Chapter 16: It's Illegal

I thought living with an artist would be eccentric exciting, but if the past week was any inclination of things to come then I was very wrong. Josie was very active but he also had bouts of being a home body.

I quickly found out that Jose' was a better cook than me. I was a little jealous. I watched as he flipped back and forth from the stove to the counter in the center of the kitchen. He was wearing his favorite lounge outfit, black tank, grey sweats, and his black hair was bunched together on top of his head.

"I can't believe you don't like shrimp," Jo chastised with his back to me. He was stirring whatever he was cooking. "I've never made this dish with chicken," he mused. He didn't seem too happy about the change, but he would've been even less happy if I didn't eat what he'd cooked. He'd consider it an insult.

"Well, it smells yummy," I said to stroke his ego a little bit. He looked over his shoulder at me.

"Thanks come over here for a sec." I frowned at his request and then did what he wished anyway. I stood by him and he dipped his wooden spoon in his pinkish colored sauce. "Taste it." He placed the spoon at my lips and I did as he requested. The sauce was not what I expected; it was a million times better.

"That is amazing Jo!" He smirked and then tasted the rest of the sauce on the spoon.

"You're right; I've done an amazing job on this." I shoved his cocky self and he chuckled so hard he snorted. "Don't be shoving your man, woman. I won't be standing for this abuse."

"Uh huh, you'll take it and like it!" I teased and then the door bell rang and I groaned.

"I wonder who that could be." I teased and Jose' shook his head as he handed me the spoon.

"Just keep stirring … and play nice," he said as he kissed me on the top of my head. Gloria had been coming around daily mainly at night. She kept ruining our dinners and over staying her welcome. Jose' opened the door and Gloria burst through the door like the bull dozer she is.

"Hey Hun," she greeted Jo and ignored me. She kissed him on the cheek and he moved away like he always did. "I have some documents for you to review and some pictures of the new studio." I turned back to the pink sauce I was tending and pretended not to be pissed by her presence.

"You could've sent that stuff through email, Glo," Jose' said blandly."

"So what am I not welcome here now?" Gloria was sitting on the couch sorting documents. She had no intentions on leaving. I knew that she would be having dinner with us so I reached over to one of the cabinets and grabbed another plate to place at the table.

"I know what you're up to Gloria and you're toying with my patience. You've come over to my apartment the past three nights with trivial matters claiming that they were so important." I twisted quickly toward o and his assistant. I couldn't believe he'd called her on her shit. He spent most of his time defending her to me and after he'd just tome to be nice. They both looked at me as if I was intruding so I turned back to the stove.

"Can we talk privately?" I could hear the attitude in her voice. I snorted; I don't know why she was mad at me she was the one who was abusing her welcome. Jose' wanted me here.

"No," Jose' said bluntly. I smiled, that's right Josie stand firm. "There's nothing more to really discuss on the matter."

"Oh yes there is!" She stood up and got in his bubble. "You will talk to me in private, or your little child order bride will know exactly what I think about you little situation." She placed her hands on her hips and demanded his time; he narrowed his eyes at her as he took in what she said. I was on the defensive now and I was itching to give this woman a piece of my mind.

"Alex is not a child, she's not my bride, and I for damn sure didn't order her. You need to mind your own business Gloria or you will be out of a job!" I was in the process of moving the saucer off the burner and I almost dropped it. I couldn't believe he threatened her job! Inside I felt myself doing a little happy dance, it cause flutters in my belly.

"You want to be nasty, I can be nasty too Jose', its called statutory rape! IT'S ILLEGAL!" She snapped viciously.

"We haven't," I started to defend our relationship but Jose's held his hand up asking for my silence. I didn't like being quieted but I was curious kind of curious what he was going to say.

"Gloria, you really need to mind your own damned business! I'm not exactly sure what you want, but I wasn't this clear my relationship is not up for debate or discussion." Gloria opened her mouth to protest but Josie spoke before she could spew anymore venom. "I'm so serious about this Gloria; I think you should leave before our friendship is completely ruined." Gloria clamped her mouth shut and retrieved her purse from the couch and left. She slammed the door on the way out. I jumped at the noise.

After a few moments Jose' came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and laid his head on my shoulder. I hadn't been with Josie for very long but one of the things I knew about him was that he did not enjoy confrontation. Someone must really piss him off to make him stand his ground firmly. I also knew that when he did have difficult moments he liked to quickly erase them as if they were miss punctuation in a sentence. Right now he was using me as his eraser; he was seeking comfort in me. It was something he did often, and I was more than happy to offer.

"Do I pour the sauce over the noodles or the chicken?" I asked as I pretended the crazy scene hadn't taken place.

"The chicken lies on top of the noodles then the sauce is poured over both." He kissed the side of my neck and squeezed me before releasing me to venture into the dining room. He made quick work of dressing the table and the lights in the room dimmed. I looked back at the table and witness him lighting two long thin silver candles. I couldn't help but chuckle, he was trying to be all romantic and what not.

I placed the plates on the place mats. As I drew near the look in Jose's changed.

"I wanted you alone tonight. Did you know that we haven't eaten alone … ever?" I gave his statement some thought in regards to accuracy.

"I made you breakfast that one time." I smirked as I remembered our unexpected vacation with the Greys'.

"True, but I was thinking about at night. I wanted this memory, but Glo kept messing it up. I'd convinced myself that she wasn't going to bother us tonight, and then lo and behold there was that musical knock on my door. She really needs to adjust to all of this." He pulled out my seat and I sat down. I did notice that instead of sitting at the far end of the table he'd moved the place mat down so he was sitting beside me. He was closer, and he was right this was far better than Gloria being here, but I had a feeling that just asking her to go away wasn't going to be enough.