84. Disappointed

Genre: Drama, Romance
Characters: Cian, Wilson

Prompt: .84 - Disappointed
Word Count: 2,322 ish

Rating: PG 13

Type: series

Summary: Cian fights what she feels. Wilson
decides to settle for just being friends.
Warnings: none

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Cian swung the small basket back and forth, watching as Will skillfully checked each vegetable he chose for any imperfections. “Is this really necessary?” She reluctantly asked, picking up her speed to catch up to him. “Yes,” He faced her, carefully placing two large green peppers into the basket, “this way you can’t say I cheated or used the microwave.” He brushed the tip of her nose with his finger. “Besides, you should always want to know where your food comes from.” He wandered down the next isle in search of rice. “I know where my food comes from,” She confidently, “Santigo’s Pizza!”
“Is that where this came from?” Wilson chuckled, poking at her hip playfully. “What are you trying to say about my hips, Wilson?!” She placed a hand on her hip.
“Nothing!” He found her seriousness more amusing. “Nothing at all!” He smiled sweetly.

Cian dropped her hand from her hip, scanning the shelves. “What kind of-” She stopped mid sentence as she felt him poke her hip again, “Don’t make me hurt you!” She spun around pointing with a stern expression. “Oh calm down! You’re not hurting anything!” He laughed, pulled a large box of rice from the shelf, dropping it into the basket.



“Yeah, ok! Keep playing! I bet you I’ll kick your ass all through this store!” He moved in close, leveling his eyes with hers, “Let’s not make any more bets until you lose this one, shall we?” He smiled down at her, silently admiring the way the store’s dim lights brought out the combination of gray and blue within her eyes. Feeling a wave of heat brush over her as the heat from his body fused with her own, Cian looked both ways, nervously taking a step back, “Umm, is this all we need?” She looked down at the basket, anything just to avoid his eyes. There was something there, behind the looks, behind the closeness, behind his tone. He noticed, sensed her level of comfort. “Yeah, that’s about it.” He gently grabbed the basket from her, building a gap between them.

“Hi ya’ll doin’ today?” The young cashier smacked on her gum, slowly scanning the items. “Your people from Spain or somethin’?” She didn’t give them a chance to greet her before moving into her question. “Italy.” Wilson said flatly.
“Yeah,” She smiled, after blowing a huge bubble, popping it and sucking it back in, “I knew it was somethin’ like that cause ya’ll like chocolate!” She nodded in Cian’s direction with a grin.



Cian pulled her lips inward at Wilson’s annoyed expression. He wiped it clean, turning his slight frown into a smile, “Yeah,” He licked his lips, “I eat it on everything!” He smiled seductively, handing her the exact amount that appeared on the screen. Cian bit back the urge to laugh. He was too charming for his own good and he knew it. The fact that he handled things with humor and was able to cause women to break so easily had her amazed yet jealous. As thoughts of him using that skill to his advantage began to surface, she blinked hard to shut them out, walking around Wilson to retrieve the bag she giggled as the cashier continued to blush and thankfully stopped chewing. “You have a good day, alright Sweety?” He grinned once again, swatted at Cian’s hands as she reached for the bag.



“Never reach for a bag when I'm around.” He explained with a faint smile, walking ahead.

Will was upset, or at least she thought he was. Placing the bag inside the car, he opened the door for Cian, closing it behind her without another word.

______________________________________



Almost instantly the house filled with an intoxicating aroma. Sweet and spicy scents caused her stomach to roar loudly. This isn’t a good sign, she thought, continuing to take her own tour of the house. Just as she’d thought about Ramone’s house, there was no trace of a woman. Cian felt her heart release, content with her observation. There was no sign of a woman’s stay or even presence in any part of his house but that didn’t mean there weren’t others.



She shook her head furiously. This kind of thinking was dangerous. She was falling fast with nothing to grab onto and nothing to break her fall. “Cian,” Wilson’s voice broke through her thoughts, “I’m ready for you.” Even those words gave her chills.



With each step down the stairs she coached herself, prepped herself to deal with the battle raging inside her, “Com’on girl! It’s just Wilson!” She took another step, “You can’t have feelings for him…” Then another step, “don’t…DON’T have feelings for him!” She stood on the last step, slipping back into her mind, back to that kiss on her neck. She rubbed the spot absently, still feeling the tingle and the need to feel more of him. She blinked hard banishing the very thoughts she’d been trying to convince her that she didn’t have. “You ready?” He appeared around the corner with a smile, reaching for her hand. She placed it in his, stepping down without removing her eyes from his smile. The aroma from the kitchen grew stronger the second she came down from her sudden high, a frightening feeling as she took in the enticing scents.



Wilson pulled out her chair for her, sitting down with a clear view of her face and the small portion he’d placed on the table where she sat. Cian picked up the fork hesitantly, looking up at him with worry in her eyes. “You know, you can save yourself from this by saying two little words…” He sent her a confident smile. “You know damn well I’m not going out like that!” She waved her fork to indicate her seriousness



Rolling the chicken around in the rice until it was fully coated; she raised the fork to her lips, slowly sliding it off the fork with her teeth. The second it touched her tongue, Cian’s frown grew stronger. She chewed through her expression of disgust as Wilson’s smile faded. “You’re kidding me!” He was obviously shocked. Cian kept chewing, eventually swallowing hard with her eyes closed. “Okay,” He stood up with a deep breath rushing from his lungs, “I’ll go order a pizza. Damn! I just knew that would get you!” He walked over to the empty base, then up the stairs in search of the phone.
Hearing his feet move across the floor above, Cian rushed into the kitchen retrieving a huge wooden spoon from the drawer next to the stove. She quietly pulled the top from the pot shoving huge spoonfuls of food into her mouth, chewing as quickly as possible. She moaned with delight, relaxing her shoulders as she stood over the pot, taking in as much food as she could hold in her cheeks. The very second the explosion of flavors hit her tongue while sitting with Will, she caved, needing more, wanting to devour every last bit of it but the need to hold her ground and win this bet was stronger. She’d never lost to Will. Never in the entirety of their friendship had she lost and she refused to let that change now. Eating from the plate in front of her was too easy, he would notice, especially since she doubted she’d be able to stop. Placing the lid back onto the pot, she quickly cleaned off the wooden spoon and returned to her seat at the table just as Wilson made his way back down the stairs.

“Alright,” He placed the handset in its rightful place on the base, “it will be here in about 30 minutes.” Taking a seat at the table, Cian began to gloat. “Ok, shall we discuss what I get for winning?” She smiled confidently with a semi-full belly. Wilson returned the smile as he leaned across the table to remove evidence of Cian’s deception from her chin. As he pulled his hand away, he showed her the stray grains of rice on his finger. She lowered her head in shame, laughing as she also realized a few more on her shirt. “You’re are so busted!” He joined in the laughter. Throwing her hands up in defeat, she shook her head, “You win, it was good… delicious actually! Where did you learn to cook like that?”
“College.” He couldn’t seem to erase the smile on his face, “I got tired of eating pizza and noodles everyday so I took a few cooking classes after I complete my required courses. After a while, my classmates started asking me to make meals for them so they could escape the crappy mess hall food, so through that, I perfected my skills.” Cian shook her head, scrambling through her brain for another question to avoid further conversation about their deal. “Why aren’t you doing anything with that? You know people love to eat! If you include food at the club, you’ll gain ten times more business.”
“I was thinking about opening a restaurant. Something modern, romantic yet casual.”
“Sounds like a good idea. When do you think you’ll set that plan in motion?” She wiggled in her seat, feeling confident in the direction of the conversation.
Wilson rubbed his chin, “I guess when I work out all the details and stable business plan. I’d like to take a page from your father’s book and make it a family business but I’d need my own family to do that, now wouldn’t I?”
Cian shrugged, “All the women that are dying to be Mrs. Wilson De Luca, I bet you could make that happen sooner than you think.” She kicked herself internally as she thought about the number of women who’d love to have him and secretly hating the thought. “It’s easier said than done.” He sent her half a smile. “For me to be with someone, everything has to be there. I have to want this woman fully.” He reasoned. “Now, let’s discuss what I get for winning, shall we?” His smile widened as he repeated her words of victory.





Cian pushed away from the table, adding a little distance and turning her back to him. “Ok…what will it be?” She asked, with her eyes closed, bracing herself for his response.

Wilson stood, moved closer leaving only inches between them, “Twenty-four hours.” He spoke above a whisper. “Twenty-four hours of your time.”
“What?”
“And don’t worry,” He smiled a smile that appeared to be forced, "no touching.”

“Why’d you say it like that?” She frowned; receiving a sadness that was laced within his words and smile.
“Like what? I just wanted you to know that I get it.”
“Get what?”
“It’s not what I thought. The feeling isn’t mutual but I get that and I respect it.”
Cian’s heart banged hard against her ribs and she tried to digest the true meaning of what he was saying, “Will, what exactly do you mean?”
Wilson exhaled with a slight chuckle, “I feel this pull toward you, like I need to be around you. Need to be close to you in order to be happy. I thought it was just the fact that I really missed you as a friend, but now I see that it’s deeper than that. Much deeper. I thought maybe, you felt the same way but you showed me differently at the market today.”
She was speechless as she fought with herself over what to say. Telling him the truth would only add to a situation that could not be helped, and lying could hurt him in a way she couldn’t bare the thought of. Taking a deep breath, she began with the first few words that crossed her mind, “It is mutual,” She mumbled, tucking her hair behind her ear. The rest of the words that she’d seen so vividly inside her head were gone. Chased away by the question of what she’d just gotten herself into with those three little words, “but you know we can’t go there.” She quickly added.
“Why can’t we?”
“Because we can’t! You see the ignorant comments and stares we get just by standing next to each other…it would be worse if we were a couple! Then there is the issue with our families-”
“Our families? I stopped caring about what my family said and did a long time ago.”
“Well my family then.” She retorted. “Renee mentioned your name the other day and it got back to my dad who really tried to tell me I can’t see you anymore! Being anything more than friends would only bring use drama!”
“So you’d rather deal with being unhappy to please everyone else before fighting for your own happiness?” He asked, feeling his heart slowly sink.
“Will-” He held his hand up, not wanting her to cause a deeper crack in his heart.
“Trying to just be your friend is going to be hard but I'd rather have that than nothing at all. If you really want to keep things here on this level, I’m cool with it.” His smile had vanished. Disappeared without a trace long before these words. Cian noticed the change in his expression and felt the same way. There was so much more she wanted yet so many fears that kept her from allowing her heart to rule everything. “So when do you want to do this twenty-four hour thing?” She smiled, purposely moving along without saying yes or no to his last statement.

Wilson shrugged his smile still absent, “We can start it when I close the club or wait until later that morning.” He crossed his arms, keeping the distance between them.
“That works for me. I’ll come to the club and hang out with you and we can start when you close.” Cian smiled, hoping she’d get one back, ending the feeling that she’d just broken his heart but it never came.




He turned his back to her at the sound of a knock at the door, returned with a pizza that was no longer needed and without a word, began cleaning the kitchen. Cian rubbed her face, feeling worst than she had before. Picking up the plate from the table, she joined him, bringing up more old memories that filled the once empty room with endless bouts of laughter.