Alice Munroe (ex_barebones985) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-05-06 00:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 07, alice munroe, jared bivens, | alice and jared |
Week Seven - Friday
Character: Alice Munroe and Jared Bivens
Location: Alice's suite
Summary: Alice teaches Jared how to make homemade chips and chicken fajita soup. Oh, and she lets him finally have his own place...next door.
Rating: PG-13 for some swearing and suggestive themes.
The corn came out of the can in almost a solid cylinder, landing with a plop among the chicken, stock, black beans, and tomatoes.
"So that's really it?" Jared said, tossing the can in the trash. "Throw a few cans in a pot and it's called cooking?"
"Well, sometimes ya gotta doctor it up," she replied, working the dough in the bowl she had. Flour tortillas were a bit harder to make without good old-fashioned lard, but corn tortillas were just as good and didn't need that key ingredient. They were better sometimes, in her opinion. "And there's ways to make it taste like it's fresher than it is, with good herbs and little techniques." The kneading was almost done, and the cast iron frying pan was heating up on the other stove top coil.
"Guess that'll come in advanced lessons?" he said, shooting her a grin before he went back to stirring the soup.
"I charge for those," Alice answered playfully. With practiced ease she twisted a bit of dough from the source, rolled it into a round in her hand, and plopped it down on the cleaned table to roll out into a circle.
Settling back against the counter, Jared tilted his head at her. "Well all I can give in payment is cigarettes or man hours. And I'm pretty sure Leo has your man hours covered."
Alice blinked at him in response, then felt a hot rush of embarrassment all the way up into her face. Had he heard them, or was he referring to the kiss they'd shared when she'd left Jared in Leo's care? For her own sake, she was going to pretend he meant the latter.
"I don't smoke. So I guess you're outta luck, then," she replied.
Jared grinned, more at the pause than her words. Throwing Alice off-balance always felt like an accomplishment. "Guess I'll just have to be your slave forever then."
"Does that mean I gotta hear your bitching forever, too?" Alice asked, smirking slightly. She put on a voice similar to his timber and range. "It's too hot. I'm hungry. Do I have to do this? This is stupid. When can we go home? I'm tired."
"Hey, you get what you pay for, lady," he said with a snort.
"I'm paying now? I thought you were the one who wanted to learn?" she countered. With all the rounds flattened out, she brought them over to the counter next to the stove to start cooking.
"You aren't paying, that's the point. Means I reserve the right to bitch all I want," he teased, plopping down on one of the kitchen chairs. He leaned forward on the table, watching her cook. It didn't take long for ten tortillas to cook up, and once that was done it was all about cutting them into triangles for flash frying. Alice found herself wondering if she shouldn't just bake them though, to save the cooking oil.
"I dunno. I'm not one for bitching that isn't coming from my own mouth," she murmured after a moment, the sound of her snipping the tortillas with her kitchen shears background noise. "Oh, did you want one of these? I'm gonna end up using 'em all for the soup, but we could split one and maybe put some cinnamon-sugar on 'em."
"Cinnamon and sugar? On a tortilla?" he said, scrunching up his face. "I bet you put ketchup on your eggs, too."
"You've never had fried ice cream before?" Alice asked, brows arching a little. "What do you think they put on the shell? The shell is made from corn tortilla crumbles usually. Or cornflakes. It's all the same thing. Honey's good on 'em, too." She went to her cupboard, getting out the ingredients she mentioned for him to sample.
"Who the hell fries ice cream?" he said with a laugh. "How does that even work?"
"Oh, you sad, deprived little boy," Alice replied, genuinely shocked. Mexican food was so easy to get pretty much anywhere, and he was seventeen. "I'm gonna have to see if I can make ice cream with evaporated milk now, just to make it for you." She decided to go ahead and bake the chips instead of frying them, turning around to flip on the oven into a preheat cycle. The rest of the tortillas took short work to slice into triangles. "Try that tortilla with the toppings I suggested."
Jared gave her a doubtful look but got up, pulling out the sugar and cinnamon. He shook out a healthy dose of the cinnamon first then the sugar on top, probably doubling the weight of the tortilla. "Do I roll it up now or what?"
"If you want. Or tear off a bit and bite it." She looked back at him, seeing how much sugar and cinnamon he'd put on it and snickering a little. "Put a little honey on too, otherwise it'll slide right off onto the plate."
He made a face at her. "A student's only as good as his teacher," he pointed out, dribbling the honey in a spiral.
"Tell that to Obi-Wan Kenobi after Darth Vader sliced him into bits," she replied. arranging the tortilla triangles onto a baking sheet.
"Yeah, well maybe if Obi-Wan was a better teacher, Darth Vader wouldn't have hacked him in two. And if you start calling me Ani, I'm gonna kick your ass, desert or no desert," he said as he rolled up the tortilla. He took a large bite, his eyes widening as he swallowed. "Shit, that's pretty good." And then honey started dribbling out the other end of the tortilla.
"Cup the end, smart ass," Alice said with a laugh.
Jared quickly complied, leaning over the plate. He dropped the tortilla as a lost cause, his fingers sticky with honey. With hardly a pause he reached over, smearing a finger over Alice's cheek with a grin and pulling an indignant little noise from her.
"You little--" she stuck her hand into the little glass of water she'd been using to moisten her hands as she worked the dough, flicking a generous amount into his eyes.
"Ah, I'm blind!" he whined, wiping his face on his sleeve. "Jesus, you had flour in there, too."
"Serves you right, you jerk," Alice countered, pushing the side of her hand against her face in an effort to get the honey off.
***
Soup was kind of an odd thing to have when it was still so hot, but it was easy to make, so Jared wasn't complaining. It was also pretty good. He liked the chips best, though. "This is pretty good. Thanks," he said, looking up at her with a grin.
"Welcome," she all but chirped, proud that the soup came out tasting edible and that he enjoyed it himself. It wasn't very often that Alice got to experience something so simple as sharing knowledge and having good results. Everything was so bittersweet these days. "There's popsicles for dessert. They should be set up by now; I made them this morning."
He laughed, shaking his head. "I don't think I've had a popsicle in years. What flavor?"
"Cherry-Limeaid," she replied once she'd swallowed a mouthful of soup. "And Fruit Punch. All it's really made of is water and drink mix, but the Cherry-Limeaid ones have maraschino cherry bits in them."
Jared stuck his tongue out. "Yeah, I'll be going with the Fruit Punch. Way to ruin a perfectly good Cherry-Limeaid."
Alice laughed a little. "Don't knock 'em until you've had one. My daughter used to love them. Every time she was sick, that'd be the first thing she wanted."
His smile faded. Alice had once had a daughter. It wasn't completely off base, that she had a family once. He just never thought about it. He shrugged. "Never liked maraschinos."
Alice snorted derisively. "Your loss." Silence lapsed between them for a bit as they ate their food, and at one point she rose to get them both drinks from the refrigerator along with some ice. It'd been a good couple of days. She was in a good mood.
"How long's it been now?"
He frowned slightly. "Since what?"
"Since you had a shower," she deadpanned, then rolled her eyes a little. "Since you came to be here, dummy. You've been keeping track, I take it."
Jared shrugged, though he could hear his heart pumping in his ears. What was she getting at? "About three weeks, I guess."
"Shit, has it been almost a month already?" she asked, half in astonishment. It felt like a lot less than that. "Damn. Time's flying by."
That got a snort. "For you, sure."
"Must you always be such a Debbie Downer? God," she countered, giving another laugh and grabbing a couple chips from the bowl they were sharing. After crunching down a few chips, she looked at him again a little more critically. Not a single person in the last three weeks outside of Jed -- and Kathleen, the one time -- said anything about feeling threatened by Jared. He'd been to meals, he'd been to meetups, he'd even contributed on the Costco raid and a few small community projects, all with positive outcomes. They had grown somewhat casually close in the time they shared together, but she knew he was reluctant to stay with her; he did it because he had to, and he didn't argue much about it.
"So what floor do you want to stay on?"
Seriously? This was how she was going to play it? God, if she was messing with him... "I like the first floor. Easy access to everything. Why, you wanna move?" he said, playing along.
"No, but I know that you do," she said with a half-smile. "First floor's quickly becoming activity space. I know Bridget has plans to convert a suite into an on-site library. I'm tempted to conserve as many first floor rooms as possible."
He slumped dramatically, though the smile he couldn't hold back didn't help. "I guess I can be on the second floor."
"I said tempted," she replied, unable to help smile a bit more from his smile. "The suite next to mine is empty. We still have six other suites available." It was still close enough that if something happened she could get to him quickly, but he would have his freedom and privacy, and she knew how much he wanted it, not to mention earned it.
Jared's shoulders sagged for real this time. So the leash was loosening but still on. He concentrated on his soup, scooping up a last spoonful. "Yeah, whatever you want. It's your call, after all."
Alice's brows arched a little at his less-than-enthusiastic response, but after a moment she figured out why. "Hey, just because we're sharing a wall doesn't mean I'm still your warden. Hell, I'm doing you a favor. The second floor has Jack and the third floor has Jed. Not only that, but you won't have either of them breathing down your throat that I let you out but they'll have their eyes on you. So long as you keep your nose clean, I don't see why I can't treat you like everybody else here now."
Except for keeping me on the first floor. He didn't know why it bothered him so much; he wanted to move out, and the first floor was infinitely better. But being told where he had to be still rankled. He tried to push the feeling back. "No, shit, it's great," he said, forcing a smile. "Clean nose, got it. Though I guess this means the cooking lessons are over?"
"You know enough to get by," she replied. "And it's not like you can't pop in to watch me do more anytime soon. We've got the rest of forever, right?"
"Way to making cooking sound ominous," he said dryly, looking at his bowl. He was going to have his own place and be treated just like everybody else. At least by Alice. He looked up. "Was there a vote or something, or is it your call?"
"My call," she replied. "I haven't heard anyone say anything negative about you outside of the first week's anxieties, so really..." she paused, arching her brows a little, "unless you're telling me I should keep you longer."
"No! No," he said with a genuine laugh. "I dunno. I just wanted an idea of who might not like it."
"Does it matter?" she asked, glad that he was amused but equally unsure now that he brought it up. Maybe she was making a rash decision. Maybe I need to ask Cass or someone else what they think? she thought. Asking Jed would be counter-productive and biased, but Cass had a good head on her shoulders. Even so, based on their past experience about the boy, she had a feeling Cassidy would support her decision, and maybe even ask why she'd waited so long.
"Not really, I guess." He gave a shrug. Still, he couldn't help wishing he knew who trusted him and who didn't, aside from those who made their opinion abundantly clear. He got up, taking his bowl to the sink. This would be easier to say with his back to her. "Thanks, Alice. For... I dunno, taking a chance on me or whatever."
"You're not gonna cry, are you?" she teased, smirking a little at his back. She could feel his awkwardness, and wanted to ease the tension a little. "'Cuz if you're gonna cry, then I'm gonna cry--"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he mocked right back, turning around. "Jeez, try to show a little gratitude and look what it gets you."
"You're welcome," she said, grinning. "Do you need help moving your stuff? I know you don't have much. Can you handle it?"
"Yeah, it's no problem. Not like I have far to go."