A few hours later and Darren was fast asleep, curled up in the corner of the sofa with his head resting on Eleanor's lap. She was lost in thought, absent mindedly running her fingers through Darren's untamed curls. She wasn't a big one for surprises, but she trusted Darren, whatever he had planned couldn't be too bad. She just hoped it wasn't anything too energetic, Darren really did look worn out. Eleanor knew he liked to push himself but lately it seemed to be affecting him more. She gazed down at his peaceful face, loving the way his impossibly long, jet black eyelashes kissed his defined cheekbones. A strong feeling coursed through her body as he mumbled incoherent nonsense in his sleep. Eleanor knew then that she loved him.
When Darren awoke, he immediately realised he was alone on the sofa. He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands and pulled himself up into a sitting position. He became aware of soft music playing and a heavenly smell wafting through the small apartment; he stood and padded his way to the kitchen door which was open just enough for him to peek through.
"... with the broken smile, ask her if she wants to stay a while..." Eleanor tossed a salad and began mixing a dressing as she sang, her hips swaying slightly in time with the music. Darren thought it was a good job she could dance, because her singing really wasn't great – but he loved it. He watched her for a few minutes, he loved watching her cook – she always made it look so effortless. She clipped her auburn hair back with a butterfly clip, giving Darren an unencumbered view of her slender neck, a few copper strands of hair had fallen out of place and come to rest on her bare, freckled shoulder. Darren let his eyes wander further, taking in the baggy 'Drama Queen' top she wore over grey leggings which hugged her hourglass figure perfectly. Her bare feet raised as she peered in the oven at the lasagne she had clearly made and she twisted round to reach for the pepper pot. She caught sight of Darren standing in the doorway watching her.
"Stalker much?" This seemed to snap Darren out of his trance and he raised his gaze to meet her olive eyes.
"Just admiring, mmm, that smells good, but really you didn't have to cook, we could have ordered in." He leant against the door jam, knowing all too well not to get involved when Eleanor was cooking.
"Don't be daft, if I had known you were arriving today I would have made something far more exciting than this. Besides you know I love cooking, why would you want to insult me with take out?" She shot a smile at him before grabbing the cat oven glove and retrieving the lasagne from the oven.
"True, want me to set the table?"
"Already done, just go sit, I'll be through in a minute." Eleanor shared the food out onto two decorated plates and followed Darren to the table, setting a plate down in front of him.
"You are too good to me." Darren grinned and began stuffing the perfectly presented food in his mouth.
"You're right – you show up without any warning, you sleep on me for a few hours and then you devour my food like a four year old! In payment for my kindness I think you ought to tell me what you have planned." Darren raised his bushy eyebrows and finished his mouthful.
"Well, I thought we could drive to a secluded spot I know, where we would be beamed up onto a space ship and taken to Mars, where I've set up an awesome game of Spennis – which for those of us in the know is space table tennis. After this we'll join a colony, populate it with Mars babies and start an inter-galactic Spennis team. What do you think?" Darren kept his features arranged in a deadly serious expression, which was becoming increasingly difficult as he could see Eleanor was fighting to stop herself from laughing.
"And you wonder why I don't take you seriously? Honestly Dare, you should write children's books with that imagination. So I'm guessing you really won't tell me anything?" Eleanor's eyebrow twitched with the effort of not laughing at Darren's crazy. She really ought to have been used to his space rants by now – Darren was the king of evading answering questions. After all he got a lot of practice keeping episodes of Glee quiet. But really Eleanor loved it when he had one of his rants.
"Nope, Chris would consider me competition...and I don't need his wrath! What part of surprise don't you get? Just be patient, I promise you'll love it." And with that Darren tool a final bite of lasagne and sauntered – actually sauntered – back to the kitchen.
