Chapter 8

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After school, Thomas devoured the second steak and rice plate he had brought with him before heading to his basketball practice. He needed to eat before practice or else he'd run out of energy, but couldn't wait too long or else he'd get cramps during practice, which is why he always ate his second lunch like a hobbit right after school.

After his basketball practice, Thomas went home and immediately took a shower before collapsing down on his bed.

'I wonder what I should make for lunch tomorrow,' Thomas thought as he laid face down on his bed, exhausted.

Remembering Elaina's cute "I heart sushi" shirt that had a cute depiction of some cute California rolls and salmon and tuna nigiri as they dipped themselves in a plate of soy sauce, Thomas decided to make sushi for lunch the next day.

Elaina's shirts were usually just plain white, so, if she wore one with a design, it must hold some kind of significance for her.

Going into the kitchen, he found that there were some salmon fillets, but not the right ones for sushi. He took them out and started to prepare them for dinner as he asked the Amazon Alexa to text his mom and ask her to pick up some seafood for him. He asked his mom since his dad had left early that morning to go on a one week business trip. His mom quickly respond, telling him that she'll stop at the fish market on the way home as he sent her a list of the seafood he'd like her to help him buy and thanked her.

In the rice cooker, Thomas cooked six cups of rice. He knew it was probably more than he needed, but he wanted to be sure he had enough. Too much was better than not enough.

While the rice was cooking, Thomas washed, dried, and seasoned the two salmon fillets with olive oil, fine grain Morton sea salt, and a generous amount of lemon pepper, carefully rubbing the olive oil and spices all over the fillets so as not to rip the fillets.

After he finished seasoning the fillets, he put a searing pan onto the stove and turned the heat up to high. He poured in a good amount of olive oil and spread it around the pan while the pan heated up.

Once the pan reached a sufficient temperature, Thomas put the fillets on the pan skin side up I order to get a nice sear on the outside of the salmon and make it a little bit crispy on all sides. After a few moments, he repositioned the salmon skin side down in order to get a nice, crispy skin on the salon. After letting the salmon cook for a while, he began using a small spoon to pick up some of the olive oil from the pan and pour it back on top of the fillets to base them with the oil. He continued to to this until the salmon was perfectly cooked, being a little crispy and crunchy on the outside while still soft and tender on the inside, and with a beautifully crispy skin.

He received another text from his mother saying that there was a traffic accident on the freeway, so she'd probably be late getting home.

"u ok mom?" Thomas texted her.

"Yeah, some people just got in an accident, so everything is a bit held up, so I'll probably get home a bit late today. I got the fish you wanted though."

"kk. i made dinner by the way," Thomas said her as he sent her a picture of the pan-seared salmon plated on top of a bed of rice, "i left urs underneath the heat lamp for u."

"Thanks T. I'll eat it when I get back."

"k. just b safe."

After Thomas finished texting with his mom, he took his plate from underneath the heat lamp and started eating while watching TV and playing some video games before going to bed.

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