Oh My Gods They Were Roommates

A Five Course Meal

     Apparently cooking was really hard. Now Percy had eaten his fair share of struggle meals and knew all about being broke. That was pretty much his entire childhood. However it still left him shocked when he opened the fridge to see the absolute bare minimum. Valdez said the fridge should be full. Why was there literally just Kraft cheese, a half gallon of milk, a head of lettuce, and a half empty carton of eggs?
"Close your mouth Seaweed brain, you'll catch flies."
     "Well aren't you lovely, Wise girl? Why is there no groceries?"
     "Okay so this may or may not be my fault considering I told Piper not to worry about food because I would buy stuff," Annabeth said meekly, " and Wise Girl?"
     "It's me calling you a smart a-"
     "Yeah, yeah I got it," Annabeth said.
Percy rolled his eyes and shut the fridge. He walked to the pantry and opened up the cupboards. Luckily those were still kind of full. While they would definitely need to go grocery shopping, Percy was sure he could pull something off. He grabbed a couple spices, a box of pasta, flour, and a large pot from the cupboard. Then he grabbed the cheese, milk, and butter he hadn't seen before from the fridge.
     "Okay it's not going to be a full course meal from a five star restaurant but it's enough to make a decent Mac and cheese. Come help."
Annabeth choked.
"I'm really sorry, but can I just do the dishes instead? If I cook I'm going to mess it up and we'll go hungry."
"Absolutely not," Percy said.
"You're going to learn to cook today if it's the last thing I do."
Percy and Annabeth got to work prepping the kitchen and ingredients. After they laid everything out, Percy started washing the pot and told Annabeth to make the roux.
" The what?"

     Percy busted out laughing. It's like this girl had taken a middle school foods class. It was mandatory in New York, so obviously Annabeth wasn't a local. Honestly when he first met her she didn't seem like a local. With her her and curly blonde hair she looked more like a west coast girl, but Percy knew not to make assumptions about New Yorkers. New York City was a melting pot, being a New Yorker was more about if you knew which subway got you to your destination quickest than what you looked like.
"I knew you weren't from here. Cali girl?"
      Annabeth snorted, "No! Why does everyone think that! I'm from Virginia."
"Okay wise girl, to make a roux melt butter and add flour."
Percy had to admit. This felt good. He hadn't talked to someone in a while. Whenever things got bad, he tended to self isolate. He'd always been the "therapist friend." It was really annoying to only get a text or call when someone needed something. It was even more annoying that when he needed something everyone treated him like a burden and made him feel horrible for even asking for someone to talk to him. Either way he was glad Annabeth was speaking to him at all.
     "So you're in NYC for college I assume? Or you were, it doesn't really matter with COVID I guess."
"Yeah, I'm going to Columbia for architecture," said Annabeth.
Percy noticed the Harvard ring on her necklace that she always wore, but decided not to press. They continued talking like they'd been best friends for years instead of roomates who were arguing half an hour ago.
"How'd you learn to cook?"
"Well I'd hardly call this cooking, but my Mom did," Percy got a wistful look in his eyes and continued, "she always told me that when I moved out that I wouldn't have enough money at first to always order take out so I should know how to make basic stuff. Anyways we should taste our creation."
Percy and Annabeth both grabbed a spoon and tried the food.
"Seems to me like you can cook Wise girl. Let's eat."