Nicole was in love with her best friend, of course she'd never admit this. But acknowledging these feelings would help her overcome them, hopefully. As Nicole sat at the dinner table with Amy sitting to her right she began to feel boxed in, not in a claustrophobic way. She felt trapped between two places with her friend of almost four years, bordering on friendship and romance. Nicole couldn't help but feel guilty for viewing her friend in this manner, especially at such a difficult time for Amy.
Amy grabbed Nicole's plate to serve some of the creamy seafood pasta she had cooked. Nicole starred, bored at the plate of food. She began slowly twirling her fork in the pasta before taking a bite. The dish was still warm and the sauce Amy had made was salty with hints of sweet, probably because of the cheese. The dish made Nicole feel calm, and for a moment her guilt and thoughts were covered in a blanket of savoring food. "Nicole, do you like it?" Amy touched her hand as she asked this, causing Nicole to fling some of her cheese sauce on the table.
"It's excellent, sorry mom let me clean that up." Nicole took her napkin from her lap and lightly dabbed at the table cloth, not wanting to spread or smudge the sauce. "How'd you learn to cook so well Amy?"
"Oh, my grandma taught me a bit before she passed. I just added what she would have." Amy seemed pleased at the praise she was receiving from Nicole, and the light critiques she was getting from Chris and Juliana. She noted everything they were saying, wanting to do better the next time. She thought back to cooking for her mother, she had never received compliments, only harsh and rude critiques that made her want to stop cooking. "Thank you for the criticism and compliments. I'll make sure to do better next time." Amy didn't want to disappoint any of them, especially since she would be living with them indefinitely.
"This is perfectly fine. We wouldn't want you to pull your attention away from school just because you want to improve. Believe me this is much better than what Nicole would normally cook." Nicole nodded, she deep down knew her cooking was kinda sucky. "Besides, this is great already. I was only telling you what I personally would change were I not cooking for several other people." Amy nodded, still smiling.
"Thank you Mrs.Santo's I really appreciate it, and you too Chris," Amy looked to Nicole who was almost finished with her food. "Once we're done can we go to Nicole's room and work on our class?" Juliana nodded. "I'll take care of the dishes."
"No you won't, whoever cooks is free of dishwashing duties. Besides it won't be that hard to wash anything, I'm most concerned about the sauce pan. But it doesn't matter." Amy was still very confused in this new environment, but she appreciated the new rules and stability provided in it.
"Alright, well I'm done with my dinner Amy. I'll go wait in my room while you finish up." Nicole intended to think things over away from Amy for a while, considering the best way to approach her new found feelings. Nicole looked at Amy's plate and saw she was also almost finished.
"I'll go with you, my dinner is finished as well. Thank you Mrs.Santos, Chris. I'll go teach her the lessons she missed today!" Amy took her plate and Nicole's to the sink and followed Nicole to her room. Once the door was closed Nicole flopped onto her bed, nervous for what Amy would say to her. "Who was in the front yard earlier, who were your parents talking to?" Amy was speaking quickly as if her time was limited and she shouldn't be speaking of the event.
"Eva came over for some reason. They were chatting about something in the front yard." Amy nodded and looked towards Nicole who was staring very confused at Amy.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to spook you. Why do you think she'd come over after what happened at the track? You don't think she told your parents that I fought her do you?" Amy moved to lay on the bed with Nicole.
"Even if she did, I'd straighten it out with them. But I don't think she did, my parents lied about her coming to visit. They said a 'neighbor' had come to ask about the lawn. I don't know why a neighbor would ask about our yard, it's dry." Amy laughed.
"That's kind of a lame excuse. And yeah, your yard is kind of crispy, but we are in a drought so I can't blame your parents." Amy laid next to Nicole on the bed, but remained looking at the ceiling. "Any who, I should be teaching you your new lesson. Sit up." Amy pulled Nicole up by the arms.
"Can't we do that another time, I just want to talk for a while." As Nicole sat up she put her hand over Amy's. "Please?" Amy couldn't resist the cute smile Nicole gave her.
"Fine, we can talk for a bit. Maybe about how you sleep?" Nicole blushed, knowing exactly what Amy was referring to. "You can cling to me, I just want to make sure I didn't do anything stupid while you were holding me."
"You didn't do anything, I'm sorry for holding you. But I don't know if I can just stop doing that. So if you don't like it please tell me."
"It really is! I kinda liked it." Amy sounded ashamed admitting this, but it made Nicole feel giddy. She definitely shouldn't feel giddy though, it was her friend and Amy probably meant it platonically.
"Oh, okay. Amy…" Nicole had half a mind to confess right then and there. Only the thought that Amy wouldn't like her stopped her. It would be unfair, what if Amy felt the need to agree because Nicole was letting her stay, or worse felt like she had to leave because of it. Amy looked at her expectedly. "Nevermind, I was just thinking. Why don't you teach me that lesson, unless you want to chat."
"Yeah, I'll teach you Nicky. Don't worry."