Knox (knoxinator) wrote in reality_dome, @ 2013-12-03 21:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | ~knox knoxville, ~shayna mae carter |
Quickest Way To a Man's Heart
Characters: Shayna Mae and Knox
When: Wednesday, a little after noon
Location: the kitchen
Warnings/Rating: some light swearing
Summary: Shayna Mae bakes cookies and makes lunch, Knox chats her up
Status: Complete, gdoc'd
After her brief outing that morning with Jem, Shayna Mae had decided to stay indoors for the rest of the day. It made her feel a bit restless, but the house was large enough that there seemed to be plenty to do to keep her busy. Not to mention the people wandering around, so it wasn’t as if she would start to feel lonely. Not yet, anyway. Sometime after noon, Shayna Mae found the kitchen empty and began to look through the pantry and cabinets. At one point, she found herself pulling down the ingredients she’d need to make chocolate chip cookies. She wasn’t the best cook in the world, but she loved baking, having picked up the habit from her ma, back when she was living at home.
It was a soothing process, cracking eggs, measuring flour, mixing in cup of chocolate chips. She had one batch in the oven in no time and began to mix another shortly after. There were enough people in the house that unless they tasted like the bottom of her shoe, she was sure the cookies would go fast. For a little while, Shayna Mae was able to forget where she was, and why she was there. It felt like home again, standing barefoot in the kitchen with her hair piled on top of her head, singing Dolly Parton quietly to herself, occasionally swaying her hips to the music only she could hear in her head. She brushed her wrist against her cheek a few times, smearing flour there but barely recognizing that she had done it. The counter top was a mess, but Shayna Mae didn’t have the organizational skills to keep everything tidy when she was cooking. Clean up came later.
After he’d chatted with Jaime for a while in the entertainment room, Knox had gone back upstairs to grab a quick shower and chill for a bit. It may have been a dry heat outside, but temperatures hovering around the 100-mark tended to take a lot out of a guy. Finally he got hungry and ambled back downstairs to head to the kitchen and rustle up something to eat.
His steps slowed as he approached and the delectable smell of baking cookies hit him. Well that was something he hadn’t experienced in a while, wasn’t it? It wasn’t like he and Rocky were even passable cooks, much less bakers. They’d lived on frozen meals and fast food, for the most part. Knox eyed the woman who was apparently making another batch, taking in the messy blonde hair and the curve of her hips and the soft way she was singing. Wasn’t that just a pretty sight? He cleared his throat to announce himself as he headed toward the fridge to snag something to drink. “Smells good,” he offered.
Shayna Mae hadn't noticed Knox when he appeared in the kitchen, which was pretty amazing in of itself, given how...large he was. But Shayna Mae was lost in thought, and song, and she quickly looked up from the cookie dough bowl when he cleared his throat, only mildly startled by the sound of it. It took her a moment or two for her mouth to catch up with her brain, because suddenly she was a bit distracted by the look of him. Tall and intimidating. And, of course, those muscles.
Once she was sure she could speak, Shayna Mae smiled at him and then went back to mixing the chocolate chips into the dough with the wooden spoon she had found. "Thanks. Cookies almost always smell good, 'less they burn. But hopefully they taste good too." She glanced over at him again, her smile widening a bit. "You stick 'round for five more minutes, you get to have the first one, if you want it."
She was even prettier from the front, and Knox quirked a little half-smile while she was still looking at him. Yeah, the recruiters or producers or whoever made the casting decisions definitely liked pretty girls. He didn’t think he’d spotted an unattractive one yet. Not that he was complaining, God knew. The offer to get the first taste made him grin, and he leaned a shoulder against the fridge door after he closed it and cracked his water bottle open. “I think that’s worth more’n five minutes,” he said. Her accent was like music to his ears; another Southerner. She didn’t sound like she was from his neck of the woods, a little more Cajun-like, but that was closer than anybody else so far, and something about it was comforting. “I’m Knox,” he added.
Of course, Shayna Mae's thoughts were quite similar to Knox's. She had yet to meet anyone in the house who wasn't attractive, on some level. Honestly, she felt a bit plain next to some of the women she had met so far, but Shayna Mae wasn't terribly concerned about that kind of thing. She hadn't come here to hook up, or find romance of any kind. Pleased with Knox's response, Shayna Mae went back to mixing the dough, though it was more or less finished. She just needed something to do with her hands to resist the urge to touch. A man built like that was made for touching, wasn't he?
"I'm Shayna Mae," she said before smiling curiously. The name definitely fit him, or so she thought, anyway. "I like that name. Knox. Is that short for somethin'?"
He recalled her name from the network greeting and nodded a touch. Yeah, with a name like Shayna Mae and a drawl like that, she was definitely one of his people. “Thanks, yeah, it’s short for Knoxville. My last name, but s’what I been goin’ by for so long, might as well keep it up.” Knox chuckled and took a swallow of water, letting his eyes drift down to where she was mixing more dough. The smell of cookies was making his stomach rumble a bit. They weren’t a substitute for a real meal, but they’d tide him over for a few minutes while he made something else. Plus, dessert first was a completely legitimate way to eat, right? Right. “Where you from, sugar?” he asked, still half-smiling at her.
Knoxville. Obviously, Shayna Mae was curious about what his first name was, more so now that he hadn't offered it up to her. But maybe she could get it out of him before he disappeared. "Cullen, Louisiana," Shayna Mae said. "Been sort of livin' here 'n there for awhile now, though." Setting the spoon down on the counter, Shayna Mae picked up the bowl and moved it over to where she had another cookie sheet ready to go. After a brief second of contemplation, Shayna Mae lifted a brow expectantly at him, her smile slightly flirtatious. "Since I got you waitin' on a cookie, you wanna come over here and help me roll the dough? You can tell me 'bout where you're from, or you can let me guess, since that voice is definitely Southern." Which could explain why she felt comfortable with him already. He was imposing, physically, and some women might have been uncomfortable, but not Shayna Mae. She felt like she actually wanted him a bit closer.
Closer sounded pretty good, and Knox grinned a bit more at the sight of that smile. He straightened up and walked to where she was, setting his water bottle out of the way. He was pleased that he’d guessed her area of the south, more or less. She was even tinier up close, more than a foot shorter than him, seemed like, but she was curvy and he could get behind that. “You’re right so far,” he answered, then nodded at the bowl of dough. “Gonna hafta show me how, though, I ain’t done this since I was a kid. And then I more jus’ got in the way and snuck eatin’ dough.” He watched her hands as Shayna Mae started to show him, glancing at her face every couple of seconds. “So if y’had to guess ...?” Knox dipped his fingers into the dough and did his best to replicate what she was doing.
Shayna Mae angled her body some so she had an easier time looking at him while he helped her roll the dough. With his height, she had to look up at him, but that was more than okay. He was nice to look at, after all, and Shayna Mae didn't think there was anything wrong with appreciating the physical attributes of an attractive guy. It had been awhile since she had been unable to stop from smiling, and Shayna Mae wondered if her cheeks would be sore by the time they finished here. "Here," Shayna Mae said, scraping about a tablespoon worth of dough from the bowl with her fingers and starting to roll it between her palms to make a ball. "Like this, about this big. Though, hold on, this'll help." She set the ball down on the cookie sheet, then picked up some flour from the small bowl nearby before turning to him and taking one of his hands. She began to spread it around his palm, patting it a couple of times before releasing him. "That'll keep it from gettin' too sticky." Then she went back to the dough herself before making a small noise in her throat. "It don't sound like you're from Texas, or Alabama. But...I think I want t' say Georgia, maybe?"
He was cooperative as she took his hand and doused him with flour, unable to help but note the size-difference in their hands. It was difficult to avoid with his height and size, as very few of them came close to matching him, but Knox had always been partial to smaller women. They were just ... cute. And Shayna Mae with her messy blonde hair and her bright smile was no different. Knox thought with some amusement that Rocky probably would’ve been in love with her already. His best friend tended to fall fast and hard for the pretty ones who would pay him any mind at all. Goofy bastard. It gave Knox a pang in the chest to think about him, and he wished hard that he could get just one damn outside phone call, but that was off the table, as far as he knew. Anyway, what was right in front of him was more interesting at the moment. He pursed his lips and then smirked at Shayna Mae, carefully rolling dough balls and sticking them on the cookie sheet. “Closer’n the first two,” he said. “Florida. ‘Round the Everglades.” He didn’t know where Cullen was, but he kind of liked the idea of both of them being swamp people.
Well, hey! She was close. At least she had been right on him not being from Texas or Alabama, based on his accent. "I ain't never been to Florida," Shayna Mae said as she set another cookie ball beside his. "But maybe someday. I'd go and finally see the ocean." One would have thought living in Louisiana would have meant several trips to the beach, but Cullen was closer to Arkansas than it was the ocean, and Shayna Mae's family had never had the money for those sorts of vacations, and she and Simon had rarely left Nashville, even when they could. "What'd you miss most about it?" she asked, ticking her gaze up toward his face. Shayna Mae was noticing his dark eyebrows, and the scar that cut through one of them. "Assumin' you miss something."
Knox couldn’t imagine not living close to a bunch of water. He’d never had any significant money in his life, but Mama Sutter had still made a point to load up all the kids and take them to the beach every couple of years when they were coming up. Body surfing and letting the massive ocean make him feel light and small had always been one of Knox’s favorite things. “Well, after all this, you’ll be able t’go anywhere you want,” he pointed out, balling up another future cookie and putting it down. Between the two of them, they were making pretty quick work of it. Knox glanced up and caught Shayna Mae looking at him, and he offered her a little grin. “My family, mostly. My best friend. Goin’ out drinkin’ and dancin’.” Of course, he’d been missing all of those for a couple years extra, but he wasn’t about to tell her that yet. The more normal he could act, the better. “How ‘bout you?”
She wasn't so sure that she would have the freedom to go anywhere she wanted. Maybe financially, sure. But she worried she would still have to hide and never be able to settle in one place. But he was right. Shayna Mae could absolutely take a trip to the ocean, even if it was just to see it once. Listening to Knox, she really liked that he had more than one thing he missed. That meant something. And it was impossible not to note, in a silly, girlish kind of way, that he didn't mention a wife, or girlfriend. "Sounds like you got plenty waitin' for you back home." The oven timer beeped, and Shayna Mae stepped over to pull on a oven mitt so she could pull the cookies out and set them on top of the stove to cool. Then she moved back toward Knox to finish up the batch they were working on. Shayna Mae had taken those few moments to try and think of a good answer to give him, but when she spoke, she sounded hesitant, and thoughtful. "I miss....well, my family." Which shouldn't have been that hard of an answer to come up with. "I miss singin'. I used to sing in some of the bars I worked in. I miss that." She scooped out the remaining dough and began to roll it, shooting him a quick grin. "I miss dancing too. I haven't danced in a long time."
“I got what I need.” What Knox had back home might not have been much for some people, but it was home in every sense of the word. Nothing was more important to him than his family, even if he sometimes wanted to crack their skulls open. That was what family meant. He didn’t take Shayna Mae’s pause as a stall tactic, just moved to wash his hands off in the kitchen sink while she dealt with the cookies and then took care of the rest of the dough. He smiled brightly back at her when she said she hadn’t danced in a while. “Well, we gotta fix that,” he said as if it was already decided. Which it was. A pretty girl like that ought to be sick of dancing, not pining for it, in Knox’s humble opinion. Girls loved to dance, which was the main reason he’d learned how at all. He’d been surprised to find that he was pretty decent at it, to boot. “I’ll trade you a dance for a song.” He dried his hands off on a towel and grinned at her.
Shayna Mae felt a pang of envy, because it was a rare thing for anyone to really be content with what they had, especially when it wasn't much. But she had made her choices, and now she was dealing with them the best way she knew how. Picking up the last cookie sheet, Shayna Mae slid the cookies into the oven and closed the door, setting the timer before moving over to wash her own hands. His offer of a dance distracted her from her thoughts, and another bright smile crossed her face quickly as she looked at him. "Really? Even if I'm a horrible singer and make your ears bleed? You'd still wanna dance with me?" She was a horrible singer, but Shayna Mae had never really acknowledged it. She always loved singing and thought she sounded just fine, even if she hadn't always gotten the best reception on karaoke night. Shayna Mae turned off the water and rested her hip against the counter before giving him a playfully suspicious look. "And by dancin', do you mean nice dancin', or gropin' my ass dancin'."
Knox just had to check out her ass as Shayna Mae bent to put the cookies in the oven, but it was only a quick glance. He tried to be a gentleman most of the time with women he didn’t know well, but he was still a man. A man who hadn’t gotten laid in literal years, to boot. Knox hadn’t had any conjugal visits while he was up river, so to speak. That was all easy enough to forget at the moment when Shayna Mae smiled, however. “Really really,” he confirmed, dimpling back at her. “Bad singin’ don’t mean you can’t dance. And I mean nice dancin’.” He tried to look jokingly insulted, but he couldn’t even pull that off with her looking at him like that. Knox quirked a brow at her and smirked. “‘Less you want me gropin’ your ass. I ain’t opposed, but think we oughta have dinner first.” It felt deliciously normal to do this, flirt with a pretty girl. That was something else he’d sorely missed. Weirdness aside, this place was turning out to be much less ugly than prison life had been.
Unable to help herself, Shayna Mae laughed. It felt good, and nice and yes, her cheeks were definitely going to be sore later, and that was okay. More than okay, because she couldn't remember the last time she smiled this much and actually meant it. When her laughter trailed off into amused giggles, Shayna Mae gave a nod and pushed away from the counter to find a spatula to get the finished cookies off the sheet and onto a plate. "I think that's a fair deal. A song for a dance. And then maybe if you decide you like dancin' with me, we can have dinner. No promises on the ass gropin'," she said, pulling a spatula from the drawer, "but never say never, right?" Shayna Mae wondered what it would be like, dancing with a man so much taller than she was. It would probably look silly as all hell, but she didn't really care. Just the idea of being able to dance with a man again had her smiling from ear to ear with the anticipation of it.
Knox considered that laugh an accomplishment. Granted, most of the people here probably hadn’t been quite as miserable as he’d been over the past couple of years, but still. It was nice to make someone make that noise again. Especially a pretty someone who didn’t seem to be able to quit smiling. He stayed out of her way -- though he definitely wasn’t going far -- and watched her start to unload the cookies. “Never say never,” he agreed with a lopsided smile. He wouldn’t hold his breath for anything besides a dance, but who knew, he could get lucky, right? Plenty of women in Florida had found enough appealing about him to fall into his bed or take him to theirs, why should it be much different here? Besides him being out of his element and rusty and mingling with a weird mish-mash of strangers and people growing wings and shit. Those were all just side-inconveniences, right? While Shayna Mae was still spatula-ing the cookies, Knox snuck a quick hand in there to grab one.
Shayna Mae didn't make it a habit of going to bed with people she barely knew, but maybe she hoped to get to know Knox better. She certainly found him attractive enough, and if he was really willing to listen to her sing, just so they could have a dance too... well, that was a good enough start for her. If nothing else, maybe she was making a new friend. God knew she needed some. She let him steal a cookie and then set the spatula down before turning to face him. "So now we got plans for a song and dancin'. Maybe dinner and potential ass gropin', too." Amusement shined in her eyes as she rested her hand on her hip. "Will I get to know what your first name is before all this fun is had, or is that somethin' I gotta work for."
Knox munched on the cookie and sure enough, it was completely delicious. They were always the best when they were fresh out of the oven and still warm and gooey. He grunted his approval and half-smiled at her while he chewed. Potential ass groping was better than no ass groping at all, if you asked him. Knox chuckled and popped the second half of the cookie into his mouth. “Somethin’ you gotta work for. An’ get ready for the long haul, sugar, only ‘bout a dozen people alive know my first name,” he warned her. His tone was light and jovial, but it was the truth. He was just ‘Knox’ to as many people as possible. His good for nothing mother couldn’t even give him a decent name to go by. “When you wanna serenade me?”
He seemed to be enjoying the cookie, which made Shayna Mae smile. Hell, what wasn't making her smile at the moment? With a soft laugh, Shayna Mae nodded. "Okay, I can do long haul. You'll find I can be pretty determined when I wanna be. I won't nag you for it. But I think you'll tell me." Turning to lean back against the counter, she thought over his question, biting her lip before glancing up at him. "Anytime you want. It ain't like I got a whole calendar full of things to do. But maybe later? When I ain't covered in flour and smell like butter?"
“We’ll see,” Knox said with a smirk. He had a stubborn streak a mile wide and being stubborn about his name was something he’d had a lot of practice at. So it would be interesting to see how hard Shayna Mae’s head was about it. “Nothin’ wrong with smellin’ like butter,” he told her, but nodded just the same. “Anytime you feel like it, not like I’m goin’ anywhere.” It wasn’t like any of them were, most likely. Knox knew you could quit the show if you really wanted or needed to, but he was willing to bet that money was too important to most everyone here. “That was the best cookie I had in years, by the way,” he added, grinning at her.
It was a small, probably insignificant thing, but Shayna Mae definitely felt like a challenge had been put in front of her. And she loved it. Obviously, she couldn’t predict what would happen with Knox on any level, but now she knew if she did end up getting his first name out of him, then that meant he liked her. Probably more than liked her, but Shayna Mae wasn’t thinking about that yet. Right now, it was just nice to have the opportunity to spend time with someone she already found interesting. And attractive. “Okay, how about Friday night, maybe? It’s been some time since I sang sang, so you know… preparation,” she teased. And maybe she would see him around the house before then too, even if it was sitting around and talking, or something. Smiling at his compliment, Shayna Mae reached up to brush some loose hair behind her ear. “I’ll make you more, sometime, then. Been a long time since I been able to bake for anyone.”
Knox was seeing potential liking everywhere at the moment, but so far Shayna Mae was a front-runner. She was lovely, she could bake, and she was from his neck of the woods, kinda-sorta. She also wasn’t asking him weird questions about being able to throw her or whatever. But they would see, he guessed. Expecting the future to go a certain way almost never worked out, in his experience. “Friday sounds perfect,” Knox answered. Remembering that he’d come to the kitchen in the first place to get some real food, he headed for the freezer again to pull out something for lunch. “B’lieve me, I won’t argue,” he added with a laugh. “You bake it, I’ll eat it, sugar.”
"Remember that, especially if I mess it up," Shayna Mae said, watching him move back toward the freezer. She needed to remind herself that she hadn't come here for flirtations, but it was damned difficult to remember that right now. But it wasn't like Knox had been the first good looking man Shayna Mae had spoken to. Jake had been handsome. So had Jem. She just hadn't felt any internal spark when she'd been around them. It wasn't something Shayna Mae actively sought out, it was just something that happened. The last time she'd felt a spark for any man, it had been Simon, and look how that had turned out. She watched him pull something from the freezer before lifting a brow. "I can make you somethin', if you want. I ain't had lunch yet either. Somethin' fresh might be better than somethin' frozen."
Knox looked down at the Hot Pocket in his hand and then back up at Shayna Mae with a crooked grin. She was going to bake and make him lunch? A woman after his own heart. Stomach. Whatever. “If it ain’t too much trouble ...” he said, though his tone was hopeful. He didn’t want her to think he was taking advantage, but be damned if he turned down that sort of delicious hospitality. He was a big boy, he needed fuel.
"If it was, I wouldn'tve offered," Shayna Mae said, pushing away from the counter and waving at the thing in his hand. "Put that back. I ain't no gourmet chef, but I promise not to give you food poisoning." Walking over to the fridge, Shayna Mae pulled it open and glanced up at him. "You ever have a Monte Cristo sandwich? It's got meat and cheese and some other things, but it's melted like those uh... panini things? And they're pretty good. I learned to make 'em when I was livin' on my own." She was betting that Knox was no vegetarian, and sandwiches, even cooked ones, were really easy to put together for something like lunch. "Can make some french fries with it too, if you'd want some."
Shayna Mae probably could’ve just heated up a can of ravioli and Knox would’ve been pleased with it, just because he didn’t have to do it. Even living technically on his own with Rocky, the two of them had been at Rocky’s mother’s house for nearly half their meals. The others came from pizza and takeout, usually. Knox had even started to gain a bit of pudge before he’d been put into prison. That shitty food and all the time to exercise had taken care of that problem for him, most definitely. “That sounds like heaven,” he told Shayna Mae earnestly and with a bright grin. He waited until she was clear of the fridge to put the frozen food box back into the freezer, then found a good spot out of the way to lean against the counter and watch her. “So you used’ta work at a bar, you said? Back home?”
Shayna Mae began to pull the ingredients from the fridge, setting them on the counter as she did so. It seemed like they had just about everything she would need, and if they didn't, she was pretty good at improvising. Shayna Mae loved cooking for people. Especially men. That phrase, the quickest way to a man's heart was through his stomach, generally proved to be true. Plus, she was hungry, and this way she got to eat, and talk to Knox a bit longer. Closing the fridge with her heel, Shayna Mae set the mayo and mustard down before finding a pan to grill the sandwiches on. She nodded at his question, glancing at him. "A few, here and there. I was workin' at one for a few months. I liked it 'cause it was a bit of a dive, and they had nights where people could sing, and dance. Everyone was always happy, unless they had a lot of bad liquor. There really ain't much to waitressin'," she said, straightening from the bottom cabinet to set the pan on the stove burner. "Servin' drinks and smiling a lot. Maybe a wink or two. Best way to get good tips."
Knox let out a little laugh and nodded. “I bet,” he said. He knew he would’ve tipped her well, if she’d smiled and winked at him. He probably would’ve hung out at that dive bar as much as he could, honestly. That made him feel all nostalgic, but whatever. Quite a few things were doing that to him lately. He crossed his big arms over his chest casually, watching her move around and start to make food for them. “Sounds like home. Me an’ my brother, we hit up plenty’a dives in our day. Practically lived in ‘em, when we wasn’t workin’.” When he said ‘brother,’ he meant Rocky, who wasn’t blood but might as well be. When Knox was comfortable with someone, he slipped into referring to the Sutters as his direct relatives without even thinking about it. To them, they were all family. “You sing any, there?”
She grabbed the bread and pulled four slices out, then got to work stacking the sandwiches properly. But she was listening to Knox, and smiling. Maybe they had plenty in common. It sure seemed that way. "Tippin' pretty waitresses?" Shayna Mae teased, wondering if his brother looked anything like him. "I sang some, yeah. When I could. Usually on my break, or if my shift ended early. What did you do, before all this?" She imagined him as some kind of construction worker. Or maybe he was a bounty hunter, chasing down bad guys and kicking ass. Obviously she thought he had to have been someone who did a lot of physical labor. That, or he just really, really liked to work out.
“Tippin’ all the waitresses, but the pretty ones more,” he replied, his own tone joking. Or maybe not. It was sometimes true. He might not have said it, but Shayna Mae probably knew the score, if she’d worked in places like that. It was what it was. “I was uh, a wildlife relocator. Catchin’ snakes and raccoons and gators wandered into people’s yards.” He knew it wasn’t your standard job, but it was one that he’d really enjoyed and missed the whole time he was in prison. For now, Knox was just going to skip over that little detail, about him being up river for the past couple of years. He didn’t want to scare her off, especially not so soon.
Oh, she was sure that much was true. Most of the waitresses Shayna Mae had worked with were really pretty. Some were just sort of pretty, but they made up for that with big breasts. Guys they served hadn't always cared about the face when ample cleavage was in view. But she didn't say anything about that. Instead she reached into the drawer for a butter knife. "Really? I ain't never known anyone who did that. I imagine you'd have to be pretty brave to do a job like that." And Shayna Mae assumed he was. She looked at him then, definitely interested in hearing more. "You ever get bit or anythin' like that?"
‘Brave’ was much better than ‘stupid’ or ‘crazy,’ which were also words out of some people who heard about his job. Knox didn’t think he was that brave, but he would take the implication anyway. “Oh yeah,” he answered with a laugh. “Not by nothin’ big enough t’take an arm off, but I’ve had my share of rabies shots and a few trips to the ER for anti-venom. I loved it though. And it was good money, y’know? And we didn’t have t’work all the time. ... me and my brother, we worked together.” Had he said that? He didn’t think so. Talking to a girl this pretty while she made him food was a little distracting.
To her that was brave, and her eyes widened a bit at the thought of having to get shots and the like for bites and venom. She thought of the snake she had seen with Jem outside. The pale brown skin blending in with the sand, the darker patches spotting its body and the raised scales above its eyes. Shayna Mae paused for a moment, wondering how it was she recalled so much detail, given they hadn’t gotten terribly close to it. Had they? In any case, Shayna Mae shook off the thoughts and refocused on Knox. “What’s your brother like?” Shayna Mae asked, placing one of the sandwiches on the pan and hearing the butter sizzle from the heat.
Knox arched a brow and nearly asked which one until he realized he’d called Rocky ‘brother’ without thinking about it. He gave a little laugh. “Uh well, I got a couple’a half-brothers, but th’ one I mean’s named Rocky. He ain’t blood kin to me, but he’s close enough. Closer, even. His mama helped raise us, me an’ him’s the same age, we grew up t’gether.” He paused and smiled with real warmth and nostalgia. God, he missed that big idiot. How to describe him, though? “He’s uh ... one’a the nicest people I ever met. Dumb as a box’a rocks most of the time, but he’s sweet as he can be, he’d try t’help anybody. Big guy, we used’ta run around together and wrestle and get in trouble all th’ time.” He bit his tongue on the ‘he would love you’ that wanted to come out of his mouth; he’d just met her like twenty minutes ago, that was probably too much too soon. That was Rocky, though.
Setting the second sandwich down, Shayna Mae laughed a little at Knox's description of Rocky. She could hear the affection in his tone and she had always been drawn to men who seemed to care about their family, despite what kind of situation Shayna Mae had found herself in with her own. Men who loved their families usually had good hearts. "Sounds like you really care 'bout him," Shayna Mae said, smiling softly as she wiped her hands on the backs of her jean shorts before turning to face him as the sandwiches cooked. "I bet you miss him. You plannin' on goin' home after all this is over?"
He couldn’t help but look at where she wiped her hands off, but Knox’s eyes ticked right to her face when she turned around. He gave a little shoulder shrug at her assessment; it was true that he missed Rocky, and had been for far longer than she was probably thinking, but talking about it wouldn’t change anything. If he could just buckle down and survive this year, things would be so much better. “Yeah, that’s what I’m thinkin’,” he answered. “I mean, might travel some later on -- ain’t been too far outta Florida my whole life -- but first I just wanna go home an’ see everybody. What about you? Who’s waitin’ on you back in Cullen?” Somebody had to be, a girl that pretty and sweet surely wasn’t all alone.
Shayna Mae parted her lips to answer him, but her mind went completely blank. She simply stood there for a moment before the oven beeped and saved her from having to think of a decent lie. Turning away, Shayna Mae grabbed the oven mitt and pulled the cookies out of the oven. Once they were set aside to cool, she washed off the spatula to use to flip the sandwiches. Then she forced herself to relax before glancing at Knox with a smaller smile. “Uh… my parents, I reckon. Maybe a handful of friends, but none I’m really close to?” She didn’t even think she would be going back to Cullen for awhile, but who knew? A lot could happen in a year, right?
Even with the distraction of taking the cookies out of the oven, Knox noticed the uncomfortable pause. He was curious, of course, but now wasn’t the time to ask. Or ever, maybe. If he wasn’t going to talk about his sordid past, he couldn’t expect anybody else to either. Maybe Shayna Mae would tell him some of it sometime, maybe not. Knox gave her a little smile as she looked at him again. “Well, not like y’don’t got time to think about it,” he said. They all did, if they made it through this. He doubted he would be changing his own mind, but who knew. A year was quite a while.
Shayna Mae didn't think her past was very sordid, but it wasn't pleasant and she had come here to try and escape it. Besides, she liked Knox already and didn't feel like scaring him off so soon. "Seems like a long time, don't it? A year?" She shook her head and decided the sandwiches were done enough, now that the cheese looked melted. Shayna Mae smiled and pulled two plates down from the cabinet. "Don't you think we'll all end up hatin' one another by the end of it?"
Knox gave a short laugh. “Could be,” he said. It wouldn’t surprise him if at least a couple of people ended up being mortal enemies here. Wasn’t that was shows like this thrived on? Conflict. Most everyone he’d met had been nice so far, but who knew how long that would last. People were probably still in polite mode at the moment, and that would wear off eventually. “We’ll see, I guess.” The food seemed almost done, so Knox uncrossed his arms and straightened up, ready to take his plate, sit, and wolf it down. The first home-cooked-but-not-by-him meal he’d had in over two years.
Turning off the stove and the oven, Shayna Mae readied Knox’s plate and handed it to him with a smile. Hopefully he would like it. She had always enjoyed cooking for people, even if she wasn’t no gourmet chef or anything. “Wanna sit?” she asked, picking up her own plate and motioned to the table. She knew from experience that some boys just scarfed their food down from wherever they were, sitting or standing. It would be the first real meal she had actually shared with someone in quite some time. And it was a very handsome someone too.
“Yeah,” Knox answered with a little smile. He moved out into the dining room and pulled a chair out for Shayna Mae before he plopped down into one of them himself. If he’d been at home, he probably would’ve just stood there and ate it in the kitchen, since he and Rocky didn’t even own a proper table, but he wasn’t at home. Not home-home, anyway. This house and it’s changing landscape was home for the time being. After flashing Shayna Mae another smile, he picked up the sandwich and started to eat, trying to pace himself so he didn’t get done within a couple of minutes.
Shayna Mae thanked him when he pulled the chair out for her before taking a seat. Then she began to eat, though mindful that she had company. She was pretty hungry, but it wouldn't be cute at all to chow down her food in four bites. Besides, she was much too distracted by his presence, occasionally glancing at him between bites. He was definitely nice to look at. Knox seemed to be enjoying his sandwich, so Shayna Mae relaxed, content with the company and thinking maybe this whole situation and experiment would maybe be worth it.