Author's Note: I'm very saddened. I only got one review for the last chapter. I know I haven't updated in a long time… but this is a cruel and unusual punishment! So please, PLEASE review this chapter!!!! Please! If you could see me, I am on my knees… ok I'm not really… but if it adds to the effectiveness of my gravelling, then you can picture me on my knees begging for reviews. Now on to the chapter!

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Chapter 10: Spaghetti And Laundry

"Dinner looks good," Rob complimented, pulling out Ella's chair for her.

"Thank you. It's really nothing. Boil some water, toss some things in the pot. No biggie," she laughed. "I was never that great at cooking."

"Well, I am an excellent cook if I do say so myself," Rob replied, taking his own seat.

"I never understood why people said, '… if I do say so myself,' 'cause they are saying it themselves," Ella pointed out.

Rob thought about it for a second.

"Wouldn't you just take out the 'if' because that's almost questioning whether you say it yourself or not?" Ella questioned.

Rob's look of thought turned into one of confusion. "I think you're just over-analyzing the statement," Rob smiled.

"That's my job," she reminded him. "Research, analyze. Research, analyze."

"Sounds safer than getting your ass kicked - or kicking ass in my case - practically every night."

"Well, you know, there's the very serious case of ink on the hands and occasionally the life-threatening paper cut," Ella said melodramatically.

"Forgot about those. Can never be too careful around those darn pieces of paper."

Ella grinned. "Eat," she commanded, noticing that Rob hadn't touched anything yet.

Looking down at his plate, Rob stated, "I don't know where to start." He picked up his fork

"Try the spaghetti before it gets cold," she advised him.

He willingly obliged, circling his fork in the pile of spaghetti. "Ish ih heehy ooh!" Rob said, his mouth full of pasta. He loudly slurped a dangling noodle into his mouth.

"Thank you… I think," Ella said, barely able to suppress her giggles.

As Rob swallowed his food, he asked, "What?"

Ella had to turn away before she lost her self control. Facing him again, she said, "You may be a grown man, but you eat spaghetti like a three-year-old."

Rob sent her a confused look.

Ella picked up her napkin and leaned across the table. Gently, she wiped his chin and the corners of his mouth.

"Oh," he grinned impishly.

Ella sat back down, biting her lip to hold in her laughter.

"You think that's funny?"

Ella could only manage a nod before her laughter broke out.

"Well, what do you think about this?" With that, Rob stuck two of his fingers in the spaghetti, liberally coating them in the sauce. He then proceeded to lean over the table and wipe the red mixture on Ella's forehead.

Her jaw dropped at his audacity. "I was only laughing 'cause you had a little sauce on your nose!"

"I do?" he questioned. In an attempt to see if she was telling the truth, Rob crossed his eyes.

Ella began giggling. "You look absolutely ridiculous!"

"You think I look ridiculous?" he replied, looking her in the eyes. "Well I'm not the one with spaghettis sauce on her forehead."

"No, you're the one with spaghetti sauce on his nose," she retorted cheekily.

"Well," he began, picking up the bottle of salad dressing, "you're the one with salad dressing in her hair." He squeezed the opened bottle over her head causing the white cream to ooze down Ella's head.

As Rob sat down, Ella leaned over the table and grabbed the sides of his face and pulled it down into his spaghetti. Before letting go though, she wiggled his head in it to make sure that he would be covered in the sauce. "And you're the one covered in spaghetti sauce."

Once Ella let go, Rob slowly lifted his head up. "I'm also the one with spaghetti sauce up his nose." He then picked up the bottle of wine and inspected it then opened it. He poured both himself and Ella a glass.

She watched him cautiously as he did this.

"How about a toast?" he suggested, putting down the wine bottle and lifting his glass.

Ella mimicked his actions and picked up her own glass.

"To… spaghetti."

"To spaghetti," she echoed. But before she could take a sip of the dark liquid, Rob threw the liquid in his own glass in Ella's face.

Rob set down his glass and watched Ella, waiting for her next move.

Calmly, she put her own glass, which was still full, back on the table. She then mixed the salad dressing in her spaghetti, creating more sauce than before. She then scooped some up in her hand and ran her hand through Rob's hair, which, luckily for her, he wore down. After his hair was well-coated with her mixture of ranch and tomato sauce, she began to style his hair, using his fork to part it down the middle. She then used her concoction to gel it down against his scalp. "There!" she triumphantly exclaimed. "Oh," she said before grabbing her wine glass and dumping its contents onto Rob's lap. "Now I'm done."

"I probably look like a hippie going to prep school and has a bladder problem," Rob muttered.

"Maybe we both need to go to school to learn how to eat and not play with our food," Ella commented through her giggles.

"Yeah," Rob agreed, feeling his poor hair.

"We should probably get cleaned up. And maybe I should go first, that way I can go downstairs and run your clothes through the wash while you're in the shower. I have some laundry to do anyways," she laughed.

"Some first date," Rob grinned.

"Well, it's definitely a memorable one."

"That it is," he concurred, leaning against the back of is chair and admiring Ella. Even with ranch in her hair, spaghetti sauce on her forehead, and the top of her blouse darkened with wine, she still looked gorgeous in his eyes.

Clearing her throat, Ella stood up and said, "I'm gonna go get cleaned up now."

"I'll clean up the table," Rob offered.

"No," Ella stopped him. "Don't worry about it. I'll just do it later."

"I helped make this mess," Rob argued stubbornly, "so it's only fair that I clean up."

"Really, just leave it."

Rob sighed. "Fine."

"I'll be right out," she told him, going into her bedroom.

Once the door was closed, Rob began clearing the table. He took all the dishes into the kitchen. Realizing that she probably wouldn't want to save the food, he threw it all away in the garbage can under the sink, which he found after a few minutes of searching. Then he washed all the dishes for her, wiggling around the whole time due to the wetness in his crotch from the wine. After finishing and putting the dishes on the rack to dry, he found a rag and wiped the table clean. As he put the rag back in the kitchen, Ella emerged in a pair of gray sweatpants and a red tank top and matching red thong flip-flops.

"I thought I told you not to clean," Ella complained.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you got so much pleasure out of playing Cinderella," Rob replied laughing.

"Well, thank you, even though you shouldn't have," she slightly scolded. "Now, how do we get you cleaned up?"

"Good question."

"Umm… why don't you go into my room and undress, and leave your clothes in there, then go into my bathroom. And once you have the door shut and everything, start the shower and I'll go into my room and get your clothes," Ella suggested.

Rob tried not to laugh at the blush in Ella's cheeks. "You look like the idea of me being naked in your apartment is something to be ashamed of."

"It just sounded really… awkward," Ella laughed.

"It did. But it'll work," Rob grinned. "So, I'm off."

Ella merely watched Rob go into her bedroom and close the door. It really was awkward knowing that he was in her bedroom… getting naked… As long as she didn't mention that she wasn't in the room with Rob, Stephanie would be happy. But then of course, Stephanie would probably think that they had some sort of kinky, porno-like scene.

Hearing the shower, Ella was snapped out of her train of thought. She entered her bedroom slowly, just in case. Seeing Rob's clothes in a pile in front of the bathroom door, she scooped them up and threw them onto a pile of her clothes that needed to be washed. Picking the bundle up, she walked downstairs to where the washing machines were. There were three, and considering it was dinner time, no one was down there. She quickly sorted the clothes and put them in two machines. This usually took about twenty minutes so she decided to go back up to her apartment.

When she went back inside, she heard the shower still running. She went into the kitchen and found that Rob had not only cleared the table but washed the dishes as well. She began to put the dishes back into the cupboard.

Halfway through, she heard her bedroom door open and Rob came out with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Seeing Ella through the open doorway, he said, "I would've put them away too, but I didn't know where they went."

Ella could only stare at Rob. His well-sculpted chest had a few beads of water slipping down it from his dripping hair. "Don't worry about," she stammered, blushing slightly.

"So, how long will it take?"

"Probably about forty more minutes. It would've taken less time, but I threw in some of my clothes in there," Ella explained.

"You just wanted to see me in a towel longer," Rob accused jokingly.

Ella gasped, feigning surprise. "How on earth did you know?"

"'Cause I'm R-V-D," he said, only using one hand to point at himself so that the other could hold on to the towel.

"Of course, how could I have forgotten?" Ella smiled. "Why don't we sit down? Your towel… well… my towel might be safer."

"Good idea. If I sit down, it can't fall. Or at least not very far," Rob commented, taking a seat on Ella's couch.

Almost cautiously, Ella took a seat next to Rob. It wasn't everyday that a towel-clad wrestler was alone with her on her couch. And Ella thought she was handling the situation very well for being her first time. But then again… how many other times would this happen?

"What are you thinking about?" Rob questioned, noticing Ella's distant look.

"Oh," Ella replied, "just how weird this kind of is. I mean, first date and you're already naked."

"I have a towel," Rob reminded her.

"Well… almost naked then," she laughed.

"But yes, I guess it is a little awkward. So, what are you gonna tell Stephanie?" Rob asked knowingly.

"What?" Ella asked, somewhat surprised by the question.

"I know you girls gossip about everything. And you and Stephanie seem really close. So what are you gonna tell her happened?"

"Well, I have two options. Tell her just enough of the truth to make her that what she wanted to happen happened. Or I could tell her the whole truth," Ella said, using her hands as though she were physically weighing her options.

"I'd tell her what she wants to hear. Then after she's all happy, tell her the rest of it," Rob plotted.

"That's so mean!" Ella exclaimed. "But it'd be really funny," she admitted.

"It's not your fault if she takes things the wrong way," Rob offered.

"Definitely true," Ella nodded in agreement. "And just to make her suffer a little more by ignoring her calls all day tomorrow."

"Then when are you gonna tell her?"

"Day after tomorrow. I'm having dinner with her and everybody else. We have the best plan for Shane," Ella squealed excitedly.

"Really?" Rob asked, slightly cocking his eyebrow in a Rock-like fashion. "And what is this 'plan?'"

"Well when I went over there yesterday, we were just joking around with Shane about how I wanted to seduce him, and I think he took me a bit too seriously," Ella explained. "So we're just gonna have a little fun with that," she said innocently.

Rob chuckled in response. "I wish I could be there to see his face."

"Maybe you can. If you were Stephanie and you really wanted us to get together, and I ignored you the day after a date with you that you knew about, then wouldn't you be even more curious if I showed up with you?"

Rob stared at her. "So if I'm Stephanie, and you went out with me and I knew, but I'm Stephanie and you show up to my house with me… I lost you."

Ella laughed. "Ok, we go to Stephanie's together. I don't talk to her tomorrow, and I know she'll call asking about tonight. Then you come with me to dinner. Wouldn't that make you even more curious and even more inclined to think that something happened if I did that and you were in Stephanie's position?"

"Oh, I see where this is going. But I can't," Rob told her sticking his lower lip out sadly.

Ella pouted. "Why not?"

"We have a house show."

"Oh. Well, you can't skip work."

"But if it makes any difference, I'd rather go with you."

Ella bit her lip to stop herself from smiling too widely. "That's sweet."

"I really enjoyed tonight. It's been the most fun I've had in a while."

"Me too," she replied. Glancing at her watch, she said, "I better go put your clothes in the dryer. They should be done by now."

"Right," he nodded almost dreamily.

"I'll be right back," she said, walking out the door.

Rob could just hear Paul's voice now… "She's got you whipped."

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Ending Author's Note: Ok… yeah… I'm not too happy with how this chapter turned out. I really wanted to write it… but once I started writing, it just kinda turned out crappy. But at least I updated. And for that I should get at lest one review from everyone who reads this! So go! Stop reading my stupid, rambling note and review because if you're still reading this then you're not reviewing, and that's what I told you to do! So now I'm gonna stop typing and let you all review!