- 7 -

"Coming!" I yelled as I briskly walked towards the kitchen, the aroma of spices filling my nose along with something sour, something savory, and something sweet.

"How far along are we?" I asked him as I peered over his shoulder at the sizzling pans.

"I think the chicken's done well. I'm done with the sauce too and cut the carrots." He said gesturing to the various ingredients set on the kitchen counters, an array of spices and herbs littering the whole kitchen.

"Alright, I'll just sauté the vegetables a bit before adding in the rice, and then I'll make the tortillas." I said and saw him nod from the corner of my eye as we sizzled away.

"Everything done?" He asked me as I set up the last of the tortillas neatly into the tray and nodded, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand, a small smile making its way to my face.

"We did well, yeah?" I asked him as we stood together, examining the now clean kitchen and the various dishes pulled out because we couldn't decide which ones to use.

"How long has it been?" I asked him, remembering the last time we tried to cook and nearly dropped dead.

Keyword being tried.

"Four, five years?" He scratched the back of his head in uncertainty before both of us looked over at our final dishes, satisfied with the result.

"They'll love it, obviously, because I did all the work." He puffed out his chest, earning him a smack from me on his shoulder.

"As if." I scoffed, helping him put the dishes in a tray before we took them outside for inspection.

"I spent all my remaining money on this." I muttered under my breath, briefly glancing at the little money I was left with after spending it all so generously on this supposed 'lunch' to impress my stress stricken parents who were trying to make ends meet.

This was the least we could do.