Together Again II Mat Barzal

Eighteen: Shreya

It was getting late and Bela couldn't be late for her flight. Mat drove us back to his apartment for her to get her things before Mat would drive her to the airport.

"Are you guys coming?" Mat asked me and Ethan.

"Nah, I'll stay here," Ethan said.

"Shreya, I don't trust Ethan here alone, would you mind staying here with him?" Mat asked.

"I don't need a babysitter, Barzy," Ethan said.

"Yeah, well, I think you do," Mat said.

"It's alright," I said. "I'll stay,"

"Well, then I guess this is goodbye," Bela said to me.

I gave her a big hug.

"Bye, Bela," I said.

"See ya, Shrey Bear," She smiled.

"Bye, Ethan," She said.

"See ya," Ethan waved from the couch.

"Don't burn down the apartment while I'm gone," Mat said to Ethan before he shut the door to leave.

"Don't worry about it," He said.

A few minutes later, Mat sent me a text.

Shorty: Hey, would you mind making something for dinner? I ran out of places we could eat.

Me: Yeah I could make something

Me: Chicken with rice?

Shorty: Anything works

"Well, Ethan, we have a job to do," I said.

"And what job is that?" Ethan asked.

"Dinner," I told him.

"Barzy wants us to cook?" He asked.

"He wants me to cook, but you're gonna help me," I told him.

"Damn, he must trust us a lot," He mumbled.

"Can you make chicken?" I asked.

"Yeah, how hard could it be?" Ethan said.

"Did you imply that you don't know how to cook?" I asked.

"Depends, what does imply mean?" He asked.

"Oh my gosh you idiot," I laughed, putting my hand on my head.

"What?" He asked, laughing.

"So you know how to eat food like a professional, but not how to cook?" I asked.

"Exactly," He said firmly. "See, you get it,"

"Oh gosh," I said. "Seriously?"

"I never really had to," He told me. "My parents always had something ready for me when I came home,"

"Well, Ethan Thomas, welcome to the real world," I told him, getting a bag of chicken from the fridge.

"Oh crap, not the real world," He moaned.

"Dammit, where does Maty keep his salt and pepper?" I asked myself.

"Have you checked the pantry?" He asked, going towards a closet in the living room.

"Ethan, I don't think a pantry would be in the living room," I told him.

"Hey, a living room pantry isn't such a bad idea," He said, opening the closet.

"Holy shit!" He yelled as mounds of luggage and clothes piled on top of him.

"It's been like nineteen years," I mumbled. "This dude is still a slob,"

I chuckled as I helped Ethan out of all of the luggage.

"We better clean this up," I said, already shoving things back in the closet.

"Is this a Justin Bieber t-shirt?" Ethan asked, holding up a white shirt with teenage Justin Beiber on it.

"Ethan, stop getting distracted-" I looked at the shirt and laughed hysterically. "Oh my god, he is so lame,"

"The whole team knew he was a fan of the Biebs," Ethan laughed. "I didn't know he was this obsessed,"

"The whole team knew and I didn't?" I asked myself. "Damn,"

"Nah, don't worry about it," He told me. "There's probably a bunch of things that you guys did together or talked about that he never told us or even me,"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Do you know why Barzy always wears that blue bracelet all the time?" He asked me.

"He wears it?" I was surprised to hear it.

"He never takes it off," He told me. "Do you know what it is?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "I gave it to him,"

"Wow," He said, starting to clean up with me. "You must be really special to him then,"

"Yeah," I said. "I guess I am,"

"And you guys are just friends?" He asked.

"Yeah..." I said.

"Strictly?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course," I said. "He's more like my brother anyway,"

"Oh," He said. "Well, it's a strong bond. You guys are really lucky to have each other,"

"Yeah," I smiled "We are,"

We finished shoving everything back in the closet before we went to make dinner.

"So how exactly do you make this?" He asked, looking weirdly at the raw chicken.

"We need to marinate it first," I said. "Where the hell is the salt and pepper?"

"I think I saw it in the closet," Ethan said.

I glared at him and rolled my eyes when I found out he was joking.

"You bitch," I laughed. "Do you actually know where it is?"

"How am I supposed to know?" He asked.

"I don't know," I looked in a cabinet and found salt and pepper. "Found it!"

"Okay, so now what?" Ethan asked.

"Put on the salt and pepper," I said.

I regretted turning my head to start the rice when he poured the spices.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"More spices equals more flavor," He said.

"More spices than needed equals disgusting," I said. "And when I thought you couldn't be any more stupid,"

He laughed as I took the chicken and tried rubbing the mounds of salt and pepper off.

I rolled my eyes and let him start the rice, which was way less complicated to fit his "special" food pallet.