ryan stebbins has a fanged fact about that (noleprechaun) wrote in may02, @ 2010-08-14 23:27:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !!complete, !august 1998, laura madley, ryan stebbins |
Characters: Ryan Stebbins & Laura Madley
Setting: Ryan's Kitchen. [BACKDATED; August 10th]
Rating: PG || Complete
Summary: Ryan & Laura discuss food & dating habits.
Ryan had taken himself to the store earlier in the day. He was rather proud with his purchases; a head of lettuce, two tomatoes, an onion, a cucumber, two carrots, cilantro, and light ranch dressing. He had a feeling that Laura might have picked out something contents to go into the salad, but he’d grabbed things he thought looked good and what he could remember as being in most salads he’d eaten. He’d attempted to set his knives to cutting up the ingredients for him but found that his knives were rather clumsy on their own, so he ended up taking over it with a personal touch. He wasn’t much better, and most of his vegetables were in big, awkward chunks rather than neatly sliced pieces. That didn’t stop him from tossing it all into a bowl with the lettuce and stirring it up, feeling satisfied. He might have the ugliest salad in the world… but it was a salad. Technically he was suppose to have waited for Laura to run the show, but he’d felt like surprising her.
Once the doorbell rang, Ryan went to the door to let her in, rushing her to the kitchen where his masterpiece awaited her inspection. Anyone else might have found it ridiculous that he was waiting on the approval of a 15 year old, but he genuinely liked Laura who had grown to being something of a sister to him. His actual sisters were closer to her age but neither one had been sorted into Hufflepuff, so it’d be easy to take Laura under his wing when he’d still been at school.
“I taught myself how to toss a salad,” he said, pulling the bowl out it’s place in the fridge. “It’s an ugly salad, but you never said it had to be pretty.”
Putting her own ingredients down on the counter, Laura raised an eyebrow at Ryan’s enthusiasm. “Something healthy,” she said. “I’m impressed. But if I may make a suggestion, carrot can be sort of awkward when it’s chopped and added to a salad. Personally I’d grate it and sprinkle it over the top as garnish.” She leaned back against the table, assessing. “What are you going to use as dressing?”
“I’m a little surprised you’d be impressed I choose something healthy, since you suggested I make a salad, but I’ll take what I can get,” he said, giving her a playful nudge. Of course, he wasn’t entirely surprised when she had suggestions. He doubted it was possible for Laura not to have additional input about everything, no matter what it was: in this case, his salad. He gave her a bit of an inquiring look when she suggested the carrot chunks be shredded. “So... you want me to dig them out with my fingers? That sounds... unsanitary.”
Dressing had to the be the best part of the salad. Ryan was use to eating a lot of vegetables since he didn’t really eat meat a whole lot, but there was nothing better than adding flavor to them. Cheese on broccoli, butter sauce on asparagus, and, naturally, dressing on salad. He had no doubt that Laura would complain he ruined the health benefits by adding those things to his veggies but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. It wasn’t like he wasn’t an active busy body anyway. Ryan was pretty sure that what he lacked in a good diet he more than made up for in physical activity. His hunts and his general love for the outdoors both contribute in a variety of things that kept him moving.
Taking a step toward the fridge, he opened it again, this time to bring out the bottle of light Ranch he’d purchased. Light wasn’t normally his thing but decided to preempt her complaints. Although he suspected she wouldn’t be entirely happy with this, he supposed it was better than buying regular. “Ranch?” he replied at last, voice sounding slightly sheepish.
“Oh, that’s fine,” Laura said with a shrug. “We usually just use olive oil with a few herbs at home, but it’s not like a dressing takes away the nutrients of the vegetables or anything. And I’m really not fussy enough to insist that you dig the carrots out with your fingers. I’m just making a suggestion for the future.” She slid him an assessing glance as she removed the shepherd’s pie ingredients from the carrier bag. “And since it seems like you’re more interested in the appearance of being healthy rather in actually changing your diet, then presentation might be something to consider.”
Earlier she had sent Rae Bones an owl hinting at her suspicions about Ryan and her roommate’s sister, and was alert for any hint that would confirm things.
He was a little surprised that Laura didn’t think his dressing choice was bad, and mentally patted himself on the back for his effort. Ryan was a bit skeptical on how light would actually taste, but he could always buy something better later, if the need arose. Not that he would tell Laura that. His main reason for even attempting to eat better recently was because Marietta had hinted that she wanted more than just cupcakes whenever she stayed over. Of course, it didn’t help that he later realized with full force that she was actually quite accustomed to having not only better meals but the best meals. It was a bit hard for his brain to grasp being well off and living in an Estate with house elves to do everything for you... But he was determined to at least feed her something that could pass for food. He’d be perfectly fine with cupcakes and tofu still, if it wasn’t for her.
“The appearance of being healthy?” he repeated, raising his eyebrows. “Why on earth would I care about that? I really am trying to eat better... or at least learn how to cook so other people can eat better,” he added, with a slight chuckle. Giving the ingredients she laid out a look over, he asked, “What are you making?”
Or at least learn how to cook so other people can eat better. So that was it. “Shepherd’s pie,” she said. Her back was turned to Ryan as she got out the last of the ingredients, so she knew she was safe giving a small and secret smile. “Do you and Megan take turns cooking? Is that who else you’re cooking for?”
“How long does Shepperd's pie take? Do you need me to do anything magical to it?” he offered. It really was a pain that the under-aged couldn’t even use magic under the supervision of an adult wizard. He shrugged at her comment, even though she couldn’t see him. “No. Megan and I rarely share a meal,” he said. It wasn’t because he didn’t like Megan, but they kept different schedules. “I do have friends over, though,” he offered. “I think in the last week I’ve had three different people over. And I keep wanting to invite Oliver and Paisley but I don’t think he’d appreciate it if I fed his daughter cupcakes all day long. Could you imagine the sugar high that girl would be on?” He chuckled at the thought.
“Maybe peel and cut the potatoes, but I can handle the rest myself.” Laura’s cheeked heated up at the mention of Oliver. She pretended it had something to do with the onions she was now dicing. “And yes, it’s important for growing children to get their nutrients and, um, Oliver is, um, a Quidditch player, so he’d want to stay healthy?”
The mention of Oliver temporarily derailing her goal of trying to uncover more information about just what was happening between Ryan and Susan, she continued to explain, “The good thing about Shepherd’s Pie is that all you really need is potatoes and mince. Then you can use pretty much any winter vegetable that you have as the filling.”
He was kind of surprised she wanted him to cut the potatoes considering his chunky vegetables but Ryan, despite his complaining about having to help, wasn’t one who enjoyed states of idleness. He was handsy and far happier when he had something to do. He immediately descended on them with his unskilled but eager hands. “Yeah, all that,” he said in reply to her comments about Oliver and growing children. He supposed this was why he wasn’t anywhere near ready to be a father himself - he’d feed them cupcakes.
“Okay,” he said, feeling like a terrible conversationalist, but cooking was and had never been his realm, so he could only nod with what she was saying, believing she knew exactly what she was talking about.
“And then you mash them,” Laura said, grabbing a potato masher from her carrier bag and holding it aloft as if it were the Muggle Olympic flame. “See? I bet you were wondering why I asked you to cut them, weren’t you?” she asked with an impish twinkle in her eye. “Because it doesn’t matter how neat they are. They get mashed anyway!”
To Laura, that was a really funny joke.
Ryan raised his eyebrows at the MASHER. What was that thing? It was possibly one of the strangest devices he’d ever seen. He certainly didn’t own one, and he didn’t cook enough to have gone through the kitchen drawers to see if Megan did.
“You got me,” he said, chuckling a little, as he took it from her. He gave her a few once overs, deciding it actually looked like a fun tool. “I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy this.”
“It’s pretty self-explanatory,” Laura said, explaining anyway. “You just push it down into the potatoes and squash them until they’re all mashed. And try not to get the stuff everywhere,” she added, giving Ryan a slight dubious look.
“Sounds easy enough,” he replied as he reached for the first ‘victim’ and began beating with the masher. He wasn’t typically a violent person but there was something profoundly entertaining about this. It was fun in the way that doing something the muggle way was... there was no way he would have enjoyed it as much if he’d simply charmed a tool to do it for him.
“You’re not going to be snogging any blokes in the Astronomy Tower this year, are you?” he asked, doing some digging around of his own. He’d already had similar conversations with his other sisters.
“What? Noooo.” Laura wrinkled up her nose. “Who could I want to kiss in the Astronomy Tower anyway?” While outwardly she was acting the picture of indignation, images of Wayne Hopkins and several other people flitted through her mind.
Ryan was a little amused by her reaction but he hadn’t been 15 but 5 years ago. He had an inkling that she was probably withholding more than she was letting on. “Right,” he replied, skeptically. “You realize I’ve had a girlfriend of some sort since I was 13... so I know you girls are just as interested as we guys. Especially by 15.” He didn’t really care if the conversation was awkward, but he thought she should know, he was there if she needed to talk about anything.
“You were the exception. Most 13 year olds I knew when I was that age still acted as though they thought girls were contagious or something. As if we were the ones they’d catch something from. Girls are generally far cleaner than boys - we should have been more worried about them. So, what about you then?” she asked, remembering Rae’s owl. “Have you bought anyone chocolates or - oh, I don’t know - flowers recently?”
Ryan found this concept a little bit odd. He didn’t really remember anyone complaining about girls when he was 13. Then again, he had been best friends with Cedric who, himself, had certainly appreciated them at a young age. “I guess Cedric and I were the wise exceptions then,” he said after a moment. Cedric’s name always felt odd on his tongue but it was oddly comforting to say it. He was dead but didn’t have to be forgotten.
Giving Laura a glance, he had to think about what to say to that. “Yes,” he said. He didn’t think Susan had gone around telling people but the question was so pointed that he had the feeling Laura knew something, so there was no point in denying it. “Susan helped me out with some wounds I had, so I felt that flowers were a nice way of saying thank you.”
“Well, that was nice of her. But then Susan is nice like that. She’s so many other things as well - smart, beautiful, dedicated, loyal - she’s practically perfect!” Laura could have pushed things further than that, but she had caught the mention of Cedric and was similarly feeling a little awkward. Plus she had got what she wanted out of the conversation, and had plenty to tell Rae when they next met up. “So,” she said, “want to learn how to make Shepherd’s Pie?”
Ryan was quite a bit surprised by Laura’s description of Susan. It wasn’t that he particularly disagreed but he was starting to wonder if she thought he was dating or in the process of dating her. He thought about correcting her. Letting her know that he was already kind of seeing someone else. But then, he wasn’t sure he should disclose that just yet since he and Marietta had not actually talked about... well, anything, that had to do with dating. So he just sort of shrugged.
“Yeah, let’s tear this kitchen up,” he replied, trying to sound enthusiastic. He supposed cooking with a guide wasn’t so bad but he doubted her expertise was really going to catch on.