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The girl pulled a plate out of the fridge, her brow furrowed in clear confusion. "What's up with this rice?"
The cold light of the morning that filtered in through the window made the idea of rest inviting, but the boy had been awake for longer than he could be bothered to count. He raised his gaze from the book, and she was probably the only person in the city who'd be able to tell his eyebags looked deeper than usual.
"Oh... I made that last night at like 4 am..." He shifted his weight in the chair when the girl picked up a fork. "I wouldn't recommend you try it."
She rolled her eyes and did so anyway. Then gagged loudly. "Arceus Mighty, what the fuck did you put in this?"
The boy shrugged but smiled. "I warned you. It... It got burned, but I still put in some tomato sauce and an egg and... dunno, some unmarked spices from your cabinet?"
"Mm-hmm," she answered while throwing the rest into the trash. "Any particular reason for keeping this experiment?"
"It was for me, not for you."
"Sometimes I can't believe it when you say you used to cook for yourself every day."
He lowered the book and rested on his elbow. "I never said I cooked well, just that I kept myself fed while my parents were at work."
"On pancaked sausages?"
"Hey, the galette-saucisee is a family recipe passed down from my grandma," he pointed out, feigning offense.
"She could've passed down something good, like teaching you how to use spices like a real person."
"Who taught you?"
A minimal pause in her movements. "You can't learn this, I was born with it." The boy laughed. "Nah I just tried a bit of everything. We weren't allowed a lot of ingredients back at home. So when we came here and had a whole supermarket of options, I made whatever." She shrugged. "You were spared of that at least."
"Well, maybe I wouldn't have minded, considering my taste."
She shot him an accusatory look and he just laughed it off again. "Although..." She kept rummaging through the fridge and sighed. "We should go get groceries, there's nothing to cook."
"Mhm." He was already back to reading.
"You're coming with." She gave him a pat on the back on her way to the bedroom, he let out a groan and ran his hands through his face. "C'mon, it'll do us good to get some fresh air."
The boy moved his chair away from the table but didn't get up. "Can't we do that later?" he murmured reluctantly.
"Yanchu..." She stared at him, tired of his attitude. "Yes it has to be now, I have class later and then Jacky's birthday."
"Jacquelline?" he raised his head way too quickly.
"Yeah, so?" Her attitude changed entirely, back straight, defensive.
"Nothing, it's just... are you sure that's a good idea...?"
She let out a disdainful laugh. "What, d'you think they're gonna force me to use? Like it's cheap?"
"No, Gabbie but..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I feel it's a little too soon to put yourself in that position."
"I can control myself, I don't need you to babysit me when I'm hanging out with my friends."
"Nono of course," he mumbled, embarrassed. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
"What did you mean then?" she pressed on.
The boy sighed, making a great effort to stand up. "That I'll go get groceries with you. It's a lot of bags to carry by yourself."
There was a second of tension while he prayed she'd allow him to change the subject, for both their sakes. The girl seemed uncomfortable for a moment but just shook her head. "Come on then."
He saw her looking for something and grabbed the pants that were hanging from the back of his chair. "Here, catch." He threw them and she caught them without even looking. "You'll have to pay, you know the grocery store doesn't take debit and I'm not gonna walk all the way to the ATM."
"Yeah yeah, I'm pretty sure if you walk that far you'll pass out. Oh shit—" She nearly fell as she struggled putting them on.
"That bad?" he chuckled. He stood by the door after putting away some of the loose papers and empty mugs on the table. There was no need to get changed, he was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday.
"Awful. Both you and these stupid skinny jeans." She smiled at him, taking his hand and the keys before going out.
