Chapter 6: Stanley ‘STAN’ Norris vs. Ian ‘WILL’ Williams ~ Danger and charm… Game On!

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“Damn, I missed this,” Will muttered as he closed his eyes and savoured the taste of Tom Brown later that morning in the dining hall. It was a simple porridge made out of roasted corn, soybean, and peanuts. And it tasted amazing with milk and sugar.

“You’re so predictable.” Rosanne laughed. “Cook said he was going to prepare all your favourite meals today.”

“Does that mean I get to enjoy my jollof rice and fried plantains for lunch?”

“You know you will. I mean it was obvious what you were doing, bringing the man all that stuff.” Rosanne snorted.

“So Ian Williams loves to give out bribes huh?” Stan drawled, his intent gaze on Will.

“Aw come on! It’s just some stuff I knew he’d love.” Will reached out for a ball of bofrot, which was a form of doughnut. “Remind me to take the recipe for this ball of sweetness from Cook, Jones.”

“And who will prepare it for you?” Rosanne rolled her eyes. “He can’t even fry an egg.” She told Stan.

“A mama’s boy huh?” Stan said and then mentally kicked himself for bringing up Will’s mother when he saw him tense up. He was surprised he even cared because he definitely wasn’t one to care how people reacted to his flippant comments. “How is she doing?” He asked softly.

Will shrugged. “No change. Spoke to my sister this morning. At least she’s alive.”

“Yeah.” Then he quickly changed the subject. “You sure having that recipe will do you any good though?” Stan took a sip of his coffee. “From what she said, you’re absolutely useless when it comes to food.”

“That’s not true.” Will chuckled. “I’m sure if I follow the recipe, I’ll be fine.”

“And who would risk their lives to taste your food?” Stan raised an eyebrow.

“My mum for one would love…”

“Planning on sending the poor woman to join the silent majority prematurely huh?”

The juice that Rosanne was sipping on came splattering back out as a result of her shocked laughter. “Oh my god, Stan!”

“Innocent question.” He couldn’t help but smile when he saw the dimples that appeared in Will’s cheeks due to his amused grin. Those adorable dimples, whenever they appeared, succeeded in softening the angles of the soldier. Stan found them fascinating and sexy as hell. But then, he’d always been a sucker for dimples. And those perfectly white teeth of Will’s only made his smile and laughter even better.

“You’re nuts, you know that?” Will chuckled. “I can bet my last dollar you can’t even cook yourself?” He stared Stan down.

“Good you didn’t actually bet that dollar then.” Stan gave a cocky smile. ‘Cause you’d have lost it. I’m one hell of a good cook.”

“No way.” Will laughed.

“Tell you what, let’s see to these guys for the next two weeks.” They had a two-day break after every three weeks. “Then I’m going to cook for you.”

“What are you going to cook?”

“Anything you fancy. Not Ghanaian please…” They all dissolved into laughter. “But yeah, just let me know what you want and I’ll prepare it for you. Deal?”

“Deal.” Will nodded.

“In other words, I’ve been kicked out of this upcoming ‘chef-show’. Rosanne groaned as she got to her feet.

“Of course not.”

“She won’t be here in two weeks.” Will reminded Stan.

“Oh right. No worries, we will send you pictures.” Stan said with a straight face.

“What good will that do me?” She gave a mock scowl making the two men laugh. “You boys need to catch up. See you later.”

The two watched Rosanne go, one thinking ‘it’s about time’ whilst the other thought, ‘how about I turn this around to help my girl?’ Will flashed a brilliant smile…

“How about we make this special for Rosanne? Why don’t you ask her what she would want to eat instead so that you can prepare that next weekend?”

“We don’t have any day off next weekend.” Stan pointed out.

“We can still make time. After all, we decide what the schedule is.”

“You can comfortably take days off but I can’t. At least not before the first three weeks.”

“We can cut off early on Saturday, Stan.” Will insisted.

“And I thought you military guys are sticklers for rules.” Stan raised an eyebrow. “I’m all for breaking rules but I respect the Admiral so can’t do.”

Will knew when to give up. “I respect that.”

“Besides, the deal was to cook what you want and not what Rosanne wants.”

Will could only smile and nod. At least now he had a fair idea about the kind of person Stan was. He was no pushover. It wasn’t going to be easy playing matchmaker. But he would still try.

“So… You always go for a run in the mornings?” Stan asked. He’d been surprised to learn that Will was out for a run after his dawn session with the recruits. He’d thought he would simply make use of the gym.

“Not always. Just sometimes. The weather is usually great at that time of the morning.” Will waved back at one of the staff who’d waved at him. “So do you make it a habit of staying in town till that late?” He asked.

“Stay in town?” Stan frowned in confusion.

“You came back from your run after 1 a.m. I assumed you went into town.”

“I didn’t. I love to run.” Stan stated simply.

“You’re serious.” It wasn’t a question. “That’s the frigging jungle, buddy. It’s dangerous to stay in there for that long and at that time.”

“Wouldn’t all the dangerous animals be asleep by then though?”

“Stan…”

“I’ll be careful.”

“Okay. So, wanna tell me your thoughts so far?”

“About you?” The look on Stan’s face was deceptively blank.

Will burst into laughter. “About the recruits and the training so far, Jesus!” He shook his head in amusement.

“Aw…”

“Is that disappointment I’m detecting?” Will tried to look serious but didn’t succeed. “Want to tell me what you think about me?” His eyes showed how amused he was.

“Want me to?” Stan shot back, staring into beautiful hazel eyes, his heart beating too quickly in his chest.

“Sure. Why not?” Will shrugged.

“Those dimp…”

“The dimples again.” Will cut him off. “They must really bother you.”

“On the contrary, I think they are adorable.” Stan grinned.

“I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment seeing as the last thing a soldier would want to hear is how adorable they look.” Will took a sip of his water.

“I think you’ve already taken it as a compliment.”

“And how do you know that?”

“You’re blushing.”

“Fucking hell,” Will muttered, looking anywhere but at Stan. He couldn’t help but feel the conversation they were having was weird. They were men for fucks sake. What made it even weirder was the fact that instead of feeling irritated, he rather felt some excitement within. “I want to believe there’s more to me than dimples.” He finally focused on the grinning man sitting across from him.

“Oh, there is. I just wanted to start with that.”

“How about we skip me and move on to the recruits?”

“As you wish.” Stan began to give Will his update on what had happened so far. But even as he spoke, his conversation with his three best friends that dawn kept playing at the back of his mind.

Keep it natural and human, they’d said…