A Bad Prank...And Food?

The moment Richard stepped into the house, he aimed his gun and his eyes traced every inch of the room in search of the intruder. His eyes finally landed on the smiling lady who sat on the sofa with an enthusiastic look.

She was watching a movie and seemed so immersed in it. There was no sign of struggle, no blood and no dead body. She was alone and from the look of things, physically fine as well.

Richard lowered his gun when she turned to look at him. She didn't seem surprised. She smiled brightly and waved him over. "Join me, this movie is fun!"

Richard looked at her, undecided what to think. "What happened?"

"Oh," she turned to him. "Nothing much. I panicked."

"You panicked? And made me rush here like this?" he gestured to the gun in his hand. His breathing was still irregular.

"I'm sorry," she stood up and walked towards him. Her eyes were gentle. "I thought it was a fun way of getting you to come to my house and it worked right?"

Richard took a deep breath and put his gun away. He eyed her for a few seconds before saying. "You pulled that silly prank just to get me to visit you?"

"Well, duh," she walked back and threw a box of popcorn at him. "Now sit, let's watch a movie. I was bored and lonely."

Richard would have been happy to know that she wanted him to keep her company but he was still a little upset that she would joke about something as serious as being attacked. He took two deep breaths and followed her to the sofa with the popcorn in hand.

"You know you could've asked me to come over."

"I'll keep that in mind then." She smiled; her eyes remained on the screen. She turned to Richard and offered. "Chips?"

"No thanks, I'll pass."

"You aren't hungry?"

"You eat chips for dinner?"

"I'm glad you asked." She smiled and jumped up then she whirled round and faced Richard. This simple action made his heart flutter and his stomach twist into a knot. He thanked his stars that his heart beat wasn't as loud as it felt.

Priscilla had a few strands of hair on her face while the rest flowed down her back in waves. Her top was a little tight on her body and pretty revealing too. This coupled with many other things gave Richard a hard time to concentrate.

Priscilla—following her abrupt action—just smiled and said. "And no, I don't eat chips for dinner. I order take outs."

Richard nodded. 'I forgot that she's as bad in the kitchen as I am bad with the guitar.'

"However," she added with a raised finger. "I have been taking lessons. My cooking isn't as bad as it was. In fact I cooked this evening."

Richard wanted to ask her if she ate it but then decided against it. It would sound totally mean to ask her that. On the other hand, he was actually impressed that she was making efforts to cook well though her motivation remained a mystery to him.

Then again, he also felt that there was no need for her to learn how to cook. He simply attributed it to the fact that he had made a bad comment about her food in the past.

"I was hoping you'd share it with me when you dropped by." She informed and dashed towards the kitchen to get the food.

Richard smiled a bit. He looked around the house and nodded in satisfaction. She was really the sort of person who would compartmentalise. He had already guessed this based on her behaviour since the day they met.

She had several awards hung up on the wall. There was a large picture of her and General Harris—her father.

Priscilla brought the food on a tray. She was smiling but inwardly she was nervous. She set it down and sat down beside Richard.

"Taste it…" she said. "And be honest about it."

Richard smiled and took the fork. It was a simple dish of fried salmon cooked with vegetable oil and slices of what Richard couldn't really identify. He wasn't good at cooking either.

He tasted the food and paused for a while. His sudden pause made Priscilla's heart beat like war drums. 'I at least made it edible this time, right?' she thought.

"Well?"

Richard swallowed hard. "Honestly?"

She nodded. He put down the fork. "You're a good learner. Though…it was salty and the pepper can kill an adult at any point. Then the fish wasn't cooked thoroughly…"

"Stop!" she held up her hand and buried her face in the sofa. "I get it. It was bad. But I wonder why. I followed the recipe to the letter and did everything they said!"

Richard chuckled. He secretly—while she wasn't looking—took a sizeable amount of the fish and stuffed his mouth. He chewed and swallowed quickly.

By now, his mouth was burning due to the pepper. Now he recognised the greenish thing on the fish as green pepper but the others, he couldn't tell. It reminded him of his time in the military boot camp.

Priscilla looked back up after pouring out her frustration. She took the tray gently. "It's a good thing I ordered take out."

"You expected me to not like it?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

She shrugged. "A girl can only hope."

She returned with pizza and noodles. "Take your pick."

Richard smiled. "I'll eat what you eat."

Priscilla chuckled and wiped her forehead. "Okay then. Let's devour the pizza!"

She couldn't stop herself from smiling as they shared the pizza. She made a bold move of letting him eat out of her palm and he agreed. The moment his tongue grazed her palm, she felt electric bolts shoot across her body.

They ate and watched the movie till it was late into the night. She glanced at the time and wondered if she should remind him to go. She had noticed that he had called Lily a while after he arrived to informed her of where he was.