Rolex stared at Sunny.
Sunny stared at Rolex.
The already spartan table on the right side of her apartment now felt like only an inch wide. Sunny had a hand in front of her, idly clearing a few notifications on her phone while maintaining eye contact. Rolex, however, had his arms crossed over his chest, hands tucked. His left index finger was fidgeting with the sleeve on his shirt; a visage that had the wolverine grinning with delight. A very rare emotion from her police partner:
Nervousness.
Of course, he wasn't amused, and Sunny herself was a little concerned. She was just better at hiding -
Ker-Clank!
``Drake, wait!! Wash it off first!''
``Okay, okay!''
Rolex's eyes briefly snapped to his right, ears instinctively following suit right behind them, before remembering to turn back to Sunshine smirking at him from the other side of the table with an indignant huff; he had promised not to look, after all.
``Remind me...why are we trusting our mortality and intestines to them again?''
Canting her head to one side, Sunshine immediately laughed, ``Oh, don't you even start. If you had any nerve endings left in that back-tie of yours, it'd be wagging. You can do that whole `rock in your chest' schtick all you want, but - "
Holding his stare, Rolex opened his mouth -
``Aaaahhh!'' She held up a hand, quashing his rebuttal. ``The rest of us know you've got a heart in there, and we know you love little gestures like this.'' Her grin widened at his anxiousness. She loved to see him squirm! All that was missing was that little blush of his. ``So just enjoy this! They'll be fine! I trust them bo...''
Sunny's voice trailed off at the sound of low-pitched, thick bubbling. Bubbling that could very distinctly be heard very clearly. Meaning...
``Aim, the pot!''
A gasp. ``Shi - ...crap!''
The wolf spoke in a firm, raised tone. ``What was that?''
Drake turned around, acknowledging the adults from the open counter while trying his most precious to hide their work (or mess) with his body: ``She...cracked! An egg! We need it for the last step of the recipe.''
The teen gave a smile so nervous and broken that Sunshine half-expected a large drop of sweat to fade in on his forehead. She leaned back in her dining room chair, about to turn back towards Rolex. ``Okay, pretty impressive cover - snnrrk!''
The rule of `no looking' long broken, Rolex looked like that ridiculous wrestler/actor/douche, The Reef, when he was doing that outrageous perplexed look when something went over his head. Often for the shark, outright silly on such a hardened detective dire wolf such as her partner. He was staring at whatever was going on in the kitchen, before standing up resolutely. ``I'm going in there to help them.''
Like a hawk, a distinctly feminine voice nearly startled Sunshine from her left: ``No, you are not. We've got this, Mr. Stone; don't worry.'' Amber Rays spoke in her most reassuring voice; she sounded almost motherly, a funny concept coming from someone less than half his age. She then turned to Sunny: ``Okay, dinner's almost ready, and we promise we've got the dishes covered. This is your guys' night, so leave all the worrying to us!'' She beamed down at her mom, who smiled proudly. ``Well, more Mr. Stone's night, but of course, you're included! We didn't want to leave you out, or anything...'' Amber couldn't help but trail off, a little nervous.
Sunshine just laughed. ``I know what you mean, precious. Come here.'' She extended an arm, which the teen gladly accepted into a tight hug, eliciting coos from both of them.
Rolex's voice cut in firmly, almost with an imperceptible trace of self-satisfaction: ``SMOKE.''
Everyone else jolted at that and looked at the kitchen entrance, where Drake, who was supposed to be manning the oven, had gotten distracted watching the amateur Maitre `D calm her `customers'.
The two teens booked it back inside, Amber's voice prevalent: ``No, no, no, no - ''
Crrrrreeeeak!
``Damnit, Drake!''
``Hang on, I can still save it - ''
``Wait, don't - !''
``Ccchh - aaah!''
BA-DANG! Pi-rooo-roooo-roo-ro-ro-r -
The sound suddenly stopped; whatever was spinning on the floor, they must've picked up.
This time, Sunshine stood up in full alarm, eyes wide. ``Guys!? Okay, I'm coming o - ''
Two panicked, similarly timbred voices flapped over each other; something along the lines of: ``No, no, no, it's fine! We're okay! Nothing happened! Just stay there!''
``You did promise no peeking, Sunshine.''
The concerned wolverine whirled on her partner with a blood-boiled laser death glare. Now, he was grinning. You bastard! Sunshine thought. You think I won't play your game? I don't back down from Chicken, Wolfy. Bawk, bawk.
She trudged back to her chair, and pouted in her seat, their roles now reversed. The shoe was on the other foot, and Sunny did not like the grip on that pair of Cole Haans. Her crossed arms shuffled, her index finger tapped away at her bicep, and her right foot bounced in place.
``They're good kids, Sunny.''
His voice brought her attention back to his softened face. He nodded. ``I'm sure whatever they're making is going to be fine.''
And just like that, her competitive defenses were torn down, as Sunny grew into a touched smile. ``Yeah.... Yeah, you're right.'' She couldn't help it; she moved a foot under the table, and softly rubbed it against his. Rolex cocked an eyebrow at the grade-school affection, but broke into a small grin regardless, and wiggled his shoe a little himself.
A few more noises came from the kitchen, blessedly sounding like normal cooking activity for once. As the boiling excitement simmered down, and the steaming general heart rates of the group underwent a reduction, the typical din of the kitchen work was now only replaced by the hushed conversation between the two novice cooks:
``Okay, that...actually looks pretty good. I think we're ready to plate up.''
A giggle. ``Dude, why do you have to say it like that?''
``Because it's fancy, you dork!''
``They can't hear us say that; what's the point?''
``Ugh, fine, whatever. Do we put the sprig thingy on top?''
``Nah, in the pictures in restaurants and stuff, they definitely put it on the side.''
``Okay...yeah, that makes sense, yeah. We'll make su - woah, woah! Don't put that much on the plate!''
The two police officers shook their heads at one another, Sunshine smiling, as they continued listening in on their poorly quieted hissing:
``Well, they're adults, duh! They're gonna eat a lot more than us!''
``Yeah, but not that much; it's gonna be messy!''
``Well, how am I supposed to know how much to put on their plate?''
``You - ! Um...wait, how much do you put on someone else?s plate?''
Sunshine called out to them, ``It's fine, guys! We're starving; just come on out.''
A couple of seconds of silence. Then...
A muted poompf.
``Ow!''
Then another one.
``Ow!'' at a slightly higher pitch.
``Come on, grab his plate,'' Amber sighed, carefully holding a dish of her own, sitting on a large ornate plate charger holding a set of silverware. Drake followed shortly after, with a similar plate, and a smaller saucer in another hand. ``Bon Appetit, you guys! We really hope you enjoy this little thing we put together.''
Drake, grinning from ear to ear, simply said, ``Happy birthday, Dad.''
Together, the partners in crime placed the plates down in front of their respective parents: a big plate of angel hair spaghetti - Rolex's with way, way too much - and a large, hearty helping of bright red tomato sauce. Several meatballs of varying size (and shape) were centered among the plates - decently sized, but again, quite a high number! A sprig of parsley adorned the edge of each plate, though Rolex's was quickly in danger of drifting out to sea. Tiny pieces of tomatoes also dotted the mixture, along with finely chopped chunks of green bell pepper, hints of mushroom, and...
``Drake wanted to do meatballs, and I was originally thinking about lasagna, but...'' With a dramatic head roll, she continued: ``I didn't want to offend, so I just decided to compromise, and add the crumbled up ground beef with them. We'll try it next time! Hurry up, dig in!''
She made a shooing motion with her hands, and the two adults picked up their forks. Admittedly, with the slight caveat of Rolex's red avalanche - and the nearly blackened garlic bread on the saucer that Drake brought in; explaining the smoke - the dishes did look very appetizing and delicious, made special by the fact it was done all by themselves. ``It's wonderful'', Sunny gushed. ``I'm so proud of you guys!''
``Thanks, Ms. Rays!''
``You haven't tried it yet!''
``Alright, alright, we're going!''
Sunshine prodded a golf ball sized meatball and wrapped it up in the red and yellow noodles, before taking a big bite. She braced herself with a few chews...
``Mmm...mm, wow!'' She looked up at Rolex, who was almost done with his first bite. He, too, was nodding in surprised approval, toasting his fork to his protege. The flavors were surprisingly distinguishable on her tongue; the savory taste of beef, a definite presence of garlic, but not too overpowering, definitely the liveliness of black pepper...Hmm, there's an earthy taste, too. Kinda refreshing, actually. It really mellows out the bite that the tomatoes normally have. Wait a minute...is that -
``Did you guys put mint in this?'' Rolex pointed downward at the sauce with his fork, eyes actually aglow with excitement. Amber comedically performed a flourishing hand motion to Drake, who simply folded his ears and chuckled nervously.
``I, uh...I looked it up online and it said that it kinda cancels out the acid taste in the tomatoes, so...''
Rolex simply grinned and opened up his arms. Drake let out a laugh and fell into his dad's hug. ``It's perfect. Thank you so much, my wonderful son...Thank you.''
Drake fidgeted away, but did so half-heartedly, also touched by the loving gesture. ``Okay dad, jeez!''
Shhf-shhf-shhf-shhf-shhf
Sunny flashed a grin at Rolex, knowing exactly what that sound was. Behind his son's hug, the wolf silently mouthed: Shut. Up.
Sitting back, he turned to the respectfully stoic wolverine teen. ``And thank you as well, Amber - I appreciate your helping him put this all together.''
Amber put her hands up, ``No prob, Mr. Stone. And no hug for me, I'm goo - aaack!''
Her body lurched to the right as she was yanked onto Sunshine's lap, while the woman squeezed her quickly protesting daughter as hard as she could. ``Yep, that's my job! I love you, my shining star!!'' Sunny exclaimed, lunging kisses wherever she could, as Amber alternated between imitating cat hisses and making gagging sounds while she `struggled'. When she was finally let go, Sunshine said, ``Grab yourselves some plates, and come join us!'' And with that, the four canines and mustelids were eating dinner together at the table.
About half an hour later, the group was in the kitchen, washing dishes and cleaning up. Despite the kids' frightened protests, Banks' Finest insisted on helping with KP, as appreciation for their hard work...or if nothing else, to survey the `surely catastrophic' damage. To Sunshine's immense relief, it wasn't the bloody massacre she'd expected by the sounds of it throughout the evening, but it was still pretty messy on par for teenagers. The wolves split washing and rinsing duties, while Amber dried and Sunshine cleaned the appliances and sponged up the errant sauce spatter ballistics.
Okay, so maybe it was a little bloody.
``But seriously, guys - it was a fantastic dinner, and a wonderfully thoughtful gift. We couldn't be more grateful. And it was delicious!''
The kids expressed their humble gratitude, before Rolex spoke up, paws in suds: ``Although...I didn't recall tasting any egg, Drake.''
Sunshine's eyes popped open as she remembered their earlier near-miss and thinking quickly, she whipped out her phone and turned off the ringer.
Ever oblivious, the fourteen-year-old turned his head up to his father. ``Hmm?''
Rolex stared down at him with a flat expression. ``Shi - crap...ped an egg?''
Drake finally caught up with the rest of the class, and recalled Amber's earlier faux pas. ``OH! Uhh...''
Ever to the rescue, Sunshine held her phone over Rolex's shoulder, her Notes app open showing in big bold letters: `YOLK 4 THE MEATBALLS!'
With a thematic eye roll, Drake picked up the slack easily: ``Well, of course you're not going to taste it, Dad!'' he boasted, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. ``Amber just used the yolk in the eggs on the meatballs! The proteins act as binding agents to help them keep their shape while they cook so they stay round and firm!''
Rolex continued to deadpan at his nervously smiling son while the girls silently fist-bumped behind his back. After a few seconds, he silently turned back to the hot soapy water and continued washing.
Drake spoke up, manning his station: ``So anyway, I - plap!''
The girls turned and giggled, seeing a soaking wet washcloth unceremoniously dumped over Drake's face while his father `innocently' had his hands in the sink. ``I don't know why I let you get away with this stuff...''
He jerked his head forward, sending the rag sinking into the other sink in front of him. ``Because you love me?'' he said with an overexaggerated grin.
``For the moment. Just consider yourself lucky you didn't render the Rays homeless.''
``Oh yeah right, Dad - you know you would've loved for that to happen; Ms. Rays could sleep with you and Amber would bunk with me!''
``Uh-uh, if you burned down mom's apartment, I wasn't gonna stay in your room, Mr. We-Don't-Need-A-Timer-Since-We're-Both-There!''
``Hey, that wasn't my fault.''
``Oh, yeah?'' Amber snapped her towel at Drake's butt, making him jump with a yip! ``Was there a third person in the kitchen manning the oven?''
``It's my condition; I can't control it! It's plagued me since birth! That...Austerburger Syndrome or whatever it's called!''
Thunk.
The kids turned to see Sunshine hunched over the stove, head leaning against the overhead vent, sponged hand frozen in place, and her body wracking with poorly choked back laughter.
Amber turned back to Drake, barely keeping it together herself. ``You're an idiot,'' she giggled.
Drake tilted his pointed nose upward. ``Um, I would appreciate some sensitivity to my illness during this difficult time!?''
Their raucous playfighting was just loud enough to hide Rolex's amused laugh from the three of them.
