Three

"Stop touching," I slapped Spencer's hand away from the cooking cube pieces of chicken that were in the pan. Spencer hissed as River chuckles. "What are you making anyway?" Spencer asked, holding his hand.

"One pot chicken parm pasta," I said as I put crushed tomato sauce into the pot on the stove. "Ooh. Italian," Caden says as he sits at the island table bar stool. "Questo e il modo italiano (that is the italian way)," my dad responds in italian.

"English in this house," Spencer says groaning. "This is my house and I will speak my foregin language as much as I want, weirdo," Dad says. Spencer rolls his blue eyes from my dad.

"Quando sara pronto, tesoro? (when will it be ready, sweetheart?)," my dad says standing next to me. "Tra circa un'ora, papa (in about an hour, Dad)." I say pouring water into the pot and then grabbing the wooden spoon.

"I hate it when you guys speak fucking italian. I can't understand a word you're saying," Spencer groans annoyed. Dad and I had rolled our eyes. "Landon would've taught you when you were high school but you were being lazy," Ashton says sitting on top of the kitchen counter next to the stove.

His presence next to me made my heart beat a mile a minute. "Tell him," my dad says as Caden laughs.

As Spencer and my dad bicker like an old married couple and River and Caden laugh, Ashton looks to me. "Smells good," he says to me quietly. "Grazie (thank you)," I say, feeling my face get a little red. I avoid looking into his strikingly icy eyes and continue to stir the mixture that was in the pot. "I miss this," he says, continuing to whisper. "My extravagant cooking?" I smirk. He smirks back. "That."

He moves a little closer and glances towards his friends. "And me complimenting you and you blushing," he whispers. My face is still feeling really hot from our close proximity. How come no one realizes this?

I roll my eyes playfully. And push his shoulder lightly. He chuckles. Hold up. Was he… flirting?

I'm overthinking this. He's not flirting, he's just being Ashton. That's it. That's all. That would be weird if he was. As I finished putting seasoning into the pot and stirring I started adding parmesan cheese into the pot, Lourdes entered the kitchen.

"How do you say hello crazy she devil in italian?" Spencer whispers to my dad. My dad chuckles lightly and whispers into his ear. I shake my head. He then nods and spreads his arms out towards Lourdes.

"Ciao pazza lei diavolo! (hello crazy she devil!)," Spencer exclaims. She looks dumbstruck and narrows her eyes. "The hell you say? And since when do you speak italian?" she says.

"He called you a crazy she devil," Caden laughs. "Traitor," Spencer mutters. "I should break your nose," she says challenging Spencer. Spencer smirks his blue eyes glinting in a challenging motion. "That's if your short ass could reach my nose."

"I'm 5 foot 6, like Nixie that's not short," Lourdes growls. "Not to us," River says. "You guys might as well be midgets compared to us," Ashton says.

"Yeah, that's because you guys are fucking giganti massicci (massive giants)," I said. "The fuck does that mean?" Spencer groans. "Massive giants," Ashton, Caden, Dad, and River respond in unison.

"I hate you guys," Spencer mutters and walks out to the living room. We all laugh, and they all follow him into the living room. Leaving Ashton and I alone. Again. On the same fucking day.

Oh Signore! (oh lord!)

I put the lid on top of the pot and sighed. "How long is that going to take?" Ashton asked me. "I'll just let it simmer for about 15 mintues. Not long," I said, still avoiding his eyes.

My heart is still beating hard and fast. I felt like he could possibly hear it. He's making me extremely nervous. "You okay?" He says. "Yeah, I'm good," I say looking down at my black socks.

"You're not looking me in the eye," he states. I sigh as lightly as I could and look into his bright ocean eyes. He looks back into my brown orbs. "I'm good," I tell him, staring straight into his eyes.

He nods and then I felt his hand go up to my face but only to brush away curly strands of my hair from my face. "You should put your hair up when you're cooking," he whispers.

I nod to him without saying a word because I didn't trust my voice at the moment. I watch as the corner of his lips turn slightly upward and he smirks. He lets his hand fall and he moves to get off the counter top.

When his feet touched the ground, our proximity was so close I could feel his minty breath on my cheek. "Sorry," I whisper. He chuckled lightly and I moved to the side to get out of his way.

He started to walk to the living room to join the others.

I use the countertop he was sitting on to compose my balance so I wouldn't fall on my ass.

What in il nome di dio (God's name) was that?!

*****************

"Guys! Dinner!" I yelled after finishing setting the table up. I finished making the one pot parm and after that I made the only salad I knew the guys would eat. A chicken and bacon caesar salad. After making that I made dessert which is finishing cooling off, cookie dough cheesecake. They are in for one hell of a surprise when I take that diabetes monstrosity out. Then I took out the red wine.

They all come into the dining room with smiles on their faces. "Ooh, I'm excited," Spencer exclaims and claps his hands together excitedly.

"It's just pasta," I said sitting down at the far end of the table. My dad sits at the foot of the table while Ashton sits across from me and Lourdes sits next to me. "Pasta isn't just pasta when you make it, Nix." Caden says sitting in the third chair next to Lourdes.

Spencer sits next to his brother and River sits next to Spencer. We dig in and talk amongst ourselves. "Tesoro (sweetheart), when do you start working?" my dad asked me. "To-" I started but was rudely interrupted by Spencer's moaning of eating the pasta.

"Really?" I said. "This shit is good. It's been a while. Now let me enjoy," he says, shutting his eyes looking like he's part of the Food Network. I shake my head. "Tomorrow morning."

"How was college?" Caden asked Lourdes and I. We glanced at each other. "Interesting," Lourdes and I say in unison. "Interesting how?" my dad asked us. "Especially for Nixie," Lourdes says.

Bitch, the fuck? I snap my head to her and glare. She gives me apologetic eyes showing that she didn't mean to say that out loud. "What do you mean 'especially for Nixie," my dad asked.

"Nothing, Dad," I said. "Oh, now I'm definitely interested," Dad exclaims. Oh God, why?

"Does it have anything to do with guys?" River says his mouth slightly with pasta. "No," I said a little too quickly. Spencer laughs. "It definitely has something to do with guys." River smirks.

"Keep talking, testa di cazzo e questa forchetta ti salirà nel culo (dickhead, and this fork will go right up your ass)," I said to River. "Jesus, Phoenix. That's kind of graphic," he says.

I roll my eyes. "Phoenix, di cosa parlano Lourdes e River? Che ragazzi? (what is Lourdes and River talking about? What guys?)" Dad asked me. I clench my jaw.

"It's not that serious. Just little flings," I told him. "Little?" Lourdes mutters quietly. I glare towards her again. "Phoenix," Dad says sternly. "Te lo dirò quando saremo completamente soli, papa (I will tell you when we're completely alone, Dad)," I responded. "Can we please change the subject now," I said.

Everyone agreed and we steered off course the short-lived complicated relationships I had in college.

Especially the one I had with my Art professor.