Chapter 30: Prep

His 'interesting history' lesson is entertaining, because it doesn't focus on war or anything like social studies. He and his tutor talk mostly about ancient Greece and Rome. It's actually quite interesting to listen to. He's very engaged, like with all of his lessons up to this point. It's starting to make sense why he learns at home- personalized attention, and he gets to essentially determine what he wants to learn about.

When his last tutor leaves, he falls into a chair. "Whew. Busy day. Want to play Mario Kart to unwind?"

"Are you sure you don't even want to look at the assignments you were supposed to do for English? The other two were mostly worksheets, but the poetry analysis is supposed to be relevant to more stuff."

He sighs. "Fine. But only because you want me to."

I smile a little and pull out the assignment. "Okay, so-"

"We were supposed to annotate the monologue from Hamlet as a poetry piece, looking for literary devices and stuff. And then write a thing about it."

"Well- yeah, basically."

He scans my assignment, pretty much skipping over the annotation part and just skimming my written analysis.

"Alright. How did Mr. Hawkes say it was going to be relevant?"

"I don't know. Something about the next week."

He stares at me, pretending to be shocked. "You don't know his exact words? What has the world come to?!"

I roll my eyes. "I wrote it in my notes, but I haven't reviewed them. If I had, then I'd know."

"Sounds dull, when you can just look back at them anytime."

"But if I already know, then I don't need to spend a lot of time flipping through my notebook."

He smirks a little. "You're so reasonable. Want to play Mario Kart now? Ooh- no, no. Do you want to make dinner?"

"I mean, sure, but I'm really no cook."

"I am. You can do the prep and I can do the fun stuff."

I roll my eyes. "Fine."

"Great. Let's go before my dad starts."

We reach the kitchen at the same moment as Henry Sr. He looks a little surprised.

"Are you having a post-tutoring snack? Should I hold off on dinner for a little while?"

"Nope, I'm cooking tonight. Todd's helping me," Henry says, and I can't really argue that.

"Sounds good to me. I'll stay out of the kitchen then?"

"Yes. Go relax or something."

"I'll do that. Make sure to teach Todd the proper way to prep things."

"I will. Now shoo." He waves his hands at his father, who laughs and leaves, disappearing back into the house to wherever he and Darla go.

"Alright. Come, we're making salmon."

I follow him to the stove area. "Okay. What first?"

He spots a few slabs of salmon sitting on the counter and grins. "Looks like Dad had the same idea. That makes it easier." He turns on an element and puts the pan over it, then does the same with a few more pans. "Alright, the actual cooking probably won't take as long as cutting everything up, so we'll do that together."

"What are we cutting up?" I'm confused. I thought he said salmon?

"Mostly stuff for the succotash."

"Succotash?"

"Yeah, salmon's good with succotash. There should be some corn and peppers in the fridge."

I open the fridge door and find a dish of fresh corn kernels, so I take them out and put them on the counter. "What colour of peppers?"

"What's there?"

"Um... red and yellow. And green."

"Great, we'll use all of them. Do you see any red onion?"

"Yup." I take that out along with the peppers. "Anything else?"

"Hm... edamame?"

"What's that?"

"Soybeans that aren't fully grown. Basically tiny, light green-ish beans."

I find a little dish and take it out. "This?"

"Yup."

I close the fridge and turn back to him. He's cutting little slits into the top of the salmon- the side with the skin. He finishes and comes over to me, visually assessing all of the stuff. "That should probably be good. Alright, you can do the peppers." He takes a red pepper, placing it upright, and cuts off one side. He lays that side flat, cuts it into strips, then cuts it the other way. "Make sure to keep your fingertips curled down like this so you don't cut yourself. And don't feel like you have to make them really tiny."

"Okay."

"You try." He hands me the knife and I put the pepper upright again, cutting off another side and laying it flat. I start cutting it the way he did, though much slower. After a moment or two, his fingers wrap around my wrist holding the pepper in place, and he puts his other hand around mine. He's behind me, looking over my shoulder to see what he's doing. I let him control the knife, trying to focus on how the movement feels. After a moment, he releases his grip on both my hands and lets me try on my own.

"Good. You're a natural."

"You said that about Mario Kart, too."

"And then you beat me during your second race on a harder difficulty. What's your point?"

"You said you let me win that race."

"Focus on what you're doing, that's a sharp knife."

I smirk a little to myself, because that sounds like something he'd say to distract me from winning the argument. He does have a point, though. I focus on what I'm doing.

But it's not particularly easy when he's right there, chopping the red onion and some thin, dark green leaves at the speed of light. I'm on the second pepper by the time he starts throwing things into a jar. What? I have no idea. After a few ingredients, he pauses and looks up at me.

"Are you good with white wine vinegar?"

"Yeah. I mean, to an extent. I wouldn't want to drink gallons of it."

He smirks a little as he measures a small amount of what I assume to be white wine vinegar into the jar.

I finish the second pepper by the time he finishes with the jar. He goes to the stove then, pouring some olive oil into the pan. "Almost done with the peppers?"

"Yeah."

"Great." A minute or so later, there's a sizzling sound, which increases after another moment, then twice more. The four slabs of salmon, I assume.

I finish with the last pepper soon after, and go over to watch him. He's fully focused on the salmon in the pan, gently pressing on each. He waits, then flips each of them over, puts some green herb and garlic into the pan, as well as some butter, and then flips all the salmon back over. It's captivating, watching him cook.

He turns the burner down, then starts on the next pan. He starts with some olive oil, then puts in the onions, some spice, salt and pepper, then the corn. He tosses it in the pan, then puts in the peppers and edamame, followed by the leafy stuff he was chopping earlier, and after a minute or so, a squeeze of lemon juice.

He turns the element off, then goes back to the counter where he left his jar. He shakes it, looking at the stovetop and assessing everything he's done so far. After another moment, he meets my eyes and grins.

"How's it look?"

"Incredible." Watching him cook it was even better, though.

He smirks a little, like he knows what I'm thinking (he seems to pretty often). "Thanks. I like stovetop things."

"This is a little different from a grilled cheese."

He shrugs. "I mean, they're both cooked in a pan. This one's just more fun."

"This one involves several pans."

He grins, showing his teeth. "True. Alright, plating."

He insists on having four identical plates, and arranges each to be exactly the same. Succotash, then salmon, and some of whatever's in the jar over top of all of it. Then he texts his parents, and they show up a few minutes later, which gives us time to set the table.

"Oh honey, everything smells wonderful!" Darla gushes.

"Beautiful, son. It looks perfect," Henry Sr. says, patting his son on the shoulder. Henry smirks at me.

"Oh, don't give me all the credit. Really, Todd did most of it."

"I did not. I chopped the peppers."

He smirks so widely that he shows his teeth, and I press my lips together to avoid giving him more of a reaction that he so clearly wants. Darla tells him to be nice to me, but he doesn't even seem to hear her.

Eventually, we all sit down to eat. The first bite is heaven. It's incredible. My gaze flicks to him immediately, and I know my eyes are huge. He grins a little.

"This is unbelievable," I tell him once I've swallowed. He rolls his eyes, but he can't hide his smile.

Dedicated to @EllasBees for all the hilarious comments! Thank you so much for all your support :)

What did you think of the chapter? Henry looking at the assignment solely for Todd's benefit? How about Henry making dinner and Todd being his sous chef? Let me know!

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