Last Night

Part 4

Straightening up, I grabbed my hand shredded mozzarella out of the bowl and tossed it on the bread. After walking over to the toaster oven, I deposited the bread and turned around to face him. "Yeah, yeah, this could be so easy if I wasn't losing my mind. Well, excuse me for being good and not making cookie dough this time. I've done that so many times I don't even need to be conscious for it. Can you start peeling the eggs?"

He sighed and shook his head at me, but did as I asked. I grabbed the egg slicer from a drawer and dug around for some greens in the fridge. Once I retrieved the last of my supplies, I walked over to check on him because I thought I'd heard some weird noises.

"Wow, have you never peeled an egg before?"

There were several large chunks of egg littering the sink, some attached to pieces of shell and others just sadly abandoned. His eyes were focused on the thin layer of white left around the yolk, trying not to tear that off as well as he chipped away at the last few bits of shell. He muttered something under his breath as the shell ripped more egg white away.

"There. Done. These are bad eggs. They don't peel right."

I glanced up at his still stunningly bright eyes and chuckled. That blue might be my new favorite color. "It takes a delicate touch. Let me show you how a pro does it."

Picking up the other egg with my left hand, I tapped each end on the counter and then rolled it under my palm gently. While that happened, my right hand turned on the faucet and ran cool water. After picking off the top of the broken shell, I shoved it under the water and rotated it. With that finished and the water off, my hands carefully peeled back the shell as though it were a ribbon wrapped gift.

"Looks like I found something I'm better at than you," I sang and continued preparing my open-face sandwich. "Of course, it helps that I really like boiled eggs so I've had a lot of practice."

"I don't remember the last time I ate an egg."

After putting the finishing touches on my food, we moved back into the living room and sat on the couch together. He flipped on Netflix while I devoured my sandwich like a starved hyena.

"You know, if you put the tomatoes underneath the cheese, they'll stay better. Same with the eggs," he said, glancing over at me as I struggled to keep everything on the bread and trying not to laugh. It didn't work.

I picked up the last few crumbs that had tumbled away and placed my plate on the coffee table. "You make your sandwich your way. I'll make mine my way."

"You are quite a stubborn one."

I bumped into him as I sat back down, throwing my shoulder into it. Then I settled into the couch and leaned against his shoulder. Something tingled my nose, it must've been his cologne. "Oh yeah, well, you are quite a smelly one."

He stiffened a bit once he realized I wasn't going to move. "If I'm so smelly, then why are you leaning on me?"

"I didn't say you smelled bad. This is just comfy. I'm so glad you're not a creeper." I snuggled in deeper. "Last call before the kitchen is closed, are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Is it the kitchen closing or your eyes?"

"Both." I said with a yawn.

"You really shouldn't fall asleep yet. You haven't checked your windows or locked the door."

I felt a cool hand slid across my scalp, brushing my hair aside.

"You'll protect me from all the scary monsters. That's what friends do." My skin prickled as the wave of sleep inducing darkness drew closer.