Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 63601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Well, it wasn’t a terrible place to start.
“I took your keys last night.” I thought that would’ve been obvious. “I put them on the table by the front door…and as for why I’m here…we needed to talk when you were grown-up…and I promised you breakfast.”
He blinked a few times as his gaze shifted to actually seeing me instead of just staring into space. “Pancakes?”
“Yes.” Keeping my answers simple seemed like the best idea at the moment, so I left it there.
“I like pancakes.”
His answer proved I was right about keeping it simple, but didn’t give me much to go on either.
“I’m glad.” Nodding toward the stove where I had a pan heating up, I frowned at it. “That one will do for now, but we need to get you a larger pan if you want pancakes on a regular basis.”
Teddy frowned and looked around. “I didn’t know we had one.”
That was ridiculous.
“Whose stuff is in here?” Because it wasn’t his.
“I don’t know.” After a few blinks and a shake of his head that made him look like a puppy, he realized that wasn’t enough information. “I was told they had plenty of stuff I could use when I first moved in, but it turned out the guys who were living here didn’t know who it belonged to either.”
That was ridiculous.
“Did the place come fully furnished?” If it had, they’d been scammed by their landlord because it was all crap.
Thankfully, Chipmunk shook his head. “Just beds and a few pieces like the couch in the living room. Nothing else.”
“It must’ve been left by previous tenants, but if you want real meals, we’ve got to pick up a few things.” As I tested the pan to see if it was hot enough, I glanced over at him before I made the first pancake. “Want to explain why you don’t seem to cook anything?”
He had a full kitchen for fuck’s sake.
“Not really.” Pouting, he shrugged as I started getting out the syrup and butter I’d bought yesterday. “It’s nicer to have someone cook for me and Olivia likes feeding people so she’s always bringing me stuff from work.”
God.
“She works at the soup restaurant?” My wince or maybe the pitch of my voice made him laugh. “Most of that food is inedible and you know it.”
He didn’t admit it out loud, but his shrug said a lot.
“We’ll figure out a plan.” He couldn’t keep eating weird crap. “Do you have a meal plan at the dining hall when that’s open?”
Thankfully, he nodded. “Yeah, one of those credit plans where I can go a certain number of times in the semester.”
Something about his expression…
“How many of them did you use last semester?” Yep, he winced. “Chipmunk?”
He dragged out answering with a long sigh, but as I went back to the pan and flipped the first pancake, he seemed to realize I could wait him out. “A dozen or so?”
For fuck’s sake.
“Care to explain why?” When the sound effects started again, I raised one eyebrow. “It would be a tragic accident if I told your mother how bad your eating habits are.”
Tragic.
“God.” His head went back to the table as he groaned. “Fine. It’s too far to walk and I always get lazy. I’ll do better.”
“No, we’ll make a plan for you to do better.” We could fix this without the need for tattling. “I’ll cook a few times a week and we’ll go to the dining hall together for the rest.”
I didn’t mind dragging him over.
“And if we look pathetic enough, I have a roommate who loves to cook and is like full-functional-adult good at it. He’s the one who fixed the soup yesterday.” For whatever reason, that had his head coming up.
“I’m supposed to ask what he did to make that soup edible.” My glare got a snicker out of him. “It’s got good ingredients. I wouldn’t poison you.”
That didn’t give me a lot of comfort.
“He added rice and some spices to it.” What else had he done? “He was meal prepping for the week at the time and he had a few things going on the stove. He might’ve added sausage and a few other vegetables?”
I should’ve paid more attention.
“We can ask. At the time I was just a bit worked up.” His laugh let me know he realized that was an understatement. “He’ll know what he did. He’s good with that kind of stuff.”
“Thanks.” Perking up, Teddy liked this topic more than he had the others. “That’ll distract Olivia next time she’s…excited.”
Asking why they were friends was probably too rude considering how early it was, so I decided to ask about that later.
“Glad to help.” Taking the first round of pancakes out of the pan, I brought them over to the table. “Here are two, but I’ll have more ready in a moment.”