03 - First Meal

"Then all you have to do is add two light pinches of salt and a little bit of that special seasoning I brought." Oliver told Sam as he helped her finish dressing the spaghetti sauce he was making.

Sam, very different from the brutish way she normally acted, just nodded her head slightly, trying to hide her shyness from being so close to Oli.

Oli didn't notice the girl's strangeness and turned to Emy while laughing, Emy who at that moment had given up trying to cook and was playing with Vers using a small Cat Stick.

Carly had an apron around her waist as she used a large wooden spoon to stir the pasta slowly.

"Okay Carly, you look like you've had experience with this?" Oli commented as he approached her to see the noodles.

Carly cracked a small smile and replied. "I usually cook at home, and my brother loves Spaghetti Tacos so I'm used to it."

Oli nodded and smiled in agreement, before freezing and turning to her inquiringly. "Spaghetti Tacos?"

As someone who only watched the program in the afterlife, he probably didn't find this information as strange as he is now, since he had much more culinary knowledge and was really surprised by such information.

Seeing Oli's surprise, Carly was a little embarrassed but answered. "This… is really tasty… at first I was also surprised by the idea, but after he made it the first time it was delicious."

Oli raised an eyebrow and grew thoughtful when he saw Freddie squeezing a meatball with more force than he should have.

Knowing that this could affect the consistency of the meatball when cooking, Oli quickly ran to him.

"I have a tip to help with that." Oli arrived beside him and commented. "You don't have to use as much force, just squeeze a little, then you roll the meatball on the counter and slightly adjust the edges lightly."

When Freddie tried it, the meatball actually turned out to be much rounder than he had done before, which put a smile on his face. "Thanks, I've never cooked so it's a little difficult."

"Relax, once you try it a few times it's really fun." Oli replied smiling.

From afar, Daniel and Bella were watching the children having fun in the kitchen and they smiled at that.

"I was worried he was going to have a hard time adjusting…" Bella sighed.

"I wasn't worried, I don't think I've ever seen the kid struggling with anything, I'd be surprised if he struggled haha." Daniel chuckled as he watched his daughter give up cooking and enjoy herself with Vers.

What he didn't notice was a sly smile from Bella beside him as he looked at the girls' reactions when Oli walked up to them.

The idea of ​​not cooking but helping others to cook was Oli's as he felt it would be more special if he did it that way.

Although the food definitely wouldn't turn out as good as his, but with his help it would still taste several times better than a normal person making it.

That thought wasn't because Oli was arrogant, but because he realized that Yukihira's talent was much better than he imagined.

In the manga world this might have been greatly overshadowed because in that world there were several extremely powerful cooks who could make divine food, but in a normal world where people cook normally, Yukihira's talent was able to make Oli's cooking skills soar someone with no experience to the level of a great Michelin Chef in just two years.

Trying to recreate the rice with glowing eggs he saw in the manga even made the rice glow on stream just like in that world!

Of course, the viewers just thought that it was some special effect that Oli had added on the livestream, but when Oli tasted it, his reaction to the food made the thousands of viewers decide to go out to eat and try something delicious that night, as even even those who had already eaten felt that they needed to eat a little more to satisfy their cravings.

When Sam started to smell the sauce she made being put on top of the spaghetti, her stomach was churning non-stop.

With a smile on his face, Oli spoke to everyone. "Let's eat!"

So the seven of them sat down at the table and started devouring the spaghetti.

"Oh my god, how is this so yummy?!" Carly said shocked as she ate.

"I don't think I've ever eaten anything so delicious in my life!" Freddie was also shocked as he smeared sauce around the corners of his mouth, but not bothering to clean it up as it would slow him down from eating more.

"Did I make something that yummy?!?!" Sam wondered in disbelief.

Although Daniel, Bella and Emy had already tasted Oli's food before, for having gone so long without eating their reaction was not much different either.

Only Sam had stopped eating for a few seconds and started to stare at Oli, who at that moment was putting some food that he made especially for Vers, since the cat food had to be made separately because of the nutrients he needed and of preservatives that were bad for the kitten's intestine.

Having lived with Oli for a few years now, Vers didn't have as big of a reaction as the others and just ate gently very elegantly.

When Oli looked at Sam and saw that she was staring at him, he was confused and asked.

"Is there something wrong with the food, Sam?"

Hearing what Oli asked, everyone looked at Sam a little confused, especially Carly and Freddie who knew how much Sam loved to eat, she must be the one who was enjoying this meal the most.

"Marry me!" Sam said suddenly causing everyone to freeze at the table.

Even Oli was shocked by the girl's statement, that as much as he thought she was very beautiful, he was still surprised by it and didn't quite know what to say.

After 5 seconds of silence, Sam finally realized what she said and his face turned completely red.

She even thought of getting up and running away in embarrassment, but thinking of leaving that dish alone and not being able to eat anymore, she put that idea aside and just buried her head in the Spaghetti and went back to eating pretending that nothing happened.

But everyone could see her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Haha… never mind what she said, Oli, Sam just really likes food, like, really!" Carly said in a slightly nervous voice not knowing how to help the situation.

Finally hearing this, Oli started laughing.

Hearing Oli's laugh, Sam got angry and even more ashamed to stay here, since she thought Oli was laughing to humiliate her.

But to her surprise, what Oli said next surprised her. "When I do my livestream I usually make a lot of food, if you want you can come and eat with us the end result."

Hearing this, Sam looked at Oli with blue eyes shining so much that he even thought she was going to release laser beams.

"It is serious?!" She said excitedly.

Oli smiled and nodded. "Yes of course."

Which made Sam open a huge smile and went back to eating. Again I could see her rosy cheeks.

[Sam's Comentary]

Sam was sitting on the sofa chair looking very shy, completely different from the way she normally acted.

"It's kind of weird being around Oli…" She said a little frustrated. "I know that I normally act very aggressive around others, but I'm a little scared of acting that way around him and scaring him off."

"I actually have a secret that I've been keeping from Carly for a while now." Sam looked around to make sure Carly wasn't around. "I've been watching Oli's livestreams since the first one he did… at first I just wanted to see someone make delicious food, but watching him improve while cooking and how nice he looked made me have a crush on him…"

Upon saying that, Sam turned completely red as she screamed. "F*ck Sam, you're not like that, you have to act more decisively!"

"But what if he doesn't like me like that? And it seems that Carly likes him a little too, does he like a girl as delicate as Carly?" Sam started to get nervous as she spoke.

"He invited me to his house, just me, will it be just the two of us going to eat together? And will I be able to eat this delicious food every day? But does he not think I'm too tomboyish?"

Feeling frustrated at not being able to control her feelings, Sam started screaming and cursing again.

[Commentary Ends]

Suddenly Carly's voice interrupted Sam's thoughts. "Can I come too?!"

There was a sense of urgency in Carly's voice when he asked this, as Sam wasn't the only one thinking a lot of different things after hearing Oli's answer.

[Carly's Commentary]

Unlike Sam who was a little shy on the couch, Carly was sitting a little insecure and panicked.

"He asked Sam alone to come eat his food… did he like her? I felt like he looked at me a little when we first met, could it be that he only likes her and not me?" Carly wondered uncertainly.

"I didn't even think about it when I asked if I could come too, I just didn't want him to be alone with her." Carly explained. "Actually I have a secret I haven't told Sam."

"I've been following Oli's livestream since the first day. At first I just started watching because he was a handsome boy, but as time went by I discovered his personality and seeing how handsome he was cooking that I decided to learn how to cook too, as Spencer usually burns everything he cooks."

Thinking of something, Carly showed a little shyness. "I even thought about telling him that I learned to cook because of him, but I was embarrassed at the time and didn't have the courage…"

[Commentary Ends]

Seeing that Carly had also volunteered, Freddie also felt a bit of urgency, but for other reasons, and soon offered too. "What about me?! I also live here. Can I too?!"

[Freddie Commentary]

Freddie was a little scared on the couch.

"I also wanted to eat more of Oli's cooking, but the truth is, I was just worried about Carly spending more time with Oli without me being around to protect her."

"I know how smart he is, and even if he's not as handsome and devoted to her as I am, with his intelligence he could probably win Carly over if I wasn't around to protect her."

[Commentary Ends]

Oli looked at Carly and smiled reassuringly and then waved at Freddie as well. "Of course, the more people the better."

Hearing Oli's response, almost everyone at the table was very pleased.

Only one person was a little uncomfortable with this answer as he started grimacing.

Emy looked at Oli smiling at the girls and then at the girls who were smiling at Oli's answer and felt that something was wrong.

It was like the girls didn't want to come here just to eat the food Oli was going to cook.

[Emy Commentary]

Emy was sitting on the couch while fixing her Chef hat on her head and huffing angrily.

"Before, Oli only cooked for me, he used to say I was his kitchen princess, now these girls want to become his kitchen princess? I won't let them."

[Commentary Ends]

Oli saw Emy's reaction and thought she had misunderstood something, deciding to talk to her later to make her happy again.

"So Oli, have you decided which school you're going to?" Bella asked worriedly.

Hearing this, the girls soon looked at him expectantly.

"When I came with my mother last time we went to the schools around and the one we liked the most was Ridgeway High School, the transfer papers are almost all done, so I'll probably go to study there on Monday. " Oliver replied.

"This is our school!" (2x) Sam and Carly said simultaneously, which made Bella and Daniel smile.

"So it looks like you'll already have friends there, that's great!" Bella said excitedly.

"If you want some tips on how to become the cool kid at your new school, I can help you. Back in my day I was the most popular kid at my school." Daniel said with a proud expression.

"Really? Your friends last said you looked like an attention freak carrying your guitar to school every day." Bella commented laughing.

"But… everyone liked to hear me play…" Daniel said a little embarrassed.

"Before or after you spend hours begging them to let you play for them?" Bella responded causing Daniel to laugh sheepishly and the children to laugh at their interaction.

"Oli is already very nice, he doesn't need daddy's help." Emy finally said while looking adoringly at Oli and angrily at her father, which made the others laugh.

"I think Emy is right, Oli probably won't need to change anything to be popular, I don't think there's anyone at our school who doesn't know him." Carly commented, earning a nod from Sam and Freddie, who remembered that pretty much everyone else in the room had commented on Oli or Twitch before.

Even more so with Sam and Carly looking at Oli, who was not only handsome, he was also stylish with those earrings that made him look a little Badboy, because he was tall, in addition to being famous, it was almost impossible for Oli to have problems with popularity at school.

Thinking about it, the girls even felt a bit of urgency, as the probability that the girls at school would be interested in Oli was much higher than they imagined!

Oli on the other hand didn't worry too much about it. He never really cared about changing himself to fit in at school, so as long as he got at least one or two nice friends, that would be more than enough for him.

The stylish clothes and earrings he started wearing in recent years was entirely thinking about building his image on the internet, both with different features like the earrings, which would make people have a unique feature of him in mind when thinking about him, how to look better and attract more audience with the nice clothes and the well-cut hair.

Over time he started to worry more about it and like to take care of himself more, to the point that he currently likes fashion and looks for the latest trends since he feels that this is an interesting hobby, but nothing like he was going to follow weird things just because they were trendy.

"Oli, that was the best meal I've ever had in my life…" Freddie finally said as he lay back in his chair and rubbed his round belly from eating so much.

Even Sam and Carly were lying a little more in the chair to breathe better after eating so much.

Seeing their state, Bella smiled and grabbed a bowl of diced pineapples for them to eat.

"Eat some pineapple, the acidity will help with digestion. When Oli is here I always buy a lot of pineapple, as we eat a lot more than usual." She said as she placed the pot on the table and everyone took a few pieces.

Oli even took some pieces and cut them into even smaller pieces to give to Vers, as the kitten loved to eat pineapple.

"Do you think you can still do the show today?" Oli asked curiously as he looked at the state they were in.

When they heard this, the three were shocked as they looked at the clock and saw that there was 40 minutes left until the show started.

"Damn, give me more pineapple, I have to digest this ASAP!"

The three soon started eating pineapple as quickly as possible to speed up their digestion, which earned a smile from Oli at the way they acted.

'Living here with these three around will probably never be boring.' Oli began to imagine the things that could happen.

(NunuNote: I liked the other author's idea of ​​using character comments to better express what the characters were feeling and thinking during the chapter and decided to try using it to add more depth without the narrator having to explain everything every time.)