“Sure, if it’s like reheating it in the oven,” she said. “But it’s all been pre-prepared.”
I nodded, understanding. So many of us were used to having our meals made for us, the diet of an athlete predetermined, well studied, and even better documented. I bet there wasn’t a meal she’d had that wasn’t calorie counted and protein packed.
Opening the cupboard, I pulled out the two flavors I’d brought with me. I’d learned a long time ago to always have a snack on hand. You never knew when room service closed or you’d get stuck somewhere with only a protein bar as sustenance. “Well, you have a choice. Tom yum flavor or chicken.”
She paused, biting her lip.And I pretended not to notice. “Why are you being nice to me?”
I opened my mouth to issue a denial, but there was no more denying that things were... different. I was here, in her house, workingforher. And it had been a little while since we’d found ourselves in a fight.
This was something I couldn’t name but felt pressing against the edges of every interaction we’d had lately. It wasn’t a rivalry, but it wasn’t quite friendship either. It was softer, unspoken, like the quietafter a match when the crowd’s roar fades, and all that’s left is your own breath in your ears.
“Don’t you think being friends is a lot easier?” I offered as the kettle stopped boiling. Peeling back the container lids, I poured the water in for the ramen, watching the blocks of noodles float up.
“Sure,” she said. “But that hasn’t stopped you before.”
“Maybe I got tired of fighting you,” I suggested. “Besides, I think practice today took out all the hostility I had.”
“You thought you had me with that last overhead, didn’t you?”
How could she read me so easily?
“I think I’m pretty confident it was going to be my point,” I confessed.
“I guess this makes me the winner.”
“You wish. That final game was incomplete.”
Chloe leaned back on the counter. “I seem to remember returning that ball and getting nothing back.”
“Calvin had already called it off due to weather.”
“And I think that wasafteryou didn’t return the ball.” She smiled knowingly, before my phone burst into life, a timer going off.
“Saved by the bell,” I said, lifting the lid from the ramen, steam revealing the now-cooked noodles.
While I finished the minimal prep of the noodles, Chloe moved to the lounge, getting comfortable while I took the food over, Wilson looking on hungrily from where she lay on the floor.
“Okay, try this one.” I sat down next to her, offering her the chicken ramen first. “I added some garlic.”
“Doesn’t it need some soy?”
I shook my head. “Not this ramen. It’s like fifty per cent sodium.”
Chloe continued to look unconvinced. Twirling a fork in the noodles, she took a mouthful.
I watched her face for any sign of disgust. “Well?”
“This isn’t bad,” she said, swallowing down another. “It’snotas good as fresh ramen, but it will do in a pinch.”
I rolled my eyes, offering her the second cup. “Try the tom yum. It’s my favorite.”
This time, she didn’t hesitate.
“Isn’t bad” my ass. Fancy-pants “fresh ramen” Murphy liked the $2 cups.
“Okay, this isgood,” she said and smiled, happily eating another mouthful of noodles, her eyes almost rolling back at the flavor. I forced myself to look away before that expression burnt itself into my eyeballs.
Instead, I picked up the other pot and began to dig in, the post-training hunger hitting hard.
