I Like It

Claire still wasn't in a good mood when she woke up so Alex decided to try making dinner. He had watched her do it enough times now that he thought it shouldn't be a problem.

He told her to go watch TV or something while he worked and she was skeptical. "Are you sure? You haven't ever cooked before, have you?"

"No but I know how to follow instructions. It can't be too difficult," he replied.

Claire seemed to know she wouldn't be able talk him out of it so she shrugged and told him to come get her if he needed help. Alex waited until he heard the sounds of the TV to get started. He had watched her make it before and it seemed fairly straightforward.

Alex filled a pot with water and turned the stove on as high as it would go. He added some salt like the instructions recommended and waited for it to boil. Once it was boiling he dumped in an entire box of spaghetti noodles.

Everything was fine for a couple of minutes but he watched helplessly as the bubbles grew higher and higher until they spilled over the edge. He was fairly certain this wasn't supposed to happen but didn't know how to stop it.

The fire beneath the pot got bigger too and spurted out all around the pot. Smoke began billowing upwards and filling the kitchen. His eyes widened and he was about to ask Claire for help after all when a beeping noise sounded.

She rushed into the kitchen immediately. "What did you do?!"

"I…am not sure," Alex confessed.

Claire shut off the stove, moved the pot to a different burner, and surveyed the damage in a far calmer manner than he had come to expect from her. It appeared that this sort of situation wasn't a cause for fear because she was familiar with it.

The fire had stopped but smoke still hung heavy in the air. She pressed a button on the hood over the stove and opened a window with a sigh. The alarm blared because they had armed it when they got back and she rushed to turn it off.

Next she examined the inside of the pot and lifted out a congealed mass of spaghetti with a wooden spoon. That didn't look anything like the kind she made before and Alex frowned, wondering what he did differently than her.

To his surprise, she burst out laughing after a moment of simply staring at it. How was this amusing?

"I guess you aren't good at everything after all," Claire snickered before smiling at him to show she wasn't upset about the smoke. "No real harm was done. Let's order some pizza. I don't think you've tried that yet."

Alex wasn't sure why she handled this situation the way she had but he wasn't complaining. She seemed to be in the best mood she had been in all day so he wouldn't question it. Or say anything about the open window being a hazard if anyone was casing the house right now.

He kept that particular tidbit to himself, not wanting to spoil the mood, and stayed in the kitchen even though it still smelled like smoke so he could keep an eye on things. No point in upsetting her unnecessarily.

He pulled up the monitoring app on his phone and checked the cameras around the perimeter of the house. It didn't seem like anyone was here but one could never be too cautious.

The smoke smell was mostly gone by the time the pizza arrived so Alex shut the window and rearmed the system once Claire had shut the front door behind her. She gestured for him to join her in the living room so he did.

She pressed play on the show she had been watching before he nearly set fire to the kitchen and took out a slice of pizza, blowing on it before taking a bite. He sat down next to her on the couch and followed her example.

The flavor combination was unexpectedly delicious. He had been slightly unsure of it before seeing how many things he didn't recognize were on top of the cheese.

"What is this?" Alex asked curiously. "I like it."

Claire smiled. "It's called a supreme pizza. Plain pizza consists of a bread-like crust, tomato sauce, and cheese but this one has a bunch of what we call toppings. Pepperoni, sausage, beef, red onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, and olives."

She pointed out each topping as she said it so he would understand. She was always doing things like that to help him understand her world better.

Alex appreciated her efforts on his behalf. It must be strange for her having to explain things that should be obvious all the time. All things considered, she was very tolerant of his lack of knowledge.

He wished he could learn faster. He would need to know as much as he possibly could in order to get by on the outside without her guidance. He wouldn't have it forever.

"Thank you for the pizza," he said quietly. "And for explaining things to me so often."

Surprise registered on Claire's face. "You don't have to thank me for that! It's the least I can do since you have saved my life so many times."

Alex wanted to thank her though. The manners guide he read online said that saying thank you when you appreciated something was important. He knew he was not very good at expressing himself yet but he wanted her to know that he did appreciate the things she did for him.

He also read that expressing appreciation was an important part of maintaining a friendship. Now that he had a friend, he could not allow that friendship to fall apart on him. He valued it. He valued her.

Even once they parted ways he still wanted to stay in contact with Claire. She probably wouldn't be willing to do that if she didn't feel appreciated.

Apparently it was important that people felt appreciated according to the articles he had read. Personally, Alex didn't care about things like that but he supposed it was because of his training. If he had been raised on the outside, he might have been the same way.