“Yes,” she said with a single nod as she reached for her own spoon.
“You don’t need to be nervous about what happens after dinner. We are going to enjoy each other.”
“I hope so.” She smiled meekly. “It’s ahhh… been a while, and well… my last and only lover was an android which I made.”
“Ahh, I see,” I said as I put the pieces together.
“Well, okay, his ummm… I didn’t really make his penis work, so it was just--” Her voice trailed off, and her cheeks blushed a bit. “Damn, maybe you should have had dinner with Kasta first?”
“Let’s just eat,” I laughed as I took another careful sip of the soup. “This is great. I really like it.”
“Thank you,” Paula said as she took another sip. Then she realized she had forgotten to get us glasses for the water, and she went to the cabinet to retrieve them.
“Ohhh, shit!” she cursed as soon as she brought back the glasses. “I have some wine chilling. White okay with you? I think it will go good with the meal.”
“Of course,” I answered, and she grinned as she pulled the bottle out of the fridge, grabbed two additional glasses, and then poured us both some. We toasted, took sips, and then I saw her eyes drift down to my lips before she blinked a few times and went back to sipping on her soup.
We made it about halfway through the soup when the oven beeped, and she spun around to open it. As soon as she did, my nose was caressed by the heavenly scents of bread, tomato, cheese, basil, and garlic.
“Wow, what did you make?” I asked.
“It’s called pizza,” she asked as she pulled the circular pan from the oven and set it on the stove. “Have you had it before?”
“Yeah,” I said, “but none of the ones I had smelled this good.”
“Let’s hope it tastes good,” she said as she went back to the fridge and pulled out two bowls of salad. “It needs a bit to cool. Let’s work on the salad next.
“Great,” I said as I dug into the greens. It was a simple spinach salad with cut pears, pine nuts, and pepper with a lemon tasting dressing. The bowls were small, so it only took us a few bites to eat everything, but then we chatted for a few minutes about her repair job on the hull before she moved back to the pizza.
“Did Aasne and Elana make you fancy dinners?” she asked as she slid me a plate with two giant slices of pizza on top. Thick slices of tomato and large leaves of basil were on top of a thick layer of white cheese. Dark red sauce dripped off the sides of each slice, causing my mouth to water intensely just as I opened my mouth to answer.
“They made me meals which I liked. I’m guessing you like pizza?”
“Oh yeah,” she laughed as she lifted one of her slices up and took a tiny bite from the tip. She closed her eyes for half a moment, sighed, and then opened them to watch me eat.
The flavor of the cheese and tomato hit my tastebuds first when I took a bite, then it was followed by the tangy basil and sharp garlic. They spiraled together in my mouth like dancers, and I had to close my eyes just like Paula when I swallowed.
“Damn,” I sighed. “Tastes even better than it smells. Great job.”
“Yes!” she laughed. “I’m so glad you liked it. The recipe called for two cloves of garlic, but I was thinking that it would be a bit better with twice as much, but then I realized that the mozzarella Madalena had bought was pretty tame in taste, so I added a bit of extra pepper to the sauce.” Paula set down her pizza slice so she could motion with her hands while she spoke, and I felt my chest warm and swell as I listened to her explain about her love of pizza.
“There was this place in District C we would go to, most of the time their pies were shit, but they had one old chef there, whose father was apparently from Chicago. He made pizza that was six centimeters high and filled with spicy sausage. It was amazing, but he only worked a few days out of the month. Kasta, Byron, and I had actually talked about buying his recipes and starting a restaurant in District B, but that was all going to happen after we--” she paused and then seemed to realize I was smiling at her. “Well… doesn’t matter now. What matters is that this pizza is really fucking good, and that I’m eating it with you.”
“Cheers,” I said as I raised my wine glass.
“I think we are supposed to say ‘skol,’” she laughed as we tapped our glasses together.
We talked, laughed, ate, and drank until the pizza was gone and the second bottle of wine was empty. We picked a red variety for this bottle, and the red blush on Paula’s cheeks became a permanent part of her features. She served vanilla ice cream for desert, and its rich taste almost made it taste like velvety milk mixed with spice.
“This actually took me eighty percent of the meal prep time,” Paula laughed as she gestured to the bowl with her spoon. “Ice cream is a pain in the ass to make.”
“It was worth it,” I said as I took the last sip of wine out of my glass.
“I’m glad,” she said as she stared at the bowl. “This was her favorite dessert. Sometimes, when my parents had extra money, they would take us to a creamery down the street. Sis would always get vanilla. I prefered chocolate, but now this helps me think of her.”
Yeah I was silent for a few moments as I figured out what to say, but since I couldn’t find the words, I just reached my hand across the table again and held onto her fingers. She smiled at me slightly and blinked away some tears that had formed at the corner of her eyes.
“I wish she could have met you.”
“Me too,” I said.
“I love Kasta, but instead of filling the hole, I just loved another and still missed my sister.”
“Hanekawa was in the hospital a bunch, I thought I would lose her. I don’t know exactly what you are going through, but the experience of losing, or almost losing someone we love is terrible.”
“It’s fine,” she said as she wiped her eyes with the hand that I wasn’t holding. “Just every once in a while I feel the pain. I try to keep it from Kasta since I don’t want her to feel like she’s not good enough to be my sister. When I made her, we became triplets.”
“Makes sense,” I said.
“But I do feel amazing now,” she said as she smiled and sniffed. “You, Eve, Zea, Madalena, Sivaha, Aasne, and Elana have helped my heart to heal more. I feel as if I have six more sisters now, and I can feel their love.”
“You can?” I asked.
“Well, not quite yet,” she laughed. “Madalena told me that I will. Probably in a few weeks. I’m looking forward to feeling you in here.” Paula tapped her chest over her heart. “And through you, feeling them. Kasta and I won’t be alone anymore. I love the idea.”
We stared into each other’s eyes for a few moments, and then she bit her lower lip and looked down at our empty ice cream bowls.
“I guess I should clean this up,” she whispered.
“This meal was great, Paula. You shared your favorite with me and opened your heart even more to me. I’m happy that we are bonded, and I will work to ensure that you are happy for the rest of your life. I don’t want you to feel like you are alone anymore.”
“I don’t,” she said. “Not with you. I know our… uhhh… relationship took a bit longer to develop; I know I’m kind of shy, and I wished I would have made moves on you sooner. I guess I just didn’t want to step on Zea since she seemed--”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said as I stood and walked around the counter.
Paula’s eyes went wide when I stepped near to her, and she set the bowls down in the sink as she turned to face me. My hands wrapped around the back of her neck, and she pushed her body eagerly against mine. Our lips touched hesitantly at first, but then she matched my passion when I slid my tongue into her vanilla tasting mouth.
“Let’s go up to the room,” I whispered after I had left her gasping for breath.