{"id":375,"date":"2011-04-12T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/?p=375"},"modified":"2013-09-27T16:16:36","modified_gmt":"2013-09-27T23:16:36","slug":"an-accidental-outfit-of-berries-and-ricotta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/?p=375","title":{"rendered":"Season 2: Episode 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWhy hasn\u2019t he called?\u201d Willow demanded, for about the 700th<\/sup> time that day. She threw down the tea towel she\u2019d been using to dry the dishes and stomped her foot on the ground. \u201cHe said he would call!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ana and Mia looked at each other. Whose turn was it to placate her? They\u2019d never seen Willow so upset by a man before \u2013 she usually just brushed these things off with a laugh and some baked goods. After her \u201camazing\u201d 24-hour date last weekend, Willow had been floating on cloud nine. But it had gradually downgraded to cloud eight by Tuesday, four by Thursday and today, Saturday, she had moved into negatives. Cloud minus-three. Carlo had said he would call, but he hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s probably been busy with, ahhh\u2026 work,\u201d Ana was clutching at straws. It was hard when neither she nor Mia had met the man Willow had fallen for so hard, so fast. He sounded great, they couldn\u2019t deny it, but perhaps a bit too good to be true?<\/p>\n

Willow sighed. \u201cYou\u2019re right. Of course, you\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither of them wanted to be the one to break it to her that, perhaps, Carlo was not good news.<\/p>\n

For the first time in ages, the girls were all home together. They had invited Tom and Johnny over for dinner \u2013 or, rather, Ana had invited Tom and Johnny over \u2013 so they were preparing an easy meal. Although, Ana was beginning to regret the impromptu dinner party invitation. Neither of her co-hosts seemed to be in particularly good sprits, both of them undertaking preparation tasks with about as much enthusiasm as if readying for a trip to the dentist. Mia was doing her best impression of a mime, having barely said three words since she had got home from work. Willow \u2013 who had refused to go to the market for fear of seeing Carlo \u2013 was making a salad with the ingredients she had made Ana fetch, while she verbally dissected \u2013 again \u2013 every interaction she had ever had with Carlo.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Mia, are you going to see Nick again soon?\u201d Ana said, trying to both move the topic away from Carlo and elicit some kind of conversation from her silent housemate.<\/p>\n

\u201cDunno,\u201d Mia mumbled before turning her attention back to shelling the prawns.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe<\/i> can\u2019t get hers to stop<\/i> calling, and mine won\u2019t call at all,\u201d snapped Willow, uncharacteristically.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, maybe you should swap!\u201d Ana bit back, exasperated.<\/p>\n

There was silence for a second before Willow gave a sheepish smile. \u201cI sound like a broken record, don\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n

She went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of chilled wine, opening it and pouring three glasses. She raised her glass. \u201cI promise that I won\u2019t mention the C word again. For tonight, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that moment, Tom jogged into the kitchen. \u201cHas he called?\u201d he asked Willow, breathlessly.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll get dessert ready,\u201d Mia said, after they had all had their fill of prawns and fresh salad.<\/p>\n

She wandered into the kitchen, grateful to be away from the table. She\u2019d felt Johnny\u2019s eyes on her the whole night and was trying her best to be cool, calm and collected, but felt she was failing. Miserably.<\/p>\n

She opened the fridge, closing her eyes and letting the cool air rush out and calm her crimson cheeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I help?\u201d<\/p>\n

She turned abruptly.<\/p>\n

Johnny.<\/p>\n

Mia smiled shyly. \u201cSure. Wash these?\u201d<\/p>\n

She passed him punnets of fresh strawberries and raspberries, recoiling quickly as his hands brushed hers. They worked in silence for a little while, Johnny washing and hulling, and Mia chopping the berries into bite-size pieces, adding fresh ricotta, honey and mint.<\/p>\n

Mia eventually broke the silence. \u201cSorry about the other night. I had a\u2026 work thing on. Couldn\u2019t get out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnny shrugged with a nonchalance Mia recognised but then was thoughtful for a minute. When he spoke, his voice was tentative. \u201cWe could try again tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia couldn\u2019t suppress her grin. \u201cYeah, that\u2019d be\u2026\u201d She trailed off. Shit! She\u2019d already agreed to go out with Nick tomorrow. He had a surprise planned, had phoned earlier to make sure she could still come. She couldn\u2019t cancel on him at this short notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, actually, I\u2019ve got another\u2026 work thing on tomorrow night. Next week, maybe?\u201d<\/p>\n

Just at that moment Tom and Willow strolled into the kitchen carrying a stack of plates each.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey Mia, I keep forgetting to ask. How was your hot date last weekend?\u201d Tom said.<\/p>\n

Mia glanced at Johnny. He was holding a bowl of berries so tightly his knuckles had turned white.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was no big deal,\u201d Mia said as casually as she could. \u201cNot a date, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willow snorted and put down the plates. \u201cNo big deal?\u201d She turned to Tom. \u201cShe has been in love with this guy for, like, ever! And they\u2019re going out again tomorrow night.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was as if the bowl just disintegrated in his hands, because all of a sudden Johnny had dessert all over himself, the red berries staining his white T-shirt and trickling down his hands, landing with soft plops<\/i> on the tiled floor. He held up the two broken halves of the bowl, looking at them in shock.<\/p>\n

Tom laughed. \u201cObviously don\u2019t know your own strength!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so sorry\u2026\u201d Johnny sounded as though he was almost in tears.<\/p>\n

The others assured him it was OK \u2013 it was just an IKEA bowl, a remnant from their student days when the Swedish homewares seemed the pinnacle of affordable design.<\/p>\n

Johnny looked down at his soiled clothes. \u201cGuess I\u2019d better get home and soak these.\u201d<\/p>\n

He picked up his jacket, said brief good byes and, before anyone could protest, hurried towards the front door.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll walk you out,\u201d called Mia, following him down the hall. \u201cLook, Johnny, I can explain\u2026\u201d She placed her hand on his arm when they were out of sight of the others, but he shook it off.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave fun at your work<\/i> thing tomorrow,\u201d he mumbled as he walked out the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhy hasn\u2019t he called?\u201d Willow demanded, for about the 700th time that day. She threw down the tea towel she\u2019d been using to dry the dishes and stomped her foot on the ground. \u201cHe said he would call!\u201d Ana and Mia looked at each other. Whose turn was it to placate her? They\u2019d never seen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[198],"tags":[56,63,157,162,183],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1193,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions\/1193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}