Exhale

Chapter 30 - Love in Arguing

Days passed and soon, the chirps of the crickets came about, signaling that summer had finally officially begun. School had ended for the year and now, we had more time on our hands. By 'we', I mean Esmae, Phillip, Dani, Chris, and me. Since we were free, Fawn put us to work but only due to the suggestions and demands of the older members. Thus, we were sweeping, dusting, watering, cleaning—all the things that Fawn typically did. Except, she wasn't alone. But on some night, we went on missions...well, some of us did.

Like always, Fawn stayed behind; it was her job to guard the house, after all. But I, knowing what could happen, stayed with her. And though I could see the irritation on the other members' faces, I knew they weren't going to say much to me. They still thought that I was going to die, anyway. And knowing that, I touch advantage of that; Hell, it was pretty clear that I was taking advantage of their worry through how I shoved most of my chores onto the others. But even then, they wouldn't say anything. The power of illness, I guess?

So while they went around scavenging through the rugged rubbles of ruins, we stayed behind cleaning and cooking culinary chef d'oeuvres. Well, Fawn did most of the work—I just helped her create her masterpieces.

"Al?" Fawn called. I looked at her. She was whisking egg whites with her white whisk.

"Can you please start slicing the vegetables for the ratatouille?"

I nodded. "If you tell me what to cut."

She giggled. "Of course I will! Now, go ahead and go to the vegetables." I walked over to the basket that we used to keep our vegetables. Looking in it, my eyes glazed over the bright colored skins of the produce. "Now, grab one garlic, an eggplant, two zucchinis, an onion, a bell pepper..."

"Wait a second," I interrupted. Frantically, I grabbed all the vegetables that I could hold and placed them on the counter opposite to her. Then, I darted back to the basket. I looked back at her. "Alright, continue."

"Um... well..." She gazed at the ceiling, all the while her hand continued to mix. Then, with a smile on her face, she said, "Oh yeah! Well, you need enough mushrooms to make two cups full of them sliced."

"Which is?"

She awkwardly laughed and then reverted back to the ceiling. And then, she looked back at me. "Probably ten." I grabbed ten mushrooms. "Oh, and make sure they're the button ones."

I looked up. "Button ones?"

"You know, the button ones." She stopped mixing and pushed the bowl aside. She lifted a hand and curled her fingers, forming a circle with a small diameter. "They're the same white ones," she explained. With the other hand, she extended two fingers while the others stayed close to her palm. "And they have a stem that's smaller than the bulb." I picked a mushroom up. She nodded. "Yeah, like those! Those are button mushrooms."

Eyeing the small mushroom, I asked, "Don't most people hated these?"

She giggled. "They do. But hey, they don't have a choice, you know."

I sighed. "I think you enjoy hearing complaints."

"Sometimes," she admitted, "it's nice when the dining room's lively."

"Lively with complaints?"

"Lively with anything," she somewhat clarified. With a wistful sigh, she murmured, "It makes me feel like everything's going to be okay, you know? It makes me happy when people are talking to each other, even if it's not about happy things."

"So you are happy when people are arguing?" I asked as I moved some mushrooms to the counter.

She laughed. "Of course not! But I'm happier when they're arguing than when they're ignoring each other..." Her voice died out. "People are the most lonely when they're not talking to each other. At least when they're arguing, they're thinking of someone," she said, her voice sounding a bit sentimental. "That's why it's better when people are arguing. Then, at least they know they're not lonely 'cause hey, it takes two to argue, you know."