It's Better If You Do

Carefully, with a dishrag wrapped around her hand, Bellamy pulled a baking sheet with four steaming stromboli out of the oven and placed it aside to cool. She gave a small, satisfied nod at the cheesy smell that filled the room. Her stomach gave a quiet growl at the sight of the food, but knew that it wasn’t time to eat yet. She’d have to wait until the lunch hour to do so, or at least until everyone else gathered around the table. She reluctantly stepped away from the stromboli and began to fill goblets with water.

“Rosie said you were baking something called stromboli,” George said as he strode into the backroom. Bellamy merely looked over at him with a raised brow as he set his eyes on the four stromboli on the baking sheet. His normally devilishly-twinkling eyes widened dramatically and he stared at them in bewilderment. Bellamy had to curl in her lips to stop from laughing at how easily fascinated George was with food. “Do you…need help with anything?” He asked slowly as he took calculated steps toward the steaming, delicious smelling food. Bellamy let out a laugh and shook her head, filling up the last goblet of water. She knew what he was getting at with wanting to “help” and it probably included devouring his stromboli.

“No, I don’t need any help, George,” she said softly as she gathered the goblets and placed them on the table. “But thanks for the thought,” Bellamy added, giving him a playful grin that let him know she knew of his ulterior motives. He smiled bashfully as she turned around and pulled a stack of plates from a shelf and set those out as well. “But if you can manage to keep your hands to yourself and do the polite thing by not eating anything, you could hand me the baking sheet-” She noticed George quickly advancing onto the hot sheet without anything to protect his hands. “George, no!” She exclaimed, rushing over and quickly snatching his hands away. “Hasn’t your mum even told you not to touch a hot pan with your bare hands before?” She asked, staring at him wide-eyed.

“Yes, but-”

“-but you never really listened, did you?” She asked, placing her hands on her hips as she stared up at him with a particular sort of look that he likened exactly to ones his mother frequently gave him. He merely gave her a cheeky grin in reply. She let out a heavy sigh, shooting him an even more disapproving look, before picking up the baking sheet, with a dish towel around her hand, and began to place the stromboli down onto the plates.

The curtain to the backroom was pushed aside and Fred and Rose walked in with their hands tangled together, wearing matching smiles. Bellamy glanced over her shoulder to them and managed a small smile as she placed the last stromboli onto its plate.

“It smells delicious, Bellamy,” Fred said with a smile as he pulled the chair out for Rose. She quietly thanked him and sat down.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile as she placed the baking sheet aside. “I hope you two like it. I hadn’t really asked if you liked Italian food or not…but I haven’t met a person who didn’t like my four cheese stromboli.” She took a seat with a confident smile and glanced between the twins. “If you two didn’t like it, I’d have to say that something if wrong with your taste buds.” George hadn’t even waited for everyone else to start eating, he had already taken a large bite out of his stromboli.

“Way to be a gentleman, George,” Fred mumbled under his breath, causing Bellamy and Rose to snicker lightly. George’s eyes widened as he stared over at Bellamy, placing his stromboli back onto his plate.

“I swear, Bellamy, you are a culinary goddess sent from the heavens to make me and Fred change out take-away ways,” George exclaimed theatrically. Bellamy merely looked over at him with an expression that clearly said she was fighting off laughter. Fred merely stared at George, shaking his head, before turning to Bellamy.

“I wouldn’t go as far to say culinary goddess, because my mum will always hold that title,” he said with a nod. George merely glanced between the two of them taking another bite of his stromboli.

“As she should,” Bellamy replied with a humored smile, “I’d hate to think that I beat your mother at cooking. Any mum should be a son’s ‘culinary goddess’-” She shot a look to George who merely rolled his eyes, having eaten nearly half his stromboli in the short time they had been seated. “-regardless if she’s a good cook or not.”

“I’d say you’re a close second though,” Fred said with a crooked grin. Bellamy gave him a thankful smile and a nod before taking a bite of her stromboli.

“How often can you make this?” George asked, working on the last bit of his stromboli. Bellamy looked over at him and laughed a bit, shaking her head.

“I could make it everyday if I wanted to and had the right amount of ingredients,” she said, staring over at George as she placed her stromboli aside, taking a sip of her water. “But I think it would get a little boring if I made it every day. You’ve got to have a bit of variety to your food.”

“I don’t need variety,” George said shaking his head vehemently, “I just need this…everyday.” Bellamy let out a laugh before she curled her lips inward and bit them to keep from laughing anymore at him. Rose and Fred shot each other a look, noticing how civilized the two of them were being with one another. Bellamy shot George a smirk and shook her head.

“Who said that I was going to make this everyday?” She asked George, looking up at him sweetly. “Maybe I only make this when I’m in a certain sort of mood.” George looked earnestly at her, having completely finished with his stromboli.

“And what mood is that?” He asked, leaning toward her and listening intently to her. Bellamy merely gave him a small, teasing smile.

“Like I would tell you,” she said with a shrug, hearing snickers from both Fred and Rose. “You’d probably go out of your way to make me feel like I’m in that mood and with your luck you’d probably end up selling a pair of my beloved shoes…better yet, you may send off one of my sister’s pets.” Rose nearly choked on her stromboli and looked over at her sister with wide eyes.

“I told you I was okay with that,” she said to Bellamy before quickly turning to George, who was looking down rather guiltily at is plate. “I told her that I was okay with it and I forgave you for that already. It was a mistake I could have made, honestly.”

“No it wasn’t,” Bellamy cut in, shaking her head. “I know you and your animals. You can tell the difference in them from a kilometer away.” She noticed the sad look her sister was sending her and she stopped speaking. “Then again…I’m sure to George he looked like any other puffskein,” Bellamy looked over to George. “I’m sorry for making you feel guilty, George. I just know how much my sister’s pets mean to her…and to be honest I had gotten a bit attached to him as well.” George merely gave her a shrug.

“That’s understandable. He was one of the sweetest puffskeins we’ve had around,” he said, “I’m terribly sorry about giving him away, though.” He turned back to Rose, trying to keep from smiling too much at the brilliant idea he had to make it up to her.

“It’s alright, George. I’m sure he’s making some child very, very happy,” she said with a sort of sad smile before she took another bite of her stromboli. The room went quiet for a while, which was odd since when they ate all together, it was normally quite loud and filled with conversation. Bellamy glanced over to George and cut her eyes a bit, noticing that he had a playful gleam in his eyes. He was planning something and she wanted to know what. Fred looked between Rose, Bellamy, and George before drawing in a deep breath of air, desperate to get rid of whatever sort of tension had built in the room.

“So…how about that bleeder today, huh?” He asked in an excited voice, finally breaking the silence.