10793 / 10000 — geez speaking of long conversations, I’m posting about these two for the second excerpt in a row
“Y’know, this came out pretty good! I’ll have to make it again sometime. The next time I feel like rolling a million meatballs…”
A vulgar joke came to mind; he dismissed it. Too cliché. “…Was this the day we started dating, or the day we got engaged?”
“Pfft!” Natalie rolled her eyes and stabbed another pineapple chunk with alarming fervor. “Fuck if I remember when we first went out. You know me and dates. Lost cause, right there. The engagement thing was at least only a year ago, so I’ve at least got a slim chance of remembering about when it was.”
“Huh. I’ll have to keep it in mind next year, and maybe request the day off or somethin’.”
“You won’t remember,” she laughed, shaking her head. “Neither of us will. Ooh, I just thought of what this needs.” Natalie pushed her chair out and darted over to the cabinet, finding a large bottle half-full of red paste.
…Sriracha sauce. He smiled, shaking his head as she dispensed narrow squiggles over her food. Natalie quirked an eyebrow at him.
“What?”
“Nothing. Really, it’s nothing.” He was focused on finishing his meal, and gauging just how much he should put on his plate for the second round. “Just you.”
There were times when he suspected that Natalie was essentially a shorter, fatter version of what Hawthorn would become, ten years into the future. She wouldn’t understand that this wasn’t a grave insult if he told her. Better to have her think he was just laughing at her.
She shot him a dirty look. “Anyway, you rotten lummox. There’s no sense in putting that much effort into it. We should just celebrate whenever we remember. Try to enjoy ourselves. Have looong, intimate conversations.”
He paused, more at her choice of words than anything else. “…Really.”
“What, you don’t want to? Color me shocked, John Carmichael.” Something pleasantly dangerous lurked in the corner of her voice.
“…I’ll put it this way. Just don’t talk at me too hard. Much as I might enjoy it, I have to wake up early. The last thing I need is to be sore and tired when I’m on call in the morning.”
Natalie cackled with glee, bouncing up and down in her chair.
