The time between practice on Friday morning and Sunday afternoon passed at a glacial speed. Even the ticking of the clocks in the house seemed to slow to an imperceptible pace.

That wasn't to say they weren't productive. Between class, therapy, and getting supplies to make dinner, Elise accomplished plenty. Even exchanging texts with Aaron didn't make things move faster.

Her mother had left before lunch, chirping happily about what she and Ryan had planned for the day: hockey and a movie. A quick peck on the cheek was all she got before being left alone to crank up some music and entertain herself until she needed to start dinner.

She ate a bowl of granola and yogurt as she chose a John Denver CD to blast as she started out the day with some class work. They were moving onto working to create more contrast between light and shadow. It was something that she was having trouble with since she liked softer lights. She would just keep working on it until she got the assignment right.

By the time early afternoon arrived, Elise tossed her sketchbook carelessly aside. It was time to start prepping ingredients for dinner since it was going to take quite a bit of time to slice and dice all the produce that she would be using, but it would be worth it. Her ratatouille recipe was delicious.

She had washed everything and had made her way through the zucchini, eggplant, and bell peppers when the doorbell rang. Pausing long enough to turn down her music, she moved to the door, pulling it open to reveal Aaron standing on the other side, a bouquet of indigo iris in his hands.

Elise squeaked, throwing his arms around his neck, being careful to avoid crushing the flowers. "They're beautiful!"

"I saw them and thought of you," Aaron confessed, wrapping an arm around her waist to help support her. "Am I too early?"

"Not at all! Come in and join me in the kitchen," she answered, only claiming the flowers after pressing a kiss to his cheek. She retreated back into the entryway, beaming at the bouquet. 

"How are you with knives?"

"That depends entirely on what you need me to do and how pretty you want things to be," he joked, following her through the door.

"Nothing needs to be pretty, it will still taste delicious even if you hack it to pieces," Elise called out, already on her way back to get her flowers into a vase of water.

"Then I'm fine with a knife. How can I help?" Aaron followed her into the kitchen, eyes widening with surprise at the sight of the counter. "Do you have an entire produce section in here? What are you making?"

"There were plenty of veggies still at the store," she answered with a laugh. Claiming a couple chunks of bell pepper, she popped one in her mouth and offered him the other. "It's going to be ratatouille. It's healthy, filling, and tastes amazing. You'll like it."

"It's a French dish, right?" Aaron asked, opening his mouth for the snack. As he munched away, he started looking through the drawers for another knife. "French cooking and country music. You really know how to sweep a guy off his feet."

Elise turned to punch him in the arm. "What do you have against John Denver? His music has a lot of character. He sang my favorite song of all time."

Laughing, he found a knife, and started cutting up the tomatoes sitting on the counter. "Are you a Country Roads girl, Princess?"

"Don't be an ass, Grumpy Bear," Elise instructed, leaning in to smell the beautiful iris. "As much as I love that song, it isn't my favorite."

They both fell silent, dancing notes on the guitar filling the air for the moment. Elise grabbed a knife to start mincing garlic so she could start the cooking while Aaron kept cutting things for them.

"Annie's Song," he announced several long moments later while adding the tomatoes to a bowl to wait until they were needed.

"What?" she asked, his statement pulling her from her thoughts. They were lucky she managed not to slice her finger open when she jumped.

"You're romantic enough, and were dancing until I said something. Is Annie's Song your favorite?"

"Guilty," Elise admitted, returning to her mincing. "It's has a wonderful melody and lyrics. And the story behind it! I would love to see someone use it for a program sometime."

"Why haven't you?" he asked, moving from the tomatoes onto the onion.

"Make sure you slice it thin. Otherwise it won't cook right," she instructed, completely avoiding his question.

Elise moved to the stove, adding olive oil to the pan she had chosen to start warming. If she kept him thinking of food, maybe he would forget what he had asked. "Did you want some kind of chicken too? I think I could pull off some lemon pepper chicken."

"Sounds delicious."

When Elise peeked over her shoulder to where he was still working on the onion, there was the smallest smile on his lips. Hopefully that meant Aaron's question had been successfully avoided for now.

"There are single sealed breasts in the fridge if you want to bring them out. I'll grab another pan and we can cook them at the same time."

"Yes, ma'am," Aaron said simply. Only a moment later he offered her the cutting board filled with slices of onion.

"Thank you!" She added the onions into the pan where they made a satisfying sizzle.

Elise gasped when his arms were suddenly around her waist, pulling her against his body. A gentle blush rose to her cheeks at the feel of his hard muscles and warmth.

"You just started. How can it already smell so good?"

When his voice came so softly, so near her ear, it only made her blush harder. "Magic," she whispered, throat dry. Grabbing the wooden spoon, she tried to keep cooking, only managing to get the onions coated in the oil.

Then Aaron's lips were on hers, distracting her with a gentle kiss.