3) The Secret Ingredient is Poison

When I was younger I always loved the part at the end of the movie when there was a true love's kiss.

I always dreamed that if I ever was in a coma that I would wake up to a beautiful face staring back at me.

Times have changed and so have I.

As the beams of light shine through the gap in my curtain, I pull my doona further over my head in an attempt to hide from life, "I can feel you staring. It's very creepy."

My doona is rudely tugged down so that I find a set of brown eyes looking down at me. I have to lay on my hands to prevent them from reaching out to move a piece of hair away from his eyes.

"I'm not even going to ask how long you've been standing there because that's going to make me want to ask questions which I really don't need the answers to. But what I do want is sleep." I shove my head under my pillow to find darkness once again.

The bed dips slightly when I feel a hand on my shoulder "Come on, it's going to be a great day, well more like afternoon as it seems you've slept almost the entire day."

I restrain from hitting him in the face and instead choose to glare at him like a polite person would if they just woke up.

"For your information, I'm still dealing with jetlag so I was up till 3 am reading this morning until I fell asleep with my face planted in a book. I did eventually eat breakfast but I proceeded to go back to sleep."

Sam makes himself more comfortable on my bed but it doesn't last long as I see how late it is.

Rolling out of bed, I make my way towards my desk which is littered with papers that should have been sorted out months ago. "Oh is that the time? I need to get going I can't miss my first class," I say more to myself than the other person in my room who is still laying on my bed.

"Tonight?" He asks lifting himself up on his arms.

Sighing in frustration I explain that the only session they're running is at night time in the city.

This is met by a grim expression.

"How are you-"

"Train." I answer quickly,  "Which I need to get in half an hour plus I need to get there early to work out a problem they were having with enrolment."

I look at my phone which had mysteriously gone on silent. That's probably why I didn't wake up to an alarm

"I thought maybe we could catch up over a coffee maybe" I try to hide my smile as I watch the tips of his ears turn pink. "Or a hot chocolate or tea or a juice if you don't want something hot or dairy. Water would be fine-"

"Sam," my hand finds his own quickly and I give it a light squeeze, "I get it."

It feels a bit odd watching Sam get nervous. Sam never used to get flustered over these types of thing in the past. I guess some things must have changed.

I would love to get a beverage with you sometime in the near future but for now, I need to get ready to leave."

Turning around to a pile of clothes I had taken from my suitcase, I shuffle through the assorted apparel. "Did I wear this yesterday? I've got no clue.  They wouldn't be able to tell would they?" Trailing off I find a shirt and pair of jeans without food stains on it. This will do.

Pausing for a second remember that there is still a male humanoid in my room. How do you nicely tell someone to leave?

"I brought you some quiche," He says rummaging through his bag "I made it myself."

"That's so thoughtful of you," I look down at the odd pastry shell that is filled with more bacon that egg, not that I'm complaining. There does seem to be a substantial amount of black specks in it which I really hope is pepper.

Sceptically, I take a bite and am surprised to find that it isn't as terrible or crunchy as I originally thought.

These classes will be good for you, you'll get out of the house, soak in all this new information and you never know, you might even make some friends.

My laughter is prevented by the quiche stuck in my throat. The sound of me choking and gurgling like a dying cat is enough to get Sam off my bed and awkwardly hotting me on the back.

After catching my breath, reject the thought of taking another bite as that will only lead to more embarrassment.

Sam is staring at me wide-eyed with no clue what to do. Don't worry buddy, that's how I feel whenever I look in the mirror.
"It's cute that you think that I will willingly make friends but that is sadly not how life works."

By the way, he opens his mouth and shuts it quickly I come to the conclusion that he decided against correcting me.

"Now if you don't mind leaving I need to get ready. Like now," I'm hoping that he gets the message by me shoving him out the room and shutting the door in his face.

Though I am mistaken in thinking that it's the last time I'll see him.

Just as I am locking the front door I am given a heart attack when I find him standing right next to the door insisting that he drop me off.

"You really didn't have to drive me to the station," I say clutching my bag tightly to my chest.

Putting the car in park he turns off the ignition and gives me a broad smile, "Not a problem."

See it was very sweet for him to drive me but unnecessary as I could have easily driven myself. But when he gave me these sad puppy eyes which made my heart break and I said okay without a second thought and completely forgot my wallet so we had to drive back around the block to get it.

My social cues have not gotten any better, I could probably say they've actually gotten worse. Which means I have no clue if I'm supposed to sit here until the train comes or give him a hi-five then find a warm spot in the sun.

We last a solid 2 minutes in silence until I say a quick thank you and lean over giving him a peck on the lips without thinking.

I jump out of the car without any further words and walk away.

My feet come to a halt when I realise exactly what I just did.

I kissed him.

I kissed him on the lips and left.

I kissed the boy I left a year ago without a word smack bang on the lips with no exclamation and left. Again.

Deep breaths.

Don't overthink it just keep walking.

Seriously keep walking people are starting to stare at you weirdly.

One foot in front of the other. Face forward.
Don't look back!
Don't Look Back
DON'T LOOK BACK!

Why is it human nature for us not to listen to the sensible voice in our head?

If you were walking across a bridge that is far off the ground and you keep repeating 'don't look down'. Would you look down out of curiosity to see how far away your plummet to death would be or just to enjoy all the trees?

Ignoring all voices in my head I flick my gaze back you the car to find him staring right back at me. My heart pounds against my chest so hard feels like it's about burst.

I run to the train which has just pulled up and leap on before the doors shut.

***

I'm sweating bullets by the time I get to the classroom as the lift was out of order and I had to walk up seven flights of stairs. Such a great way to start my first night here.

When I walk into the classroom I shrink at the site of everyone staring at me. It may also be because they all look over 40. Maybe I'm on the wrong level.

I look at my timetable with the room numbers and double check it multiple times until it is decided this is where I'm supposed to be.

I scan the room for an empty seat, hopefully, next to someone that does not want to socialise. Thankfully there is one in the front corner a couple of seats away from a man slumped in a chair.

A lady with a short brown bob walks in with a basket of booklets and starts handing them out, "Welcome to Food Science and Technology 101. I know you're all excited about diving right into the fun chemistry and dynamics of the industry. But first, we need to go over some WH&S so we don't blow up the lab."

The small growl I let trying to shove the thick booklet into a plastic sleeve is louder than I think.

The teacher who wants to be called 'Janine' glares at me before addressing the class, "Now I have some notes that will go over all the lab rules like no eating or sitting on benches. So I suggest you read them, learn them, love them and complete the compulsory online test before next week."

She wheels out an age-old projector the looks like it is on its last leg on a squeaky trolly. We all find out my correct assumption when she plugs it in there is a loud popping noise and a spark comes from the electrical plug.

"That's not good," Janine fans away the smoke that I'm guessing shouldn't be coming from the contraption and pushes it back in the storeroom.

While Miss Projector-Pro attempts to turn on the electronic one that is actually connected to a computer, my eyes start to shut on their own accord. 

A heavenly aroma lingers around me that makes my stomach growl and regret not finishing the quiche even though I did choke.

I look over to the side and find my eyes lingering on the man sitting a few seats away from me with a container that looks like meat and noodles. Discreetly, I start scoot closer towards the food.

The guy doesn't give me a second glance until I start picking at his noodles with a fork.

Not caring about the personal bubble I'm probably popping right now, I leave over and dunk a piece of beef into the brown sauce.

It's only then when he pauses mid-bite to stare curiously at me.

When he asks "You bring your own cutlery?" I realise that he is in fact not an old man but a guy around my age.

"You don't?" I counter back, humming when I take a bite of the Asian beef.

"This is AMAZING! What did you put in this to make it taste so good?"

He slurps up a pile of noodle before saying "the poison most chance."

We continue eating out of a container that seems to be refilling itself  "It's a relief that I'm not stealing food from an old guy like I originally thought."

"Well, I feel honoured that a 16-year-old likes my cooking."

"20 actually and I'll take that as a complement to looking youthful." 

I offer my hand in what I am guessing is a friendly, welcoming gesture. "Mackenzie" I smile.

"Casey," putting down his fork he takes my hand "So what got you interested in this industry?"

Shrugging I say "Air con, waffles and the badge. You?"

He grins ear to ear and replies "In the day I'm just your friendly awkward checkout guy by night I'm the cool guy who wears a leather jacket and shuts down dingy restaurants."

"Very catchy but it still needs a little work. Well, it's nice to meet a fellow sane person who likes noddles as much me," the best people are the ones you can bond over food with.

"I think this is a start to a good friendship," he raises his fork of noodles to mine.

"Do I get the antidote to the poison you put in this?"

"We'll see how the rest of the lesson goes. By the looks of it, the teacher doesn't like you and I think poison will be a less painful death compared to an 'accidental' lab explosion."

What do you know? I made a friend.

The world must be ending.

***

"Zoe, I have a problem," I whisper-yell into the phone as I hang up my keys.

My friend lower the volume of her TV to listen to me complain "You got on the wrong train and ended up in the middle of nowhere?"

At this moment I really wish I was lost in a different suburb instead of home. 

When I arrived home I found a familiar car parked out the front of my house and my bedroom lights were turned on, "No. Sam is in my room"

"And..." she drawls out like there is no problem.

I cringe "It wasn't pretty last time I saw him." I was personally hoping for a week free of Sam so I could work out what exactly is happening. But no, he had to come back to my house, didn't he?

"You're probably overexaggerating. It can't of been that bad."

Stopping out the front of my door, I observe the light spilling out from underneath, "I choked on some quiche that he made me and then I gave him a chaste kiss before catching the train. I want to hide in a dark caseum of blankets."

There is a long pause on the otherside of the line "Oh well, that just leave lots of room for improvement when you see him again yeah?"

It takes all of my willpower not to run the other direction as I slowly open my bedroom door.

"Huh," I pause in the doorway and stare into my dimly lit room.

"What now? I have a very important bachelor episode I need to be watching."

"He's asleep on my bed." and I don't mean having a light nap. No, he is out cold, snoring into my pillows while laying ontop of my bed.

"Who?"

"Sam," he fidgets at the sound of his name.

"Well, at least you won't have to talk to him for a solid 7 hours." I am really not appreciating her positivity right now. 

Then it hits me, "Where will I sleep?"

Choc Chip Tip #3

The best way to make new friends is to eat their food.

:):):)

After half the chapter being deleted, I made it!

How are you?

I'm hungry.

Thanks for reading about Mackenzies unfortunate day which will hopefully get better..

What do you think of Macey's new friend?

What should happen next?

More food? An Explosion? Maybe it should rain cupcakes!

Mackenzie and Sam's kiss reminds me of the award one from teen wolf between kira and scott

Till next time

Lots of stolen food and kisses

Theforgottonone