STAND 5

It’s almost 10 p.m. when I enter Maddi’s posh restaurant. Some customers are still eating; I cross the room and head straight to the kitchen. She’s checking the plates before they’re brought to the tables moving the food around with her long fingers like she’s conducting an orchestra.
“Hey Titti! We have a masterpiece cheese cake tonight!” her aid chef tells me. I smile and walk to Maddi.
“Hello stranger”
“Hello stranger”
“I came by earlier, Gerry answered the door… are you ok? I tried to call you but you’re mobile was off”
“I was busy…” and I wink at her
“You did not!” and grins “what about the three dates rule?”
“I recycled the book. I feel like my heart is going to explode.” And I spin around “What about you?”
She turns around to taste the sauce “a complete, utter disaster”
I almost jump over the counter to hug her “I’m so sorry! But you seemed to get along so well. What happened?”
She looks at me and rolls her eyes “he can’t cook”
?
“We woke up this morning and wanted to make breakfast”
I not so gently punch her shoulder “this morning? So you…”
“Yep, yep, yep”
I have troubles retaining from laughing “yep, yep, yep? Not bad for such a miniature man”
“I hope you’ve had dinner already, because this kitchen is closed”
“Details”
“No way”
“I you tell me yours I’ll tell you mine”
She raises her eyebrow “Jason was sweet and caring and it was obviously fantastic”
“How do you know?”
“That’s what he is, isn’t he? And you have been waiting for him for so long. But let me tell you my Italian friend, if he knows about Gerry, and Gerry is still alive he’s just not my cup of tea. I need passion, I need obsession, I need BING BANG BUM”
“What are you, a cartoon character? Jason is passionate, he doesn’t want to share me” I smile satisfied
“You’re married and that’s all he can come up with? P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C, but if you’re happy…” and smirks
I place my elbow on the counter and rest my face on my hand “Where’s Mark? Is he already tired of you and went looking for a younger groupie?”
“Your sarcasm cannot touch me. He was here a second ago. He said he needs a job until they start rehearsing for the tour. He made me pancakes this morning. At least I think that’s what they were meant to be.” Closes her eyes and shakes her head disgusted “it was like eating mud. He’s almost as bad as you are. Even though no other human being can quite match your achievements in the art of cooking. Anyway, it’s not like I can throw him in the street so I found him something to do”
“Titti!” and Marks appears from behind a large fridge “have you come to rescue me? I have a reputation to protect. What would my fans say if they saw me like this?” He is wearing a green apron and holds a knife in one hand and a large potato in the other.
I look at him “I wouldn’t worry if I were you. I meet the two of them outside and they said they don’t really care”
I duck to avoid a very menacing flying potato “I’m telling Jason!”
“I’ll tell him first”
“Kids, maybe you haven’t noticed but we’re working here”
“She started it!”
“I don’t care, shake hands, now”
We do it, “can I have my cheese cake now? I’m starving”
“I talked to Lara this afternoon”
I wrinkle my nose “already in the TT ladies circle, aren’t we?”
She ignores me “we decided to have dinner together next Friday. She’s offering her large kitchen and I’ll do the cooking”
“Sounds like fun. Since you have everything worked it out I’ll just show up fashionably late with my very tall man and stay away from the kitchen”
“No way. I came up with a very basic recipe even you can do. You’re cooking”


I’m struggling to keep his pace “Jason! Are you sure we need to do this together? There are too many people around and I have never done it before…maybe we should wait, or talk about it”
“Shut up and follow me, you are so lucky I came into your life”
“I thought so too, before now”
“It’s not so difficult. You just need to focus and trust me”
I look around me. I should be home, we should be home and my mind wonders to what we should be doing instead of this. “I’m bored” I say
“You are never bored when we’re together” he has an amused tone while I am definitely cranky
“Again, why do I have to be here?”
“Because we’re working on your diet and food shopping skills”
“What do you mean? We live in London, I get hungry, I enter a shop and buy something. It doesn’t get any simpler than this”
“Sure and you buy pre-made sandwiches or snacks. As I said, we need to work on your diet”
“Since when?”
“Since now” he steps behind me, rests his chin on my shoulder and picks a box of cereals “see? We’re going to eat healthy food, organic only. Preservatives free, coloring agents free, fat free…”
“Flavor free…” I sigh
He laughs into my ears “I care about you, and I want you to be healthy”
“I am”
“Right. So where was I? No artificial sugars, no caffeine”
“I want Maddi” I pout
“Sorry babe, you’re all alone with me and you can scream all you want no-one can come to your rescue” he says in a husky voice
“Ice creams?”
“We cannot overdue diary products, but soy milk is almost as good”
I take a step away but he laughs and grabs my arm. I look at him pretending to be serious “if you were a psychopath you would tell me right? I’m scared”
He raises his eyebrow “good, fear is good” and kisses my cheek
“You are the Jason from Friday the 13th movies aren’t you?”
“I might be”
“I’m so glad I’m married and I have a very much junk food eater husband to go back to”
“That’s not funny. I know I cannot ask you to become a vegetarian, but you need to cut on the shit you eat. Have you read Fast Food Nation?”
I nod
“So?”
“Entertaining non-fiction, 2001, I think. It got me scared for almost 8 minutes, and then Gerry took me out for a happy meal”
“He’s the cheapest killer in the history of crime”
“That’s how he conquered me. He was doing research work at the British Library, we met a couple of days at the cafeteria and agreed the only edible things there were and still are green peas and potatoes, the source of true evil as you probably know. The next day he sneaked in some KFC and I felt in love with him”
“You should be studied” places the cereals in the shopping cart and pushes it along the aisle
I slide my hand into his coat pocket “you mad?”
“I don’t understand why you had to marry him. Marriage is a serious commitment. Did you love him?”
“Jason look at me” and I stand in front of him “it seemed the right thing to do and we went for it. We were young and we hoped it could work out. It didn’t, we’re still friend. End of the story. We are the living proof marriage is not forever. Both our parents are divorced, but life goes on”
He kisses my head “maybe you’re right, I should stop worrying so much. And besides, we’re very much off topic” he smiles at me “let me introduce you to the magic world of vegan foods”
“I’m too young for that” I laugh
He takes a package from the shelf “An all time favorite! Tofurkey!”
“Sounds like Japanese war cry. And looks like a pustule, what the heck is that?”
He smiles at me and tries to act like a professor lecturing a slow student “it’s faux turkey. But contains lots of vegetarian protein, this one is made of tofu. It is a healthy alternative to real meat”
“Tell you what Nutty Professor, if you promise to walk straight to the cashier and be out of here in less than 10 minutes I promise I’ll do anything you want”
He looks at me for a split second and grabs my arm “move those short legs missy. We’re on a mission!” and pushes the cart to the closest cashier

I roll on my back and stretch my arm towards Jason’s pillow to find it empty. I check the time, it’s only 3 a.m. I get up and wear one of his t-shirts. I tiptoe to the kitchen when I see him cleaning the counter. He’s wearing a pair of Calvin Klein boxers. His tongue sticks out as it always does when he’s concentrating on a specific task. The room smells of organic soap.
I lean with my right shoulder against the door and cross my arms “what are you doing? You should be in bed”
He raises his head and smiles “insomnia. After so many years I decided to use the time in a productive way”
I smirk “you are the sexiest cleaning elf ever”
He bows. “Look” and he opens the cupboard “I placed all the different cereals and rice in alphabetical order”
“You should have called me! I missed all the fun!” and I laugh
He walks to me and hugs me tight “oh no, you missed nothing. We have plenty of time for that”.
He starts kissing and biting my neck, slowly and gently, running his hand up and down my thigh.
“Jason, take off your rubber gloves they’re all wet”
He laughs “Ops!” and they fly across the room then he takes me into his arms and has me sitting on the counter. I look at him “sex in the kitchen… Mr. Orange you have one dirty mind”
“It’s all your fault. And I’ve just finished cleaning it!”
I yawn “I understand, I’ll go back to sleep then”
He pins me on the table “over my dead sexy body missy”