Reading Between the Lines

Chapter 15: You Can Learn Anywhere

"What type of oatmeal do you like?" Sam asks me while she pulls the oats out of the pantry.

"Oh, maple pecan anything," I gush before she does a dry chuckle and pulls out the ingredients. But as she prepares to make it for me, I quickly stop her.

"I can make it! I used to make maple pecan oatmeal in the mornings when I had lacrosse practice, so it's muscle memory for me," I let her know before she gives me a smile and slides the ingredients over to me.

"You sure?"

"Yeah! I gotta make myself useful, right?" I reassure her. She grabs some bananas and coconut milk to make her favorite.

"Wait, so if you all are vegetarian, are your wolves vegetarian too?" I ask curiously, and at the same time, Sam and Tusharika say, "Nope."

Huh? So they eat plant-based meat all the time as humans but casually have rabbits as a snack when they're wolves? They must have so much tolerance.

"Our wolves are pure carnivores. They get hungry all the time, but we've learned to control their appetites through constant training. Urges can come, though," Tusharika starts as Vinnie enters in randomly. "Yeah, one time my wolf Ismene saw a deer in the forest and ran to eat it!" Tusharika giggles as she points at Vinnie to emphasize her point. "But in human form, we're completely vegetarian. It's because of religion, and honestly? You get kinda disgusted with eating raw meat after a while," she shrugs as she grabs a tumbler for water.

I learn new things every day.

Mornings in this house are always so chaotic yet peaceful. Everyone always comes and makes breakfast for each other, whether it be pancakes, cereal, or even idli. But no matter what food they make, the community and bond they share as they do it is what makes them a giant family. They create meals, sit together, and just all have a good time, and it reminds me of morning breakfasts in my own home. No matter how busy my mom and dad were with their careers, we always had morning breakfast together and always spent time in each other's company. It's very heartwarming.

But something is missing here... Everyone else is downstairs, eating their meals and goofing off. But I only count 7 people. Who is missing?

Oh. Prashanth.

I've noticed that every morning, he's never here. He comes in the afternoons and instantly eats lunch. It's definitely odd, but I don't blame him. I hate waking up early too. And why do I know his sleeping schedule? Well, the perk of him basically acting like I don't exist is that I've gotten to observe him a bit.

He doesn't completely ignore me, though. He's given me small smiles sometimes, and I frequently feel him glancing over at me, but we haven't talked since last Friday at all. It's been a full week of no words exchanged. It does make me jealous that he's so close with everyone else, and I can see what Vaibhav and Vinnie mean by saying that he's hilarious and has a massive ego, but I so wish to see it for myself.

But hey, as I said before, I totally understand if he's a shy guy. This situation is just really fun for me because it helps me understand the new guy a lot better. I'm gradually peeling away the layers of the complicated onion that is him.

"Does he usually have breakfast?" I question as I look around the kitchen and upstairs, trying to spot him.

"Who, Prashanth?"

"Yeah."

"Nope, not for now at least. He'll probably come down at 12:30."

12:30?! What the heck, did she just say 12:30? And I thought I was a chronic oversleeper. Dang, that's late! My parents used to get pissed even if I woke up after 8:30!