Chapter 7- Second Date...and Tillie.

Edited 05-07-2020.

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Chapter 7-

We rode through the city and pulled into a nice neighborhood about 20 minutes away from my house. We rode down the street and we pulled into a nice, somewhat modern house. It was two stories and the second floor overlapped the garage with a nice balcony. The grass was green and covered the entire lawn, but it was missing flowers. The house was gray with white shutters and black railings on the balcony. It was...kind of stunning. I got off the bike and pulled my helmet off while Trent did the same.

"Where are we?" I asked with a confused look.

"My house." he chuckled

What? Why are we here?

"Seriously? It's a nice house."

"Thanks."

"...but what are we doing here?"

He smiled and motioned for me to follow "I'm cooking your dinner."

"Really?" I asked with a tinge of disbelief. He didn't seem like the type who wanted to cook for their date.

"Yes, really. I am capable of doing some things ya know."

I laughed and shrugged "I know."

We walked in and the inside was just as nice as the outside. It had warm beige carpet in the living room and dark hardwood in the kitchen and dining area. The furniture was modern, but he had some older pieces lying around too. The entry way led down a hall that had doors to the living room, kitchen, dining area and a small half bath, so you could basically see all of them from the door.

He led me into the kitchen and set his wallet and keys down.

"Wine okay?" he asked while heading over to a small fridge.

"Sure, sounds good."

"Red okay?"

"Yeah, thanks." And I smiled.

He grabbed a bottle and two wine glasses and poured a little in each. He handed me a glass and I sipped, mmm-good.

He took a sip and set the glass down. "So, is pasta okay? Some salad and garlic bread?"

I nodded "Sure, sounds great."

He turned to the fridge and pulled out all the ingredients necessary.

He put water on too boil while I sat on a stool that connected to the small bar. He chopped onions, garlic, tomatoes, carrots, etc. Soon you could smell the spaghetti sauce boiling, and it smelled delicious. I'm not going to lie. I am surprised. He put the garlic bread in while draining the pasta and grabbed two plates. He spooned pasta onto each plate, pulled the garlic bread out and added sauce to the noodles. He added some salad and we carried everything to the table while talking lightly. We sat down and I looked at him with a smile "I'm sure it's even better than it smells."

He looked at me with mock horror "Of course it is."

And we both laughed before picking up our forks to dig in.

I took a bite of the pasta and moaned "So goooddd!"

And I looked up at Trent who had a dazed look on his face "That's sexy." He said.

I looked at him in confusion and blushed when I realized what he meant. "Whatever." I mumbled and grabbed another bite.

He laughed at me "I'm glad you like it."

We continued eating and I finished every bite. When I finished, I grabbed my glass of wine and decided to bring u the topic wed been avoiding.

"So, I'm sure you want to know about Paige..."

He took one last bite and put his fork down and looked at me seriously "Only if you want to tell me."

I sighed and put my glass down.

"You don't have to Erik."

I shook my head and smiled at him slightly "No I want to; I try to always be honest with people about Paige."

He took a sip of wine and motioned for me to stand up "Let's move to the living room then."

We walked into the living room and sat down on the biggest couch holding our glasses. Trent had his back to the arm of the chair and one leg up while facing me. I got as comfortable as I could.

"Well, Paige is 4, so I was 19 when she was born. 18 when I found out we were pregnant."

"We?" Trent asked.

"I've always known I was gay; it's just always been there in the back of my mind. And I came out after Paige was born, to my aunt. My parents died a long time ago. But anyways, Tillie, Paige's Mom was my best friend. She was my first friend when I moved here from Texas."

I looked up and noticed he was listening patiently. So I continued.

"Tillie and I liked parties, we were in high school, and everyone did. We stayed best friend throughout high school and on graduation night we were pumped. We were going to the same college and getting an apartment together and Tillie said we would both find hot men."

I chuckled to myself.

"We went to a huge party that night and got really drunk, and the next morning we realized we had slept together. We didn't want it to ruin our friendship, so we said No Regrets and moved on."

I looked up again and Trent had his head cocked, he nodded for me to continue with a smile.

"Two months later we found out she was pregnant. We were scared shitless. We told our families, and they were upset but they got used to it. We decided to postpone college for a year and tried to prepare for a baby. I had a job, so we were okay. We found out we were having a girl and Tillie was so excited. Hell, I was too."

He chuckled and I laughed while I took a gulp of my wine. I hated talking about her death.

"Obviously I was gay, and we didn't sleep together again or make plans to marry or anything, but we wanted to be parents together. So badly." I whispered.

I cleared my throat and shook my head.

"When Tillie went into labor, I almost had a heart attack, but we were so excited. She screamed and I moaned in pain while she clutched my hand and it was taking forever. Anyway, Tillie finally gave birth but there was a complication. Too much blood. She died giving birth to Paige, and so I've been raising Paige on my own."

I felt his hand on my cheek and realized I had been crying a little bit. I looked up and he had a look of sympathy on his face.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

I put my hand on his and chuckled wetly. Even though it was 4 years too late, it still meant a lot.

"Thanks." I let go of his hand and wiped my cheek.

I cleared my throat "Well, that's enough of that." I smiled weakly and got up to put my wine glass in the kitchen.

I turned around and jolted when I realized Trent was right behind me. I looked into his eyes as his arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer. I closed my eyes just in time to feel his soft lips caressing mine. I moaned and wrapped my hands behind his neck to deepen the kiss. He turned us around and I let him lead me backwards toward the couch. We both fell back when my knees hit the edge and he braced his weight on his arms. His lips moved down my jaw line and touched my ear briefly before making their way to my neck. I moaned when he kissed a certain part of my neck and he continued his path downwards. He used one hand to unbutton my shirt while kissing my chest. His lips moved back to mine and I realized my shirt was completely undone.

Wait. I was not ready to do this, and I didn't want to do this with him just because I was upset.

I pulled back to take a breath and put my hand on his chest. He stopped immediately and leaned back with a questioning look.

"I'm not ready to do this yet...and not tonight."

He seemed to understand because he smiled and kissed me deeply again. Before pulling away he whispered into my ear.

"I can wait."

I smiled.