When I woke up, I felt Melody's burning gaze.

‘Why is she staring at me? It’s uncomfortable.’

I rolled my eyes back in my head and fell asleep again.

The next time I woke up, the feeling of being stared at was gone. Thus, I woke up fully this time.

As I sat up, I looked around. Since the living room was right next to the kitchen, I could see the stove clock. It read 13:09 (1:09 PM).

I slept until 1? I must have been tired.

There was no one in the room, so I didn’t know what to do or who to ask for directions.

In any case, I went to the kitchen and started to make myself a cup of coffee.

I don’t know why, but Coffee tastes so good to me. No wonder why people like it in the morning. Even though I’m immune to anything that can harm my health, besides physical injury, the taste still is there.

After brewing myself a cup of coffee, I decided to not drink it too fast because I had time.

Sure enough, that was the right choice because a few minutes later, the front door opened and I heard the family enter the house.

Melody was carrying cat food, Mark was carrying groceries, and so was Celia.

They were walking fast as they put the heavy groceries on the kitchen counter.

“Mom, We don’t need all this. It’s just breakfast!” Melody complained.

“Shh, honey.”

“Mom.. ugh.”

“Morning, Helix.” Mark spoke.

“Afternoon. You didn’t eat yet?”

“No, we were waiting for you to wake up.” Melody answered.

“Aw, now I feel bad.”

“Don’t. We’ll be alright. What are you making today?”

“Don’t know. Do you want breakfast or lunch?”

“Breakfast.” Melody said.

““Lunch.”” Mark and Celia disagreed though. I think it was because lunch was a bigger meal..?

“Okay. So both. Got it.”

I got up and moved to the kitchen after drinking my coffee. I put the used cup in the sink and started washing it.

“Do you guys have anything to say..?”

“““No.”””

“Then why are you in the kitchen?”

“Oh right, oh right.” Celia answered.

They all soon went out of the kitchen and sat themselves at the bar, directly outside the kitchen area. The bar was connected to one of the kitchen counters, so they could watch me work. It was a little irritating because the pressure was now on me.

“Melody, what breakfast would you like?”

“French toast please.”

“Got it. What about you two? What lunches would you like?”

“A sandwich. We’re not allergic to anything. You have free reign.”

“Medianoche Sandwich it is then.”

“I’ll have the same as him.”

“Got it. It’ll be ready in about 10 minutes.”

I then turned my back and got out the ingredients for both the dishes.

For the french toast, I needed:

 

1/4 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almondmilk 

6 slices whole wheat bread 

2 eggs 

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

2 tablespoons coconut oil 

 

For the caramelized bananas: 

 

1 tablespoon coconut oil 

2 bananas 

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 

And then I started cooking it.

 

I followed these instructions to make the french toast and bananas:

 

Preheat oven to broil. 

Add Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond milk, eggs and cinnamon to a large bowl. 

Whisk until well combined. 

Add 1 tablespoon coconut oil to a large pan and heat over medium heat. 

Dip each piece of bread in the almond milk mixture until both sides are evenly coated for 1-2 seconds per side. 

Once the coconut oil has melted and spread in the pan, add bread to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown. 

Repeat with more coconut oil and bread as needed. 

Transfer bread to a baking sheet and cook in the preheated oven for about 2 minutes until crisp, watching to make sure it doesn’t burn. 

Slice bananas into thick slices. 

Add the coconut oil to a pan over medium heat. 

Once coconut oil has melted and spread in the pan, add the banana slices. 

Sprinkle cinnamon generously. 

Let bananas cook for 1-2 minutes on each side until soft and browned. 

Top French toast with caramelized bananas.

 

Then, I started on the Medianoche Sandwich.

I needed the following ingredients:

 

1 lb. pork loin 

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

2 tbsp. olive oil 

4 medianoche bread, or challah 

1⁄2 cup yellow mustard 

1 lb. sliced deli ham, halved 

8 slices swiss cheese, halved 

4 dill pickles 

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

 

Once the ingredients were prepared, I started making the sandwich per the instructions:

 

Heat oven to 400°. Season pork with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Place on a roasting tray and roast until a thermometer inserted reads 160°, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a cutting board to rest, about 15 minutes. Thinly slice the pork. 

Halve the bread lengthwise and spread the insides of each roll with 1 tablespoon mustard. Divide the ham, pork, cheese, and pickles evenly among sandwiches. 

Heat half the butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium. Working in batches, cook two sandwiches, pressing down on the top with a 10-inch cast iron skillet, until golden on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip the sandwiches over, press with the skillet, and continue cooking until the other side is golden brown and the cheese has melted, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a cutting board and cut in half on the diagonal to serve.

 

Once all that was done, I put them all on three separate plates and handed them out to the right person. I also gave a fork and knife to Melody so she wouldn’t have to eat with her hands. I didn’t think that Mark and Celia needed utensils for sandwiches, so I left it alone.

Melody was amazed, as were Mark and Celia. I think I did good.

“““Thank you.””” they all said before digging in.

“No, thank you. This is my night’s worth of rent. I hope you enjoy it.”

I started to clean the kitchen because I had used a lot of tools to make the food and used up quite a bit of the groceries they bought.

After I was done cleaning, Melody asked me a question.

“Are you not going to eat?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t think of it.”

“You can have some of mine.”

“It’s okay, Melody. I’ll make myself something when I cook Santana and Sarah dinner.”

“Oh..” She looked so dejected.

“Okay, fine. One bite.”

“Really? Okay. here. Open up.”

My eye twitched as I saw her trying to feed me.

I leaned over the kitchen counter so she could give me the toast. Once I ate it, I was surprised. I bet my life that when she gave me the french toast, it looked like a romance movie in the eyes of Celia and Mark.

“Oh, this isn’t bad!” 

It really wasn’t bad. But food does taste better when someone else makes it for you. I don’t know why, but it must be a psychological thing.

“Thank you for the meal, Helix.” Mark spoke for the family and they put their dishes in the sink.

I stood up properly again and washed the dishes in the sink.

“Also, what do you mean, not bad? It was AMAZING!! Please come and cook more for us!” Melody ran up to me excitedly and exclaimed with puppy dog eyes.

I sighed and answered her. “If I have the time, but I’m not your boyfriend or chef. I can’t be here all the time.”

“You’re welcome anytime, Helix.” Mark must have heard our small conversation. That sly fox.

“See? Even Mark agrees.”

“Hm. I’ll come here more often on one condition.”

“What’s the condition?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“You can’t say you have a condition and not know what it is.” Melody argued.

“Didn’t I just do that though?” A silly grin formed on my face. It’s so fun to tease her.

“Hm. Then I’ll say my condition is…”

I leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Accept and spend time with your family.”

After I finished my sentence, I stood back up and saw Melody blushing so hard, the tips of her ears were red.

Mark looked at me with an absurd expression like, ‘What the hell did you tell her to do?’

I shrugged like it was the most natural thing in the world and grabbed the suit I had changed out of yesterday.

Reaching the front door, I turned around and looked at Melody, “Think about it and give me your answer in school. I’ll be waiting for your reply.” I then looked at Mark and said, “Remember. Tomorrow is Sunday, so we’ll have a small competition tomorrow. The rewards will be revealed the day of.”

Mark smiled and nodded. Melody’s face was still red and she avoided eye contact with me.

I opened the door and started heading back home.

Home? That feels so natural to describe it that way. I wonder when it changed.