I sighed in defeat. "There's ramen noodles if you really want to make something. Doesn’t need to be fancy, just put it in the microwave."
Eli perked up at my cooperation. "Okay, cool. Go get in bed and I'll bring it to you."
I complied and went upstairs to not piss off my very adamant guest. I heard lots of loud bangs and slams as I waited in my bed. I was confused as to whether he was cooking or fighting off a burglar. Hoped it wasn’t the latter, he would lose that fight.
I didn’t comment on it, though. I let him do his thing because surely he could not mess up microwaved ramen noodles. Fifteen minutes went by before he finally came up with the bowl. He was walking one slow, meticulously placed step at a time to not spill it.
When he handed it to me the first thing I noticed was how the water almost spilled off the side. No wonder he was walking so slow, it was filled all the way to the top.
He noticed my confused expression. "What's wrong with it?"
"Uh..." I drawled as I scratched my head. "It's a lot of water, is all."
His teeth clenched as his lips stretched into a tight, awkward smile. "Too much?"
"Little bit."
"Okay, less water. I'll remake it." Eli instantly moved to take the bowl from me and scurried off before I could say anything.
It took him another ten minutes to come back and there was significantly less water this time. A little on the dry side, but I wasn't going to make him do it again.
He watched eagerly as I tasted it, his leg bouncing as he leaned forward. When I tasted it, though, it tasted bland. It had not an ounce of flavor in it.
I was going to force myself to eat it because I didn’t want him to feel bad about it. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop the harsh furrow of my eyebrows when I realized it was just plain water and noodles.
Eli bit the tip of his finger. "What's wrong?"
"Well..."
"Is there not enough water now? Tell me."
I put the fork down and spoke cautiously. "Did you add the flavoring?"
He blinked and his shoulders slumped. "What flavoring?"
"The flavor packet that comes with the ramen. It is literallyinthe pack of ramen," I spoke slowly, but not condescendingly. "So you didn't add the flavoring?"
"I thought the noodles were already flavored. I didn't know I had to add it," he muttered. “I have never had ramen noodles before. Macy doesn’t like them because she says they look like worms.”
I was laughing. "Okay but how do you miss it? It's seriously right in front of your face when you first open it."
The light-heartedness in my laughter made Eli laugh too. He took the bowl from my hands again. "I don't know, babe. It's fine, I will try again for the fourth time."
"Fourth?"
He gave me a sheepish smile. "The very first time I forgot to add water into the bowl. I thought I was going to burn your house down."
He left again, determined to make the ramen to the best of his ability. I commended him for trying so hard. If I wasn't aware of how much this meant to him then I would have told him toforget the ramen, I was not that hungry to begin with. However, I knew he just wanted to be helpful.
Eli gave me the bowl with hesitation this time. "I did see the flavor packet this time. I think I saw it the other times too, but I kinda thought it was instructions or something."
I smiled softly before tasting it while he waited for my reaction. Luckily, he did it right this time. It was nothing special, but it was edible ramen noodles.
"It tastes great, Eli. You did great."
His lips rolled into a straight line. "Are you just saying that? I can make it again if it's bad."
“I promise it’s great,” I assured him. He finally relaxed once he understood that I meant it and was eating it.
