Authors: Andrew Ball
kitchen. "I saw you talking with her. That
might have been the longest conversation
she’s had with anyone here besides me."
Rachel smiled again. "Any guy, anyway. You
like her?"
"She’s…interesting," Daniel said. "But I’ve got a crush on someone else."
"Hmm?" Rachel’s smile went sly. "Not
good enough for Mr. Bigshot chef? Could
have sworn I saw you staring at her in
calculus."
"Better than staring at math equations."
Rachel laughed. It was a full, low
chuckle. "So who’s the mystery girl
competing with Elly?"
"You’re kinda into this."
"Well, I just didn’t expect your answer.
So I’m curious."
Daniel grinned. "Well, wouldn’t be
much of a mystery if I told you."
"I love mysteries. Have to consider the
clues…" She put a finger to her lips.
"Don’t think too hard. You could hurt
yourself."
"Please, I’ll have this one solved in no
time. I mean, the list is only so long. I bet it’s
one of her friends." Rachel snapped her
fingers. "I get your angle. You want in with
her so you can get closer to your crush."
"Well…you’re not wrong."
"Hey, I could help."
"That’s sudden," Daniel said, "but
appreciated."
"Call it payment for services rendered."
She fixed him with a warm smile that
dimpled her cheeks and lifted up all the way
to her eyes. "Seriously, that was good stuff.
Eleanor comes from money, so I’ve had
professional chefs at my beck and call
before. That could compete."
Daniel’s breath caught in his throat. "…
thanks."
One of Rachel’s suitors came up. He
inserted himself elbow-first, standing
partway in front of Daniel. "Hey, Rachel, we
were all about to go hang out in Amanda’s
room. You coming?"
"…yeah, I guess." She looked back at
Daniel. "I’ll get back to you."
"You do that," Daniel said.
They went down the hall. Daniel and the
others cleaned up a bit. When it was half
done, he waved his friends off, saying he’d
take care of the rest; he quickly had the
kitchen to himself. The clock told him it was
a little past ten.
The space was empty without the big
crowd, but it was nice to get away from
people for a minute. He’d had an overdose
of people the last couple of days. He
scrubbed the pots and baking pans clean in
the basin, then started collecting the rest of
the plates.
He had to admit, Eleanor was gorgeous.
And scary. He had trouble believing she and
Rachel were more or less sisters. They were
like night and day. What was their
relationship, really?
He might have just lost his chance to
find out. He rolled over the conversation in
his mind’s eye. He kicked himself for his last
response. He’d dropped the ball, ending up
with a flat ‘thanks’. He should have said
something clever, made up a story, given her
another laugh. Something to remember him
by. Did he just screw up?
He could have stepped in earlier instead
of waiting for her to come to him. Introduce
himself. But he felt that would be doing
exactly what he found annoying in the guys
that were already all over her.
Or maybe he was just making up
excuses.
When was the last time he’d stopped
himself like that? When had he last felt
nervous about his relationship with another
person? He couldn’t remember. He hadn’t
cared for so long. It was like stretching
muscles he’d forgotten about.
And he was thinking things were going
well. But because he cared, it became hard.
Apathy made things easier. But he didn’t
want to be like that.
He didn’t want to be like that.
His hands paused on the plate he was
scrubbing. He wanted to change. He wanted
more things. He wanted…
…he didn’t want to be lonely.
He was fighting mutant life-sucking
aliens every night, and here he was,
worrying about this shit. Jeeze. He had
bigger problems then wondering if he’d
screwed up talking with a girl or not. That
shouldn’t even be on his radar. A few months
ago, it wouldn’t be.
Daniel sighed and gave his head a little
shake to banish the pessimism. Shut up,
brain. Too much thinking.
He set the latest plate in the drying rack,
then moved to the next. He focused on his
task, blunting his overactive mind with the
work. He hummed
What is Love
to pass the
time. At the chorus, he started whistling. He
slapped his hands in the dirty dishwater to
mark the beat.
There was a warm laugh that he
recognized immediately. "I wondered what
that was. You’re a pretty good whistler."
Daniel looked back. Rachel was
standing alone at the entrance to the kitchen.
"Think so?" he asked.
"Yeah. What’s up? You’re cleaning
alone?"
"I volunteered."
"After doing all the cooking?" she
asked.
"I like to clean. It’s relaxing." He started rinsing off another plate. "…makes me feel
like I’m accomplishing something, maybe.
One thing checked off."
"I think I know what you mean." She
walked up around the table. "That sink’s big
enough for two."
He set a plate to dry and started on
another. "Knock yourself out, champ."
"Gotcha, coach." She rolled up the
sleeves of her green sweater and set to work
on the plates. He noticed she wore a lot of
green. Made sense. It matched her eyes.
He was a good head taller than her. This
close, he had quite a nice view. If she
noticed his downward gaze, she didn’t say
anything.
"So what happened to your groupies?"
he asked.
"I ditched them because they weren’t
looking at my face when they were talking to
me."
Daniel laughed. "Can’t say I blame them
for admiring your second-best asset."
Rachel automatically glanced at her
chest, then up at him. "…huh?"
"Just think about it."
It dawned on her face. She punched him
in the arm, but it was more playful than
annoyed. "All men are perverts."
"But we’re your perverts."
"True. And stupid. Easily lead by the
nose. Good for moving heavy things."
"Glad to know we’re so useful."
"Seriously though," Rachel said, "that lasagna kicked ass."
"Seriously thank you." Daniel set
another plate in the drying rack. "I like pasta, so I cooked it a lot. It gets boring after a
while, so I started experimenting. Got a few
things off the internet."
"And it turned into this."
"Pretty much."
"What did you cook so much for?"
"I wanted to eat."
"That’s not really an answer," she said.
"My mother died a little over two years
ago," Daniel said. "I wasn’t going to let my little brother burn himself trying to make
food. A diet of cereal and hot pockets verges
on malnutrition. I had to make up the
difference."
Rachel glanced away. "…sorry. I didn’t
mean to…sorry."
Daniel shook his head. "Nah, don’t
worry about it. It is what it is."
"You have any other family?" she asked.
"Yeah. My dad, James. My mom
divorced when I was three, and then she
married him when I was seven. They had my
younger brother Felix a bit after that."
"I see."
"How about you?"
"…my parents both died when I was
twelve," Rachel said. "Car accident. I’ve
lived with Eleanor’s family ever since."
"You know," Daniel said, "sometimes,
life really sucks."
"Yeah. Sometimes." She smiled at him.
"But it’s good other times, you know?"
Daniel was quiet. He nodded once. "I
think I’m starting to get that."
After that, they washed the plates in
silence. Daniel started whistling again. She
started humming along with him. His
growing smile interrupted his efforts a bit,
but he pressed his lips together and kept
going.
They started bobbing back and forward.
He sang the lyrics. She kept up the techno
background. Daniel clapped his hands
together above the sink and started dancing
very badly. She laughed and joined in.
Eventually, they managed to finish the
dishes, though it took a half hour more than
he expected. Daniel brought Tupperware
from his room in case of leftovers, but it
wasn’t needed, so he stacked it up on the
counter. Rachel plopped down on the table,
kicking her legs in the air. He leaned against
the sink. "Thanks for the help, Haddaway,"
he said.
"Have you listened to his whole
album?" Rachel asked. "
What is Love
is the big hit, but the rest is pretty good."
Daniel frowned thoughtfully. "I’ll look
into it." He glanced at her. She was looking
at her swinging feet. Her hair had auburn
highlights, more a deep brown-red than an
orange. He noticed something else, too—she
was seriously muscled, for a girl. He
wondered if she worked out.
She noticed his gaze and glanced up at
him. "What?"
"I wasn’t staring at your tits, I swear."
She heaved a long-suffering sigh.
"Really?"
"Alright, I’ll come clean," Daniel said.
"Your hair is beautiful."
"The double-edged sword of beauty. A
blessing, and a curse." Rachel gave him the
stink-eye. "Sure it’s not Eleanor you’re
interested in?"
"I think the Miss Astor would kill me if I
looked at her funny," Daniel said. "Other
than that, I’ve no comment. I can’t rely on her
best friend to keep a secret."
She smiled. "Oh, don’t hold back. I
promise I won’t tell."
"She’s kind of a bitch."
Rachel burst out laughing. She wiped the
corner of her eye. "She can be a little high-
strung."
"A little?" Daniel made a face. "Are you seriously not going to say anything to her? If I
give an honest opinion?"
Rachel put a hand on her heart. "Scout’s
honor."
"You’re supposed to hold up three
fingers."
"Whatever."
"Whether or not Jensen deserved that
slap aside," Daniel said, "the way she just declared how she was leaving was the most
pretentious thing I’ve ever heard." He
flapped a hand through the air as he
mimicked Eleanor’s voice. "Rachel. We’re
leaving
." Rachel smirked, but the smile
didn’t reach her eyes. Daniel folded his
arms. "Doesn’t that bother you? If it was me,
I’d tell her to get the hell off my back."
"…I’ve known Eleanor since I was ten
years old," Rachel said. "She’s my second
cousin. Her part of the family is really elite,
and she’s used to privilege. She gets her way
pretty much every time. I think it’ll take a
while for her to adjust." Rachel sighed. "Our relationship is a little more complicated than
just friends."
"Why’s that? If you don’t mind me
asking."
"Her father became my guardian after
the accident. We’re more like sisters than
cousins."
"I see."
Rachel waved a hand. "It was a long
time ago."
"So her attitude gets a free pass from
you?" Daniel asked. "Or is she different
when it’s just you two?"
"…yes and no. It’s not like I approve. I
mean, I’m sitting here talking about it, right?
But she’s family. She doesn’t do it
because…" Rachel trailed off.
Daniel wondered how much her defense
of Eleanor was habit and how much she
really meant it. "That’s not an excuse for
acting like a child," he said. "She needs a serious time-out."
Rachel laughed. "Maybe Jensen should
give her a spanking."
"I can only pray he’d be stupid enough
to try," Daniel said. He smacked his lips.
"My incredible cooking has made me thirsty.
Wanna go get a soda?"
"Where?"
"There’s a convenience store down the
street. I went there for chips yesterday. Pretty
good selection."
She hopped off the table. "Sounds good
to me."
They went down the stairwell and
through the common room. Heads seated
around the TV watched them go. Daniel held
open the door for her. "After you, Miss
Ashworth."
"Why thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald."
They walked and talked down the
sidewalk. He asked her the normal hey-
you’re-a-college-student-too questions;
major, classes, schedule. She complained
about trouble with calculus. He was just
about to seize on that particular point when
they ran into two guys Daniel recognized.
"Hey, what’s up?" The two thugs from
the cafeteria walked up to them from the
wide stoop of a campus building. The one
still had a thick bandage on the finger
Eleanor had broken. "You’re Eleanor’s
friend, right? Rachel?"
Rachel did not look pleased. "Richard?"
"Hey, you remembered." His smile