“If you don’t have any meat, that’s alright. I can get my protein and stuff from the milk and the eggs,” Yeong said with a shrug of his shoulders. He noticed how she rushed to grab the things. What was her hurry, he wondered. Did she have somewhere important to be? Cala seemed nervous and stressed about the fact that she did not have any meat. “It’s alright, chica, no worries. It’s not that important.”
He took a little step closer to where Cala was at the fridge. She seemed really on edge and stuff at the moment. “You ok? Seem a little off,” he hummed, rocking back and forth a bit using his crutches. He was always fidgety, he was very easily distracted with things as well. Fidgeting was a good way of keeping himself focused.
"I will be." Cala said softly, answering his question of if she was okay. And she would. She had given up everything to free herself, and she would fight tooth and nail to make herself okay. She deserved that much. What was the point in fleeing your past if not to break free entirely? She took another breath. "I just feel…frazzled. I'm sorry."
Thinking. She could do that. That was easy, if she just let herself calm down. If the problem was with not having meat, postponing making said thing could solve the problem. Not that there was a problem, but the tightness in her chest had forgotten about that fact. "I'll get some later today, or have someone drop some off. That was it can still be had." She said decisively, quickly turning and running a hand through her hair. It was slightly embarrassing, to have someone witness a small panic like that. But that was a new record on calming herself down, and she would take the small victory.
Yeong watched Cala closely, his head tilted slightly to the side. He seemed to be looking at her like he was trying to analyze her. There was obviously something more about her than she was letting on. Something that was outside of helping out the cartel. Everyone had their own little backstories, and he was currently curious about hers. Even though he was very bold and outspoken, he knew better than to ask someone he just met about their whole, deep and personal life story.
“Getting the meat isn’t a big deal, don’t stress over it or anything. I don’t need it,” he said. It seemed like she was willing to go through all that extra little bits of work to get him what he wanted. He wondered if Cala was just a very hospitable person, or if it had anything to do with him being the heir to the cartel. “I’ll eat pretty much anything. I’m not picky.” After speaking he took a long drink of his coffee, feeling tension in his shoulders being lifted as the warm liquid flowed down his throat.
His words helped, and though Cala was already adding bacon and sausage to the list on the fridge–they'd still be useful if anyone else came by–she found herself calming down a bit. With the meat debacle mostly over, and a slight shake to her hands, she returned to the kitchen counter. One deep breath. Then two. "Do you want to cook the eggs, or the pancakes?" She asked, her voice relatively back to normal. "The pancakes are going to need the strawberries dropped in while cooking, which can sometimes be a bit tough, especially if you have multiple going. And are we doing the eggs fried or scrambled?" She thrived off of having a set plan, even when cooking. It made things easier, created less room for issues to arise.
Yeong squinted at what Cala was writing, but decided not to comment on it. If buying bacon and sausage would help make her feel better, then she could have at it. "I think I'll make the eggs. How about we do them scrambled?" he offered. He would make them scrambled because he was not the best at making them fried- and scrambled eggs tasted better to him. That style was often incorporated into dishes he was familiar with, as well. "I'm definitely going to need help with a couple of the egg things, probably. It'd be a bit hard to get all up in the kitchen completely while also being practically crippled like this," he hummed with an annoyed huff, a slightly dramatic pout on his lips.
Cala looked over at him, a soft laugh at the look on his face escaping her. "Your leg will heal, and then you'll be 'all up in the kitchen' just fine. Give it time." She said, moving the carton of eggs over to his side of the counter and retrieving another pan to put on the stove. "What is it you need? Oh, the trashcan for eggshells might be helpful. Hold on-" She poured a bit of pancake batter on the pan, forming the official first pancake, and tossed a few strawberries on. That would be her tester, which was likely to end up burnt anyway. With that cooking, she hurried to grab the kitchen trashcan–there were quite a few in her house–from under the kitchen sink and move it over next to Yeong. Just close enough to reach, but placed carefully out of the way of the crutches.
Yeong shook his head as Cala laughed at him. "So so cruel, I think I deserve some pity," he sighed in a dramatic tone, struggling to keep from smiling at the joke. He found that exceptionally hard to do as the corners of his lips kept twitching upwards. When he was given the trashcan, he thanked her and cracked an egg open. "How many of these should I make? I'll probably eat a good amount- are you going to?" Wasting food was a big 'no-no' in his family. He was always made to finish his plate before leaving the dinner table to go outside and play soccer with his friends. It was just a common rule that his family happened to also participate in.
Cala thought it over while flipping the pancake, wincing at the dark brown tingeing the side. "Crack two eggs for me, here–" She scooted carefully past him, reaching up into a cupboard and pulling out a bowl. After setting it on the counter, she returned to her pancake station, checking the color of the pancake. "If I want to eat pancakes, too, I don't need any more than a serving. Then do like, five eggs for yourself. That should cover 'lots'–" She made air quotes. "–and if there's any extra, we can save them. Reheated eggs aren't the best, but if you mix them with freshly made, you can pretend you aren't committing blasphemy."
(not me searching up how to make scrambled eggs….. i need to learn how to cook those basic foods LMAO)
"Two eggs, got it," Yeong hummed, cracking the eggs and dropping the insides into the bowl that was set in front of him. He threw the shells away and threw a look over at Cala. "Oh god, if I make five eggs for myself to eat, I won't be able to work out because of my knee. I would gain way too much weight from all of this stuff." He laughed after speaking. He was very self conscious about his body, as much as he did not want to admit it. He was watching what he ate quite often and went to the gym or played sports multiple times during the week to keep himself fit.
((fhdfhdf scrambled eggs are like my staple breakfast food, they were one of the first things i ever learned to make))
Cala arched an eyebrow, lips lifting into a small and amused smile. "It's protein. Isn't it super easy to turn into muscle? That's what professional weight lifters eat, is lots and lots of protein. If you'd rather, do two or three. Forks for beating them are in that drawer right by you." She already had two pancakes done, and was now working on her third, this time using the strawberries to make a heart shape in the pancake for no other reason than the fun of it. Glancing over at the pan, she reached across the counter, snagging the butter dish and using the spatula to scoop a small chunk of butter into it.
"Besides, it's all about the balance anyway. If you want a sweet breakfast, throw in protein and some fruit for the sweetness. Then make sure to get in your vegetables throughout the day, and of course more proteins. And water!" Her smile brightened a bit. "Lots of water. Hino's always going on about it being the quickest and easiest way to make sure you stay healthy. Something about taking minor water bloat over week-long salt bloat any day." Wrinkling her nose in amusement, she flipped the pancake over. "I just don't eat much anyway. You know, you two might get along. You're both funny, and like food. Is that enough to make friends with someone?"
(fr i used to eat them so often too, just never learned how to make them smh)
"It's easy to turn to muscle if you eat it but also go to the gym and stay active at the same time. Can't run on the treadmill like this, so I'll have to cut back on my portions for a bit," Yeong hummed. He took the fork from the drawer and began whisking the eggs in the bowl. He had cracked open six eggs- three for each of them if they would eat that much. He looked over at the pancakes that Cala was making, brows raising at the heart made out of strawberries. "You trying to make a move on me or something, chica?" he asked in a teasing sort of way, grinning as he threw Cala a wink before going back to whisking.
He had no idea who this Hino person was, but if Cala thought they would get along, then they might. He found it easy to make friends, having a charming and extroverted personality. "That sounds like it would be good enough for me. Who's Hino?" he asked. Did Cala have a roommate or something that he had just not seen when staying with her? Surely he would have noticed another person, but then again, he had been out of his mind the night before.
Cala looked confused for a moment, looking down at the heart, and then back up, before realization dawned on her face. Followed by a light blush. She shook her head, focusing way too hard on the pancake. "I just like to make designs in them. I don't make them super often, and it's fun. I was going to do a flower next." She defended, frowning slightly. If she were to make a move, it wouldn't be like that. And it wouldn't happen at all, partly because of who Yeong was, and partly because dating was an almost completely uncharted area for her. She had exactly two friends, dating was pretty far from her mind most of the time.
"Hino's a friend of mine. He may stop by while you're here, he comes over pretty often. He was helping me clear out the guest room for a while, and he works at the bookstore downstairs with me. His aunt owns it." Cala explained, her frown easing into a smile at the thought of her friend. He had been the first she had made, and even though he had done most of the making friends work, she was proud of that. "Actually, he's the one who introduced me to grilled cheese–not that you remember that conversation. He also made me try ice cream. You've had ice cream, right?"
Yeong laughed at how Cala became defensive, and he put his hands up a bit in a surrendering way. "Hey hey, just a joke," he hummed with a grin on his lips as he chuckled. He listened to Cala describe who this Hino guy was. "Well, if I get to meet your friend, I'll make sure to be extra friendly. We would probably get along." He got along with everyone, so that would barely be a problem for him. He reached over to heat up the skillet as he poured a little bit of milk into the bowl. Doing that would provide a much better texture for the eggs, and he whisked the ingredients together.
"Of course I've had ice cream. I barely eat it, but when I do it's always great. Got a favorite flavor?" he asked. His gaze kept shifting to where he was concentrated on making the eggs and Cala's face as they conversed. Once the skillet was heated up enough, he poured the whisked eggs onto it. He slowly stirred the eggs in the skillet, breaking them up as they began to harden from the heat. They already smelled amazing. "Got any seasoning to put on the eggs? Like herbs, or at least salt and pepper?" he asked.
True to her words, Cala managed to make a flower out of the strawberries, a small and prideful smile lighting up her face. "He's a good friend. I've only ever had cookies and cream, so right now I think that's my favorite. I'm honestly not sure what other flavors there are, or which are good to try. I'd like to try all of them. Do you have one?" At his question about seasonings, she nodded. "A whole spice rack, over on the counter there. What do you need? I can go grab it, that way you can keep an eye on the eggs." She figured the crutches would likely slow him down, even over that short of a distance. And burnt eggs smelled absolutely terrible.
Briefly, she noted how much more talkative she was getting. Yeong seemed so much more willing to hold conversations with her than a lot of the men who came by, and she found herself relaxing more. Maria had mentioned studying the effects conversation had on relationships, maybe that was it? It made it easier to feel comfortable, maybe. She would have to ask her.
"There are so many good flavors," Yeong started, clicking his tongue in a thoughtful manner as he thought about what his favorite flavor would be. "I like the black raspberry flavor. It sounds weird, but it is so amazing." Cala would have been right about the crutches slowing him down. He was obviously not accustomed with them. The last time he had used crutches was back when he was a child and he broke his foot playing soccer with some friends. That had been a horrible way to ruin that years summer for him.
"Just the salt, pepper, and maybe some minced herbs if you have any," he suggested. That was the way that he usually made his eggs, so it seemed fairly common to him. Yeong was very extroverted and chatty. He could probably hold a conversation by himself pretty easily, even. He picked up on how Cala was also becoming more talkative, and that brought a grin full of pride to his lips.
"Blue raspberry?" Cala was already moving to the spice rack, picking out the little jar-shakers of salt and pepper, and looking at the spice blends she had made. Blending spices for various use was always fun to her. Picking one that seemed good for eggs, she continued. "What is that? Does it taste like normal raspberry?"
It sounded familiar, and she tried to place where she might have heard of it as she deposited the jars by Yeong, before moving to the fridge. "I have parsley, chives, and tarragon, though I've never put the latter in eggs." She offered, looking over from the fridge at Yeong and catching his smile. Unsure why he would be smiling like that, she refrained from asking, figuring that was a weird thing to ask. Why are you smiling. There really was no way she could think to phrase that.
When Cala said blue raspberry instead of black raspberry, Yeong burst out laughing. His laugh was almost closer to a wheeze, sounding like he was unable to catch his breath. It was a very infectious laugh- one that just put a smile to people's faces. "Black raspberry. It kind of tastes like black berries, if that makes sense. It's not too fruity, mostly just a little sweet," he explained once he stopped wheezing. His cheeks were flushed pink because of it, and he wore a grin on his lips.
"Lets just stick with parsley," he decided, looking over at the jars with squinted eyes. When Cala caught him with that stupid grin on his face, he stopped and raised his brows like he had been doing nothing. It was a playful sort of thing, and he turned back to scramble up the eggs a tad more. They looked completely cooked, so he shut off the heat going to the skillet they were in and dumped the now cooked eggs onto a plate.
First the grin, and then the laughter. There was something she was missing, obviously. All she could do was shake her head, cheeks pink from being laughed at. Still, the laughter rang in her head, and she found herself fighting a smile, not convinced he was laughing at her meanly. "I've only ever–oh! It was a candy in the store. I'd only ever heard of blue raspberry once, and I guess my brain decided that's what you'd said." Cala retrieved the parsley, setting it on the counter and returning to finish the last couple pancakes.
"Black raspberry. I'll have to look for that one next time I'm at the store. I'll put it on the list in a second." She said, sweeping her hair out of her face as she flipped a pancake with a smiley face in strawberries on it. It was tradition when she made pancakes to do designs, and she wasn't about to let Yeong ruin that. Not that he actually seemed that unhappy with it. He had seemed to just be teasing her. "Oh, is there anything you need from the store? I need to look for toothbrushes, I know that. Depending on how long you stay, I'd rather you had some say in what's being eaten."
Of course Yeong was not laughing at Cala in a mean way. He had good intentions with his actions, and meant absolutely no harm of malice. “Blue raspberry is good for like… slushees. That’s the best flavor of them, and I’ll take that statement to my grave,” he stated with another bit of laughter. “You ever had a slushee? I can’t assume anything because you barely know what a mac and cheese is, but hey, I don’t know.”
He did not mind the designs on the pancakes one bit. His mom used to do that for him when he was a little kid, and he found it cute in a way. He saw the smiley faced one, and stifled back a bit of laughter, obviously trying his hardest to keep a straight face. It was safe to say that he was failing, though. “Mm, besides like… a toothbrush, some deodorant, a hair brush, and some razors, I don’t think that I need anything. I’m not picky with food, I’ll eat anything. You should pick up some Spanish dishes, though.”
"I haven't had a slushee, no. Where would you even get that?" Cala asked, a confused frown drawing her brows together as she looked over at him. "They don't sell those at the grocery store, I don't think. But I do know what mac and cheese is." She was pretty sure of that, at least. It was in the boxed foods aisle at the store, if she remembered right, and featured fluorescent orange noodles. She hoped that was a sauce. If noodles were that color, there might be something seriously wrong.
Oblivious to his attempts at hiding his laughter, Calla bobbed her head side to side to a song stuck in her mind, flipping her last pancake out of the pan. She set the pan aside to cool, picking up the pancake plate and the eggs, taking them to the table and returning to do the same with Yeong's mug. A third trip was made for condiments and the seasonings, as well as forks. "Onto the list it goes, after breakfast. What kind of meals are you thinking? I may need your help making them. I'm not super familiar with Spanish dishes."
Yeong shook his head slowly in a mock disappointment sort of way. “Oh my god, you have so much to learn. You get them from gas stations usually. I don’t even care how shitty I’m feeling, we’re going to get slushees and ice cream today,” he decided with a sure nod to himself. He was not even feeling that bad, he just had a bit of a lingering hangover and his knee ached. Though he was sure a bit of pain medicine could solve both of those issues daily quick. That, or he could put an ice pack on his knee to help with the swelling and to numb it.
When the things were moved to the table, he headed over there with his crutches and sat himself down on a chair. He balanced the crutches aside and looked over at Cala. “Things like Paella Valenciana, Fideuà, Migas… all really good things. Mi mamá taught me how to make a bunch of things,” he hummed.
One thing Cala had noted already, was that drunk Yeong and sober Yeong were almost exactly the same. The only difference she could tell so far was that sober Yeong seemed more prone to light teasing. And drunk Yeong, if her replay of last night was any occasion, was a huge flirt.
Last night, he had insisted on going out with her as well. This morning, it seemed less flirty and more 'what the heck, now we have to'. She appreciated that small difference. "We could probably do that while out to get groceries." She offered, picking one of the flower pancakes for herself and buttering it. "Though, we have to be a bit careful to avoid any police officers. Just in case, for your sake."
As she listened to him list foods, she slid the butter dish over to him, grabbing the syrup. "I would need all the ingredients, but as long as you know them, we can get the stuff. I think I could probably google it if you didn't." She paused, thinking about the list as she scooped a small bit of eggs onto her plate before trying one. "Oh, these are good! They're so fluffy, I can never get them like this."
Yeong nodded his head at the statement about the cops. "Yeah, a lot of cops in the area would probably recognize me. That would be bad, considering I can't run at the moment. I need to get sunglasses as a little disguise or something," he laughed, shaking his head a bit. He reached over, grabbing the pancake with the smiley face on it, chuckling as he looked at it. He put a bit of butter on the top, watching it slowly begin to melt. Once Cala was done with the syrup, he took it and poured a decent amount onto the pancake.
"I know most of the ingredients. Had that stuff a lot growing up, so I know it all pretty well," he hummed, cutting off a piece of the pancake and popping it into his mouth. "Mm… I haven't had pancakes in forever, these are good as hell." He finished chewing and looked up as Cala tried the scrambled eggs. he grinned pridefully, dark brown eyes lighting up in a way. He thanked her, making a comment about how he just had that 'secret touch' when it came to cooking.
With a lopsided smile on her face, Cala tried the pancakes, nodding in agreement. She had done pretty well. Pancakes weren't exactly a staple food of hers, that spot was now reserved for grilled cheese. Granted, she'd only tried it recently, but since then had dedicated plenty of time to trying to perfect it. "I may have to get you to make scrambled eggs every time you show up. That secret touch really is something." She joked, resting her head in her palm, elbow sat on the table.
"Sunglasses might be enough to keep you unrecognizable. They cover your eyes, and usually people use those to tell who someone is. I can even grab a hoodie for you, if you need." She took a moment from eating her pancake, to season the eggs on her plate. "You know, to put up the hood if there's an officer nearby. You'd look incredibly sketchy, but if you're with me it won't matter, because I know a couple of the ones who shop at the store I go to. I'm a very upstanding citizen, apparently."
"I'm glad you acknowledge my skill," Yeong hummed pridefully, but there was an obviously joking edge to his tone so he did not seem like as much of a narcissist. He took some of the scrambled eggs to try for himself. As he tried them, he would agree that they were really good. Definitely not as good as how his mom would make them, but they were good enough, in his opinion.
"Yeah, a hoodie would be great. Have any that would fit me?" he questioned. He was decently muscular, which made it a tad annoying when buying clothes. He much preferred baggier things over tight items. "Wow, look at you, getting in all good with the police. I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll just practice my American accent in case if I have to lie."
