Elizabeth's POV

'How can you bake stuff, but not be able to cook a decent meal?' Shawn asks while leaning onto the kitchen island with his elbows.

'I dare you to ask a pastry chef to make you a perfectly grilled steak just like Gordon Ramsey or Jamie Oliver would do. If you have the results I will consider coming up with a response that's worth my time.'

I hear him chuckle as I continue to slice the bread I baked to go with the pumpkin soup I bought at the supermarket.

Quite the combination.

A week has passed since the terrible dinner at my family's house. Shawn and I made up and here we are, standing in my kitchen where I'm trying to put a meal together that won't make either one of us vomit.

'Making pumpkin soup from scratch isn't hard.' Shawn says, opening the fridge.

I put the knife down and throw it in the sink.

'Oh, believe me, it's hard.' I chuckle.

'Once I burned tomato soup and when I served it to my dad and Sheila these little black pieces were floating around in their soup. Boy, was I happy I didn't taste it first.'

Shawn and I both laugh and he walks to me, putting the sour cream down on the kitchen counter before wrapping his arms around my waist.

'I could've cooked dinner tonight.' Shawn says after kissing me.

'You always do. I wanted to give you my famous supermarket soup for once.'

'We both know it's going to taste like shit.' He laughs.

'Have some confidence in Dutch supermarket soup, Shawn. It's not all shit.'

He frowns with a smile on his lips and we sit down at the glass dining table. I dip the fresh bread I made into the soup and feel the delicious crust crunch between my teeth.

'Mhm.' Shawn swallows. 'This is really good.' He says.

'Told you.' I smile.

We eat in silence for a couple of minutes, but then our second date on his roof pops back into my head.

"But if I'm going to fuck you, it's going to be rough." Shawn's words ring in my ears.

He did say that back then, but to be honest, I haven't seen him keeping his promise.

'You warned me the first time we slept together.' I say.

Shawn's beautiful brown eyes meet mine. A frown resting between his eyebrows, waiting for me to continue as he brings the spoon to his mouth.

'You said you were going to be rough.'

Shawn's eyes widen out of surprise and he chokes on the soup, coughing a few times before looking at me again.

'I- uh...' He clears his throat.

'I don't want to scare you away, Beth.' He says, looking away from my eyes.

'You won't. I literally have been waiting for it since the first time you said it.' I lie, it just occurred to me moments ago.

'Ok.' A smile forms on his lips and he raises one eyebrow.

He looks at me for a moment and his look makes my heart beat a little faster. He looks down at his soup again and continues eating without saying anything.

'Ok? That's it?' I smile, looking at him.

'Yeah, well... I'm obviously not going to fuck you right now, what's the fun in that?'

He puts his spoon down in his bowl and raises his arms in the air to stretch his muscles. The movement lifts his t-shirt a little bit, revealing his muscles and v-line. I see his abs tense and he sighs, putting his arms down again.

He is doing this on purpose... dick.

'I gotta go.' He stands up and bends over the table to kiss me.

'I'll see you tomorrow. I will have a question for you then.' He says with a smile.

'You can't just leave me hanging like this. Horny and curious.' I look at him as he walks to my front door.

'Believe it or not, but I'm feeling the exact same things.' And with that, he closes the door behind him.

I sit there at the dinner table with a half-empty bowl in front of me. I stand up and sigh while grabbing the bowl and throwing them in the sink.

I'm still fucking hungry.

At least I tried not to order food... well... I think for a moment. Yeah, that's about to change. I order pizza and sit down on my couch, scrolling through my notes.

Today was a busy day at work and my assistant cried when I came back to work the first day. I don't know if it's because she missed me or because I'm a bitch, but to be honest, I don't even care. She did do a good job organizing all the trials my colleagues dumped on me while I was away, so I'm thankful for that.

My phone rings, snapping me out of my deep thoughts. It's Zayneb.

'Hey. How are you?' I ask, pulling my knees to my chest.

'You have no idea how happy I am.' I hear the excitement in her voice.

I pull a blanket over my body, it suddenly got really cold in here.

'What happened?'

'I'm pregnant!' She yells in my ear and I smile.

Oh my god, she's pregnant! I'm so happy for her.

'Oh my god Zaynie, that's amazing! Congratulations!'

'I am so happy! So, so, so, fucking happy!'

We talk for more than an hour and hearing her being happy takes away the empty feeling that has been lingering in my chest since Shawn and I got back from vacation. It hurts to be away from him, but at the same time I really enjoy being alone and I love my independence.

I sigh, I just don't know what to do about it.

'Wait, what?' I sit up straight. 'You and Ludovic are a thing?'

'Yes, we are, and I have a feeling that he might propose to me soon.'

My eyes widen. Propose? Zayneb getting married?

'You said you never wanted to get married... Like me.' I say.

'Listen, Liz, when you meet the love of your life, he might change your mind...'

Love of her life? Since when is Ludovic fucking Ryder the love of her life?!

I bet these are the hormones clouding her judgement.

It's not that I'm jealous of her being with Ludovic, I couldn't care less, but if he's in her life, that means he's in my life and that's the last thing I want.

'I hope you're still coming over next week, or are not allowed to fly?'

'I'm pregnant Liz, not made of porcelain.'

'Is that a no? Why would porcelain not be allowed to fly?'

'Because it breaks...'

I think for a moment.

'Aah, yeah I get it now.' I chuckle.

'I'm happy you'll be here in one week. I missed you. Don't you dare bring Ludovic with you.' I warn her.

'I won't.' She laughs. 'But I don't want to see Shawn either!'

'Why? What did Shawn ever do to you?' I laugh too, kind of offended.

'I don't know, nothing I guess, I just don't trust him.'

'Has he ever given you a reason not to trust him?'

'He hasn't, no.'

'He makes me happy Zayneb and he's the best boyfriend someone could ever wish for.' I say picturing him sitting next to me on the couch, gosh, what's wrong with me?

'Ok, he's allowed to come over once or twice. I heard he's a good cook.'

She and I both laugh and talk about a few other things before I hang up the phone and decide to finally eat the pizza that arrived an hour ago.

Pizza is delicious, even cold.

I turn on the television and see that the Aristocats is on. I smile and think of Shawn, again, before zapping to another channel. There is nothing nice on television right now, so I decide to turn on Netflix and watch The Originals.

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