day three :: making mac-n-cheese

the prompt: this one didn't have an official prompt, but it was fluffy and in my novel, so what the llama.

When I wake up, Max is gone. The house is dark and there’s a noise of banging pots and pans in the kitchen. Charlie, I think. I sit up and rub my eyes groggily. As I walk to the kitchen, I run my fingers through my hair, removing the little tangles. I blink uncertainly in the brightness of the kitchen. “Charlie?”

A dark head pops up from under the island counter. “Oh hey, Liv.”

Not Charlie, Max. “I thought you were gone.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Trying to get rid of the person who was your pillow for the better part of four hours? Nah, I just got hungry.”

He’s a teenage boy and he’s hungry. What’s new? “Whatcha making? And I wasn’t trying to get rid of you.”

He pulls out a large saucepan. “Mac-n-cheese. For some reason artificially colored cheese sounded really good to me. Nothing like eating florescent orange food.” He glances over at me. “And you so were.” He smiles his lopsided smile, half of his face curving upwards. He’s teasing me.

“You can’t just call it ‘mac-n-cheese,’ Max,” I deadpan. “It’s macaroni and cheese. It sounds better that way.”

He fills the pan with water and quirks an eyebrow at me. “Is that so? Well then, Miss Anderson, I guess I’ll be eating this mac-n-cheese  on my own.” He stresses his pronunciation of the words to prove a point.

“Fine,” I say. “I’m not hungry anyway.” Of course, my traitor stomach lets out a deafening gurgle at that precise moment.

“Really?” asks Max, mouth twisting in such a way that I know he’s trying not to laugh. “Because that sounded like a hungry belly.” He hops up onto the counter and pats next to him. I laugh and join him, hands folded against my stomach in an attempt to keep it from growling again.

“You do know how to make mac-n-cheese, right?” I ask. “Because I lied. I really am hungry.”

He holds my hand. “I’m sorry,” he says, feigning shock. “Did you just call it mac-n-cheese?”

I look guilty at my slip up. “Okay, maybe I do call it mac-n-cheese instead of macaroni and cheese.”