Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
Chef Liam
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"I'm so hungry I could eat a fu- freaking horse!" Lavender groaned, stepping into the kitchen. "What's on the menu, chef Liam? No, seriously.. what is that?"
"You'll just have to wait and see." Liam joked, causing the much taller girl to groan and dramatically drag her feet to the dining table. She sat down beside sid, letting out an over exaggerated sigh as she rested her head on Sydney's shoulder. Sydney tried to force down the blush forming on her cheeks, not wanting to appear weird to Lavender. She was grateful for the taller girl staying with her again tonight. The original plan was to go to Lavender's, but the morning's events as well as a schedule change for Eric changed that. "Hey, Syd.."
"Hm?" Sydney looked up from her homework, inhaling sharply as Lavender's hair tickled her neck.
"What if you and mom.. talked?" Liam began, lifting the food filled pot from the stove after turning it off. "But.. without being mean?"
Sydney blinked slowly as Liam placed the pot in the center of the table. "Um.."
"All day at school and stuff, I try not to say anything mean to anyone." He scooped some the food into three different bowls as he talked, "And most of the time, no one says anything bad back to me.. But it's like you and Mom try to find reasons to get mad at each other."
"Thanks, chef." Lavender nodded, lifting her fork and sticking it into the food, "Still don't know what it is, though."
"Yeah, what is this?"
"Well, it's macaroni, cheese, maple syrup, A1, ham, corn, margarine, cinnamon, fish sticks." The boy paused, taking a drink of his water.
"Sounds nutritio-"
"Soy sauce, grape jelly, crushed grahm crackers, and something in a jar in the fridge that I'm not really sure what is." Liam finished.
Lavender shrugged, sticking the fork into the food and lifting it to her mouth. Liam watcher her expectantly as she pulled the empty fork from her mouth. "Holy shit.. Oh. Sorry.. That's actually good."
Sydney grimaced, "The thing is.. I actually just ate-"
"Try it. Before it gets cold!" Liam pressed. Sydney gulped, slowly raising the fork to her mouth. She glanced at Lavender as she reluctantly bit into the concoction.
"This is actually good." Sydney pursed her lips, shock flooding her face, "Like crazy good."
"I call it Liam's Loaded Lasagna." Liam made jazz hands awkwardly, "I know it's not lasagna.. but I just needed an L-word."
"The triple L!" Lavender pointed her fork at him. "I like it."
"I've never even seen you cook before."
"I know.. I was too afraid."
"Of cooking?" Sydney knitted her eyebrows together.
"I used to be scared of cooking." Lavender said, sending a small smile the younger boy's way.
"Yeah.. But then, you know, I just figured.." Liam trailed off.
"That if you just tried it, you wouldn't be afraid anymore?"
"How'd you know?" Sydney smiled silently.
"Oh, Syd! You're coming to mine tomorrow, that cool? We're gonna dye my hair then, because Eric won't be there, but my mom will be." Lavender said, carefully setting the glass down on the table.
"That sounds good."
~~
"Sorry, we're closed." Stanley said dismissively, glancing over at Sydney and Lavender.
"We were hoping you'd make an exception.." Sydney said awkwardly.
"That depends. Are either of you good bowlers?" He asked.
"Nope." Lavender shook her head, jumping over the back of the bench and seating herself in one. She rested her arms on either side of her as she crossed her legs. "I suck ass at it."
"No." Sydney said awkwardly, walking over and seating herself beside Lavender.
"Then what are you doing here?" He raised his eyebrows, placing the bowling balls he held on the rack.
"Gotta.. try to make the lasagna." Sydney said awkwardly.
"That sounds vaguely sexual."
"Like a sex position. Hey, we should try it." Lavender sent Sydney a wink.
"No, it's not! A-And.. no.." Sydney swallowed thickly, "I thought.. that uh, maybe I could hear some of those dumb theories of yours."
"Okay.." Stanley grinned, excitedly running off. Lavender knitted her eyebrows together, his smile didn't make her heart race like it usually did. The butterflies were there, but the heart racing wasn't.
"Lav?" Sydney said awkwardly.
"Hm?" Lavender looked up from her phone and over to Sydney.
"Thank you.." She said, "I-I mean.. for-for everything.. For last night and-and helping Liam out.. thank you."
Lavender sent her a grin, "'Course. Anything for you, Syd."
Sydney smiled, her cheeks reddening and her eyes brightening. Lavender's throat went dry. "Uh-"
"I'm back! I'm back!" Stanley said, rushing forward and dropping the stack of comic books on the bench beside Lavender and Sydney.
"Uh.." Sydney paused, leaning over Lavender. "When you said research, I thought you meant.. research."
"Okay, so the people who wrote these things, do you think they just came up with these characters and their powers out of thin air?" Stanley gestured wildly around him as he spoke.
"Yes."
"Probably drugs."
"Or! Or, or is it possible that they researched carefully and grounded these superhero abilities in modern science and parapsychology?"
"No. It's not possible." Sydney shook her head. "At all."
"Okay. You're right." Stanley pointed at her. "The people who wrote these things were probably eating acid like candy. But the point is, they know superpowers.. Okay? So each of these comics features an unknown visitor."
"Like Dumbledore."
"Right." Stanley nodded, seating himself on the bench. "A professor, a wise old sage, some form of mentor figure. You know, who visits the hero, explains their abilities, the mythology behind them, and how they can harness their powers for good."
Sydney looked unamused, "What's your point?"
"Has anyone like this ever visited you?"
Sydney sighed, resting her head on her hand. Stanley nodded, tossing a magazine to the side. "Okay, totally fine! Maybe me and Lavender can be your mentor figures.. or not! I-I mean, sometimes it's a rite of passage thing! There's always an origin."
"Like the origin of my bisexuality is Jade from Victorious." Lavendar nodded. "So.."
"Oh, shit. She was hot." Stanley nodded, "Anyways, have you experienced any of the following.. uh, spider bite?"
"Nope."
"Okay.." He tossed the magazine to Lavender. "Radio active goo?"
"No."
"Alien gemstones?"
"No!"
"Okay.. What about secret military experiments?"
"No.."
"Bionic limb transplant?"
"That's so cool." Lavender shook her head.
"No.."
"What?"
Stanley sighed, closing the comic book. "Okay, what about your parents?"
"What about them?"
"Well, sometimes, a person inherits their abilities."
"The only thing I inherited was my pasty skin and my bubbly personality." Sydney smiled sarcastically.
"And the thing zits." Stanley pointed out, causing Sydney's smile to fall. "Oh, too soon! I thought those were fair game, sorry."
"Wait, how do you know about those?"
"God, this is a waste of time!" Sydney scoffed, standing up angrily.
"No, it's not!" Lavender insisted, standing up on the bench and jumping onto the ground.
"Okay, look, all right. All right, okay, look!" Stanley rambled, "I'm the first to call out how shitty this town is.. and my life? It ain't great."
Lavender's heart sunk as she pursed her lips. Sydney nodded, pointing to his eye. "Yeah, I noticed."
"Okay, but.. you have something special." Stanley said, "And you're here right now because you wanna try and underdrand it. And that's a big first step, okay? And I know this, because I'm one of your mentor figures."
Sydney sighed, looking over at Lavender. "Okay, Mr. Miyagi, then, tell me, what's the second step?"
"Mastering your powers."
~~
Lavender sat beside Sydney, her gaze focused on the redheads face as she unknowingly studied each and every feature of her.
"Okay.." Stanley said, "So how does it normally happen? Like, after Ricky's party? What was your mindset."
"I didn't have a mindset." Sydney answered dismissively.
"Okay, but were you just having fun and then you blew down sime trees.. or.."
"I um.. I kinda.. I kinda kissed someone at the party."
Lavender snapped out of her daze, knitting her eyebrows together. Jealousy flared in her heart, pumping through out her body as she tore her eyes away from Sydney's lips. "You kissed... someone?"
There was no reason to be jealous. It's not like she liked Sydney.. right?
"Oh.. when? Like be-before or after I asked you to homecoming?"
Lavender's shoulders slumped when he said that. A sigh left her lips as she adjusted herself on the floor.
"Uh.. did you think we were.. together?"
Before Stanley could answer, Lavender abruptly stood up. "I have to go, see you guys tomorrow."
"Lav? Lav, wait-"
Lavender ignored Sydney's voice as she increased her speed. She pushed open the door, quickly stepping out and letting the door slam behind her.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck.." Lavender grumbled as the chilly air nipped at her face. "Not her. Fuck!"
Lavender grumbled to herself, zipping up her black Adidas jacket as she quickly walked up the side walk in the direction of her house.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that she'd just let herself like another person she had no chance with. Stanley didn't like her, he liked Sydney, and if she really did like Sydney, which there was no way could.. Except there was. Regardless, it wasn't fair!
It wasn't fucking fair.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
{ A/n: day 7 of quarantine and it feels like its been a month :) My extroverted ass needs to see some people }
{ Edited: No }
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