Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Dinner Date

Maddy

Like always, Steve’s hug cheered me up a little. He really did give the best hugs. I’d quizzed him about his techniques, but he just shrugged and said he just wrapped his arms around someone. There were just some aspects no one else could hope to replicate, like his scent or his exact combination of firmness and gentleness.

I momentarily thought about the idea of dating Steve. My sexuality was another one of those rabbit holes I tried to avoid. Thinking about it always just made me anxious and left me more confused than before. For a while I thought I was asexual, but more recently I had been noticing people more so maybe that wasn’t true.

Honestly, Steve was such an amazing guy. Anyone who really knew me would know that he deserved someone way better. I still didn’t even understand what he got out of being friends with me, even though he assured me it wasn’t out of pity. I just sat around and whined all the time, while he just did so much. He had a beautiful garden, he had several nice wooden shelves he made himself, he volunteered at an animal shelter, and he even had a surprisingly nice singing voice. In contrast, I had, uh, exactly zero things to offer.

I was starting to feel down again, and as usual, Steve noticed. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Whatever you’re thinking about yourself right now, it isn’t true. Okay?”

“...Wow, I really am known.”

“I’m a bit of an expert on the wild Maddy. You have a lot going for you, okay? I promise that you’re smart, you’re funny, you’re thoughtful, and you’re cute regardless of what clothes you’re wearing.”

“Thank you, Steve. Really. God, I really don’t deserve you.”

Steve laughed. “What’s so great about me?”

“Are you kidding?” He just stared at me with genuine curiosity. “You’re incredibly kind and you do so much for other people, you’re so affectionate and comforting that I’ve thought about getting you registered as an emotional support Steve, plus you’re a great cook and pretty jacked too.”

For maybe the first time since we’d met, Steve broke eye contact and looked down. A moment later I could see color flooding his cheeks.

Just then, we heard Leah’s door slam open and Zoe walked out onto the sidewalk. “Oh, you two are still here? I thought you said you were leaving, like, half an hour ago.”

“Zoe!” I squeaked. “We were just out here talking for a little bit. We’ll get going in a moment.”

Zoe

I had only caught the tail end of their conversation; something about “a great cook and jacked.” “It’s chill. What were you guys talking about?”

The two of them exchanged nervous glances. Ooh, did I sense some hot goss?

“Cooking!” Steve said at the same time Matt said, “Dating!”

“Planning a dinner date or something?”

“Yep,” Steve said, looking relieved. “I was thinking about asking this one girl out.”

“Whoa, what?! You never mentioned anything about her to me,” Matt blurted out. If I hadn’t known better, they really did act like a couple.

Honestly, even I was starting to wonder about those two. Although Steve was usually pretty open about things, Matt tended to be a lot more uptight and jittery. Maybe he didn’t want to come out as gay just yet and Steve was going along with it? To be honest, I had wondered about Matt’s sexuality for a while; after all, dude had a number of female friends and never had a girlfriend.

Whole thing sounded pretty in character for both of them, although I wasn’t 100% sure if Steve’s constant efforts to make others happy would outweigh his uneasiness at participating in a lie. Either way, I was glad I had introduced the two of them. This whole thing was developing into a pretty spicy situation!

Maddy

Jeez, had Steve been holding out on me? He was usually so open about everything, but maybe his love life was an exception. That kind of hurt, though; I thought we had become closer friends than that.

“Anyone I know?” Zoe asked, practically salivating. God, that girl loved drama.

Steve

Because of game nights, most of my friends knew Zoe and vice versa. I did meet people at work, but I don’t think I’d want to date a coworker, and even then I’d invited work friends to join the games.

“Uh…” Dang, my mind was suddenly blank. For some reason, the only girl I could think of was the one I was holding in my arms.

Maddy

For once, Steve was the speechless one. Thinking about how he’d saved me earlier tonight, I thought I should return the favor.

“Steve was going to try setting up a nice romantic dinner for me. Not an actual date, obviously, but this way he gets some practice and I get the boyfriend experience.”

Steve looked at me in shock before stammering, “Yep, that’s the plan! Practice date.”

Zoe

Of course, a “practice date.” Jeez, had these two never watched a romcom? Literally everyone knows where that leads. You know what, though? They were a cute couple. I ship it. 

“Aw, cute,” I said. “Send pics! I wanna see you two all dressed up.” Then I decided maybe I should let the two lovebirds get back to their conversation. After all, who knows where it might lead?

Maddy

Zoe glanced at her phone. “Jeez, I didn’t realize it was already this late. I gotta get home and go to bed. See you two later!” She finger-waved as she walked off to her car.

I watched her walk away. “We should probably get going too, huh?”

“Yeah, sounds good. Did you still want to stay over at my place?”

“Yeah! I wanna try the ratatouille you promised me.”

“Ah, Maddy, always thinking with your stomach.’

“Hey! You eat way more than me, dude.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He ruffled my hair one last time before climbing into the car.

Maddy

After spending the night, I basically hung out at Steve’s most of the next day. Eventually, it was almost evening and I was getting hungry.

“Hey, I’m kinda hungry. Do you want to order something or would you rather cook?”

“I can cook, gotta use up some of this squash before it goes bad. Any requests?”

“I’m sure anything you make will be good.” I paused. “And I just wanted to say thank you for always feeding me. I know I don’t really cook or anything. I feel kind of bad that I’m just sponging off you.”

“It’s all good! I like feeding people I care about. Not a problem at all. You can help get the food ready this time, if you want?”

“Sure! Maybe I’ll end up picking up some cooking skills from watching the master at work.”

“That’s the spirit!”

After a bit of debate, Steve decided we’d be making stuffed squash with a side of wild rice. I tried my best to help, although I couldn’t help but feel like I was just getting in the way. I ended up setting up at the counter and mostly just grating the cheese that was going on the squash.

After the squash was in the oven, Steve went into the pantry. I could hear him rummaging around as I sat at the counter with a glass of wine.

“Hey, do you need any help in there?”

“Yeah, actually, could you come over here?” I put down my glass and walked over to find Steve trying to unfold a large, white piece of cloth.

“Can you grab the other end of this and help straighten it out?” I nodded and took two corners from him.

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“What’s this for, anyway?”

“Oh, I thought it might be nice to set up a tablecloth and some candles and stuff while you’re here. If we get changed, I thought we could get some pictures for Zoe.”

Oh god, I had forgotten about that whole fiasco last night. A nice sitdown dinner did sound appealing though. There was one problem, though.

“Steve, I didn’t bring anything nice to wear! I thought we were just going to be hanging out.”

Steve almost banged his head on the low doorway as he navigated backwards out of the pantry. “Oh yeah, I didn’t think of that. Well, your car is here. Do you wanna drive home and grab some stuff real quick? Your place isn’t that far and the squash’ll be another fifteen minutes anyway.”

“Uh, sure, yeah. Let’s just get this tablecloth figured out first.”

With Steve backing up and me walking forward, we managed to navigate the tablecloth out into the dining room and lay it over the table. 

“Alright, see you soon!” I ran out the door and quickly drove home. About five minutes later, I was furiously searching through my--sadly limited--female wardrobe. God, I really didn’t have any clothes nice enough for a candlelit dinner date. Not that this was a date, obviously, but that was the aesthetic we were going for.

After about three minutes of indecision, I ended up going with a black dress that at least made it look kinda like I had hips. I grabbed some black flats and my makeup bag and drove back to Steve’s without changing.

I got back just as Steve was pulling the stuffed squash out of the oven. He had changed into a blue button-up and black slacks. “Hey, good timing, Mads!”

I got out a quick, “Hey!” before rushing into the bathroom to change. I emerged to find Steve setting the table. He had decorated the table with two lit candles in the middle, and he pulled out a chair for me as I approached.

“Whoa, you seem a little out of breath. Sorry, didn’t mean to rush you.”

I sat down heavily and let Steve push me in. “It’s fine, I just need a moment.”

He sat down across from me and we just sat there silently for a moment. I caught my breath and decided to say something. “Steve, thanks for setting this up. It all looks really nice and I’m sure the food will be good. And you look nice too.”

“Aw, thanks, Maddy. I was gonna shave but I ran out of time.”

“But you look so distinguished with the stubble!”

“Haha, maybe so. I guess I’m just used to shaving before dates because my ex wasn’t a big fan of the scratchiness.”

“Sincerely, I think you look good this way. Very handsome.”

“You too! I know I tell you this a lot, but you’re looking especially cute this evening. I don’t think I’ve seen that dress before, but it looks good on you.”

Brief pause. “What happened between you and your ex, anyway? Zoe told me a little bit, but I’d rather hear it from you.”

Steve sighed. “Nothing big, really. We just kind of drifted apart over time. I think she’s someone who wanted more independence, while I just wanted to spend as much time as I could with her. And she hated anyone touching her hair, which kind of put a crimp on certain kinds of snuggling.”

“Aw. How could anyone not love your snuggles? Well, her loss.”

“Yeah, I’m just a very physically affectionate person and I know some people find that off-putting. I really appreciate how much you let me indulge, honestly.”

“Trust me, I think I’m getting the better end of the bargain.”

“Well, we should probably dig in before our food gets cold!” 

“Wait, weren’t we going to take pictures?”

“Oh, right! Let me grab my camera.” Photography was yet another of Steve’s many hobbies. Admittedly, he mostly just used the camera to take photos of his other hobbies. There were probably a hundred pictures of tomatoes alone on there.

“Smile!” I instinctively blinked as the flash went off. “Oh, sorry, let me turn the flash off.” He snapped a few photos of the food and table setting at different angles before setting up the camera on a tripod beside the table. “Okay, I set it to take a photo every thirty seconds, so that should be plenty of pictures to send Zoe!”

He came up behind me and turned towards the camera with his arm around my shoulder. This time I managed not to blink. Finally, he sat back down. “Alright, time to eat!”

We spent the next few minutes in relative silence, both of our mouths full of delicious squash and bulgur and cheese. Finally, I slumped back in my chair, pleasantly full and suddenly feeling sleepy. I just barely had enough energy to get up and pour myself another glass of wine.

Steve finished his plate and sighed in satisfaction, before clearing the dirty dishes off the table and putting them in the sink.

“Alright, you wanna migrate to the couch?”

“Yeah, sounds good!” I grabbed my glass of wine and we headed over to the living room.

I put my glass down on the coffee table and stretched out across the couch, my feet sticking out onto Steve’s lap. Half asleep, I mumbled, “Hey, didn’t Zoe want, like, date photos? Should we get one of us kissing just for safety?”

Steve laughed. “Oh my god, Mads, you’re so drunk right now. I didn’t realize you were such a lightweight!”

“I’m just sleepy and full, mostly. Food coma.” God, I really wanted to just fall asleep right there on Steve’s couch.

I felt Steve get up and heard him walk away and then return, but I was too sleepy to actually bother opening my eyes. I suddenly felt someone poke my shoulder.

“Whaaat?” I grumbled, opening one eye to see that Steve was gesturing at me to sit up. He had moved the camera and its tripod so that it was in front of the couch, facing us.

After a few seconds I finally built up enough motivation to lurch upright. Steve sat down next to me and put a supporting arm around my shoulder. I leaned heavily into his side. This was almost as comfortable as the couch, with the bonus of a pleasant warmth coming from his body. I heard the camera snap a photo, and then another, and another. I turned my head to ask Steve if he just wanted pictures of me sleepy so that he could tease me later, and was surprised to meet his head bending down turning to face me.

He gave me a little smooch on the forehead. I smiled up at him. There was something really comforting about just leaning into him, feeling his presence near me and around me. And I really appreciated how open and expressive he was with his affection.

He kissed the tip of my nose. I laughed. It kinda tickled.

I took my revenge by kissing his cheek. His day-old stubble was a little bristly, but not unpleasantly so. I felt like I was being exfoliated.

Steve backed away a little, suddenly looking nervous. “Hey… is it okay if I kiss you?”

“What? Yeah, obviously. You were just doing it.”

“No, I mean--on the lips.”

Oh. Well that was new. Well, if I didn’t like it I could always ask him to stop.

“Getting European, are we?” I joked. Steve flashed a quick, tight smile before leaning back in.

After a near-miss of bumping noses, our lips finally met. Steve’s lips were much softer than his surrounding cheeks. I wondered what kind of lip balm he used.

Not that I had that much experience, but I’d have to give Steve 10/10 for technique. It was pleasantly firm, without being overwhelming. His lips weren’t dry, but there wasn’t much saliva involved either. All in all, a great experience.

I had closed my eyes again, but I felt his hand reach up to brush against my cheek. I shuddered slightly and let out a weird noise.

Steve

Maddy just felt so comfortable to be kissing. I felt like I could relax around her, confident that nothing I did would cause a harsh reaction. Her lips were amazingly soft, just like the rest of her.

As I gently cupped her cheek, she let out a soft moan. I felt a sudden twitch in my pants. As I ran my hand back and down her nape, she seemed to melt into me. I turned my body to lie sideways as her head flopped lower and rested on my shoulder, ending up with her lying on top of me.

She started kissing my neck and shoulder, slowly working down my collarbone, her kisses becoming softer and slower as she continued until she had stopped entirely, her head resting against my pec.

A strange little sigh issued out of her. Then another.

...Aaaaand she just fell asleep, didn’t she.

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