"Malphus..." Valerie said in a cautious tone.
"What?" He shrugged, he was playing dumb. He walked over to the table and sat down, then he motioned Valerie to join him.
"Ever had chicken alfredo?" He asked once she was settled at the table.
"No, Oscar tried to make me eat it once, but it looked gross," Valerie admitted, she's always heard it was good but never had tried it for herself.
"Well, today will be the day you try it," Malphus said and waved somebody over.
He brought two plates of what looked like chicken stacked on top of each other, then when she looked closer it had pasta in it with some special sauce that looked like white gravy.
"This looks a lot different from when Oscar wanted me to eat it." Valerie took her fork and poked it, half-expecting it to be paper, and fumble down showing her the real meal.
"The better the chef, the better it looks, and the better it tastes," Malphus said putting a fork full of alfredo in his mouth and chewing very slowly.
"So, I suppose Marlen could make even better alfredo?" Valerie asked putting a piece of chicken and pasta on her fork and eating it. Her eyes lit up at the wonderful taste.
"He can, but it's no fun being in the castle all the time," Malphus said gathering another fork-full of pasta and a piece of chicken on his fork.
The next couple of minutes were spent eating silently because Valerie was enjoying her food so much that she didn't want to talk.
"Dessert?" Malphus said when Valerie was on her last fork-full of alfredo. A waiter came out with a delicious looking red velvet cake.
"You seem to like red velvet," Valerie said in an attempt to keep her eyes a normal size and her mouth from watering.
"Only the best." Malphus confirmed as he got served a piece of cake with cream and nuts in it.
"I see." Valerie got the same piece except a bit smaller. She carefully took a new, clean fork and scooped a small piece of the cake off. It was fluffy, as fluffy as a cloud, and it smelled sweet, as sweet as pure sugar.
Malphus didn't mind scooping a giant piece of cake and devouring it immediately because Marlen had made him better cake than that one. When Valerie ate a piece of that cake, her mouth exploded with flavor. Sweet red-colored bread, salty nuts, a mixture of both in the cream, and the icing, oh the icing was the sweetest thing she had ever tasted. Sweeter than that chocolate souffle Oscar had treated her to on their first date.
Date. This was a date, huh? Friends go on dates, though they don't really call them that. They call them hangouts. Malphus and Valerie were hanging out, they weren't even dressed properly to be on a date. There were just rose petals on the floor, a soft, dim light against Malphus' face making his features even more alluring than before, and a light breeze carrying the smell of roses in the air, that's all. They were just hanging out, so why didn't it feel like it?