Amateur Chef

Sabrina didn't sleep for long that night. Her mind had once again showed her how she could have failed. Not running away quick enough, not finding her friend and worst of all, Riley dying because of something stupid she had done.

She knew that she was quite impulsive, but she could also be level-headed at times. At least that's what she told herself. It was true in a way.

That didn't matter though. All she could see was Riley's panic-stricken face. The little waterfalls that cascaded down her tan cheeks. Her emerald eyes that showed such terror. What could have happened that resulted in Riley acquiring achluophobia? She wanted to know. She wanted to help. She wanted to do something so that she never saw that face on her friend ever again.

She wasn't supposed to get so attached to these people, but here she was. Cody was the sweetest boy in the world with a lot of brains up in his little head. Riley was a kind and wise soul. A master strategist with the uncanny ability to think quickly on her feet. Archer, well, he was a jerk, but that didn't stop Sabrina from noticing what a skilled fighter he was. A sharpshooter. She also couldn't help but admire the way he cared for those two. They were a family. He protected them and they him.

They were lucky to have each other. Sabrina was lucky to have met them. Their love and care for each other helped her stay sane, as cheesy as it sounds.

She wondered how much they had been through together to get this close. She wanted to be close with them too if they allowed it.

With these wholesome thoughts, Sabrina found her eyelids growing heavy.

xxx

Sabrina had surprisingly woken up first next the morning. She felt warmth to her left. Riley was sleeping soundly next to her. She smiled to herself. The jade-eyed girl had a tough day, so she took it upon herself to make breakfast for everyone.

She carefully slipped out of bed as she didn't want to wake anyone up and tip-toed out of the room, opening and closing the door gently.

Once that little mission was over she exhaled in relief and trotted towards the kitchen and searched the cupboard for breakfast ingredients.

After 5 minutes of staring at the ingredients, Sabrina came to the conclusion that she had no idea what she was doing. She rubbed her face with the hand and stared at the ceiling in defeat.

"The one time I try to do something nice for them and I don't even know how to do it," she mumbled to herself.

A deep snicker was heard coming from behind her. She spun around and was met with the face of the demon, himself. When had he even entered the room?

She didn't ask him that. Instead, she scowled at him. "What are you laughing at?", she asked.

"Just relishing the fact that 'The Great Lia' can't cook breakfast," he mocked with a smug grin.

She glared at him. "There's only one thing that I'm not good at and it's this. I'd crush you in every other thing, Grinch."

"Oh really?," he replied still amused.

"Really."

"Move," he said seriously. All traces of teasing gone.

Is he a robot or something? How do you just switch like that??

Sabrina looked at him puzzled. "What?", she asked.

"Move," he repeated.

"Why?"

"So I can make breakfast that won't kill us."

She scoffed at the insult. Then her mouth completely betrayed her and blurted, "You can cook?"

He leaned in closer to her, looked her in the eye and smirked, "You have been crushed."

She stared at him wide-eyed and then moved out of the way against her will.

What?

He took out various utensils and got to work quickly. He didn't speak at all. He didn't even hum.

Sabrina didn't think he was human.

"Teach me," she said.

He stopped what he was doing and asked, "What?"

"Teach me, so I can crush you," she said with a determined stare.

He raised an eyebrow, "Is that a challenge?"

"Yes," she said confidently.

He made space for her next to him and smirked at her before his face went into his default scowl, and they both cooked up a storm.

While Cody would love to say that he was woken by the tantalising aroma of food, he wasn't. Instead, he woke up to the sound of bickering and clanging. Okay, well the food did smell pretty good too.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and groggily wobbled to the bathroom. Once he was done there, he checked on Riley. The girl was like a big sister to him, and he felt terrible about what happened to her yesterday. But putting that aside, he noticed her breathing pattern was becoming quicker. Being with her as long as he was, he recognised this. She wasn't having a nightmare or anything, she just got like that a few minutes before she woke up. She was a heavy sleeper and that was a telltale sign that she was coming out of it. He didn't know why that happened but it did, so he thought it was best not to question it.

He put a little light on so that she didn't wake up in complete darkness and then left the room. He was greeted by his new friend threatening to hit Archer with a hot frying pan while he was somehow trying to deflect it with a fork.

"Let me turn it now!", Archer demanded loudly.

"No, it needs to cook a little more!", she yelled back.

"No it doesn't! It's going to get cremated at this point!", Archer exclaimed frustratedly.

"Oh please, it's still running on the field," Sabrina scoffed and put the pan back down. She stood guard in front of it.

Archer put the stove on a lower heat to try to prevent the disaster, but it was going to be inevitable at this point.

"Let me turn it," he said forcefully.

"No."

"Who's the person who actually knows what they're doing here, Lia?", he asked rhetorically.

Sabrina sighed and realised that he was right but her ego made her roll her eyes and leave her post.

Cody watched the encounter, still trying to process what was happening. It was entertaining though.

He didn't say anything in case it ruined the whole show and walked quietly to the couch and sat on it.

The quarreling teens didn't speak after that and continued with their respective tasks. Cody was twiddling his thumbs in anticipation. He loved drama.

The room was filled with tension and the air was humid from the heat in the kitchen. Surprisingly nothing got burnt and nobody got injured. Sabrina turned to give him the vegetables she had chopped up, since that was the only thing she could do properly.

That and the buns. She was good at cutting things. Archer tended to the stuff that was currently being fried on the stove.

"Why don't you go and make yourself useful and get some sauce from the fridge?", he asked blankly without looking at her. Sabrina was about to fire something back but the retort died in the throat as she saw Cody sitting innocently on the couch with his eyes wide as if he was watching a drama show or something.

Archer turned around when she didn't say something back to him and saw Cody as well.

"Hey there, champ," he greeted fondly.

"Hey Cody," Sabrina said with a smile.

"Mornin' Archer, Lia," he smiled.

At that moment, a very disheveled looking Riley appeared at the door. Her hand was on the doorframe, and she was slouched over a little. She had a bad case of bed hair and her eyes were still partially closed.

"Smelled... food," she mumbled.

Sabrina wanted to laugh but refrained from doing so, but it seems that Cody didn't have that mental voice and cackled.

Archer just looked at her and finger-gunned before turning his attention back to the stove.

"Why don't you go freshen up while we finish what we're doing here?", Sabrina said after Cody calmed down.

Riley just nodded sleepily, turned around and disappeared.

Archer began taking the patties off the stove and placing them into the buns while Sabrina retrieved the sauce and placed the various vegetables to make their burgers. Cody came to help them salt the fries, and they were done.

Riley emerged from the room looking like her normal self. She stopped unexpectedly.

"What's-what's that?", she asked while sniffing the air.

"You guys made breakfast without turning the kitchen into a nuclear bomb? I'm so proud," she said dramatically and wiped away a tear that clearly wasn't there.

Cody laughed and took his plate to the sitting area. Archer rolled his eyes and did the same, carrying Riley's plate as well. Sabrina stayed in the kitchen to pour some water for everyone before bringing the cups and her plate to sit with them.

They all ate quietly. Nothing but the sound of hums of approval filling the room.

When they were done, Sabrina and Riley went to clean up the dishes while the boys talked on the couch.

Riley was washing a plate when she spoke up, "Thank you, Lia. For what you did yesterday and for breakfast. It really means a lot to me."

Sabrina looked her friend in the eye and said, "It's my pleasure. Besides, you would have done the same for me. Also, Archer's the one to thank for the breakfast. He did most of the work," Sabrina looked in Archer's direction when she mentioned him. He was showing off a pocket knife to an amazed Cody. She caught how his eyes twinkled when he made the blond boy smile. Sure, she disliked him, a lot, but she had to give him credit where it was due.

"It's good to see you two getting along," Riley said.

"Archer and I? I wouldn't call that getting along. It's more like we tolerate each other," Sabrina clarified.

Riley made and amused sound.

"He'll come around. He may seem like a literal brick wall, but he's a little marshmallow."

Sabrina chuckled. "Well, I guess I just have to wait and see it for myself."

Once the girls were done cleaning up, they regrouped in the training room.

"I would like to go on another raid today," Sabrina said.

"Okay. If you don't mind, L, I think I'm going to sit this one out," Riley said.

"It's okay. I'll go with Lia," Cody volunteered.

Riley's eye's went wide and sent a pleading look to Archer. He seemed to understand what she was trying to say and took control of the situation.

"Okay bud, how about we have a little chat?", he asked while slinging one arm over Cody's shoulder and walking to the far end of the room with him.

"You okay, Riley?", Sabrina questioned her friend in concern.

"Yeah, I just don't feel like going out today. Especially after what happened yesterday. I'm sorry. I know we were supposed to go and get your gift but-" Riley began to ramble but Sabrina cut her off.

"Hey, it's okay. I don't mind. It's not your fault so don't apologise for it. I'll still get it. No big deal," the brunette said to Riley and her hands on her shoulders.

"Yeah okay."

Sabrina smiled.

"Maybe we should sit today out. Just relax and go out tomorrow?", Riley suggested.

"I think that's a good idea. Cody won't get too suspicious," Sabrina agreed.

They turned to see what was going on with the boys on the opposite end of the blinding white room. Sabrina still wasn't used to it.

The girls saw Archer talking to the smaller boy with a lot of hand gestures, then they saw Cody's shoulders slump before he nodded. They immediately felt bad. They knew that they couldn't risk him finding out about the surprise, but they still felt guilty about keeping him in the dark.

The boys began to walk back and the girls pretended as if they didn't stare at them the whole time.

The girls explained their thoughts and the boys agreed after some thinking.

"So Cody will stay with you Riley," Archer said.

"That leaves-", Sabrina started before she paled and it seemed as if Archer realised the same thing too.

They were both paired together for a raid.

Oh, this was going to be torture.