were tinged red, which he found cute.

As disappointing as it was she was off the market, he was also happy for her since she'd wanted it so badly. "It won't take long. You seem pretty cool. How'd he react to the whole ace thing?"

Her eyebrows shot up. "You know ace? You hadn't even heard of asexuality the last time we talked."

"Jake filled in a few gaps when I mentioned you. He's a lot smarter than I am."

She looked at him then at the signs hanging above each aisle. Crap, should he not have told Jake?

"I relate to that. Everything Greg tells me about his work goes right over my head. He's my almost-a-pizza guy."

"You didn't answer my question."

Naomi bit her lip. "I'm still trying to find the right time to tell him. We're taking things slow, and he's okay with that. How would you react if the woman you liked came out as ace? Would it be a deal breaker?"

It wouldn't be his favourite surprise, but she was amazing in so many other ways. "It's hard to say. I don't know enough about it. What do you like and want to avoid with intimacy?"

Naomi's face went red as they turned into the frozen food aisle.

Way to go, Kieran. You need to socialize with people who aren't Jake or Brinny.

"Sorry, you don't have to answer that. Far too personal of a question."

"No, it's..." She held her shopping basket close to her torso. "I should be able to respond, especially if I want to confess to Greg."

"No pressure. You can tell me about dogs or ask invasive questions as payback."

Kieran stopped in front of the green boxes of pizza and grabbed a few meat lovers and one of those cauliflower crust veggie ones on the off chance that Jake wasn't using the pizza excuse as a set-up.

Naomi took a deep breath and ran her free hand over her sweatpants. She glanced behind them into the deserted baking aisle and kept her voice low. "I don't avoid sex completely. I usually get through it rather than enjoy it. It's like when you're working out, and you're exhausted. You want to give up, but there are five more minutes on the clock. So, you push through the discomfort because that's your goal. You're not in distress, but you also can't wait till it's over. Except the high is better after a workout than sex."