Branch Ninety One
Xavier spoke on the phone for a few minutes before he went back to meet Jessica sitting on the bed.
“I see that you are awake now. You were sleeping so peacefully” he commented as he went to pick up a bottle of water.
He came back and gave her an opened bottle. “Thanks” she murmured as she took off the cover and gulped down a large amount. “I really needed that”
“Why don’t we order something in?” Xavier asked returning to his laptop that was set down on the table.
“Order something?” she asked slipping the cap of the bottle back and yawning a bit.
“Yeah like pizza or chicken?” he said and she scrunched up her nose. “Or Chinese” he added seeing she did not like his suggestion.
“We had chicken all day and I do not feel like having anything with flour in it,” she said standing up and walking to the kitchen. “Don’t you worry I would make something extremely delicious” she said before stopping halfway and turning to face him.
His eyebrow went up as he saw her face. It was a mixture of amusement and annoyance. Such a wonderful combination.
“Your idea earlier,” she said as she took small steps towards him.
“Yeah,” he answered out of impulse. He felt the need to answer because she looked like a villain about to pounce on her victim.
“Was it because you did not want me to make barbeque?” she asked standing in front of him.
“Well I just feel like it is dangerous for you to be doing something like that,” he said defending himself.
“What is so dangerous about a grill?” she asked with amusement coming close and taking a sit beside him.
She was kind of pissed he tried to stop her but seeing his fear for a girl made her concerned and she found it somewhat funny.
“It has naked fire and someone could get hurt. Jason has a huge scar on his waist because he was grilling something during our college days”
“Oh so it is like a post-trauma event?” she asked concerned.C0pyright © 2024 Nôv)(elDrama.Org.
“No not trauma, it is just something I don’t like. We can eat any other thing” he said.
“Okay trust me. Just this once. I would grill it without any incident. Or don’t you like meat?” she asked him.
“I do like meat but…” he trailed off having no excuse. She has asked him to trust her. It would be strange if he still insisted on her not going ahead with her plans. “Okay then,” he said giving in.
It seemed strange to her that a grown man would shy away from such a masculine task as grilling. “Would you join me in setting up?” she asked as she stood up.
“What do you need?” he said as he bolted up in a hurry.
“Maybe help with the veggies since you fear the grill,” she said teasing him.
“I don’t fear
“The grill,” both of them said as she joined him to say it. He rolled his eyes and walked to the kitchen.
“Where are the veggies?”
Jessica got the grill up and running as Xavier stood in a distance watching her set it up. She began to grill the meat.
“See I told you that nothing could go wrong with grilling,” she said as she flipped the meat on the grill.
The aroma of the meat filled the atmosphere and Xavier almost admitted out loud that she was almost nearly perfect in all she did. She did them well and he almost had no complaints at all.
“It’s so boring here why don’t we have a conversation” Jessica suggested.
“About what?” he asked taken aback by her suggestion.
“Anything you choose something” she replied as she poured some spices on the grilling meat.
“I am bad at things like this” Xavier after a long moment of silence. “I don’t know what to say,” he said in a whisper.
“Should I take the lead then?” she asked removing some of the cooked meat from the fire.
“Yeah sure I am sure you would be better at it than I would,” he told her.
“Let’s play a game then” she suggested and he nodded. He had nothing to do either way so why not.”Should we play twenty questions then?”
He shrugged and said “I don’t know the game but if you suggest it then why not”
“Okay so we ask twenty questions each on what we want to know about each other and the other party has to answer or drink beer” she explained.
“We do have beer right?” she asked as she raised her head to see him.
“Beer? No, we can’t drink beer. You are a little over the top when you drink” he said shaking his head.
“I am? When?” she asked feigning ignorance. She knew she was referring her to a drunken spree the other day but there was no way she would admit to being a drunken mess.
“When you drank at the party the other day you did a whole lot of things I can’t explain,” he told her.
“I did? Why can’t I recall anything?” she lied as she walked to drop the plate on the table set out on the patio.
“Anyway it does not matter if you remembered or not. No beer or alcohol for you” he told her.
“Come on I would just have one bottle and we would stop playing the game Moreover there is no one here too” she explained.
For some reason, she craved beer and she saw some in the fridge the other day. “Okay I would get the wine then,” Xavier said giving in.
He moved back in and came back with a bottle of red wine and two glasses in hand. “Maybe we can have this instead of beer today?” he asked as he set down the cups and tried to open up the bottle.
“Well I guess we can then,” she said giving in. “Do you want to ask the first question then?”
“Well, what can I ask then? ” he pondered as he looked at her. Jessica raised her head and their eyes met. They stared at each other so much it was as if they were peering into each other’s soul.
“Ahh”