Cooking

Chapter 16 of Love from Above

I awake the next morning to a Nerf dart hitting me right between the eyes.

 

I flail in surprise. “Watch it! You nearly blinded me!” Okay, half blinded but whatever.

 

“Well, I figured you would not want to miss lunch,” Libby says in a snarky tone, shutting my door. I scowl in her general direction for a moment before rolling out of bed. I get dressed in the outfit I had set aside the night before; a black halter top mini-dress with a blood red bow on the hip, accompanied by my black Converse. Escape the Fate starts blasting from my phone. I smile and rush to pick it up.

 

“Hey Jeremy,” I say.

 

“Hey Kels. I just called to see if you wanted to come over around 2 to help me cook dinner?” Jeremy asks with a smile in his voice.

 

“I would love to! What are we cooking?” I ask.

 

“Chicken in wine sauce; it is a family recipe,” he replies.

 

My mouth begins to water. “Sounds fantastic! I’ll see you then.”

 

“Can’t wait.”

 

***

 

I check the clock; 11:30 stares back at me. I walk down the stairs to get some lunch.

 

As I make my way into the dining room, whistles chorus. I grin and strike a pose. Libby pretends to be a photographer and snaps some shots with her invisible camera. We laugh and sit down to eat.

 

“Jeremy’s eyes are going to bug out of his head when he catches sight of you!” Libby says around a full mouth of meat.

 

“Without a doubt!” Janie agrees.

 

“Aww shucks thanks," I reply, willing the afternoon to come faster.

 

***

 

Finally, 2 o’clock rolls around and I head over to Jeremy’s. I ring the bell and hold my breath as I hear footsteps approaching the door. Jeremy opens it with a smile. Then he really looks at me and Libby’s prediction comes true.

 

“Excuse me, let me just pick my jaw up off the floor. There’s only one word that can even begin to describe that look; damn!” he says, drawing out the word. I giggle and step up to wrap my arms around his neck in a hug. His arms wind around my waist and pull me closer to him.

 

I give him a peck on the cheek before saying, “Well, let’s get cooking! Pun very much intended.” He chuckles and gives me a peck on the lips as he leads me into the kitchen.

 

“Alright, put me to work,” I say, rubbing my hands together. He reaches for something inside the pantry and holds it out to me.

 

“Would be a shame to get chicken gunk all over your pretty dress,” he says, offering me the apron. I slip it over my head and reach behind my back to tie it on, then I notice what the front says. ‘Kiss the Cook’ is written in red calligraphy. I glance up suspiciously to find Jeremy looking at it too and he smiles deviously.

 

“Figures you’d give me a kiss the cook apron,” I say glaring at him with mock annoyance.

 

“Gives me an excuse,” he shrugs, hooking his fingers in the sides of it to pull me close and giving me a peck on the lips.

 

“As if you need one,” I scoff, pulling him back by the front of his shirt for another kiss.

 

“I see kissing instead of cooking! There’s something wrong with this picture,” Cheyenne says good-naturedly.

 

Jeremy groans and pulls away. “I thought you and mom were going shopping while we cooked.”

 

“Relax, we were just leaving. I came to say goodbye, because I’m thoughtful like that,” she replies, smirking.

 

“Bah-bye Cheyenne,” Jeremy says with a sugar-coated smile.

 

“Bye lovebirds,” she replies, skipping out of the kitchen.

 

***

 

“Let’s start cubing up the chicken,” Jeremy says. “And here’s a bowl for the nasty chicken gunk.”

 

We get right to work; grimacing at what Jeremy appropriately called ‘nasty chicken gunk’. Once the chicken is in nice pink cubes, I get to work mincing parsley while Jeremy starts frying the chicken in butter, explaining that butter makes everything better.

 

Once all the chicken is done, Jeremy starts on the sauce while I fluff the rice in the rice cooker. Our meal is starting to smell heavenly.

 

I hear voices drift over the popping grease from the direction of the front door.

 

“That smells amazing!” Cynthia calls.

 

“It’s going to taste even better,” Jeremy hollers back. “Alright, let’s dish this up. Just put the sauce in this bowl.” He hands me a large, deep bowl with a ladle. I start pouring the wine sauce from the pan to the bowl as Jeremy breezes into the dining room with the bowl of chicken. I set down the full bowl and empty pan and reach to untie the apron from around my waist. I get stuck trying to disentangle the tight knot. With a very soft chuckle, warm hands replace my own. Chills run like electricity through me every time his fingers brush my spine. He gets the knot untied and slips the apron over my head before turning to hang it back up.

 

“Damn, lost my excuse,” he says bitterly. I giggle and step over to wrap my arms around him.

 

“Like I said; you don’t need an excuse,” I go up on my toes and peck his lips. We walk out of the kitchen precariously balancing the rest of the food on our arms.

 

“Dinner’s ready!” Jeremy calls, pulling my chair back for me. I smile at him and sit down as Cheyenne and Cynthia walk into the room. Cheyenne stops in the doorway and takes a deep whiff of the air around her.

 

“Wowzah! That smells good,” she says, taking the seat across from me.

 

“I bet it tastes even better,” Cynthia says warmly, sitting next to Cheyenne. We dig in and it is, indeed, out of this world.

 

***

 

“Hey Jeremy, doesn’t school start back up for you in a couple weeks?” Cheyenne says around a bite of chicken.

 

He smacks the heel of his hand into his forehead. “Yes, I can’t believe the summer has gone so fast.”

 

“Jeremy will be a junior at Pacific Valley. What about you?” Jeremy’s mother asks, turning to me.

 

“Janie, Libby, and I will be going to Pacific Valley as well. We’re also going into our junior year,” I reply, turning to wink at Jeremy. He smiles in response. Cynthia’s eyes light up as she looks between the two of us. 

 

We finish dinner and Jeremy heads back to the kitchen to grab dessert. He comes back out with a delicious looking pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream on top.

 

“Isn’t August a little early for pumpkin pie?” Cheyenne teases.

 

“It’s never too early for pumpkin, one of the great shames of this world is that it’s considered seasonal and isn’t available year-round,” Jeremy retorts. “But if you don’t want any…” he scoots the pie dish away from Cheyenne tauntingly. Cheyenne makes grabbing motions at the dessert as it moves further out of reach. We all laugh as Jeremy starts dishing out slices of pie. Much to her chagrin, he saves Cheyenne for last.

 

I stab into the pie with my fork, pulling out a chunk and taking a bite. The crust is crisp and tastes strongly of vanilla and the filling is silky and rich. I close my eyes and sigh. “You’re right. It would be a crime if I couldn’t eat this year-round,” I smile at Jeremy as Cheyenne and Cynthia nod in agreement.

 

Against any of our better judgement we finish off the whole pie, leaving barely a crumb behind. “Alright,” Cheyenne says, leaning back in her chair. “Stick a fork in me, I’m done.”

 

“I second that,” I say, licking whipped cream off my fingertip. Noticing Jeremy's brows raise at the sight out of the corner of my eye I blush and drop my hands into my lap.

 

“Was that a new crust recipe you tried, dear?” Cynthia asks Jeremy, beginning to gather the empty dishes.

 

“Yeah,” Jeremy responds, turning his attention to her with what looks like some difficulty. “I wanted to try using vanilla cookies instead of graham crackers. Was it a success or a failure?” he asks, looking suddenly sheepish.

 

I eyeball the practically licked clean pie dish pointedly, “I’m going to go out on a limb and say you can mark that one as a success.”

 

“Definitely a success sweetie,” Cynthia ruffles Jeremy’s hair as she walks by with the dishes.

 

“Let me help you with those, mom,” Jeremy says, moving to take the dishes from her.

 

“Oh no honey, why don’t you and Kelsey chat some more. Cheyenne, you can help me,” Cynthia drags Cheyenne out of her chair by her elbow and they head into the kitchen.

 

I fumble in my brain for a topic of conversation. “So Pacific Valley, huh? What’s it like?” I ask Jeremy, willing the blush to leave my cheeks.

 

He gives me a look like ‘Really that’s the topic of conversation you’re going with?’ and we both laugh. “Typical high school, you know?”

 

“I don’t really know actually. We’ve been in a private school up until now. I’m sure public school has to be at least a little different,” I respond, leaning closer across the table.

 

“I suppose that’s true. Private schools are more selective. They let any old riff raff into public schools,” Jeremy grins gesturing to himself.

 

I roll my eyes, “You’re hardly any old riff raff.” I hear Cheyenne snort from inside the kitchen and then a muffled ‘ow’ as she must have gotten elbowed.

 

Now Jeremy rolls his eyes, “Come on,” he says standing up and stretching. “Let me walk you home.”

 

I stand up and walk around the table to take Jeremy’s hand. We head into the kitchen to say good night to his mom and sister before heading out the front door and slowly meandering across the street to my house.

 

“Thanks for today,” I say as we reach my porch. “It was wonderful.”

 

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, and I think my mom and sister rather enjoyed it as well,” he chuckles. I smile, thinking two out of three family members liking me isn’t too shabby.

 

He pulls me to him, wrapping his arms around me. I tilt my face up and press my lips gently to his. I press my cheek to his chest and hug him back tightly.

 

“Goodnight, love,” he whispers, kissing my forehead.

 

“Sweet dreams,” I reply, kissing him once more before letting go of him and heading inside.