Chapter 25: A Bit of A Spark

"Wow Rei that sounds great!" Lita said.

"You sure Chad's not to hurt about all this?" Ami asked.

"No, I don't think so. He'll come to accept it eventually." Rei said.

"So what are you guys doing for your days off?" Mina asked.

"I don't know..." Rei blushed putting her hands to her cheeks. "He said he wanted to bring me somewhere for dinner tonight I think."

"Foods always a good idea for a date. Is it a nice restaurant?" Lita asked.

"Is that all you think about?" Mina asked.

"No, I'm not Serena..." Lita muttered.

"Hey!" Serena said surprised Leta of all people took a dig at her.

"Sorry Serena." Lita said, smiling guilitly.

"So how about you and Nephrite? Hows everything going with Molly and stuff?" Rei asked.

"Oh...well Nephrite said he talked it over with Molly and they're all good now...I guess. He said something that made me think she was all for Melvin now."

"I never really got that Melvin guy." Mina said. "They are super cute together though!"

"So what have you two been up to?" Ami asked, they all looked at her surprised by her forwardness.

"...well..." Leta said looking at her hands on her lap blushing.

"I'm going to do some cooking today...its about time I got back at it." Lita stood in her kitchen as she put her hands on her hips, apron on, proudly about to get into some cooking.

She looked in her fridge... Rolls and a Stew...and...maybe a few pastries for desert...

...she had enough ingredients to cook for two though. She blushed. She started to boil some water and put out some flour to help stick the rolls when she heard a knock at her door.

"Who could that be? I didn't think Mina, or the girls were coming over today?" She said as she brushed her hands on her apron and walked over and opened the door.

"Hey, Lita. I hope I'm not intruding."

Leta looked up to see Nephrite at her door step, in an orange button down dress shirt with the top buttons undone, and a pair of slacks. He always reminded her of the kind of "Maxfield Stanton" he'd pretended to be; suave and classy. She blushed.

"No, no not at all. Come in." She opened the door wider. He took off his shoes and entered her apartment.

"Ah, cooking I see? I should have guessed." He smiled and turned to her after walking around her living room area.

"Oh, just making a little bit of something with what I have." She said as she felt like she wanted to bite her tongue. Did that even make any sense?

"Leta, we always go out when we see eachother...you never told me you lived alone." He said as he sat down, noticing no sign of any other person other than her, and only spotted a bedroom across the way for one.

"Oh yea, my parents passed away when I was younger. Air plane crash...No biggie though, I've been on my own for a while now."

"Must have been hard..." He said and looked at her. She'd gotten used to Nephrite being around, but sometimes it seemed weird; after all those fights against him, seeing a soft side of him was always something she only saw when he was with Molly. His gaze made her blush a bit. He was really dreamy...more so then any of her other boyfriends.

"Well I get by..." She turned to the kitchen so he couldn't see her blush. "You know if you want I can make enough for you too since your here?"

"I'll take up the offer." He said standing up. "But why don't I try to help?"

"Have you ever cooked before?" She asked surprised by his eagerness to assist.

"Not really...or not that I can recall. I'm just kind of getting back at this whole human thing." He said with his hands in his pockets, admittedly.

"Well theres no better time like now to learn!" She said rather proudly. Maybe she could impress him with her cooking skills! He did seem like the kind of guy to be able to do it all though.

"So what do you want me to do?" He asked.

"Well I could get you to help with the rolls?" She said as she started to mold them into circles and flatten them.

"Show me?" He stood beside her, and she looked up to him with a casual blush and showed him how to roll them together so they looked right with the filling.

"I'm not quite sure mine looks so great..." He said as his first was a little unsymmetrical.

"Well it takes practice I guess. You could always chop the vegetables?" She smiled to him.

"I think I'll take you up on that." He said as he took the knife and began to chop. "So have you always lived on your own?"

"Pretty much. My parents passed when I was ten, and as soon as I could move away I did. Plus people never liked me much..."

"What do you mean?"

"They think I'm tough I guess...I just like to stand up in what I believe in though. I don't like seeing people get pushed around. When I was young, kids made fun of me, saying my parents died on the plane trying to get away from me...I guess that just was it. I wasn't about to let people push me around...especially about stuff like that that mattered." She kept molding the boiled rice into balls, looking hard at them. "Oh sorry! I didn't mean to get so..." She looked up at him and blushed.

"No I get it. When I started to realize that what I was doing was wrong...I guess when Molly turned me around I stood up for that. Zoicite always liked to be in control and always made me feel like a failure when I couldn't find the silver crystal...so when I finally stood up for myself and Molly I finally felt okay." He nodded.

"...do you still like Molly?" Lita asked, before she dropped her rice and put her hands over her mouth.

"I figured you'd ask that sooner or later. Don't worry, Molly seemed happy with that other boy...she and I are friends now, I really think its better that way...now that I have my memories back from the Silver Millennium." He smiled at her.

"Melvin?" She asked skeptical, finding it kind of weird that anyone could choose Melvin over someone as dreamy as Nephrite.

"Ah so thats his name." Nephrite laughed. "Vegetables are done."

She looked to the chopped food, and nodded smiling. "I'll finish up. Why don't you go sit down."

Nephrite sat on her couch as Leta put the stew on the stove to cook, and came over and sat down and stretched. "Feels good to have it all done."

"Smells good too." He smiled. "If you keep feeding me great food like this, I'll never want to leave."

They laughed at his comment. "I'm glad you like it." Leta wondered why he was the only person she'd ever felt less bold around.

"Actually Lita, I came here because I had something to give you." He said.

"Give me?" She repeated. "Oh, I don't need anything."

"Well I saw it and I kind of thought it fit you." He pulled out a small box from his jacket and handed it to her.

She was going to persist but he stopped her. "Just open it."

She nodded and opened it and was surprised to see a necklace inside.

"I noticed you always wear those rose earrings so when I saw it I thought you'd like it." He said smoothly.

Leta looked at the necklace. It was a silver link necklace with a pink rose charm on it that was similar to her earrings but had a small diamond in the middle.

"I know its not much...but-"

"It's...beautiful." Leta's face turned as rosy as the pink rose.

"Here let me put it on you." Nephrite took it as he moved ponytail of brown hair away from her neck and put it on her.

She looked at it as she admired its dainty beauty.

"Glad you like it...except I think the stew is done." Nephrite smiled.

"Oh shoot!" Leta got up and prepared the food and brought it over.

"I have an idea, why don't we go on a date where you don't have too do the cooking sometime." Nephrite said as he took a bite of her food. "...As great as your cooking is, how about a movie and dinner? Maybe a little star gazing after?"

"That sounds great." Leta nodded and smiled as the two ate in casual conversation. Nephrite was different for her, like they fit, like he understood her. He didn't remind her of any of her last boyfriends...he was way better.

I know its been a while but btw 5 other stories on the go, and my finals and assignments I will try to update more once im through with all this! hope you enjoy this story still has a bit of plot to it - purpledancer69