Saturday. I love Saturdays. You got to wake up late and enjoy a long shower. After that you lay on the couch, scratching your balls while watching Star Trek reruns or playing fighting video games. No job to attend to, and I since have the habit of going on all necessary errands for the week-end on Wednesday afternoon, I have nothing else to do than to shout to the world, "Fuck Off!"
What I also love about Saturdays is that you can take time to prepare a meal fit for a king. Don't misunderstand me, I also cook on weekdays, but since I am tired from work, I keep it simple. But on Saturday, I like to make myself a hell of a lunch. My roommates are usually gone for the weekend, so I'm free to fill the apartment in any scent I want.
I remember one Saturday in particular. It was for me an "Asian" day. I was planning Vietnamese nems and Japanese sushis for starters, followed by Pekingese lacquered duck. The dessert was Tatin pie. I know it's not Asian but I'm a sucker for apple and cinnamon.
I was wrapping a sheet of rice paste around an elegant arrangement of shrimp, finely cut vegetables and coriander when I realized I hadn't enough rice vinegar for preparing the sushi rice. Lucky me, there is a small Japanese grocery a few blocks away from my place. I checked the pie and the oven temperature: plenty of time to go. I took my keys, put on an old Motorhead T-shirt and rolled myself a cigarette before going down the stairs. Once at the entrance hall, I saw that some furniture was stocked there and that the front door was open. 'Well,' I said to myself, 'someone must be moving in that flat below mine.'
I stepped outside, lit my cigarette and noticed a van parked nearby. Its rear doors seemed open and someone was unloading stuff, but I didn't paid much attention as my destination was on the opposite direction. Once at the grocery, I quickly bought a bottle of rice vinegar, and stopped at an all-night booze shop to get a fresh beer before returning home.
I was walking up the stairs, sipping my beer when I heard some noise coming from above. Two flights of stairs later I was greeted with the sight of a nice female backside. Well nice was an understatement. Perfect was the term. Enclosed in tight black pants, her buttocks were perfectly round, small yet leading to curvy and feminine hips, no signs of panty line spoiling the heavenly sight. Following below was a splendid set of thighs, well defined and just full enough to be sexy without looking to fat nor too thin. Her pants were cut knee high, so I could see the smooth calves beneath them, well toned yet not too much muscular. Her skin was rosy. and look as soft as a baby's. Stepping out of my reverie, I looked up. The girl who possessed this impressing body was wearing a white T-shirt and had short, raven black hair. She was petite, about five feet four, and her figure was to die for. Her waist was slim, with just enough curves to make it look soft as a baby.
She was trying to push a chest of drawers up the stairs, and was definitively having problems with it.
"Need some help?" I said when my brain processed the situation.
"I could use a hand," she replied, out of breath.
She rotated her body while letting a hand on the piece of furniture, and I wish I could tell you I saw her face at the moment, but my eyes caught on with her perfect breasts before that. They looked gorgeous on her, just a little bigger for her figure than I expected, but that was a good thing. They were full and stood proud on her chest, and her T-shirt hung close to her body due to perspiration, giving me an outline of a bra I visualized white and lacy.
Then I saw her face, round and plump as a baby, with gorgeous big blue eyes emphasized with soft blue eye shadow. She wore a light touch of lip gloss, and she had the most wonderful genuine yet mysterious smile I'd ever seen. I quickly put down my beer and my bottle of vinegar and rushed to hold the chest of drawers, but I was unable to push it forward as its base was caught in a step.
"Hold it there, I'm gonna lift it from the other side," I told her as I climbed the stairs past the piece of furniture. I quickly grabbed its base, then lifted and pulled at it at the same time, thanking the work out I've been doing recently after my graduation. With a few more efforts, we finally had the chest in front of her door.
"Thank you. I was going to let it slide down the stairs if you hadn't arrived." She was red from the effort, and took deep breaths while wiping her forehead.
"You're welcome," I said, panting a little bit but trying not to show it. Then I realized my Tatin pie was going to burn like hell if I didn't shut the oven off.
"Shit!" I ran up the stairs and arrived at my apartment. Hopefully, the pie hadn't burnt, so I opened the oven door, inhaling the cinnamon and apple aromas flowing from it. At this moment I realized I had left a damsel in distress two flights of stairs below and made an ass of myself, so I rushed back there. Hopefully, the girl was still there.
"Sorry I ran like that, but I had a pie in the oven," I said, mentally kicking myself for saying something that stupid.
She raised an eyebrow after I made a complete fool of myself. For a second, I wanted to shrink down to nothingness or be engulfed into a black hole, but then the cutest smile enlightened her face. She chuckled then said, winking, "For a moment I thought I scared the hell out of you."
"Not at all," I answered, relieved.
A strong apple scent started to fill the air since I had left my door and the oven open.
"Smells good," she said.
"Sure does," I replied, casually walking down the stairs and taking my beer and vinegar. "I was fixing myself some lunch when I had to run an errand," I added, before taking a sip of my beer.
"A cooking man ... What a rare sight."
"Well, I always loved cooking, and now that I work and can afford healthy stuff, I don't really deprive myself. Junk food is fine during college, but now I have time to cook. Especially on Saturdays."
"Why 'especially on Saturdays'?"
"Let's just say that this is my 'über cooking' day. I take the time to make myself a killer meal"
She laughed, "You're so lucky. I'm an awful cook; all I'm able to prepare is microwaved meals and overcooked pastas."
"It's not that hard once you get to it," I said, smiling. "Do you have other heavy stuff to lift?"
"No, that was the big bastard. The rest I can take care of." She paused. "That really smells good. What is it, apple pie?"
"Nope. Tatin pie. It's a French recipe. Basically, you cook apples with a lot of cinnamon for about an hour, then pour the paste in a big dish, then cover it with pastry. It's a sort of inverted pie."
"Sounds really good," she said, looking hungry.
I wasn't going to pass the opportunity. "If you want, you can come to my apartment once you're finished. I never eat it entirely in one time anyways."
"I can't say 'no' to that, can't I?" she answered me.
"See you later then."
"Later."
'Wow,' I said to myself, 'that's some girl.'
I returned to my cooking and put on some music. Liv Kristine's sweet voice came out of the speakers as I finished the nems and prepared the seasoning for the sushi rice. After about an hour, the sushis and nems were done and the duck and its sauce were slowly cooking. I opened a bottle of Bourgogne Aligoté from the fridge and laid the food and drink on the large TV table. I loaded videos from the last Korean Soul Calibur tournament from my PC to the TV and watched video game characters beating each other up with blunt and sharp weapons, enjoying the tactics used and figuring the input controls in my head.
I was taking a red tuna sushi with my chopsticks when I heard a knock on my door. 'Already?' I thought. I open the door and saw her tiny frame and smiling face. 'You fucking dork!' I thought. I didn't even know her name, neither had I told her mine.
"Hi, uuhh," I mumbled. I could have beaten myself with a stick at the moment. "Sorry I don't even know your name. I'm Will." I extended my hand.
"And I'm Ariel," she said, shaking my hand.
"Come in. I'm afraid the pie hasn't cooled off enough yet but if you're hungry I've got some stuff ready."
She followed me to the living room and I remembered the Soul Calibur videos were still playing. What a nerd...
"I ..."
