started with a lie ➳ raura revised

Chapter Ten

"Nothing you give me will delight my taste buds. Cheap food just doesn't do forme," he says, faking a yawn. My eyebrow twitches in anger. Stay calm; stay calm, Irepeat in my head. He's just mad because you rejected his sorry ass.

 "Oh yeah?" I challenge, squinting my eyes. 

"I'm certain." 

He asked for it. I still remember a dish Granny taught me before she moved outof New York and to Boston. Ross's going to wish he never challenged me on mycooking skills. "You want to bet?"

 Ross arches his eyebrow, clearly amused. "Sure. What's the deal?" His arms arecrossed now—probably trying to look more superior—but all it's doing are makingmy eyes wander to his flexing muscles. Focus, I scold myself. 

"Whoever makes the greatest dinner wins," I say, crossing my own arms. "Theother person will taste it and we both have to be honest and tell each other if ourmeals taste good." I rest my hands on the granite counter of the island. "Deal?" 

"Deal," Ross smirks. I smirk back. 

I show Ross all the food and materials he needs to know. I bet he's never toucheda pan in his life. He was born into richness—probably never cooked. That's why Ifeel so confident about this bet. I grin to myself just thinking about winning—earning a strange look from Ross. I am so going to win this bet. 

While I'm boiling my pasta and Ross is making some sort of soup, he suddenlyasks, "Wait, what's the reward? If one of us wins, what do we get?" 

"Hm," I say, my wooden spoon in mid-air. "Whatever the other person wants, Iguess. Is that okay with you?" 

"Fine by me," Ross smirks. He continues his recipe after that and I continue myrecipe. Granny had taught me this delicious pasta recipe. Every family gatheringover holidays, she would make it. 

My mouth waters from even thinking about it.I scoop up the strings of the pasta and rinse them before adding pepper andspices. I pull out the meat sauce I had been working on while my pasta was boilingand spread it over the dish. For the final touch, I add some mint leaves for goodbreath. It'd be so embarrassing if Ross points out I have bad breath. 

"Done!" Ross announces. I hear him place his dish on the island counter. I bringmine over, too. Peaking at his dish, I realize it's soup. So average, I think whilesmirking. But it smells pretty good. 

"I'm done, too," I say. 

We place our dishes side by side. Both look so extravagant together—unlike Ross and I. Ross hands me a spoon and I hand him a fork. We switch places and I take a sipof his. There's bread next to his soup so I bite down on the soft bread and sip moreof his creamy soup. 

To say it's delicious would be an understatement of the century.

 It's so delicious that I'm scarfing everything down in a matter of seconds. Howdid Ross learn how to cook? It's so scrumptious. I underestimated that boy. Lookslike a dumb snotty kid but cooks like a pro.

"Enjoying yourself?" Ross's resting on his elbow on the tabletop, staring at mewith an amused twinkle in his eyes. Never let your guard down with the enemy, Iscold myself. 

I remove the spoon from my mouth and place it on the plate mat. I push a stringof hair behind my hair. "It's okay." 

Ross chuckles—the best sound I've heard tonight. "Really? It kind of looked likeyou were eating like you were on the brink of starvation." 

Red fills my cheeks. "Shut up. It just isn't too bad for a rich kid." 

"Well, I have my hidden talents," he muses. "You're not too bad either for sucha," he pauses, stroking his chin, "average girl." Ross starts chuckling again.