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Around four in the morning, Adina inhaled a deep stabling breath and opened her eyes as she blew it out through her mouth. She wanted to go back to sleep but her body seemed to still be in a state of shock from the nightmare. Exhaling a shuddering breath, she sat up in bed and swung her legs over the edge, hoping that something good was on television in order to distract her.
She picked up the remote with a trembling hand and clicked on the TV, and flicked through the channels all the way to the Food Network channel.
"Damned paid programming." Adina turned the television off and with a groan brought her knees up to her chest, resting her cheek there for a while. She needed something to do in order to keep her occupied. The chili cook-off was starting at one in the afternoon.
"That's it, I'm going to the store," she quirked sliding off the bed letting her pink comforter drag the floor.
She yanked a pair of sweatpants of the back of the swivel chair and some underwear from her drawer and put them on. Then she slipped on her socks, shoes, and a warm jacket and grabbed her keys from the hook on her wall.
Slowly she opened her door and quietly walked out into the dark hallway, past her roommate's closed door, past the kitchen until she finally got to the front door. She couldn't understand why her heart was slamming in her chest until she thought about it.
It had been a few years since she'd gone out alone by herself while it was still dark. She was usually in her dormitory by six o'clock in the evening, just before the light of sun completely disappeared, right when the street lights came on. The times when she was out late at night she was always with someone else.
And now after two and a half years of staying in after six, here Adina was, braving the wee early hours of the morning. By herself. Hands sweaty and heart pounding she unlocked the dead bolt and walked out into the foggy morning. A light frost had appeared on the hand railing on the balcony she noticed as she closed the door behind her.
For a moment she could only look down both sides of the building to make sure no one else was outside. She blew out white puffs of air before she finally got herself under control and began walking toward the stairs with stiff shoulders, down to her little white car.
Once in she made sure all her doors were locked, checked her mirrors and started up the engine so the car could warm up. It took a few minutes to warm up so she pulled out her phone and started making a grocery list.
A porch light turned off and Adina snapped her head up to see through the windshield. A shudder went down the middle of her back making her jump and out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something. Tossing the phone into the passenger's seat she put the car in drive, trying not to skid out of her parking space.
Taking a few deep breaths, she finally reassured herself, "There's no need to be scared. I have my spray and whistle."
She arrived at Food4Less in a matter of fifteen minutes having driven like a mad woman, the parking lot empty save for about four cars. After finding a good basket she headed inside the air conditioned grocery store towards the produce section.
Adina took her time wheeling the basket thinking of all the things she would need, humming to herself. Tomatoes, bell peppers, Tabasco peppers, onions, ground beef, sausage links, kidney beans, bacon, flour... she was going to make chili anyway, even if it didn't get entered into the competition.
She knew the store, walked down the aisles on many occasions, and had been confident each time.
IT WASN'T HIS first time doing it—it was a favor, sort of like a protection order. More like an order.
The girl was fine, just doing some shopping. But Emmett couldn't help but wonder why she was up so early, why she seemed hesitant to leave her apartments. He'd been ordered by his master to be careful not to be seen, because she'd recognize him as the deejay from the club. He was warned that she was perceptive that way.
Though monitoring the girl's every move didn't sit well with him, he didn't have much of a say in the matter. He would follow the orders given to him and his master would be pleased.
THE SUN WAS beginning to peak through, conjuring up beautiful hues of orange and yellow against the gray ugliness of the clouds in the sky when she exited to store. She returned home about thirty-five minutes later with a back seat filled with grocery bags. Naturally, Adina couldn't just buy the ingredients for the chili. She ended up purchasing other items such as Greek yogurt, jasmine rice, a large box of FiberOne bars, and other things that could have waited. She regretted it now, because there was no one there to help her carry all the groceries upstairs. And she wondered if there was even any space to put all of those things.
It took three trips before Adina finally sat on one of the barstools relieved. Her body was still sore from the workout.
In her ever active mind, she went over how long it would take to do the prep work for the chili, how long it would take to cook, and how many hours of sleep she could catch before one o'clock. Without further contemplation she raised her fatigued body from the seat and waltzed into the kitchen, keeping in mind that Stephanie was asleep, and began quietly removing the produce from its plastic confinements.
Whenever she couldn't sleep, she found solace in watching the Food Network or Lifetime movies until she was able to doze off peacefully. But it was times like these where she sought comfort in cooking. In the kitchen Adina could shut out the outside world, could shut out the nightmares. There, with the immense counter space, she was able to test her speed with slicing, chopping, and mincing, surround herself with the natural aromas of fruits and vegetables, and create a kind of magic with her hands.
She reached for an onion, the outer skin purple and flaky, and cut the ends of with effortless movements. A smile played at her lips as she sliced horizontally and vertically with measured strokes, and then grinned as she positioned the flat backs of her fingers behind the large blade, forgot about the soreness of her feet, and let the knife wreak havoc on the onion.
Yes, this was her element.
By the time, close to eight in the morning she closed the lid of the pot after tasting the concoction for the third time, Adina dragged on slowly to her room setting an alarm for eleven. She pulled her sweatpants off and plopped onto her bed drifting to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Adina was roused by gentle shaking. She clamped her eyelids shut against the slight burn that immediately began after trying to open them. How long had she been sleeping; because, it didn't feel like enough time at all.
"Dina, you awake yet?"
Adina peeked open an eye to find Stephanie standing above her in her room.
The thoughtful fashionista had strolled into Adina's room with a mug of coffee and a protein shake clasped in her slender hands while she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
She took a deep breath catching a whiff of the garlic scent on her fingertips. "Yeah, thanks." She pushed herself up with her palms and looked around disheveled. "What time is it?"
"It's eleven thirty."
Adina breathed heavily out through her nose. "Oh crap. I slept right through my alarm."
"Yes. I made this coffee for you. I figured that you would need it after being up all morning," Stephanie smiled gently as she waited for Adina to sit up. Adina being up in the kitchen so early was a regular occurrence for Stephanie. There were times when Stephanie would come and watch her friend do her thing and the two of them would entertain themselves by acting like they were on a cooking show.
"Thank you, doll. I didn't disturb your sleep did I?" She reached out for the steaming mug and took a sip.
"No, actually, I was out like a light. But I know that you don't sleep this long unless you couldn't sleep at all. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good." She brought the steaming cup back to her lips and took a long gulp of it. It tasted good. Stephanie always made the best coffee, using a teaspoon of nutmeg with grounded coffee beans. And she creamed it just right with French vanilla coffee creamer. No sugar. She was dressed already and looked freshly showered.
Stephanie was a transfer student from Michigan with pale skin, blue eyes, and red hair.
"I have to get in the shower."
"Okay," Stephanie said. She placed the protein shake on the windowsill above the bed. "I'll let you get to it then."
Adina smiled as she watched Stephanie depart. After downing the rest of the coffee she climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
After a refreshing shower, Adina dried herself with her favorite plushy blue towel and slipped on her under garments, having a feeling that was usually accurate that Stephanie would be back in her room, probably on her bed. She wrapped herself in the towel and walked into the bedroom, and there Stephanie was waiting on her bed reading a Herbalife magazine that had been sitting on the desk.
"You don't need to be on Herbalife," she said heading straight to her closet for something to wear. There were folded t-shirts on the above shelf inside her ridiculously small closet. Maybe it wasn't ridiculous, maybe she just had too many clothes, but she had to be careful not to knock anything over. She reached above her head for a random shirt, letting the towel pool around her feet.
Stephanie smirked. "Neither do you, and by the way, the chili tastes awesome."
"Really? I haven't tasted it yet."
Stephanie looked up with a shocked expression on her face. "Serious?"
Adina put a hand on her hip, poking it and her lips out and lifted an eyebrow. "Of course not."
"I'm goin' to go get some more," Stephanie whispered hopping off the bed in a flash.
Before she could reach the outside of the bedroom, Adina almost yelled, "Don't you dare!" It came out more like a scarily low death threat.
Stephanie took a step backwards, crossing her arms across her chest petulantly. "I should eat it all; just for making me really think you hadn't tasted it. If you don't taste your own cooking then that tells me you won't miss it if it's gone."
Adina pulled the shirt over her head. "Firstly, I'm not worried because I know for a fact that you cannot finish an entire pot of chili—that size— in under an hour; and secondly, on the contrary, I'd be pissed. I don't even know why you'd say 'I'm goin' get some more' out loud."
"Dina, you're not going to wear that are you?"
Adina looked over her shoulder at her roommate whose nose was upturned.
She rolled her eyes, "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Stephanie pushed her small form off the door frame pushing her bangs from her eyes. "That silly shirt is what's wrong. I thought you were going on a date. You don't wear that type of thing on a date."
"It's not a date. It is a chili cook-off, hence why I was making chili. I don't want one of my good shirts ruined," she replied staring at the oversized t-shirt she was wearing printed with a panda on the front in the mirror. Stephanie was right, it was a silly shirt. With a groan she pulled the shirt over her head and with her hands on her hips walked to her closet. "What should I wear then?"
Adina tried not to laugh as Stephanie, who stood only five feet tall, shimmied her way in excitedly between Adina and her clothes. She just loved dressing her. It didn't take long for them to become fast friends the very first day of move in.
"I like that one babe." And it didn't take long for her to find a boyfriend either. "Adina, you've lost weight." Alarmed that she didn't have on a shirt and her scars and breasts were on display, she hid behind her closet door. Adina could see Brad as she peeked from the door in his skater get up. She just didn't know why guys insisted on wearing skinny jeans. And she really wished he'd cut his greasy hair.
Stephanie held up a pink and white striped button up blouse in one hand and a red camisole with a plunging V-neck line in the front and back. "Yeah, I agree. This one's sexy Dina," she grinned holding up the red shirt.
Adina looked between Brad and Stephanie with a look of disbelief. Shaking her head she nearly shouted, "I'm not trying to be sexy, and Brad I would appreciate it if you would knock before waltzing in here like that!"
"Brad, what the hell! You don't walk into people's rooms uninvited like that! It's disrespectful," Stephanie yelled furiously, landing a punch to his chest. "Get the hell out!"
It would have been a comical scene to watch an angry Stephanie trying to push a tall, bewildered Brad out the door, but Adina was too embarrassed and ashamed to laugh. She was too busy thinking about why Stephanie had a delayed reaction to the situation.
"I'm sorry about that, Dina," Stephanie said apologized fervently. "Sometimes, I don't think he's even aware of what he does. I know I pushed the door almost closed when I came in here."
"It's alright, Steph. I don't think he saw," she reassured wryly, even though she truly wasn't sure. 'I'll think about that later.'
Stephanie reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "Okay, now," she said holding up the two shirts again. Adina bit her lip, uncertain as to why she was picking out a dressy shirt to wear.
She lifted an eyebrow and a worried expression flashed across her face. "Can't you pick out something different, more casual?"
Stephanie only gave her a look that told Adina she shouldn't argue.
THE POT WAS heavy in Adina's hands as she stood watching the secretary behind her desk finish putting away a stack of papers. In the end she had gone with the striped button up blouse. It was tight, fitting her like a second skin that it made her apprehensive and self-conscious. Stephanie had insisted that she wear the first two buttons undone to show some cleavage. She glanced down at her breast, propped up and on parade, to make sure her bra wasn't showing. She noticed her hair was starting to puff when she glanced at the window behind the desk and wanted so badly to run her fingers through it.
The pretty blonde named Lacey Flores cleared her throat and Adina met her friendly clear blue gaze. It hadn't been a long wait. She caught sight of the makeup smeared onto her face. Without so much mud and done the right way, she could look like a million bucks. Lacey insisted on showing her the way since she was just finishing up some last minute filing.
"Right this way Ms. Richards," Lacey said with a charming smile.
"Thank you," Adina smiled back at her. "What kind of makeup do you wear?" she asked nonchalantly as they walked side by side down the hall.
Lacey giggled and glanced at Adina, "Greene told me you are a beauty consultant."
"Did he?" Adina said lifting her eyebrow.
"Yeah, and from what I can tell you seem like quite the makeup artist. But, I'm not really that interested in makeup."
"Hmm," Adina nodded and then shrugged her shoulders as they turned the corner and approached the entrance of the auditorium. "You seem pretty into makeup to me. I was just wondering if you liked eye shadow. I know some really great colors that will make your beautiful eyes pop. You'd catch the eye of a lot of men; trust me."
It was Lacey's turn to raise her eyebrows and Adina watched the woman struggle to find some words. She smiled gently at the young woman and winced slightly at the pull of her muscles she nodded in the direction of voices coming from inside. "Shall we? My arms are getting tired."
Lacey blinked several times stammering, "Uh, yes. Come this way. I'll get you're chili set up with a number so it can be ranked. We've been waiting to see if anyone else would show up with a pot before giving out numbers."
"Ah, I see."
The two women walked inside the auditorium, and Adina had to stop her jaw from dropping. The brilliance of the decorations came close to that of Amos' Temple's annual barbeque, but the set up before her was better. Assortments of silver and gold balloons were tied to the back of every chair and all the tables present were cover in blue linen table cloths. The centerpieces on the tables were of a large white number twenty-five.
There were children everywhere and a few infants either lay asleep in their car seats or were being cradled in the arms of their mothers and fathers. Most of the older men and women who worked on the force had families, and large ones too, Adina realized. This was a family event she had attended and she felt somewhat out of place.
Lacey startled Adina out of her observations when she spoke. "If you think this is something, you should have been here at the Christmas party. It was all decked out with mistletoe and the works."
"Are all these people the families of the officers?" Adina asked as she continued to follow Lacey to a very long table that contained all the pots of chili she would probably see at once in one lifetime.
"No, a lot of these people are friends and acquaintances of the officers and us desk people," Lacey told her and winked.
"Oh." Adina wondered if she was the only "case study" to make an appearance.
The chili was the nineteenth one to be entered in and placed on one of the food warmers. After her pot was given the number twelve, Adina and Lacey parted ways. She straightened her shirt, patted her hair down and started looking around the masses of police officers for Andrew. He did invite her after all.
Everyone present in the auditorium were all dressed casually and were either seated at tables with friends and family members or standing near smaller tables that held sweet treats like donuts and cookies, she assumed for the children present. She couldn't help but grin when she saw two men conversing while a little by stood in the middle of them. They were chomping on donuts with paper cups in hand, the little boy mimicking their movements by biting into his donut and then taking a sip of his juice from his Sippy cup.
She tore her eyes away from the adorable little boy and after another quick glance around the room Adina decided it was time to venture out, and if she couldn't find Andrew, the least she could do was mingle so she didn't feel out of place. And then she spotted him standing next to Lacey and a few others, looking in her direction with an amazed expression on his familiar face.
A smile etched on her face as she waved at him shyly. With a huge grin he handed his cup to one of the women excusing himself, making his way over to her in a blur, and the next thing she knew she was in his arms.
'Wow. That was fast.' She hesitated a moment before embracing him back, unsure as to why her body felt shaky. 'And he smells good too,' she thought as she took a deep breath to calm her pulse.
Andrew's chest rumbled against her cheek when he made a sound that let her know that he was happy to see her. "Adina," he breathed in her hair as he squeezed her shoulders rocking their bodies side to side. "It's so good to see you."
Sliding her palms around to his chest she pushed back a ways to look up at him. His hazel eyes were bright, crinkled at the corners as he beamed down at her. He looked like he could be a movie star with chiseled features and gleaming straight white teeth. Paying attention to his looks was not a priority of hers when they'd first met, but now that she was finally looking at him, she realized he had a very attractive aquiline nose.
"It's good to see you, too," she said softly trying not to stare at him. She seemed to like looking at men and women for a long time as if searching for their personalities in their looks. On occasion, she had been mistaken for a lesbian and had either been scolded or hit on for staring at women she found stunning.
