The Silver Heart

17

It turned out frozen pizza was a lot easier to make than Mom let on. I couldn't understand why I hadn't been allowed to make it for myself before.

Since there was virtually no prep required for the pizza, Liss and I decided we would use the already preheated oven to make banana bread once the pizza was done. The bananas were still slightly green, but we agreed this would just make for a pleasant variation in flavor.

While we got ingredients out, Liss asked the Amazon Alexa to play music. At first I froze in dismay- my brother John liked listening to loud screamy songs full of Angst and Anger. But Liss had asked for one of my favorite Disney songs- one I hadn't listened to in forever.

I started singing along as I carried milk and flour from the fridge to the counter. I was quiet at first, glancing self-consciously at Liss every two seconds. But once she'd finished getting the bananas peeled and had started mashing them she joined me- and then we both sang as loud as we wanted to.

Singing with someone else who sounded exactly like me was incredible. I was really good at spontaneously harmonizing, but usually I had only myself and had to stick to the melody. Now Liss and I took it in turns to sing either the harmony or the melody- whichever seemed like the most fun at the moment.

Once the song was done, Liss turned to me, flecks of mashed banana sticking to the side of her face. "Let's add chocolate chips!"

"Ooh, and raisins!" I fist-bumped her. "And cashews..."

She raised a finger in a moment of inspiration. "Want to add yogurt in?"

"I think that would taste good." Then I giggled. "What about cheerios?"

Liss laughed. "Why not? Let's do it."

I asked Alexa to play Billy Joel music and we began to put ingredients together with more enthusiasm than expertise, pausing only to take our pizza out of the oven. We started singing at the top of our lungs again- we both knew every lyric. And when 'Uptown Girl' came on I couldn't resist dancing away from the counter with a piece of pizza and into the middle of the kitchen. Liss joined me and we did a weird version of the lindy hop. We were both giggling uncontrollably. It was about as close to euphoria as I'd gotten in months.

Then we finished putting our weird mixture into the pan. I looked over at Liss, my mouth quirking up at the corner mischievously. "You know, Anna told me if I took any of her Oreos she would kill me. Do you think she really counts them?"

Liss shrugged and shoved the last of her half of our pizza in her mouth. "Let's crumble two of them up over the bread."

We did. And then 'Goodnight My Angel' came on, and I realized something incredibly exciting.

"Liss, you know how I'm not good at complex piano pieces but I know the chord progressions to a lot of songs?"

Liss nodded. "Yeah." Then she realized what I was saying. "We can play piano together! And I can do complicated stuff on the bottom while you do more weird stuff at the top!"

I clapped my hands. "Let's put this bread in the oven and go do it!"