February 13th
10:35 pm

Maxine practically let out a moan of delight as the juicy, tangy bite sized morsel of filet mignon touched her tongue twenty minutes later. How funny was this? Barely having a great Valentine’s Day and here she was practically getting her jollies off on meat. No pun intended. Or maybe pun intended; it would spice things up from an otherwise dull day.

Who was she kidding?

This whole holiday hadn’t even started and she was already seeing vast improvements. For one thing, she was having, dare she say it, fun spending time in the room with this, kind of stranger. She still barely knew a thing about him, but he somehow brought out a joking side to her she wouldn’t normally show unless they were actually on a date.

And this was an expensive pseudo-date.

He did offer to pay, Maxine reminded herself as her knife cut through the meat like a hot knife in butter. That was one thing she missed about dating; a well cooked meal instead of macaroni, applesauce, and bologna sandwiches whether it be homemade or in a restaurant without her being the one to make it.

“So good,” she said before shoving a mound of mashed potatoes into her mouth. She only got a series of clinks and the scrape of Joshua’s fork and knife on the plate sitting in his lap. Plates with brownies, a slice of key lime pie, a slice of apple pie, and chocolate lava cake sat around them.

“Mmmhmmm.” Joshua nodded his head up and down as he chewed.

“Thanks,” Maxine said, her cheek bulging as she moved the mashed up mound of food in her mouth to her cheek, giving her enough space to talk. “For everything. You didn’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I did,” Joshua instantly replied, reaching for the napkin propped on his knee. He dabbed at his lips before swallowing. “And stop thanking me, it’s the least I could do.”

“Touchy, touchy.” Maxine smiled as Joshua let out a laugh through his nose. “But, I seem to remember that you paid for drinks at the bar that I never got. Does that also apply to this lovely evening here?” A thoughtful look crossed Joshua’s face before he gave a short nod of his head.

“Sure,” he replied. He set his fork and knife down onto his lap and carefully transferred the plate from his lap onto the mattress. He then leaned towards the bedside table and picked up the phone, holding it to her ear.

A part of her wanted to stop what he was doing. She had partially made that comment in jest, but he had been the one to make that offer in the first place. Only now she was…expecting it?  Maybe it was his politeness? His easygoing attitude? Knowing it was close to Valentine’s Day? No matter what it was she was starting to feel like she was taking advantage of his generosity. He’d start viewing her as someone desperate to have someone blow money on her or that she was a gold digger or something.

“Uh…you don’t have…” her words died on her lips as Joshua talked to whoever picked up on the other end of the phone.

“What do you like to drink?” Joshua asked, putting his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. Maxine opened and closed her mouth once, twice, three times before answering.

“Whiskey sour,” Maxine said, watching as Joshua’s eyebrows shot up into a look of amusement. Like a cook didn’t know what kind of alcohol was great for things more than cooking. Whiskey Sour had always been her go to drink after her good buddy Jack Daniel’s of course.

“Ok, it should be up shortly,” Joshua said as he set the phone into its cradle.

“Th…cool,” Maxine said, stopping herself before she could thank him again. Joshua set his plate back into his lap, his P popping when he said “Yep” in response to her. “I’m surprised you don’t have a date lined up for tomorrow. You’re good looking enough, and nice, and good company.”

“Good looking enough?” he repeated with a laugh.

“Not like…bad,” Maxine quickly backtracked. Hell, no, he wasn’t bad looking at all. She didn’t know how he didn’t have a girlfriend. She would be spoiled, that’s for sure or at least well taken care of, no questions asked. “I mean…yeah, you’re good looking.” You’d have to be crazy not to think that. She said her thought out loud, too. “Any girl would be crazy not to find you attractive.”

“Thanks,” Joshua said with a hint of a laugh. He got to his feet when a series of knocks sounded on the heavy door. For a second time, he set his plate aside and went to answer the door. Maxine continued to eat, listening to the two male voices making small talk at the door.

It didn’t look like the storm was going to be letting up soon and she suddenly realized with the sense of dread filling her stomach that she’d be spending the night. She felt the coppery taste that proceeds an influx of saliva in her mouth.

Normally, that meant she’d soon be making a few calls on the big white phone so to speak, but this was just a warning. The bathtub looked like it had enough room, but how to bring it up without it being awkward.

She could be blunt when she needed to be, but not on this subject. He was a man and all men thought about one thing at one point or another and here she was sitting on his bed. Her night was quickly spiraling out of the conscious realm of what she thought could happen; it didn’t involve a hotel room and it definitely didn’t involve a guy. But, maybe she was too cynical and this was just something she needed.

Joshua thanked the man at the door before wheeling a cart into the room. Sitting on top of the cart was a tray filled with glasses, and two dark bottles. With each rotation of the wheels, the glasses shook and clanked against each other. Joshua quickly poured Maxine and himself a drink.

Maxine reached out for the glass, her fingers brushing over his before she tilted her head back, quickly downing the drink in a few gulps. The whiskey and sweet lemon juice tasting drink burned as it slid down her throat as she downed the goldenrod colored liquid. She let out a soft “ahhhh” before smacking her lips together.

“Can I have another?” she asked, breathing heavily just slightly before wiping her wet lips with the back of her arm.

Joshua blinked once before taking her glass, filling it up with the alcoholic drink. He then took his glass of red wine and set it on the bedside table before taking his place back on the bed. “You don’t seem like the red wine type,” she said to him and Joshua let out a snort.

“And what type is that?” Joshua asked, lifting his eyebrows.

Maxine didn’t answer as she gave a shrug of her shoulders. She peered closely at him as he went back to finishing his meal. Silence fell over them, stretching longer and longer between them, broken up by the rumble of thunder, the sound of rain hitting the windows, whatever program the TV was on, and the scraping of the forks and knives on the plate.

“So…if this isn’t a storm, what would you call it?” Joshua asked. Maxine blinked in confusion for a moment before spotting the half smirk on his face.

“Ha ha.” She rolled her eyes before flinching slightly when a loud bang shook the room. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, a wave of heat rushing up to the crown of her head.

“You ok?” he asked, his eyebrows narrowing slightly.

“Oh yeah you know I’m just…” Maxine trailed off before swallowing thickly. “I hate storms.”

“I used to be scared of storms, too,” Joshua replied. “Not as bad as needles. I’ve never gotten over that fear.” An embarrassed smile crossed his face. “Once kicked a nurse in the face just because I had to get a shot before I went overseas.”

“Ohhhh, no you didn’t,” Maxine said around a laugh, lifting a hand to cover her mouth. “So a tattoo is out of the question. What about the dentist?”

“I skipped out on any appointments where I needed to get a tooth pulled and I’m glad I never went,” he replied, putting his hand up in the air, turning his head away just slightly. Maxine chuckled. “To get over my fear of storms, I used to think of it that fireflies were playing tag and the lightning was whenever they collided with each other.” His eyes lowered, eyelashes casting a light shade over his cheekbones. “That sounds stupid, I know.”

“No, it’s ok,” Maxine replied, waving her glass in the air before taking a long sip. “I always thought of the giants bowling thing.” She pursed her lips after she swallowed. “Never seemed to work well though.”

“Obviously, you haven’t gotten over your fear,” Joshua said, as more of a statement than a question, silently prompting her to explain. Maxine was silent for a moment, tapping her fingernails against the side of her glass.

“I fantasize,” she slowly admitted, feeling herself blush. Her blush scorched her cheeks at Joshua’s attempt at hiding his look of amusement. His eyebrows twitched before he lifted his glass to his mouth, taking large gulps of wine to cover the silence.

“That totally came out differently than what I’m actually thinking,” Maxine said with a laugh.

“I’m sure it totally did,” Joshua replied with a swallow, smacking his lips. He gave a lazy smile. “Care to explain anyway?”

“You know it’s…just kind of a crazy thing I do sometimes,” Maxine said as she lifted a hand to scratch at her forehead. “If I have plenty of time I fantasize about a lot of things. Like…if this building was flooding and I needed to find a way out to survive. Or if this room would suddenly burst into flames what would I do.” She shrugged her shoulders. “That kind of thing.”

“So what are you fantasizing about in this case?” Joshua asked and Maxine felt her lips pull back into a smirk. “You know what I mean. You have these thoughts a lot?”

“I’m not crazy.”

“I never said you were.” Joshua crossed an arm over his chest, using his fist to prop up the elbow to the arm he was using to hold his glass of wine. “So what would you do in this situation? Say we were trapped in a hotel room for who knows how long and only have each other for a sense of entertainment. What would you do?”

“To get over my fear of storms?” Maxine asked. Joshua nodded his head and she hesitated. It was a sure fire way to get her to stop being so worried about storms. She had always been scared of storm and to go off to a different place, a different world, allowed her to get her mind off of her fear until the storm passed. “I’d…build a fort.”

“A fort?” Joshua repeated, blinking rapidly.

“Yeah, you know those things kids like building with everything in their house or up in a tree that they’ll eventually fall out of and break their arm? Or leg?” Maxine explained. “A fort.”

“Something tells me you had a very…colorful childhood,” Joshua said. Maxine gave him a look that was a cross between annoyance and amusement.

“Well, what kind of childhood did you have?” she asked, fixing him with a stare.

“A good one.” A muscle twitched in his jaw and he took a long sip of wine. He lifted his shirt collar and wiped at his lips as he did so. “A little…off the beaten track I guess.”

“Well, you can tell me all about it in the fort.” Maxine reached forward and patted his knee, practically pressing the soft cotton over her stomach into the Worcestershire sauce puddle on her plate. “And bring the dessert.”

“Yes, ma’am.”