Roderich smoothed out the non-existent creases in his duck-egg-blue dress shirt for the hundredth time that evening, before glancing at his watch, as he had been doing incessantly since arriving back from Gilbert's.
The fresh red salmon fillets were cooked to perfection and being kept warm in the oven, as well as the new potatoes which Roderich had just melted butter over. Luscious green mange tout was also gently steaming on the stove. There was even an expensive bottle of vintage wine in a bucket of ice by the table.
At precisely 6:30 there was an obnoxiously loud and flamboyant knock on the door. Roderich took a deep breath, steeling himself, before walking to the door and opening it cautiously.
"Hi Specs!" Gilbert almost shouted, giving Roderich a shock.
"Please, calm down Gilbert. And there's no need to practise percussion on my door – there is a bell, and I do have fussy neighbours!"
"Aww, they won't complain – my awesome presence will be enough to scare them off!"
"Could you at least try not to be so egotistical?!"
Gilbert snickered childishly at the last word.
"What?" asked Roderich, confused.
"Just something my old English middle school teacher said to us to help us pronounce 'egotistical'.[1]"
Roderich cocked his head to one side as he led Gilbert to the couch and perched daintily on the edge of it. Gilbert flopped down onto it, clearly making himself at home, before continuing.
"She told us it sounded like 'egotestical' we were all like, twelve, so found it funny."
"Your sense of humour doesn't seem to have changed much then." Roderich remarked dryly.
"Hey! Not fair!"
"I never said I was. Now, do you want a drink first, or dinner?"
"Oooo! Food!"
"I guessed as much."
Roderich stood up from the settee with ease, then sighed at Gilbert, who was completely stuck on the cushions.
"You look like a bug stuck on its back." he commented, offering a hand to help Gilbert to his feet.
"Thanks. I think you need to call environmental health – your Venus fly trap's grown so big it could almost pass as a sofa."
Roderich merely rolled his eyes and showed Gilbert the way to his kitchen diner.
"Talk about confusing layouts!" commented Gilbert, as they walked – the apartment was bigger than it looked.
"I said it was easy to get lost here." smirked Roderich victoriously.
Gilbert sat down on the chair he was offered in the kitchen, whilst Roderich pulled the plates with the salmon and potatoes out of the oven, before laying the mange tout alongside them on the plate and bringing over a lemon and a knife.
Gilbert looked at the plate with a hungry gleam in his eyes as Roderich cut the lemon in two and gave half to Gilbert to squeeze onto his fish. He took it gratefully, and grinned as Roderich produced the bottle of wine from beneath the table.
"Prosecco?" Gilbert inquired, impressed by the choice.
"Uh huh…" Roderich was battling with the bottle cork, which was stubbornly refusing to come out. Finally, with a loud pop, it burst free before ricocheting off of Gilbert's wine glass which promptly disintegrated into a pile of fine crystal shards with a delicate tinkle.
"Sheisse!" he cursed, as Gilbert stared in shock at the glittering pile before him.
"Whoopsie daisy Specs!" he laughed, before noticing that Roderich was close to tears, "You find a new glass, I'll clear that up."
Roderich nodded mutely, before walking back to the cupboards for a new wineglass.
After pouring the wine into both glasses, Roderich sat down at the table, and the pair sat in silence for a while, Roderich staring into space.
"Cheer up, Specs, it's alright!"
"It was my grandmother's last gift to me; that wine glass set. And now it's not complete."
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize." Gilbert chewed his lip, unhappy with the silence. "Come on, let's eat – your undoubtable lovely food will get cold!"
As if encouraged to move by the possibility of his food going to waste, Roderich picked up his knife and fork to begin eating.
Less than five minutes later, Roderich was convinced that Gilbert was an animal. His table manners were atrocious, and Roderich wasn't sure if it was humanly possible to eat that fast.
"Do you not eat at home or something?" Roderich asked incredulously.
"West only feeds me when he's hungry too, and there are child locks on the cupboards to stop Feli getting in and eating everything."
"Can you cook at all?"
Gilbert looked a bit sheepish for a moment, "Does salad count? [2]"
Roderich looked at him disapprovingly. "Not even toast?"
"I kinda set the toaster on fire last time I tried… I can make coffee though! But only cos Feli showed me..."
"I see I'm going to have to teach you. And it won't be an easy task by the sound of it."
"Don't worry Specs! I'll be an awesome student!"
"We'll see." smiled Roderich.
Gilbert took a long gulp of his wine.
"Mmmmm! A nice vintage – you have taste I see Roddy!"
"So do you; for a man who doesn't cook."
"Yeah, well I live with an Italian."
"Fair point."
"How did you keep it nice and cold though – I didn't see you go to the fridge!"
In reply, Roderich merely held up the bucket of ice from by his feet.
"Hehehe! A wine cooler! When me, Toni and Francis were on a trip in sixth form, we thought that the bidet in the hotel bathroom was a wine cooler, before our teacher came in and asked what the hell we were playing at![3]"
"Don't you mean Toni, Francis and I? And how unhygienic!"
"Meh, we lived. Our teacher was more angry about the fact we had wine in the first place!"
Roderich laughed, before standing up. "Shall we go and sit back on the couch?"
"Okay, as long as if it eats me, you burn it and return the ashes to West, preferably in a beer bottle."
"Fine. Now, there's something I wanted to say to you…"
Anna sighed, and made herself another cup of coffee – she couldn't live on diet coke now, could she! Lukas had been late home again for the fourth day in a row, and she was beginning to get suspicious. She picked up her iPad again, and continued scrolling down the list she'd found on how to tell if your partner was cheating on you. So far, Lukas ticked all the boxes:
Sudden changes in appearance.
Well, that certainly true – the t-shirt for one, and the fact that in the mornings he sometimes looked like he had eyeliner stains.
Becoming distant towards you.
Again, true – he always seemed as if his mind was elsewhere – or with someone else. Anna had caught him daydreaming very often recently, are often fingering a new cross hairgrip, which he claimed was for his orchestral work to stop his hair falling in his eyes. That too tied in with the next point on the list:
3) at too tied in with the nextpoint on the list:
claimed was for his orchesteral work to stop his hair falling in his Becomes overly defensive.
That was most definitely true, and so were the next few:
Secret, Unusual and Guilty behaviour.
You never see him.
He's frequently unreachable.
Anna put her head in her hands, and moaned to herself – Lukas fitted all of the points perfectly – he was always staying late at work, and never had his phone switched on, not to mention how he was always finding excuses for everything. However, it was the last point which truly saddened her:
There's always someone else's name on his lips.
Mathias. The man from orchestra who Lukas seemed to idolise yet despise, and who had almost certainly captured her husband's heart.
"How could you, Lukas." she whispered to herself, as the tears began to flow.
A/N
Oooo! Quick update! Don't get too used to it mind, it's only because a wonderful person called Cardfighter By Maple reviewed! And to you, I say THANKOOO! Anyway, you wanted Lukas to tell Anna soon... I'm afraid she may have guessed for herself using everyone's best friend: Google.
Now for the FOOTNOTES:
[1] Egotistical - my yr 6 English teacher told us that, and the boy found it hilarious. 4 (almost 5...) years on, and I still remember it that way.
[2] In annahhhhh's last review, she asked if salad counted as cooking. No. No it doesn't.
[3] My uncle told me some kids did the thing with the wine in the bidet in a hotel room, but the drinking age in Italy (where they were) is 16, so that's how they must have bought it. I don't know if they got into trouble though, but it sounds like something the BTT would do!
Au revior!
Emily Prustrian