Jen looked at Jake.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m getting hungry,” she said.
“I could eat…” Jake said slowly. He wasn’t completely sure what she was asking. In his experience, whoever was in charge usually thought that whether he was hungry or not had very little to do with them.
“So are you eating here then?” Jen asked.
“I’m not sure…” Jake said, trying to hide his surprise. It hadn’t actually occurred to him that she’d ask.
“You’re not sure?” she raised her eyebrows. “Why’s that?”
“With your parents?” What would they think about that? Especially since they had to know perfectly well that their daughter was dating someone else.
“My mom?” Jen shrugged. “She’s taking night classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
“She is?” Jake asked.
“Yeah – she’s doing it for her job, so she’ll qualify for a raise.”
“I see,” Jake said. “And your father?”
“He doesn’t live here.”
“He doesn’t?” How had Jake not known that? He might not have been close to Jen, but he liked to think he was close to Megan and Greg.
“Nope – he’s out in Florida.”
“I see,” Jake said again. Jen just shrugged.
“So, what do you normally do?” she asked, changing the subject. “Eat with Megan?”
“Sometimes,” he said.
She gave him that look that she seemed to get so often around him – like he was simply a manipulative trickster. He remembered what Megan had said about being charming. He supposed that also meant he should be more forthcoming, too.
“I’m usually by myself more often than not,” he admitted.
“Why’s that?” Jen seemed surprised. “I would have thought Megan would have you over practically every night. Especially once you two started actually dating.”
“I’ve gone a couple of times.” Then he added, “Tara wasn’t all that fond of me doing that, though.”
“Oh, yeah…” Jen looked thoughtful for a minute. “I guess she put a stop to that pretty quick, didn’t she?”
“She did.”
Jen didn’t say anything for a minute. Finally, she spoke up.
“Well, you can eat with me tonight if you want. Or you can be by yourself. Or go to Megan’s – whatever.”
Jake opened his mouth to say he’d go out somewhere by himself, but he stopped. It occurred to him that this seemed like an invitation. He never would have thought he’d ever get one of those from Jen.
“I could eat here,” he nodded.
“I wasn’t going to make anything to fancy,” Jen shrugged. “Just spaghetti.”
“I like spaghetti,” Jake grinned wide.
“What?” Jen asked, looking at him suspiciously.
“What?” Jake asked back. Had he done something?
“You just look pretty excited for someone who’s only getting boiled noodles and tomato sauce.”
“I like when humans do the cooking,” he told her. At least, he’d liked it when Greg's older brother, Rollin, had cooked for him.
“Ok, I think you’re probably going to have to eliminate that word from your vocabulary.”
“Which word?” Jake asked. Suddenly, she was reminding him just a little of Megan when he’d first met her.
“Human,” she said.
“Why?” Jake asked. He might be careful to avoid saying it when talking with Greg, but Jen knew what he was. So why would she care?
“Because humans don’t actually call other humans that,” she told him.
Jake knew that, but he didn’t really understand why he should care about it.
“Well, Megan thinks you should try to blend in a little more,” she told him.
Jake thought about that. It was true that Megan had already been worried about him fitting in months ago. And it seemed like an even bigger concern of hers after Tara had taken that bottle.
“That does make sense…” Jake said slowly. But while he might have realized that Megan had those concerns, he didn’t really see why he should. He did have to spend time under Tara, but it wasn’t much different than most of his life had been. Still, he didn’t want to lose what he’d managed to achieve.
Jen seemed satisfied, and she turned towards the cupboards. She got out the noodles and a jar of tomato sauce.
Jake almost asked why she didn’t just make the sauce instead of using a jar of premade stuff, but he didn’t. If he wasn’t cooking, he thought he should probably just be grateful that he was getting any food at all. But when he saw that she hadn’t got out anything to make meatballs, he felt he had to speak up.
“Just noodles and sauce?” he asked. Jen sighed.
“I told you it wasn’t going to be anything fancy,” she said. “What did you expect?”
“Meatballs?” he asked. And maybe some Parmesan cheese, too. But he decided to wait on that part – see how she felt about the meatballs first. He knew better than to change too much at once.
“I don’t have the meat,” Jen told him.
Jake made a small gesture, and suddenly there was ground meat on the counter, right next to the noodles and sauce.
“Really?” Jen asked flatly, staring at him.
“I can help,” Jake told her.
“No, that’s fine,” Jen sighed. But Jake was already coming around the counter.
He had to admit that he didn’t really feel like chopping onions, so he magicked his way through that part. He combined the meat and onions with some eggs, breadcrumbs and herbs that he’d also waved into existence. He was done in about five minutes. Then, he started shaping the meatballs themselves.
“Well, that was fast,” Jen told him. She had just started boiling the water and had turned to watch him.
“I didn’t want it to take longer than the pasta,” he replied.
“Need help?” Jen asked.
“Sure.”
“So what do I do?”
“Well first, get your hands wet,” he told her. “Then just roll them in your palms like this.”
He demonstrated, but really, it was pretty simple. And in just a few minutes, they had a tray full. Jake figured they could just freeze the leftovers.
Fortunately, the meatballs were done a few minutes before the pasta. Jake took them out of the oven to sit while they finished everything else. Finally, they sat down together at the kitchen table, and Jen was actually impressed.
“These are really good,” she told him.
“Thank you,” he said.
“How’d you learn to cook, anyway?”
“Years of practice,” he told her.
That, and sometimes punishment when he got it wrong. But he did it quite often, so he’d learned pretty quickly. After all, most of his life he’d been basically a glorified servant; they liked it when he cooked.
At least it was also something he enjoyed doing. He had learned a lot of recipes over the years from other, actual servants that he’d been surrounded with. And he was surprisingly good at it. It hadn’t actually been something he’d done before being cursed, so it had been a welcome surprise. It was also one of the only things he ever did that those in charge ever really seemed happy about, which was a nice bonus.
“Well, you seem to be pretty good at it,” Jen said, looking thoughtful.
“Thank you,” he replied, mildly surprised. It was still pretty rare for him to get compliments – especially two in a row.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Jen was obviously thinking about something, and Jake decided not to interrupt. Instead, he just enjoyed his spaghetti, glad that things seemed to be working out better than he would have hoped. Still, he was cautious; he remembered what happened the last time he’d been optimistic.
“You know… we could do this more often,” Jen said, finally.
“Really? We can?” Jake asked, surprised. Then, he shook himself – of course they could. But he should rephrase that; even he could hear how his response sounded less than enthusiastic.
“You don’t want to?” she asked. She shrugged and turned back to her spaghetti, and Jake wondered if he’d hurt her feelings. He wouldn’t have thought she’d care enough about him to be bothered like that.
“Actually, I would like to,” he told her. Then, he admitted, “I just hadn’t expected you to ask.”
She seemed surprised for a moment. Then, she shrugged.
“Well, it’s kind of nice, you know?” she said. “Besides, I do like the idea of not always eating dinner by myself.”
“I can understand that.” Jake had eaten alone more often than not. The only difference was that until recently, he’d preferred it that way.
“And you can teach me to cook,” she said, grinning up at him. For an instant, she had a look on her face that reminded him of Megan and the deals she tried to make.
“I’d be glad to,” Jake told her. He was surprised – he must actually mean it. He would never have thought he would.
“So why don’t we do this every Tuesday and Thursday then?” Jen asked. And after a slight hesitation she added, “And maybe you could help me practice French while we do it.”
“Really?” Jake asked.
“Well, I don’t really have anyone to practice with,” Jen told him.
Jake thought about it for a minute.
“I think that sounds like a good idea,” he told her. And who knew? Maybe after spending this much time with her, he could finally get Jen to trust him.
ns216.73.216.217da2
and then Add to home screen.