Dinner for Two (Plus Cat) - James Wylder

Placing the dish of cat food down, Sang Mi watched as the monochrome cat begin to chow down on it. Chris watched the whole affair from the side of the room. 

“You gave that cat way too much food,” he said.

“I've never had a cat, this is a new experience for me. Anyway, she seems to be having a good time.”

“Yeah, she is.”

Sang Mi smiled up at him. “Kinda weird, isn't it? We've got everything all set up here. But it's just till the investigation is over.”

He crossed his arms. “I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. I go between a lot of places. It’s… kind of my bread and butter. Going between places. When I finish an assignment, I move on. You enjoy the time that's there, you go somewhere else, meet new people.”

Sang Mi's smile turned thoughtful. “Haven’t you ever just wanted to… not?’

He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, have the same friends you can count on. Have family you can count on.”

“If those things were so important to you, why are you running from both of them? You're about as far away from home as you can get right now.”

The monochrome cat started purring, and she ran her hand along its soft fur. “I don't know. I’ve got a lot of bullshit, what's your excuse?”

“A lot of bullshit as well.”

“We should probably stop doing that, it seems to be a mutual problem.”

“Probably.”

They laughed, and Chris went over to the refrigerator, pulling out some ingredients: cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil. Setting them down on the counter, he then proceeded to pull out pasta, olive oil, salt, and a dried spice mix.

“Dinner?” she asked, and he nodded.

“The cat is getting it, only seems fair we do too.”

“Can I help?”

“Can you boil water?”

She scoffed, and crossed her arms in an imitation of him earlier. “Do I look like I failed home ec to you?”

“A little, yeah?”

“Well I didn't.”

She went over to the cabinets and pulled out the pot, filled it up with water, and put a dash of the salt Chris had gotten out in it. Then she set it on the stove.

“Heat to boiling,” she said.

Nothing happened. Chris watched closely. She quickly examined the knobs, before giving Chris a look that said ‘haha very funny’, and turning the knob.

Nothing happened, but it made a clicking noise. She looked back at him, brow furrowed. She could tell: he was waiting to see if she'd figure it out.

She turned it off, and back on again, and leaned in as it clicked. There was a smell—some sort of gas.

Ah. It was some sort of primitive stove like a campfire that would light gas on fire to heat the water. She turned the knob back and forth, and quickly found it would try to light it before the lowest setting, and she got it lit. 

Chris smiled—and it wasn't patronising, he seemed genuinely pleased, like she'd passed some sort of test. And she felt her heart beat faster, and a smile pass her own lips. She'd done it right.

When it boiled, he put the pasta in, and she started cutting the tomatoes and the balls of mozzarella up. Chris strained the pasta, and tossed it in olive oil, salt, and the dried herb mix, then added the cheese and tomatoes Sang Mi had cut up. He plated it, and topped it all with the fresh basil, and served it with wine for himself, and juice for Sang Mi. Still, they got to do a little toast.

“This has been fun. I didn’t think I'd been cooking on this whole excursion.”

“It's been good to have the help. To teamwork, then.”

They clinked glasses. “To teamwork.”

Sang Mi said a prayer, crossed herself, and they dug in. It was a simple meal, but a delicious one, and they had to shove the monochrome cat down a few times from the table as it tried to get at their plates. 

“What will happen when this whole thing ends, this mission? I know that, you know, I probably won't see you again for a long time.”

He couldn't deny it. “No, but we'll still be good friends.”

“Okay, just… don't forget about me.”

“I won’t, we’ve definitely established I'm not doing that. And we have a bond now from tonight, we’re boon companions.”

“Oh? How so?”
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“Meals make companions of us all,” he said.

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