Cooking Club Boyz

Win/Tops: What We Eat When We Meet

Tops stared at the iPad in his hands, too lost in his thoughts to notice the screen had locked. He had meant to add an ingredient to the menu he was working on, but his thoughts as always drifted to Win. The menu was for his next video, the first video he would record without him. Tops dreaded it as much as the empty home waiting for him. It had been a month since he left, and Tops was still not used to the quiet or the emptiness. He didn't want to get used to it. Win had arrived in his life like a hurricane, turning it upside-down and filling it up with joy. And when he left, it felt like he took all the vibrancy with him, returning Tops' life to the now unfamiliar blandness. How did Tops live before Win? And how could he go back to it after tasting the alternative?

A bag hit the tabletop in front of him, making Tops jump. Mark slid into the empty seat with a dramatic sigh. Tops placed the iPad on the table and gave his friend all his attention. They had met when Mark signed up for his cooking club, along with a few other people, and now Tops couldn't imagine his life without them. They became as much of a family as Win had. Without them, he was sure Win's absence would be even harder to bear, and he couldn't imagine anything harder.

Looking at his friend, he understood that what he didn't want to imagine was what Mark was going through. A week had passed since he found out his crush had a crush on someone else. Tops had tried to console him with different baked goods every day, but nothing seemed to make him smile.

Mark eyed him with a dispirited gaze. "Do you know what love is good for?"

"Misery?" Tops answered honestly.

He nodded like a proud parent. "And do you know what misery loves?"

Tops dug in his bag and took out a container. This had to work. It always worked. For Win. He blew out a breath, forced himself to smile, and lifted the container. "Homemade chocolate?"

Mark shook his head, fighting a smile. "Drinking, Tops. Misery loves drinking. But I'll take that chocolate and I appreciate the effort."

"I thought it was company."

"Company equals drinking when you get misery involved," Mark told him and removed the lid on the container. He gasped, eyes widening. He lifted a chocolate stethoscope, then glasses, various other medical tools. "What is this?" he asked in awe.

"I thought it might cheer you up to eat some medical tools."

Mark laughed. Then leaned over the table and hugged him. Drinking was Win's and Mark's answer to problems and misery. Tops preferred to work out his issues in the kitchen. There was never a time food had failed to make him feel better. Although, even cooking wasn't the same without Win's presence. He had truly left nothing untouched. Win had a way of turning each day into a story you wanted to record in a diary. Tops sighed and looked around the campus to distract his thoughts. It was getting late, and the air smelled like a downpour. The campus was becoming deserted. They needed to go before they got caught in rain.

"Where are Kao and Pete?" he asked.

"Kao left for that job interview Sandee got him," Mark replied with a mouth full of chocolate. "And Pete is probably somewhere being sweet and lovey-dovey." His face scrunched up in disgust at his own words, then rushed to amend it. "It's not like I don't want him to be happy. I'm just miserable."

"I'm miserable too," Tops reassured him.

Mark shook his head. "Don't even try. Then you'll get a text from him and suddenly birds are singing and pies baking in your world. That's not misery. That's what love stories are made of."

A light flush crept up Tops' face. He ducked his head, avoiding Mark's gaze.

"He doesn't even have to text. Ugh." His friend mock-puked.