She opened her mouth to speak but closed it when she realized a giggle was about to escape it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She promised herself that when she opened her eyes again, she wouldn’t laugh, because shereallywanted to stay on their date. She tried. She really did, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she failed immediately.
Cannon waved her off and tried to remove the apron he had on. Nahla rushed to him and grabbed his hands. “No, don’t take it off, please. I’m not even laughing because you look funny. You look adorable, baby.”
Cannon kissed his teeth. “Ain’t nothin’ about me adorable, La. And if you ain’t laughin’ at how I look, what you laughin’ at? Lyin’ ass.”
“I’mlaughingbecause you’re acting like it’s killing you to wear a simple apron.”
“Simple? It’s pink, Nahla.”
“And it’s a great color on you. Now, come on. This is about to be epic.”
She pulled him to their workspace, and the chef immediately began. He had booked a pasta-making class for them, and Nahla was beyond excited. Cooking was one of her favorite things to do, and Cannon knew it.
“Molto bene!” the woman said, smiling at Cannon. “Very tall! You will knead dough like a stallion,” she said excitedly.
Nahla had to take another deep breath because she refused to laugh in the middle of their lesson. Instead, she nodded at the woman.
“I think so, too,” she said, turning to Cannon. “My man, the stallion.”
He cut his eyes at her. “You think I won’t carry ya ass outta here, but I’m about to show you.”
Their instructor clapped twice then introduced herself as Chef Ricci and explained that they would be starting by kneading their dough. She spread flour then placed a mound of dough in front of each of them and demonstrated the proper way to knead it.
After watching her for a minute, Nahla got started.
“Very nice! Natural,” Chef Ricci said, eliciting a proud smile from Nahla. Cannon watched the chef a little longer before starting, and when he did, he pressed down hard.
Chef Ricci gasped. “No! Not like you are fighting with dough. You want to press withlove.”
Nahla glanced at Cannon’s work. He was handling the dough like it was a basketball or something, because he kept picking it up and slamming it back on the table.
“She saidpress, notthrow, Cannon. Stop assaulting the pasta,” Nahla said, earning herself a nasty look from him.
“Leave me alone, Nahla. I’m tryna do what I was told,” he said, sounding irritated. He did stop picking it up. Instead, he began repeatedly sticking his fingers into different parts of the dough.
Chef Ricci shook her head at him. “Too rough. Be gentle. Like you are touching your lover.”
He kissed his teeth but tried to adjust. “My lover is soft, unlike this shit here.”
Nahla giggled but continued working on her own pasta. Eventually, Chef Ricci helped Cannon finish kneading his pasta, and they moved on to the next step.
Nahla thrived at pasta-making, while Cannon just looked as if he were trying to survive. It was a slow, methodical process, but the class was fun, and at the end, they had two bowls of Pici all’Aglione.
The chef led them to a nicely set table that had a bottle of wine on it already then left them to enjoy the meal they had prepared.
“That was so much fun,” Nahla said and picked up her fork.
Cannon kissed his teeth. “It was aight. Switch plates with me.”
Nahla frowned and leaned back a little. “Why would I do that?”
“’Cause you said mine looked better than yours when we were cookin’. I want you to have the best, so give me yours.”
Nahla laughed, but Cannon actually picked her plate up and moved it to his side of the small table. He placed his in frontof her and grabbed his fork again. Nahla just stared at him in disbelief as he tastedherfood.
“Damn, this is good.”
Nahla kissed her teeth and stood. Grabbing her fork, she pushed her chair to his side of the table and sat. She got some of her pasta on the fork and tasted it. Closing her eyes in delight, she nodded to agree.
