Sofia: Phoenix Rising - Fire and Water Book 2
Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

“Eh, hem,” I don’t exactly want to embarrass Ash, having already laughed way to hard at him earlier but I don’t know what to do to let him know that I am witnessing his uh, talent... So, I clear my throat a couple of times in hope of easing his embarrassment a little bit.

Shockingly, he isn’t surprised in the slightest. “Hey babe. How was your shower? Dinner should be ready in just a couple of minutes if you want to go sit down at the table.” I nod my head okay but as I step back and glance over to the kitchen table, I don’t see any plates laid out nor any silverware.

“Do you want me to set the table?” I ask, looking at him puzzled. He looks at me a second in confusion before he realizes why I have asked him.

“Oh, no. I already have the dining room all set up. You just have to go in and sit down.” He grins as he says this and I have to admit, I am very curious to see what he has done. At my house in the ‘real’ world, we do not have a dining room, just a simple set up in the kitchen where the three of us, mom, dad, and I would eat supper nearly every evening together.

“Holy cow!” I can’t help but shouting the words out because I am shocked. The dining room is a room just beyond a swinging door and as I walk through, I feel like I have been transported back into the Victorian age or something like that. There is in the center of the room, the most massive cherrywood dining table I have ever seen. The room is white walls and natural wood floors because I think whoever originally designed the place, intended for the table to be the focal point of the room.

The swinging door moves, and Ash appears, “do you like it? I thought it would be fun to sit in here and have dinner. When I was little back in Australia, my den use to have huge formal dinners on Sundays. Each Sunday, a different family from the den would host the dinner and I always loved when it was our turn. The house always had amazing scents of the different items that my parents would cook and bake wafting throughout. It has always been a fond memory of mine.” His smile is contagious, and I replace myself returning it. I think this is the most he has ever said about his childhood; granted we haven’t had much time to talk or reminisce about such things but still, I love that he is sharing a small portion of his life with me.

On the table the end closest to the door and where he and I are standing, Ash has a candelabra centered with candles lit. The best part about the setting upon the table is, the plates are paper, and the silverware is plastic ware. I love it! “So, what do you think? Do you like it?” His grin has become even wider, and I turn my head to look at him.

Giggling I exclaim, “I LOVE it!” Throwing my arms around his neck, I hug him and then plant a kiss upon his cheek. “So, what are you serving me on such fancy apparel?”

“Take a seat my darling and I will bring the food to you in just a minute.” He winks and then a second later has disappeared, leaving just the sound of the door swinging back and forth. The lights in the room have been dimmed but the flickering flames of the candles shine bright. Staring into the fire, I lose myself in it. Within the fire I see blue, the color of Ash’s eyes. For some reason instead of thinking heat and burning sensations, I think of water, rain drops, ice and freezing cold. As I continue to stare into the candlelight, I hear a sizzling and then poof, the flames simmer out.

What the heck! Standing up, I bend over to take a closer look at the candles and see what appears to be water droplets dripping down the sides of them all. Not candle wax, legit water running down all of the candle sticks. How does that even happen? The closest water source is the kitchen faucet. As I stare in shock towards the candelabra, Ash comes back into the room with a silver platter of food. He places the dish on the table in between us and takes a seat before he notices the darkness of the room and the expression upon my face.

“What’s up? You, not a fan of dining by candlelight?” He asks this jokingly but then says; “Oh, what’s wrong? Why do you look so distressed?” Ash leans across the table and places a hand atop mine, worry flickering across his face.

“I, I,” I stumble over the words that are trying to spill forth. “I was staring at the candles and got lost in the flames, in my thoughts and I was thinking about how the blue of the fire made me think of water and cold instead of heat and burning.”

“Uh, okay. Why has that upset you though?”

“Because, as I continued staring at them, a hissing sound came from the candles and then they just extinguished themselves.” I look at Ash baffled. He is still looking at me in confusion. “How did they go out?”

“Well, they had been lit for a little while. Maybe they went out because of the wax pooling around them?” As he is saying this, I am shaking my head vehemently no.

“But there isn’t any wax puddled. None dripping down the sides, nothing at the base. Nada! So, how were they extinguished?” Ash is reaching his hand out towards one of the candles, doubting my words. As he pulls his fingers back, he stares in awe. There isn’t any wax on his fingers, just water.

“Wow, that is really weird. I don’t have an answer, maybe they are just defective or something. I wouldn’t put too much worry into it though.” He shrugs as though he has already forgotten. I smile and tell him he is probably right and then I redirect his attention to the beautiful dinner he prepared.

“This looks amazing. How did you learn to cook like this?” He has pan seared chicken, baby carrots and sautéed green beans laid out on a platter, and I couldn’t wait to dig in.

A few hours later, after we have cleaned up and put things back where they belong, we have decided we will make some popcorn and lay in my bedroom where I have learned at the foot of the bed is a hidden 55-inch flat screen television. Just as we start up the stairs, popcorn in hand, I say; “shoot! I’m going to grab a couple of sodas for us.” Ash says cool and takes the popcorn from me, continuing to my room. I on the other hand, go back into the kitchen and yank the fridge door open. Scanning the shelves, I spot a couple of cokes and pull them out.

Walking back to the stairwell, I am just about to place my foot on the bottom step when I am suddenly hit with a wave of nervousness mixed with a little bit of anxiety and I don’t know why. Going up the stairs I come to stand on the landing, and the feeling only gets stronger. By the time I arrive at the entrance of my bedroom, I feel as though I might hyperventilate. What in the world is going on with me? The next thought takes me by surprise, these feelings are not mine... they are Ash’s! What in the world would cause him to have these feelings though? It’s just me and Ash, in my big ole bed, together, watching... oh! Instead of being able to read his mind, I am picking up on his emotional state and he wants the same thing that I want. I knew it!

It takes all of my will power to not go skipping into the room, big stupid grin plastered on my face at knowing what he is feeling. “Hey, I found some cokes in the fridge, I hope that’s okay.”

“Yeah, that’s totally fine. I was scrolling through and came across this action flick I thought would be neat to watch. I mean, if that’s okay with you. Unless you want to watch some romantic movies or something like that.” Ash scoots himself over so that I am able to crawl onto the bed beside him as he talks about the movie options.

“Are you kidding? I would much rather watch suspense, action or thrillers than dumb chick flicks any day of the week!” A little of the grin sneaks across my lips but I’m pretty confident that he takes it as being a silly question to have asked me.

“You really are the best girl in the world, aren’t you?” I nod my head as I smile and then I snuggle up close to him, maneuvering his left arm so that it is draped over my shoulders and then wrap my right arm around his back, finally I place my head against his upper chest so that we can start watching the movie. About halfway through the movie I feel his emotions intensify and I start giving subtle hints, movements, trying to entice him to act upon his feelings.

I entwine our fingers, glance up at him demurely, a smile and encouraging looks here and there, even moving my hair to one side, exposing my neck in hopes that he might want to give me a kiss or two... and nothing! Seriously, are all guys this dense? Ash doesn’t catch on to any of my efforts and with a very deep sigh, I end up giving up on trying and turn my focus fully on watching the movie instead. Sleep replaces us both and we don’t even finish the movie before we have drifted off into dreamland.