I lived with my mom in the house she’d bought with the money she’s received from her divorce settlement with my father.  Our family history was a long-winded tale of deceit, but basically mom had cheated on my drink and drug addicted father while he was away, touring Europe with his band.  Neither seemed too fussed when their marriage was pronounced over by the courts and at the age of eight I was placed solely in my mother’s custody.  I hadn’t seen my father in years.

But anyway, eight years had passed and that particular night my mother was away with random boyfriend number 3; I had my house to myself, and Aiden was due to arrive at any moment.

I wandered over to my dresser and was just giving myself the once over in the mirror when my cell started ringing.  I answered immediately, knowing it was Aiden from the ring tone.

“Hey baby, you gonna come answer the door?” he asked.  I could hear the smile in his voice.

Moments later I was bounding back up the stairs, Aiden following on behind, carrying a large box in his arms.

“Happy anniversary, babe,” he grinned, kissing my forehead gently as he placed the box down in front of me on the bed.

I soon had the box open and its contents surrounding me on my quilt: a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates, numerous scented candles, assorted massage oils and another, smaller box that I was taking my time to open.

“Ooh, one more thing,” Aiden stated, producing a folded note from his back pocket.  He made a huge display of handing it to me, then grinned cheekily as I opened it up.

“It’s a take-out menu,” I laughed.

“I figured we could get pizza,” he said enthusiastically.

“Ever the romantic,” I smiled, taking his hand in my own.  His charming and mature displays of affection – the wine, candles, massage oils – weren’t really the Aiden I knew, but the pizza menu was the side of Aiden I’d grown up with and loved.

“Hey, it was a tough decision to make!” he proclaimed.  “I didn’t know if you wanted Thai, Chinese, Pizza!?”

“You made a good choice,” I cooed, caressing his lips with my own for a moment before giving him the menu back.  “You order pizza and I’ll sort all this out!”