Part Two of Three.
The day started off so horribly and ended so well. Woke up on the couch with Paige. Stayed the afternoon to help her bake for Thanksgiving. Ralph was spending the night with Drew and we all were meeting together for Thanksgiving dinner at the garage.
There was a faint buzzing that woke Walter from his sleep. He typically slept in the supine position on his tempurpedic mattress that was climate controlled and one of the first splurges that Sylvester pushed him to purchased. It would help him gain an extra forty-seven to hour and thirteen minutes of un-interrupted sleep. It took a week or so for Walter to adjust to the softness.
But now he was dealing with a different softness.
His arm was wrapped about the torso of a body, which was sleeping. This was good because an arm wrapped about the torso of something not alive, well that is an extreme phobia and nightmare of Walter. His flexed his fingers spreading his and it stretched across the thin expanse of the soft texture of a shirt. He opened and closed his hand a few times, and he felt a sigh. The other occupant on the couch shifted as if trying to snuggle backwards into his chest. Walter wrapped his hand tighter tucking it under the occupants hip. Walter smiled when he heard another sigh and he nestled his nose into the occupant's hair.
"What is that buzzing?" Paige asked as she moved her hand down along his arm and wrapped her hand on to his own. Walter smiled against the shell of her ear. After the emotional and exhaustive conversation, the pair had settled into a movie about a romantic couple and the man being able to travel through time. He was also able to manipulate the future for different changes. If Walter had slept the night before he would have been making all sorts of impossibility of the plot-line. Paige sighed through the cuteness and rested her head on his shoulder.
At some point they got into this position, spooning on the couch, almost like a true couple.
"Walter?" Her voice crept across his skin, reverberating into his ears and sinking into his subconscious. He felt her twist about in his arms and her nose nestled into his neck searching for warmth. He felt her lips hum against his skin and Walter knew he just found his happy moment.
"I set my alarm." Walter explained splaying his hand against her back. "To wake us up before Ralph gets out of school. We have forty-five minutes before his school is over." Paige hummed again into his neck, as if the logic of his statement was said in a foreign language. He felt her hand sneak up from between their bodies and move across the back of the couch to the console table. He felt her arm brush up and down searching for an inanimate object. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for my phone." Paige said, her words dancing across his neck. She struggled for a moment more and found the cell phone. Without looking at the screen, she unlocked the device and hit the home button disturbing the ever helpful Siri from her slumber.
How can I serve you?-Siri
"Siri, sent a text message to Drew." Paige directed and Walter's eyebrows raised at her ability to use the cellular device and it's technology.
What would you like me so say?"
"Can you pick up Ralph from school, and can he spend the night?" Her lips danced against his skin, but the cell phone picked up the exact message. Siri asked if she wanted her to send the message. Paige shoved the phone in Walter's face to confirm the message.
"Looks good." Walter said after reading the words.
"Yes, send." Paige said to the cell phone assistant.
Okay, message sent. Siri
"Can we go back to sleep, now?" Paige asked and Walter knew full well that she was halfway to dream land. It was three minutes later that her phone danced to life with a response and Walter had the cellphone shoved back in his face. "What does it say?"
"All good, see you tomorrow." He said and her lips spread into a smile against his neck. Walter took his phone from his pocket, touched the home key to unlock the phone and pulled the clock. "How much longer?"
Paige brought her hand back between them, wrapping her hands into his shirt and pulled herself closer to his chest. "Shut up." He kissed her forehead dropped the phone onto the console table behind the couch, and fell asleep to the sounds of Paige's breathing.
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It was two hours and thirty-seven minutes later that Walter woke up to a smell. A smell he could not place, or had the olfactory pleasure of committing to the catalogue that was his memory. His eyes fluttered opened and Walter realized that Paige was no longer next to him, and he was covered by a soft fleece blanket. He heard sounds coming from behind the couch so he sat up and looked to the sound of metal scraping metal. Walter rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and forced his body to manuever to the direction of the kitchen. That is where he found Paige whisking a filmy substance in a bowl.
"Good morning." Paige smiled as Walter yawned when he took a stool at the island. Her tiny living space was maximized using the kitchen island as the dining space, which worked perfectly for the single mother and her son. Paige knew that no matter where you sat for dinner, it was the family time that made it a meal.
"I think you mean good afternoon." Walter said while quirking and eyebrow in her direciton. He nodded to the time on the microwave and missed the rolling of her eyes. "Or almost good evening."
"I meant it as a salutation for waking up." Paige explained and brought the bowl to the counter top so Walter could see the contents.
"What are you making?" He asked mesmerized by the clockwise twirling of the whisk in Paige's hand. It looked to be a liquidy custard or something of the nature.
"I am stirring up the contents of a cheesecake." Paige said and explained that there was cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla currently in the bowl.
"Why are you stirring it by hand, don't you have an electric mixer, or those beater things?" Walter wondered aloud. Paige smiled at the genius, efficiency and product management was always on his radar, and she appreciated his predictability. But preferred to mix the cheesecake batter by hand, it was one of those things she preferred.
"I prefer to do it by hand." Paige said plainly and when he went for the rebuttle, "Just accept it. I know the statistics about the efficiency of an electric mixer, but my grandmother taught me this recipe and I know it by a sense of touch."
"I'm sorry, Paige, but that sounds almost inane." Walter teased but stopped short when she sent him a glare. "I only mean that a sense of touch when it comes to baking?" She ignored his remark.
"Well, if you want to mock my baking skills, you don't need to have any of the spoils." Paige said and turned around to the stove top leaving the bowl unattended. Walter snuck his hand to the whisk, pulling it from the bowl and letting it drip to his finger. To not contaminate the batter with his germs. He put his finger to his nose inhaling the sweet scent of cheesecake and then stuck it into his mouth. "Does it taste alright?" Paige asked with her hands on her hips starring at his delighted face from the delectable batter.
"Yes." Walter responded with a smile. "I think you might be on to something about a sense of touch." She smiled and went back to the stove top to stir one of the many pots that seemed to be cooking. "How long have you been awake?"
"About an hour." Paige shrugged taking the spoon from a pot which contained a red looking mush. Walter gave it a quizzical look. "Have you ever had cranberries before?"
"Like from the can?" Walter asked. Paige's face answered his question. "I guess not."
"You have never had homemade cranberry sauce?" Paige wondered more to herself then to Walter. "That is just so sad."
"If you hadn't gathered, I am not American." Walter shrugged. It was true. He was still a non-united states resident that was residing permanently in California. He had started the citizen process but at a certain part of the forms and tests, he got bored and just renewed his visa for another few years. Extending his stay until he finally took the plunge.
Paige laughed, "Really?" He chuckled at her sarcasm. "But you have been in America for the past five years right?"
"More like twelve." Walter said. "And not one of those years did I have a homemade cranberry sauce."
"But," Paige wondered, "What did you do on Thanksgiving?"
"Well, I usually eat Thai. Or maybe pizza." Walter replied. "It's not like I had friends or family that was willing to cook a meal with or for. The team and I usually got take out, eat it while playing video games. It really could be another day of the year."
"Well, I am glad we are doing this at the garage then." Paige said and returned to the island setting a cutting board down in front of Walter and a fresh stalk of celery. "The first part of my family holiday is family helps cook. So get to chopping O'Brien."
So Walter set to chopping the celery, then onion and helped Paige tear a loaf of bread. He learned to saute the vegetables together and then pouring it over the bread and adding a bit of seasoning. Paige guided him through shoving the mess into the turkey, laughing at his facial response and sneaking a candid photograph to document the occasion when he shoved his hand into the bird. She even gave him a kiss on the cheek when they finished.
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So this is going to be more of a three part journal entry. The first being the fight, this is the second, and Thanksgiving shenanigans will be the third. I have been so busy with work that I have not had time to really think of a longer post. It has been a few days and I wanted to give you guys some cuteness. I will get another one out this weekend.
Hope you enjoy and leave a review if you like it.
Ema