5:Sloppy Joe?

Avery

It's been a week since I got home from the Philippines yet, somehow, I still can’t get used to living here.

Azai and I would just stay at our house whenever we aren’t in school. Nancy would often stay with us while the rest of the family were busy at work.

"Aren't you going to call abuelita?" I stopped reading when Azai spoke and I looked at him blankly.

"La abuelita Ava!" His eyes widened as he repeated it to remind me for the second time.

"Oh mierda!" I gasped as I realized what he said.

"Silly, you’re always blank every time you read a book," He teased and laid down next to me.

"I know right," I said and took the cellphone that was on the side table of the room. I opened it and called our grandparents who were in Spain. We waited a few seconds before they answered the video call via ZOOM Application.

"Hola abuelita!" I greeted enthusiastically when I saw my grandmother from my phone screen.

"Hola nieta y nieto," She smiled.

"Hi abuelita, where's abuelito?" Azai spoke.

"In the kitchen, he’s preparing dinner." Abuelita replied.

"So what are you two doing?" She asked.

I positioned the phone properly so that abuelita could see the whole bed where Azai and I laid down.

"I'm in Azai's room, just reading one of his books," I said, Azai came closer to me so that our grandmother could see him better.

"I was just watching videos from YouTube beside Avery," He said.

"I am happy to see you both together again,” Grandma said softly, eyes filled with endearment.

"We're happy to see you too abuelita."

We stayed talking to grandma for almost an hour. We talked about schools and things Azai and I often do.

It was 02:40 pm when Azai and I left his room and went to the kitchen, we decided to make some snacks then hang out in the living room and watch some movies.

We went straight to the fridge and found Nancy busy arranging vegetables. It looked like she just came from the grocery store.

"Buenas tardes Señorita y Señorito," She greeted us with a smile

"Buenas tardes Nancy, can we have ground beef please." Nancy nodded before taking a plastic inside the fridge and handing it to Azai.

"It looks like you are going to cook again Señorito," Azai just nodded.

"We're going to make Sloppy Joe." After Azai said that, we said goodbye and went to the kitchen to start preparing and cooking.

"It's been a while since we made Sloppy Joe," I said while busy preparing the ingredients.

"Yeah, the last time I ate Sloppy Joe was when I visited you and that was almost 2 years ago," Azai started to cook the beef while I started to prepare the bread and everything.

"Abuelito and I used to cook when I was in Spain, actually that was how we bonded." I said to Azai, who turned around.

"I know, abuelita told me. You would always make yourself busy by doing so. That's the reason why I started learning this cooking stuff."

"Huh, why is that?" I asked him in surprise, he turned to me and smiled before he turned his gaze back to what he was cooking.

"Because I know one day you'll come back and stay with us again, although I love the fact that you are with abuelos, I still believe that one day you'll just change your mind. That's why I started learning how to cook so that when you're back we can cook together whenever you want to eat something," I took a deep breath as I felt a sudden pain at what Azai said.

He's the most caring and lovable brother ever and he knows me very well.

"I'm sorry I did not come back earlier," I tried to control my emotions because I felt that anytime I might burst into tears as I thought about the past years we were apart from one another.

"Not a problem, what's important is that you're here now and everything is getting better." He said and turned off the fire from the stove.

"Done with the beef!" He smiled triumphantly before putting the ground beef he cooked on a plate.

I smiled at him as I inhaled the smell of the beef. "Smells good,"

Azai came next to me and we made our burgers together. While he finished making the Sloppy Joe, I went to the stove and cooked fries and onion rings to add to what we were going to eat.

While I was cooking, he told me stories about Ravi since I didn't know him that well.

"And by the way Zai, are you close with Zayn?" I asked him as he put some sauce on our plate.

"Who's Zayn?" He asked me in surprise.

"You don't know Zayn?" I furrowed my brows, confused. "I saw you talking to him during lunch, I thought you two were close,"

"Huh? I don't know anyone named Zayn," He paused from what he was doing and looked at me seriously.

"Vivian's cousin, Zayn! I saw you talking to him the other day," He began to laugh hard which made me frown even more.

"What’s so funny?" He then stopped laughing and drank water to clear his throat.

"His name is Zac not Zayn, you silly," He teased.

"Oh come on, it's just the same! Besides you always called him by his last name, so how was I supposed to figure out if his name was Zac or Zayn," I explained defensively as I turned off the stove and put the fries and onion rings on our plate.

"You should have just asked me instead of guessing his name," I rolled my eyes grumpily. He chuckled at my reaction before looking at me seriously.

"We're a bit close, I met him when I went to Vivian's house last summer,

why’d you ask?" He added.

"Nothing, he just looked so familiar to me," I shrugged.

"That's impossible, he used to study in America. I'm sure you never met him when you were staying here 4 years ago. Plus, you only visited America once." He explained

"I know, it’s just, I have this weird feeling about him. There's something in his eyes that gives me the chills."

"Just ignore it, maybe you're not used to Zac’s presence yet but you'll eventually get used to it. He’s a really good friend." After he said that, we took care of what we ate before heading to the living room.

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A/N:

Te quiero!