Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Well, whatever. I’m glad you’re having fun. I think you deserve it after your shitty start to your first year. Things seem to be looking up for you now.” Jez smiled at him.
“Yeah.” Dev grinned back. He was still embarrassed at Dani having heard him and Ewan through the wall, but his housemates’ easy acceptance of his and Ewan’s relationship—for want of a better word—eased something in his chest. “Yeah, things are definitely looking up.”
“You wanna sit down?” Dani tucked her legs up, making space for him.
“Yes, okay.” Dev sat and accepted the beer Mac offered him. Even though he didn’t like beer much, it was another gesture of friendship and Dev didn’t want to turn it down.
As they watched, drank, laughed, and chatted over the TV, Dev got out his phone and pulled up his list of things to do this term. He’d already checked off Research sex stuff, Join Grindr, and Get some experience. Then he checked off Make some friends too.
On Saturday, Dev woke late. He’d stayed up past midnight watching TV and chatting to Mac, Jez, and Dani. They were all really nice, he’d decided. He’d been so lucky to end up living here. In the end Dev had drunk three of Mac’s beers—they’d tasted better the more he drank—and felt quite tipsy because he didn’t normally drink alcohol. When he’d finally gone to bed, he’d slept like a log and was little fuzzy-headed this morning.
Dev reached for his phone and pulled up his reminders. His list looked happily empty, but he had a nagging feeling there was something he was supposed to do. He cast his mind back over the day before, allowing it to linger indulgently on the time he’d spent with Ewan. His morning wood throbbed in response as he recalled their study session yesterday.
Then he remembered. He was seeing Ewan again tomorrow and Ewan was going to teach him how to cook. Unusually, he hadn’t added it to his phone at the time Ewan arranged it.
Research recipes, he added to his reminders, plus Text Ewan.
Dev started his culinary research after breakfast. He looked up the website his mum had sent him a link to. It had a huge database of recipes, but there was a handy search feature that allowed him to narrow it down by things like how easy the recipe was or how quick it was to prepare. Stir-fries featured a lot in the quick-and-easy section, and Dev remembered how nice the thing that Mac had made in the wok looked and smelled. So that seemed a good place to start.
He texted Ewan. Good morning. I was looking at recipes online and thought maybe we could start with a stir-fry?
Ewan replied a few minutes later. Good idea. Any particular recipe u fancy trying?
Dev scrolled through the suggestions on his laptop screen again. There were too many to choose from. I’m happy for you to choose. You’ll know what looks easy.
Is there anything u don’t eat or are allergic to?
No, Dev replied. His dad was a Muslim—albeit a rather lapsed one—and didn’t eat pork, but Dev’s mum was agnostic and they hadn’t encouraged Dev into religion as a child. Dev had no religious beliefs and was happy to eat anything so long as it tasted good.
Okay. I’ll pick something and buy the ingredients today.
What time shall I come around tomorrow?
Depends what time you wanna eat. It won’t take long to cook, so sixish?
Okay. I’ll see you then. Dev was impatient. He wished he was going round there today.
Have a good day, Ewan replied.
You too.
Dev put his phone aside. Over twenty-four hours till he got to see Ewan again, and they were only cooking together tomorrow. Well, he assumed that was all they’d be doing. They hadn’t made any arrangement to do anything else, and Friday was their maths-and-sex night. Spending time with Ewan doing something non-sexual sounded good too, and he looked forward to it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
When he knocked on Ewan’s door on Sunday evening, Dev was nervous. He wasn’t sure what to expect from the evening, and that put him out of his comfort zone. With their Friday session, Dev knew what was on the cards, maths tutoring followed by whatever Ewan was supposed to teach him. They’d always agreed it in advance.
But tonight felt different. Dev wasn’t sure where the boundaries were.
Ewan was his usual friendly self when he let Dev in. “Hi.” He gave Dev a kiss on the cheek—a friendly kiss, affectionate but nothing more. It still made butterflies explode in Dev’s stomach. “Come in. Are you ready to cook?”
“Yes.”
“I hope you’re hungry. It looks like the portions are going to be huge.” Ewan opened the door to the kitchen, and Dev followed him in.
The room was exactly the same layout as Dev’s kitchen next door. They had the same landlord, he guessed, and the houses must have been renovated together. Also like Dev’s kitchen, it was busy with other people preparing food. In a house of six people, it was rare to get the kitchen to yourself unless you cooked at unusual hours. Two other blokes were jostling for position at the cooker, one frying bacon, the other heating up something in a pan.