30.
"Wake up sleepyhead! It's your day to make breakfast."
Ross looked like an angel ninety-nine percent of the time when he woke up. This was part of the one percent where he didn't look so good. His hair was a mess, he had bags underneath his eyes and his eyes were shooting lasers.
He always liked it when I woke him up, but that morning was different. He knew I wasn't waking him up for sex. I'd paid attention to what he'd said the previous night and that morning I was reminding him of it. He wasn't pleased. He looked like he was ready to kill me.
I drummed my fingers against the door I was holding onto.
"Come on, get up," I said when the staring contest intensified.
"I remember giving you Nasir's job. That means making breakfast is your job," he said and closed his eyes.
I walked into the room and yanked his covers. "I remember you telling me you were going to make breakfast this morning. Nasir is my witness."
"Do you just want to be fired?" He asked. His eyes were still closed.
"No. I want you to honor your words," I said sitting on the bed. "Come on! I've found a way you and Nasir can spend time together. He loves cooking and you can't cook. He's agreed to teach you, willingly so."
His eyes opened and he lay on his back. "This has nothing to do with Nasir and I. You just don't want to do your job."
I smiled. "I like cooking. Get up."
He groaned and stretched his limbs before sitting up.
"You look like you were caught in a hurricane by the way," I teased.
"Whose fault is it?" he said. "Get off my bed!"
I chuckled and stood up. "Be in the kitchen in fifteen minutes."
Ross came to the kitchen thirty minutes later to find Nasir and I waiting for him. He'd cleaned up well. His face looked spotless and his hair was tidy. He wore a pair of slim-fit jeans we'd bought in Linksfield and one of his golf t-shirts. He looked different and Nasir noticed it.
"What are you wearing?" he asked as soon as Ross walked into the kitchen. He had an incredulous look on his face.
"You don't like them?" Ross asked.
"They look fine. You just look different," Nasir said and looked at me. "Is this your doing?"
"What? No! He chose the jeans by himself," I said. "I may have assisted by it was his choice."
Nasir shook his head slowly with a smile on his face. "Missing ingredients, huh," he said to Ross.
Ross gave him a quick glare and faced me. "So what are we making?" he said quickly.
I'd missed something. There had to be something I wasn't privy to. Ross had seemed flustered the night before when he mentioned breakfast and now Nasir had brought up something about ingredients and Ross looked just as flustered.
"What's this about ingredients?" I asked Nasir.
"...Just Nasir wondering out loud if we have the ingredients we need. He does that a lot," Ross jumped in. "So what are we making?" he shifted the conversation.
"Sebastian thought it would be best to teach the two of you about what I know. Obviously Sebastian can cook so it has to be something he can't make. What do you guys want?" Nasir asked us.
"Uh no. I said it would be a nice bonding time for you and Ross. That means I'll be in the living room watching TV," I said.
"You are not going anywhere Sebastian Adler," Nasir said sternly. "I need you to supervise him."
"I don't need supervision!" Ross protested. "But yeah, you're not going anywhere. You are my assistant chef."
I groaned. I'd really been hoping to get out of my duties. I just wanted to sit by myself and watch TV and maybe drift off to sleep at some point. It was apparently too much to ask. How had I agreed to replace Nasir?
"So what are we having for breakfast today?" Nasir asked.
"Grilled cheese sandwiches," Ross and I said simultaneously and chuckled.
"Did you two talk about it?" Nasir asked. "That's a fairly easy thing. I'm surprised you can't make them Sebastian."
I looked at Ross and he looked at me. A smile formed at the corner of his lips. It was a subtle smile but it was beautiful. For a moment we just looked at each other. The moment didn't call for a slight staring contest but somehow my eyes were drawn to his form.
"We didn't talk about it. I had no plans to be here. We just like the same food, and you make the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever," I finally said, pulling my eyes away from Ross.
"I second that," Ross said excitedly. "So let's get to work. What do I need?"
Nasir chuckled slowly. "It's like being a third-wheel in a romantic comedy," he said. "Okay, you are going to need mayonnaise, mustard, Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese..."
=
Nasir taught Ross and I different dishes. He had a passion for cooking and even when he started to struggle to breathe he was in the kitchen with a nasal cannula shouting instructions. His health was quickly deteriorating but the man wouldn't rest for anything. Many times I had to push him out of the kitchen. This was one of those times.
"Okay Nasir seriously, Ross and I will cook tonight," I said putting my hands on his wheelchair. We'd gotten him a wheelchair after it became apparent he couldn't walk long distances on his own.
"I just want to se–" he said and I cut in.
"You need to rest. We've got this," I said pushing him out of the kitchen.
He groaned. "Fine. I will watch TV. Is that what you want?"
"Yes," I said with a grin he couldn't see.
I pushed him towards the living room. It was a little after six pm but it was overcast so it was dark outside. The dark atmosphere outside increased the brightness of the lights inside. I pushed Nasir into the living room and switched on the TV. I handed him the remote and made to leave.
"Sebastian?" he said.
"Adler," I said with a smirk. "What's up?"
"What would make you be in a relationship?" he asked softly but seriously.
His question caught me by surprise. I coughed. "Uh-" I said and coughed again. "Love, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Well...yeah. I don't know. I think it depends on a lot of things. I never really think about these things," I said.
"Well maybe you need to. You aren't getting younger," he said. He still had a serious expression on his face.
"I'm only twenty-five Nasir. I have plenty of time," I said.
"Time isn't the issue Sebastian. Sometimes the right person is standing in front of you, you let them go and you just never find anyone like them. Don't be so confident of a future you don't know when the present already offers you opportunities. There are plenty of fish in the sea but every single one is unique in their own way. You'll never find two exactly alike," he said and chuckled. "Ross would have at this point asked me what fish have to do with relationships."
I opened my mouth and closed it. I wanted to ask him something similar. I unlike Ross understood the saying, I just wasn't quite sure he was talking about me but himself. I could say there weren't any opportunities I was letting slide away from me because I was anticipating a better future. Either Nasir was talking about himself or the cancer had gone to his head. I'd read the latter was possible.
Unless he meant...
Oh no.
"Uh...yeah, sure" I said and started walking.
"Speaking of opportunities; how would you like a hundred and sixty thousand dollars?"
I stopped walking immediately. I was at that time close to the door. I turned towards Nasir. He wasn't looking at me but the TV.
"What?"
"How would you like a hundred and sixty thousand dollars?" he repeated with emphasis.
I walked in front of him. "Are you offering me money?"
He nodded.
I was stunned. "Uh...what...where...why?" I said, putting more emphasis on the last question.
"I see potential. I'm also dying. I can't take my money to the grave so I want to give it to you," he said.
"You have a hundred and sixty thousand dollars?"
"Approximately," he said. "It's probably more. Ross still paid me every month even when it was apparent I wasn't doing anything with the money."
I drew my lower lip in. "You should give it to Ross."
"Ross has a lot of money. He doesn't need it," he said.
I scratched my head, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the situation. Nasir was offering me his money and this wasn't just a few hundred dollars.
"I have a condition of course," he said when I didn't say anything.
All Nasir really cared about was Ross. He was going to ask me to stay. Or maybe...oh my god. He was going to ask me to marry Ross or something of that sort. He'd alluded to a relationship with Ross. Surely he knew that wasn't going to work.
"Nasir I cannot stay here forever. I know you think Ross needs me here but I-" I said and he cut in.
"Good lord Sebastian, that's not the condition. I heard you and Ross talking about you wanting to go to college. Get into college and the money is yours."
My mouth opened slightly when I realized what he'd said. "You are giving me money for college?"
He nodded. "I think you are dumb, but I also think you can make it through college. I don't know why I have faith in a boy with ripped pants and a cigarette addiction, but I do. You can turn your life around."
I let his words wash over me and envelope me in a hug. It felt good hearing those words come out of someone who disliked me before. That meant he'd had a true change of heart. He knew my flaws and still saw my potential.
"Thank you Nasir," I said sincerely.
"Don't thank me yet. Get into a college before I die," he said with a smile.
"Deal," I said returning the smile. Something worrisome drifted into my thoughts. "Does Ross know?"
"Not yet. It's my money," he replied.
"Think he'll be okay with it?"
"I hope not," he mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said quickly. "He'll be fine."
"Nasir..." I said and drifted off.
"Maybe when you leave sooner than he thinks he'll realize what an idiot he's been," he said. "Off you go. I want my food ready soon."
"Why do you speak in riddles?" I said with frustration evident in my voice. He'd said one more thing that didn't make sense to me.
He pretended I wasn't in the room. He was paying attention to the TV, laughing at something that couldn't have been funny. I didn't see how an episode about cars stuck in snow could be funny.
I groaned and left the living room. I found the kitchen on fire. Okay, it wasn't on fire but something was burning – or had been burning at least. We'd decided dinner that night was garlic chicken. Ross had decided that chicken had to be burnt beyond recognition.
"What the hell happened?" I asked while fanning the air in front of me with my hand. There was dissipating smoke in the kitchen.
"The stove malfunctioned," he replied with his nose in the air.
"The stove malfunctioned? Really? You do realize the stove isn't automatic right? You have to switch it off," I said.
He twisted his lips. I noticed a Rubik's cube on the kitchen counter. I think I understood why he hadn't even noticed the chicken was burning until there was smoke in the room.
"You weren't supposed to start without me," I said.
"You took too long," he complained. "Anyway, you can just start over, I'm tired."
I huffed. The smoke had turned me off cooking completely. The smell of burning chicken had filled the air.
"I'm ordering pizza and you're paying," I said firmly.
"Make sure it has extra cheese," he said picking up his cube and leaving the room.
"Whoa! Who is supposed to clean this mess?" I said to his back.
"There's this guy I pay for such moments. Oh, that's you," he shouted.
"I hate you!" I shouted back.
"I'll take it you're joking. In that case I hate..." he said and his words drifted off. I couldn't hear him anymore.
I sighed and took out my phone from my pocket.
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