"Whoa… You look like crap…"
He frowned and adjusted his stance in hopes that it would be less uncomfortable, "Thanks?"
"You know what I mean… You don't look like you should be up…"
He nodded a little, "Doesn't exactly feel like it either."
"How about you sit down before you pass out, and I'll get the food ready?"
He nodded a bit, and started hobbling towards the couch. Barely able to stifle a yelp as he sat down on the couch.
Emily watched as Metal quite painfully lifted his leg onto the couch.
"Do you need me to scavenge for pillows? Or do you need help in any other way?"
He flipped down the back pillow at the leg end of the couch and gently placed his leg on top, then he laid back, eyes closed and exhaled slowly. "No…"
"Just a few minutes of rest and quiet?"
He nodded a little, eyes still closed.
A couple minutes passed as Emily prepared some sandwiches from the breakfast rolls she had made.
"-Hey Em, sorry for being such a crappy host… And crappy company as well so far."
Emily turned and looked at him, "Hey, you warned me… And I still kinda forced you out of bed. You've got nothing to be sorry for."
He shrugged, "Still, I know I'm no fun to be around when I'm like this. Sorry…"
"Oh, you ain't that bad…" she winked back at him.
"Trust me, I've been injured and in pain enough times to know I get cranky and rude."
"Well, I don't think you are either of those yet." Emily shrugged, "I get that you're in a lot of pain, and that you might need things to go a little slower for you to be able to process them today. Actually asking for that time isn't rude or anything, it's just trying not to get overwhelmed."
Metal nodded a little, "Still wish I was able to be… To help you out over there…"
"Raincheck…" she winked as she picked up the wooden cutting board she had prepared the sandwiches on and carried them over to the table, "Now, I hope you're hungry."
He nodded a little and sat up more, "Those look really good."
"I hope you like them." She smiled back, "And you look a lot better already…"
He chuckled a bit, "Yeah, laying down after that little necessary hobble was needed."
Emily nodded as she went back to the counter to pull out a thermos with coffee from her purse, "If I remember correctly, 'coffee is important'?"
He smirked, "Yeah. -But I have the stuff to make coffee here as well…"
She shrugged a little, "Yeah, but… I was already making coffee at home… Now, cups… Where?"
"Top cabinet, left of the sink."
She nodded and placed the thermos on the table before she went to find cups.
He heard her open the cabinet door and noticed the pause which lasted a couple of seconds.
"Uhm… You've got anything I can climb on top of? I'm a little vertically challenged when it comes to top shelf placements."
He chuckled a bit, "Vertically challenged?"
"I'm short. Funsized." She shrugged.
He chuckled some more, before he did his very best to school his features, "Would a chair work?"
"A kitchen chair would. Not that living room chair you've got next to the couch…" she said as she pointed towards the mentioned chair, "And I don't really see any other chairs here…"
"Yeah, they kinda relocated after I got home… There's two in my bedroom, one in the bathroom. Don't judge…"
She nodded a little and pointed towards the closest door, "Which room is that?"
"Bedroom."
"Can I go in there to grab a chair?"
"Sure." he nodded,
She poured up some coffee for them and brought it over to the couch. He thanked her and smiled as she sat down in the chair next to him.
He reached for the closest coffee cup, and took a sip.
She mirrored him.
"So, did you find the way without trouble?"
She nodded, "Turns out my aunt lives just a couple blocks away from you…"
"Really?"
She nodded, then gestured to the sandwiches, "Come on, dig in…"
He smirked, "Thanks, no need to tell me twice."
He reached for one with what looked like raspberry jam, but waited until Emily had chosen one as well before he actually took a bite.
"You made these?" he asked before he had time to swallow the bite.
She nodded.
"Really?" he swallowed and grinned, "They're amazing!"
"You think?"
"Yeah!" he nodded, "I'd probably accidentally munch on these until I got sick…"
She chuckled. "Well, maybe avoid that?"
"I'll do my best…" He winked at her, took another bite and savored it.
"So, what did you think about last night?" he asked after a while. He still had his bad leg up on the cushion, but he was sitting up and twisted sideways to see Emily better.
"I had a lot of fun." She smiled, "You?"
He nodded, "Turned out to be a way better evening than what I had planned."
She smiled, tucking a strand of thick brunette hair behind her ear.
"There's at least a couple of moments from last night which ought to be marked down in history books." he winked at her.
"Like, just before I took an Uber home?"
He nodded, "Yeah, that one for sure!"
She smiled, "Yeah, that was nice."
He nodded, "We were really good at that, weren't we?"
"We were." She nodded, "But, you know what? Pretty sure we could get even better at it, if we practiced."
"Well, practice makes perfect.." Metal nodded, "I wouldn't mind practicing that."
"Me neither." She added a little content sigh. "I wouldn't mind practicing that for a long, long while."
He nodded a little, and they fell silent for a short minute.
She got up and walked over to her purse on the counter, dug out an envelope and removed something from it before she returned to the table.
Before she sat down, she stopped beside the armrest of the couch, bent down and placed a quick kiss along Metal's jaw before she stood back up.
"Hey, not fair!" he frowned as he tried to catch her with his right arm, "I wasn't ready!"
"You saying you need more practice?"
He chuckled a bit, "Yeah, lots of it."
She smiled and stepped closer once again, this time taking better time to actually kiss him.
He could feel her lips curve in a smile as they kissed. Her rose scented hair tickled against the sides of his face.
He felt something being placed on his abdomen as they kissed, but was too busy to check it out immediately.
If it had been possible, this was one of those moments he wished to freeze and live in forever.
Then she stood back up. "Yup, we're really good at that…"
He just nodded.
She sat back down in the chair.
He checked what had been placed on him during the kiss. A small chuckle escaped him as he realized what it was.
"Thought you'd might like a set of copies." She shrugged, "I didn't know if you were that kind of guy who thinks it's fun to keep memorabilia like that, or not… But…"
"Thanks," he chuckled and glanced at the pictures of the two of them. It was pictures of questionable quality, taken by phone during their night out. The pictures were kinda blurry, but it was easy enough to read their expressions and how much they both enjoyed just being there.
One picture showed them sitting by the booth. One of Emily's friends had taken that one. A couple more pictures from the bar, a picture from when they sat on a bench outside the kebab place. And the last one was a selfie where he had used the opportunity to swoop down and place a kiss on her cheek.
"Photographic evidence of me kissing you." He smirked, "You sure you trust me with that?"
She chuckled, "Yeah."
"Cause I'll show it to my guys, you know that?" he teased.
"I think they might already have seen a better kiss than that, live." She chuckled and rolled her eyes.
He nodded a little, then he held up the selfie one, "What do you think? Would this one go well with the refrigerator door?"
"Probably…" she nodded, "You want me to see if there's a vacant magnet there?"
"Nah, it can wait." he smiled at her.