Chapter 3: Go Weak At The Knees

FRIDAY – FLAT – IAN, AARON & CHRISTINE

As they left work and headed home, Aaron was nervous but excited. Ian had been teaching him some cooking, and he had asked Ian if he’d like to invite Christine to join them for dinner tonight, which he would cook. He wouldn’t tell him what he was going to serve, but he had done a shop on his own after work yesterday.

They got home and had their showers, then they got fully dressed as they were having a visitor. Whilst Ian was in the shower, Aaron had laid the table. Then he went into the kitchen and closed the door. Half an hour later he heard the front doorbell.

He gave them time to have a kiss and a cuddle, then went out to greet Christine. She gave him a lovely hug and a kiss. ‘I won’t be long,’ he told them, ‘I’m sure you can amuse yourselves in the meantime.’ Aaron returned to the kitchen to complete his preparations.

Soon he was putting their starters on the table. He called them over and as they settled in place, they looked to see what they were getting. Aaron had gone for something simple for his first starter. He had sliced the middle section of a Galia melon into three rings.

After removing all the seeds, he had filled the centre of each ring with chopped up prawns before pouring a home-made Marie Rose sauce over them. After that he had chopped a strawberry up into small pieces and sprinkled the bits all over the top. One large strawberry for each person.

‘It looks really good.’ Ian told him smiling. Aaron poured them each a glass of wine to go with it. There was silence whilst they polished it off. Aaron took the dishes out and served up their main course. He had done the meal that Ian had taught him first.

Chicken Goujons, with chips and cauliflower florets in a cheese sauce. Plus, another glass of wine, naturally. As they ate Christine told him it was lovely, he’d done well. ‘I have a good teacher.’ Aaron told her smiling at Ian.

For dessert Aaron had done an individual home-made Eton Mess of crushed meringue, strawberries and whipped cream. Then he followed that with a selection of cheese and biscuits, plus a glass of port. When they had finished, Ian complimented him.

‘Not only did you make a lot of it yourself,’ he told him, ‘But a big part of the art of cooking is to get everything you’re going to serve to be ready at the right time. You managed that perfectly.’ Christine agreed with him and Aaron felt very proud.

They both insisted on doing the washing up, so as they did, Aaron made them all a coffee. Ian and Christine sat on the settee with theirs and Aaron sat in the armchair. ‘When we’ve finished our coffees,’ he told them, ‘I need to sit at the dining table and do some finishing bits on my plans ready for going to Sandra and Kurts tomorrow.’

‘As tonight’s host, I don’t feel able to abandon my guests and do that. But if you two were to go to Ian’s room and find something to do to amuse yourselves for a couple of hours, that would solve the problem. You could close the door to the passage and the bedroom, then we wouldn’t disturb each other.’

Ian looked hopefully at Christine, who smiled and nodded at him. ‘Ok, we will, thank you.’ Ian told him. ‘Leave your cups,’ Aaron told them, ‘I’ll see to them.’ As they stood up, Christine gave him a hug and a kiss. Then Ian gave him a hug too.

As he watched them disappear through the door, Aaron smiled to himself. He felt so pleased that they both felt able to go off and make love without feeling embarrassed about him knowing. He had guessed that Ian would feel like that, but he was especially pleased that Christine felt that way too.

He got his plans out on the table and as he started making alterations, then drawing his finished design, he was soon lost in what he was doing. He didn’t hear Ian’s alarm going off and it startled him when the door opened soon after and they both came back in.

As he looked up, he could see that they were both looking radiantly happy. Christine came straight over to him and hugged him. ‘Thank you so much.’ she told him. Ian gave him a nod and a smile. They both had a look at his plan and were clearly impressed.