The morning after. She hates morning afters, the awkwardness. And they had just gotten rid of their awkwardness. But nothing happened, right? She wasn't entirely sure. But what she was sure of was that Joel had a feast in his kitchen when she stepped out dressed. Which wasn't only to her surprise but Sarah's as well. In Rory's mind, she had pictures of Joel to burn everything or use sour milk in his cereal. Overall, in her head, he was not the chef he appeared to be this morning.
She was just planning to thank him again and then go back home. She didn't trust herself around him right now. She didn't know if she would melt into the floor in front of him or pounce on him. This all you can eat breakfast that was staring at her was telling her she couldn't go. Something in her was telling her this was for her. A gift? An apology? She wasn't sure. But if one thing, she knew , Joel Miller knew she was a sucker for a good food spread.
"Mornin. Sleep, alright?" He asks as he pours himself a coffee. Her eyes are trained on his hands, those veins as he grips the cup. She nods.
"Yeah, slept great, thanks." Lies. She spent the night with nothing but thoughts of him running through her head. She couldn't sleep. If her mind were to be personified, she'd describe it as an erotic hamster. She didn't even know what an erotic hamster would look like, but something about that combination of words summed up her mind last night.
"Help yourself. There's plenty to go around." He gestures to the sausages, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and multiple slices of toast.
"Yeah, thanks." She settles down onto a chair, grabbing a plate and putting some food on the plate. Sarah shortly appears downstairs. Her hair slightly tangled as she scratched her head a confused look on her face.
"We should have more guests over if you actually feed us." She jokes as she immediately digs into the bacon.
"Don't be acting like I don't feed ya." Joel scowls.
"Sure does feel like it sometimes." She laughs at her own little joke.
Rory is completely amused by the back and fourth going on between the father and daughter. Something very comforting about it all. She doesn't feel excluded. She doesn't feel like she's intruding. It feels like a second home. The three of them enjoy breakfast together. The back and fourth are still going on, and Rory joins in with the teasing. Relaying the information of the sad refrigerator she had found in this very kitchen. To which Joel is very defensive and quick to say he hadn't had a chance to go to the store until after July Fourth. It felt natural. Whatever this was, whatever was happening, felt right.
Over the next few days, she had been trying to figure out what that night meant. What was he trying to do? Was it just the drinks? Was it just an in the moment thing? She wasn't entirely sure if he was just doing this all to mess with her. Either way, she was infatuated with him. She wanted to play his own game back. See if he she can get in his head. Something seemed really fun about that. She was spending her free time figuring out his schedule. His routines, just so she can slowly weave her way into his head, his daily thoughts, if she wasn't in there already.
She knew he woke up around 7:30 a.m. when he'd be working because he'd be on his porch with a coffee staring out at the neighbourhood by 7:40 a.m. She also knew he'd leave the house by 8:15 a.m. for work. She hadn't figured out the timings when he'd be working away, but that was a good sign if he was staying home. It meant more time for her to get in his head. He'd sometimes return around 12:45 p.m. for his lunch, sometimes he'll eat at home with Sarah, or he'll pick her up, and they'll go out for food. And if they go out for food, she then knows that he doesn't return until he gets home from work anywhere between 6:20 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. On Tuesdays, he goes out for drinks with her dad, and they're both back by 9 p.m. at the latest, because they're old men who have a bedtime of 10 p.m.
That is all she had from the five short days she had been observing him. She doesn't know his weekend routine, other than the fact he doesn't work unless he really has to. Rory wishes she also didn't have to work today because then she could be learning his Saturday routine. But she's just thinking about the money, thinking about how she can pretend to restock the magazines when she can actually just read through them to pass the time. After an hour of mental preparation, she gets ready for work.
She steps outside her house once she is ready and goes to begin her journey to work. She doesn't even get off of her driveway before she sees him. Her day has been blessed. She can now continue happily. He has just walked out of his house heading to his car, keys swinging on his fingers. He sees her about to walk along the sidewalk. He gives her a nod to say 'hello'.
"Hi." She smiles back awkwardly and slowly walks along.
"You working today?"
"Yeah." She stops to talk to him. She'd talk to him for hours even if it meant being late for work.
"Walking?" He asked. Now he even knew she pretty much always walked there unless it was torrential weather. So, was he too just wanting to converse with her? She nodded a reply. To which he nods back, scratching the back of his neck. And now it's awkward. "Want a ride?" He sounds like a teenage boy asking his crush if she wants to share a soda with him. Wait. Was he.. no, no. No, Joel Miller doesn't get nervous like this, surely.
Oh, but he was.
"I can walk." She doesn't want to be a burden. But she would very much love to be in his truck with him even for ten minutes.
"Let me give you a ride." The nervousness was gone, something more demanding. He had unlocked his truck, opening his passenger door for her. He wasn't going to take no for an answer, and she was loving it.
"You sure? Aren't you working today, too?" She had to play a little hard to get. She couldn't show him just yet she was totally head over heels, down on her knees, ready to do anything for him. She had never been desperate in her life, and she refused to show it.
"Yeah, but I can drop you off. It's on the way." He pats the door gesturing for her to get in. His face is a little squinty from the sun beaming down on it. She has no further arguments that she can think of in this moment. That stubbornness she was going to channel to push him was nowhere in sight. Her legs carried her straight to the truck, she mumbles a 'thanks' as she climbed in. She can see the little freckles on his face, the little wrinkles forming. The sunlight makes him look like something out of a chiaroscuro painting, more specifically Peter Paul Ruben's: The Fall of Phaeton. He closes the door behind her, and she swears she hears him mutter 'good girl' under his breath. And now she is angry at herself for submitting to Joel Miller. Honestly, her thoughts on this man are more bipolar than her father.
He gets in the drivers seat, starting the truck. He backs out the driveway, His arm rests on the back of her seat as he turns to look back. She is blatantly staring at his neck, his jaw line, the slight grunt he lets out as he turns his body to navigate the truck off his driveways. She's thankful that it's not a Sunday because the thoughts flowing through her brain are less than pure. Then again, she isn't religious, so what does that matter. If she were, she would wear a white dress, a little cross necklace, those socks with the ruffles. Her hair would be half braided out of her face, and a few whisps to frame it. She would wear a little denim jacket that in this moment, to be provocative, her dress just above her knees and she would play with her necklace as if she were to be actively reminding them both that she is a child of God. And the cherry on top. A virgin. Pure. Untouched. Just for him.
She now had the urge to go to church. Go to a confession and confess the sinful thoughts she was having about this older man to a priest. But then he would be the priest. He would step out of the confession box - no. It would be a curtain. And he wouldn't open it just yet. He'd talk her through some things, like foreplay, he would touch her under the curtain. And when she would see his face, see it was him. She'd be tempted to be baptised in her white dress in the water with him. Although they wouldn't need much water, her panties would be soaked through. He'd guide her to a back pew, telling her how good she was and how proud God was of her. Then he'd fold, he'd start telling her that he can't corrupt her, that she is the apple of temptation, her dress the snake, begging him just to eat her. And then he would. He'd eat her out in the back of his church.
Like I said, she wasn't religious. She had no idea how many branches of Christianity she had bounced around during that fantasy. All she knew was that it was her new favourite fantasy. Her fantasy she'll think about every night. She'll get off to it, her and Joel as a priest. And she'll finish within minutes if not seconds.
"When do you finish?"
She jumped at his voice. Her cheeks slightly flushed. For a good second, she did think that she had just relayed that out loud to him. But she quickly understood what he was after.
"Around five." She did guess she would only need five minutes alone with him to both be driven over the edge just from the tension between them.
Joel nods. "You got my number? I can pick you up when you're done. I should be done around the same time." He says, casually cruising along, "It'll save you having to walk back to." He glances at her. The sun on her face, he likes the way her eyes are lit by the sun. The way her nose scrunches from the light. Her profile is damn gorgeous. He'd kiss her, along her jawline, down her neck. The skin is so soft looking, so biteable. And those lips he so goddamn badly needed to kiss. He almost had. He should've taken control and just done it that night rather than letting her pull away after a slight tease of a graze.
"Yeah, I should do." She had babysat Sarah multiple times. She knew for a fact she had his number. Plus, it was already on her phone from when her dad had it.
"Do I have yours?" He asks. Like she'd know, she has never had to call or message him before, so she doubts it. She shrugs. He pulls into the parking lot of the store. He parks and then grabs his phone. He held the phone out. "That yours?"
It was her number. Who and when had he gotten her number. her number was saved under the contact Rora. The nickname he only has ever called her. The nickname that recently when she hears him call her it, butterflies erupt in her stomach.
"Yeah, that's me."
He pulls back his phone with a nod and a little hint of a smirk. He is smirking at his phone. He felt a little giddy, and he had no idea why. It was just her number. The number he would dial, and then she would answer, and he'd hear her voice. The number that leads exactly to her phone. To her.
"Thank you for giving me a ride." She smiles as she hops out the truck.
"No problem, 'Rora." He watches her get out. "Pick you up later." For some reason, it sounded a little suggestive. They both liked it. Innocent, of course, but at the same time, the little euphemism it could be mistaken for threw another log on the fire.
Aurora spent her shift in thought. Fantasies. All of her and Joel the Priest. Or him coming back into the store, leading her to the stock room and taking her over the crates. When she thought that she would be in for a long shift, she clearly thought wrong. She had managed to distract herself the whole shift, and before she new it, it was 5pm. She had gathered her things and headed out of the store. Waiting on the curb, phone in hand. Not sure if she should call him, or if he would call her.
5:13 p.m. no sign of Joel. No message or calls. She doesn't want to be a bother if he is busy with work. Sighing she begins to walk along the street on home. She doesn't get far before her phone starts to ring. The caller ID is Joel Miller.
"Hello" She answers, pausing her steps, she had only crossed the street.
"Hey, sorry I'm running a little over. I'll be there in 10." His voice sounds deeper and more husky over the phone. Very sexy, something like what she would imagine his morning voice to be.
"Yeah, that's fine. Just got off now anyways." She lies. It again comes easily. Almost as if she is trying to, not show off, more impress him with her nonchalant attitude. In her mind he likes a chase, someone who isn't easy. Because, after all, Joel Miller isn't exactly giving everyone the time of day.
"Great, see you in 10." He hangs up.
She immediately goes back to the store and sits on the corner waiting for his truck to pull up. After a while of waiting, he finally appears pulling into the parking lot. She hops in. A small greet between them. The radio on low. She wants to create small talk with him, but she doesn't really know what to say.
"Good day at work?" Great now she sounds like a mom. He just huffs and nods in response. Great, now he's back to non-verbal. She had to think a question that would strike a conversation. Something that required more than 'yes' or 'no' something he wouldn't be able to just grumble a mediocre response to. She racks her brain for anything. His garden shed comes to mind. "What do you do in your shed at night?" She blurts out tilting her head to the side to look at him.
He is clearly taken aback. He clears his throat. "Thought you didn't spy on me?" he's deflecting.
"I'm not. I'm just curious why you go in there at night." She shrugs her eyes going back on the scenery outside.
"Just alone time." He says resting an elbow on his door, his hand resting against his mouth.
"Alone time that you can't just have in your room?" She quirks a brow looking at him.
"Don't want to disturb Sarah."
She chuckles. Now that definitely did not mean to come out as dirty as it did. "That loud huh?"
He shoots her a glare as she continues to laugh. "I go in there to play guitar." He says a little defeated.
Her laughter dies down. It's sweet. Something about the thought of him playing warmed her heart. He seems like the type to play old country music, or renditions of old songs. "You play?" He nods in response. "Marcus plays guitar." She has no idea why that even came out of her mouth. The last thing she wants is to scare him away before she even has him with a guy who she already has a complicated looking relationship from the outside where people question if they are together or not.
He just nods, and she swears his jaw tenses, his grip on the wheel tightens slightly. "Does he now? He serenade you with it?" He teases.
Her face screws up in disgust. "No, God no." The thought of Marcus serenading her when she was younger would have made her all weak and the though of Joel serenading her would have disgusted her. But now the thought of Joel serenading her makes her weak and the thought of Marcus disgusts her.
He chuckles, "No? Shame, you two look like a great couple."
"We are not a couple." She glares at him.
"Does he know that?" She just scoffs at that. "You know, if you wanted a kiss on your birthday, I'm sure he would have given you one." He quips.
"Excuse you, but I was the one that pulled away." She says offended leaning forward in her seat slightly turning her full body to him.
"So you didn't want a kiss?" He has that smirk again. The smirk of 'I've got you in a corner and I am loving every second of this'.
She is beyond flustered. Of course she wanted a kiss that night. Hell she wants one now. She face the front again sitting back in her seat in time for seeing their houses ahead. She knows her cheeks are exactly as they were when he saw her in just a bra. She tries thinking of anything else to calm herself down as he pulls into his drive way. As he parks, switching the engine off. He unbuckles his seatbelt, turning to her. "You know I'm only teasin'?" His southern drawl is very present, he is very amused with how flustered he had just made her. The blush something that brings excitement to him.
"Yeah." She says, slightly rolling her eyes as she removes her belt. Thought they both do not make any effort in leaving the truck. "I did want the kiss." She whispers, regretting it almost instantly. Why has her filter completely left the solar system today?
"Yeah?" He challenges, his voice low, seductive. His eyes trail her body. He is leaning over slightly. And that smirk. God he is hot.
She wants to bite her lip, nod and look at him with the desperate puppy eyes. But something about having him chase her a little excites her more. So she sits up grabbing her stuff shrugging, "Yeah, too bad it didn't happen. Maybe next time. Thanks for the ride, Joel." She leaves his truck, she walks in front of it giving him a little wave as she passes. Before disappearing inside her house.
He sinks back into his seat, running his hands down his face with a groan. How is he letting himself be riled up by her? A friend's daughter. Legally it's fine. Morally... it's wrong. Then again Joel has never been known for his good morals at any point in life.