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6am in the morning i heard andrew getting up to get ready for his drive up to vermont. i was still awake, but i quickly jumped into bed so he wouldn't realize that i've been up for most of the night. i instantly fell asleep however, my body still remembering how i only slept 4 hours the previous night. my rest was cut short when andrew called me a few hours later. "i think i might've accidently taken your set of house keys," he said, "i hope i'm not locking you in." fortunately i had a spare set, so awkward disaster narrowly avoided. i went back to bed and didn't wake up until almost noontime, the price of sleeping so late at night.

i made some chicken wings for lunch, did some paperwork for my medical insurance reimbursement, and then went out to run a few errands, buy a red onion from the supermarket and some flowers for renata from the porter square station flower vendor, the same flowers i bought yesterday for myself. i verified what they were, lisianthus, exactly what renata told me they were. i came back home in the humid afternoon weather, my t-shirt sticking to my body.

i left for renata's place at 5pm, two messenger bags slung across each shoulder, one full of running stuff and a change of clothes, the other all the ingredients i'd need to make tonight's dinner, including the package of marinated chicken i prepared late last night. the flowers i tucked between the flap of one of my bags, the pointed papered cone of their stems poking out the side of my bag like a sword. i took the motorcycle and kept on checking behind me, making sure that the flowers didn't fall out. i got caught briefly in a light drizzle before arriving at renata's. what people fail to realize right away is when i'm on the motorcycle, when it rains, i don't have the protection of a roof over my head like a car would, i become instantly soaked.

renata told me right away when i got there that she had no intentions of running in the rainstorm, now developing into a thunderstorm. the whole point of tonight's meeting was more about renata's first time running than it was about dinner, and even after some motivational exchanges, she still couldn't be persuaded to go out running. so we decided to start making dinner early after renata put the lisianthus into a rectangular vase. "do you think we can invite kay?" renata asked. "sure," i said. the marinated chicken we put on a shallow tray, tin foil on the bottom and a wall made to keep the juices from flowing out. that went into the oven while i prepared the hasselback potatoes, slicing lines into each potato (placed on a spoon, so as to not cut through the potatoes), browning them over a frying pan filled with butter and olive oil, and then finally throwing them together with the chicken. it was a change to cook at renata's place, since she's visited my place on several occasions and essentially cooked for me (very much appreciated i might add). it was warm in renata's apartment, made even hotter by the fact that i was standing next to the hot stove, my head full of sweat. renata continued with the cooking, steaming some bok choi and making a cold salad from the vast quantity of fresh produce in her fridge. while we waited for chicken and potatoes to finish cooking and for kay to arrive, we sat on the couch and vegetated, renata throwing me magazines and books to keep me entertained. she continued to ask me how to erase photos from my digital camera, something that i haven't shown her yet because i was afraid she'd erase the whole memory card.

kay arrived just in time to eat dinner, renata doing the honor of serving us all, collecting the potatoes, carving up the chicken. both the butterfield chicken and hasselback potatoes were very tasty after a sprinkle of sea salt and a touch of lemon juice. the chicken was a wee bit dry, although the skin was deliciously crunchy. i ate most of renata's cold salad, with the exception of all the cheese she put into it. after dinner we had vanilla yogurt for dessert served with frozen raspberry and this homemade raspberry jam. originally i was going to make flan, but renata, being lactose intolerant, had no milk at her place.

with the rain stopped, we went out for a walk around the neighborhood. the streets of our hometown (belmont) is freakishly quiet at nights. the only people we saw were the occasional ones riding in cars, or maybe somebody walking a dog, or somebody taking out the trash. welcome to suburbia! kay and renata did most of the talking, i basically tagged along and grunted some sort of comment every now and then.

we made it back home just in time to watch the latest episode of queer eye for the straight guy. kay had already seen one episode, this was renata's first viewing. the three of us thoroughly enjoyed the show, tonight's victim was this heavy metal guy asking his girlfriend to move in with him. he was naturally very good looking, long black hair with blue eyes, so it was surprising to see him hooked up with a girlfriend who was nowhere near his physical attractiveness equal and was somewhat of a bitch to boot.

after the show, kay and i left. while she was riding in the relative comfort of her volvo cage, i was exposed to the elements on the motorcycle, the sky starting to rain again, with me riding in a t-shirt. i made it home, slightly damp, but all in one piece, thankfully.

the jets - crush on you