Profit

three.

-1217 words-

As of now, I was making breakfast for dinner. According to Ethan, it's the boys' favorite.
I had my special recipe of light, fluffy, and delicious pancakes cooking in the pan, crispy yet juicy bacon sizzling on the stove, and baked oatmeal resting in the oven.

Baked oatmeal isn't something they asked for, but it's something I always enjoyed as a kid. I figured that I would give it a try.

This recipe is basically oatmeal, cooked, but it's smushed into a pan and baked at 400 degrees until golden and crispy. It's absolutely delicious.

I shook off what happened beforehand, and so did Ethan. Grayson still seems upset, but I'm sure it's not about the same thing. Everybody mean is mean for a reason.

"It smells amazing in here, Kylie." Ethan says.
"Thanks! I made something special for you and Grayson too." I thank Ethan, giving him additional information of my other plate.

"You mean Ethan and I?" Grayson teases me.
I turn around to face Grayson. This Grayson didn't look like the one I had gotten used to.

The one standing in front of me was wearing sweatpants. That's it. No shirt. Just his bare skin.

I turned back around, not wanting to be caught staring. I'll get another chance, I'm sure. But now, I don't want to be spat at for eye balling his fit body.

"I'm sorry. You just sounded..." I hesitate on saying sweeter, I would've said they sounded similar, but they really don't.

"Nicer, huh." He speaks my mind.

"Oh, I guess." I don't want to be rude, but saying that I disagreed would be such a lie. And he'd know it.

"You don't have to hide it. I already made a bad first impression." He chuckles.

"You've had two chances to change those, but you didn't. So yeah, I guess I shouldn't hide it." I spit. He doesn't seem to care for my arguments, which angers me, but at the same time it helps me get out things I've always needed to say.

I could feel his presence over my shoulder as I casually flipped the pancakes.

"Those look fantastic. Pancakes are my favorite." He exclaims, and for once, I turned my head to see a genuine smile. His face was a little too close to mine, so I quickly returned my focus to the cooking food in front of me.

"And Hawaiian pizza, I was told." I add, placing the freshly cooked pancake on a stack I was still building up to the right of me.

"That is pure gold. Don't say you don't like it." He threatens jokingly. I like this side of him. I wonder what made him act out before.

"I've actually never tried it. Isn't it just pineapple pizza?"

"Yeah, but Hawaiian pizza sounds cooler." He argues with me.

"Whatever. Why don't you get Ethan, breakf- I mean dinner, is almost ready." I catch myself with a little giggle.

"Sure. Cute laugh." Grayson comments casually. What a flirt.

I ignore his comment and serve three pancakes each on two plates. I place them on the island and make my way over to the fridge. I put out some butter, orange juice, and milk since I didn't know what they liked.

I searched their pantry and finally found some pure maple syrup and placed that in front of the two plates as well.

I got a plate for myself and served it with only one pancake, a dollop of butter, and a splash of maple syrup.

"Hey! Food looks great." Ethan exclaims as he sat down and began to dig into the food.

"Where's Grayson? I thought I sent him up to get you." I ask Ethan as he gulps down his first bite.

"Yeah, he just had to go clean up." Ethan tells me less enthusiastically.

"Oh, okay. I didn't think he'd need to clean up for this. It's not that special." I laugh, but Ethan remains emotionless once again. What is between these two?

I cough to clear up the conversation and clean the dishes I had used to make dinner.

I hear Grayson's footsteps, but don't bother to face him. I just listen.

Both of them don't say anything. All that is heard is the clanking of their utensils against their plates and the running water of me cleaning the dishes.

A warm hand gently rubs my shoulder and Ethan placed his empty plate into the sink.

"It was great. Thanks."

"Of course." I take his plate and clean it too, then place it in the dishwasher.

After, I look to see if Grayson had finished his meal too. I saw something disturbing. His bloody knuckles were gripped around the glass used to hold his beverage. Seriously?

"Oh! And Ethan? Can you grab me a first aid kit or something? I burned myself earlier." I ask him. I really didn't, but Grayson seemed like he wanted to scream. I just want to help - even though he may not be the warmest person. Like I had said before, seeing sad people makes me upset for them.

"Sure, one minute."

"Are you okay?" Grayson spoke after Ethan was out of range.

"Oh, I'm fine. Really. Just need to clean something up."

Something as in him.

Ethan returns with a kit. I head to the bathroom and wet a wash cloth, come back, and sit next to Grayson.

"Need help?" He asks, probably wondering why I sat next to him.

"With helping you? No, I'm good." I say nonchalantly.
"Uh, what? Why?" He replies rather rudely.

My hands slip under his own and I pull them closer towards me.

He doesn't fight, but tenses up a little. I'm not sure if it was because of the pain, the realization, or because of me. Either way, I wanted to be careful. Just in case.

"I don't know what happened, and I'm not asking you to give me a speck of information, but let me help." I offer, wiping off the blood around the cuts on his hands.

Grayson stays silent. I could feel him watching me as I was helping him. I didn't mind, but it was a little weird.

After cleaning his skin to blood-free, I unwrapped one large bandaid and placed it on the biggest cut. The other three were small, so I stuck little ones over those.

To finish up, I secured it off with a wrap around his upper hand down to his wrist.

I checked his other hand which was fine, and gently put his hand back onto the granite counter.

He turned it around and examined it as I looked at him.

"You're welcome." I break the silence.

He doesn't thank me, but gives a sympathetic smile for what I had to see.

I take his empty plate and leave him to finish his OJ.
"Kylie?" He calls me.

"Yes?" I pivot and see him holding his empty glass out for me to get. I expected him to say a kind thank you with it. But no.

"And while you're cleaning, get these wrappers too. The kit goes on the top shelf of the closet in the bathroom next to my office."

And with that, he walked out of sight.

•••

oops sorry this chapter is a shortie lol