15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

couldn’t watch your show. I wasn’t too upset because it meant we would
probably just make out for an hour and a half.
“Does your oven run off gas or electricity?” he asked.
“Gas,” I said, a little confused that he was asking about our oven.
He kicked off his shoes (which were really just a pair of my father’s old
shoes) and he started walking toward the kitchen. “I’m going to make you
something,” he said.
“You know how to cook?”
He opened the refrigerator and started moving things around. “Yep. I
probably love to cook as much as you love to grow things.” He took a few things
out of the refrigerator and preheated the oven. I leaned against the counter and
watched him. He wasn’t even looking at a recipe. He was just pouring things
into bowls and mixing them without even using a measuring cup.
I had never seen my father lift a finger in the kitchen. I’m pretty sure he
wouldn’t even know how to preheat our oven. I kind of thought most men were
like that, but watching Atlas work his way around my kitchen proved me
wrong.
“What are you making?” I asked him. I pushed my hands on the island
and hoisted myself onto it.
“Cookies,” he said. He walked the bowl over to me and stuck a spoon in the
mixture. He brought the spoon up to my mouth and I tasted it. One of my
weaknesses is cookie dough, and this was the best I’d ever tasted.
“Oh, wow,” I said, licking my lips.
He set the bowl down beside me and then leaned in and kissed me. Cookie
dough and Atlas’s mouth mixed together is like heaven, in case you’re
wondering. I made a noise deep in my throat that let him know how much I
liked the combination, and it made him laugh. But he didn’t stop kissing me.
He just laughed through the kiss and it completely melted my heart. A happy
Atlas was near mind-blowing. It made me want to uncover every single thing
about this world that he likes and give it all to him.
When he was kissing me, I wondered if I loved him. I’ve never had a
boyfriend before and have nothing to compare my feelings to. In fact, I’ve never
really wanted a boyfriend or a relationship until Atlas. I’m not growing up in
a household with a great example of how a man should treat someone he loves,
so I’ve always held on to an unhealthy amount of distrust when it comes to
relationships and other people.