The Dating Department

6. Food Fight!

 “Aidy! You're h—Aidy... who's that?” A girl with the same hazel eyes as Aiden bounded up to us, took one look at me, and promptly hid behind Aiden's leg.

“Jessie, this is Riley, my friend.” Jessie's little blond head buried itself further into Aiden's knee, making him slightly unsteady.

“Hi there, Jessie. It's so nice to meet you.” I crouched down to her height and smiled at her, hoping at least to make her less afraid of me.

She waved shyly at me before rushing back off to whence she had come.

“In case you hadn't guessed, that's Jessie, my three year old sister.” Aiden grinned after her and took my hand, pulling me with him into the kitchen where we beheld a tall, thin girl with long brown hair vigorously stirring a pot of what seemed to be Mac n' Cheese.

“Denny!” She shrieked as soon as she saw Aiden. She charged at him, brown hair streaming behind her and tackled him in a hug. As soon as she had gotten up, she looked at me and sly smile crept over her lips. “You must be Riley.”

I blinked, surprised. “Er, yeah. How'd you know?”

“Who else could be the hottie Denny won't shut up about?” She smirked and I laughed as Aiden's neck and face turned a violent shade of scarlet.

“I-I don't—I....” He stuttered, his ears slowly turning the same color as his cheeks. Finally, he calmed himself and took a deep breath. “Mikey, if you don't shut up now, I won't make you dinner.” He raised an eyebrow threateningly at her, but she just scoffed at his lame attempt at a threat.

“Dude, I would rather Jessie cook me something than endure a dinner you have cooked again.”

Aiden's face returned to it's startling red color before he finally resigned himself to his fate, “Whatever, I'm going to go see what Jessie's doing.” And with that, he turned and speed-walked out of the kitchen.

“So...”

“Nope, but my mom can.” Mikey was smirking at me, and I vaguely registered that Aiden had used the exact same line.

“You and your brother are so much alike...” I commented, enjoying how her jaw dropped in disbelief.

“Ew. I don't want to be like Aiden, he's all dudely and stuff.”

“Dudely and stuff?”

“Yeah, as in he's a guy. I don't want to be a guy, they don't get discounts at the dollar store when they flirt with the cashier.” Now, it was my turn to let my jaw drop, causing her to laugh. “You actually believed me? I don't know what kind of person you think I am, Riley, but I certainly wouldn't flirt with the check out guy at a dollar store, for two reasons: uno, the cashier at the dollar store is really creepy, greasy, and all around strange. And dos... well there is no reason number two, but at least I got one, right?” She started to walk back to her pot of pasta and frowned down at the dark orange paste that was sticking to the teflon sides of the pot. “Stupid pasta, it shouldn't even be possible to burn Mac n' Cheese.” She started to viciously poke at the browning pasta as thick, grey smoke began to rise from the inside of the pot.

“Is something burning?” Aiden called from wherever he was, sounding slightly concerned.

“Er...no?” Mikey called back, hurriedly removing the smoking pot from the stovetop and dumping it's burnt contents into the nearby garbage.

“Nothing's burning, eh?” Aiden smirked, leaning against the kitchen doorway, arms folded across his chest.

“Like you could do any better.” Mikey rolled her blue eyes at him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but I quickly cut him off to delay any arguing. “No, but I can.”

They both turned to look at me with identical expressions of hope. “You can?”

I shrugged, “Sure, I've cooked before.”

At this, both of them started vigorously pushing me towards their fridge. “Then hop to it, Flirt.” Aiden said, grinning widely.

~~

“Stop shoveling food into your mouth so quickly, or your going to 'splode.” Mikey commented casually, sending a smirk over at Aiden who was indeed 'shoveling food' into his mouth faster than their dog could ask for some.

“I won't splode, I've got abs of flippin' steel.” To prove it, he thumped a fist onto his stomach, only to reinforce Mikey's observation; he had managed to hit out a piece of chicken.

“Dude, gross.” I complained, wrinkling my nose at the half-chewed protein sitting on the table.

“Sorry...” He grinned sheepishly and gingerly picked it up before tossing it at the adorable black lab that had been pleading with me to give it just a taste of my food for the past five minutes.

Instead of the dog catching it, as Aiden had probably planned, the food landed on me.

I think it was safe to say that that was probably the grossest thing that had ever happened. I think the second grossest was what happened next.

Their dog, so creatively named 'Deoge”, leaped on me and licked the chicken off of me, covering me in thick, dog saliva.

“Gee, thanks, Deoge, I needed that bath.” I pushed him off of me, but not before he had given me a parting lick up my face, plastering my bangs up in a spiky fashion.

“You know, I think that look works for you, Riley,” Aiden grinned at me, and Mikey looked like she was trying very hard to suppress laughter.

“Shut up, or I might just have to throw these carrots at you.”

“You wouldn't dare.”

“Try me.”

Before I even had the chance to lob the carrot at him, his own carrot was flying through the air; its target: me.

Unfortunately for Aiden, I had lightning fast, ninja reflexes, and managed to dodge the orange projectile...for the most part.

It hit me in the ear just as I threw a piece of chicken at him.

Not one to stay out of a good food fight, Mikey followed my attack with a volley of her own carrots at Jessie, who retaliated with the dreaded mashed potatoes.

It wasn't long before we all had at least three different kinds of food covering our face and hair.

I was just about to dump the salad over Aiden's head, when an admonishing voice cut through our fun.

“Just what is going on in here?!” We all froze and looked up to a rather angry woman, who I assumed to be Mrs. Drake, Aiden, Mikey, and Jessie's mom.

I hurriedly set down the salad bowl and made myself as presentable as possible, “Hi, you must be Mrs. Drake, I'm Riley.” I grinned at her and held my hand out.

Tentatively she took my hand and shook it. I guess I could understand her hesitance; I must have been a sight to behold: mashed potatoes swinging in my hair, a carrot stuck in my earrings, and chicken plastering my shirt.

“Nice to finally meet you, Riley, I've heard so much about you....” While sincere, Mrs. Drake's voice still held a slight tremor of uncertainty, as if trying to ascertain whether or not I was mentally stable. “You're much prettier in person.”

“Uh, pardon?”

Mrs. Drake fixed her hazel gaze on Aiden meaningfully and he obligingly whipped out his phone befme!”

ore shoving it into my face to show me the hideous picture he had taken of me the day we had first met.

Just seeing that picture on his phone made me want to dump that salad over his head all over again.

He must have caught my murderous glare because he quickly backed away from me, with a quick, “I think it's time to get you home!”