Acceptance | ✓

Chapter 26

[ETHAN]

I woke up to the sound of chickens clucking from out in the compound and the sound of utensils against utensils as well as the sound of Roxanne barking.

I yawned, squinting at the sharp glow of the fluorescence light that we'd forgotten to put off the night before. I hid my head in Andrew's chest, deciding that I didn't want to get up anytime soon.

"Ethan?" Andrew called out in a sleepy drawl as his brows knitted in confusion. He let out a low sigh as if in content as his good hand found the back of my neck. I smiled as his hand rubbed against my neck. Ethel had called us when Andrew's book debuted on online stores yesterday. You should have seen the smile on Andrew's face when he heard it was competing favorably already.

"At this rate, we'll have a couple of customer reviews within a week," Ethel had announced as I and Andrew had listened in on the call that had been put on speaker.

I dwelled in Andrew's touch for a few minutes before it dawned on me that I had lectures today.

"Shit," I groaned as I reluctantly peeled Andrew's hand off me. He gave a small mewl of protest before relaxing back into sleep. I smiled down at him, running a hand through his hair before willing myself to get up.

I unlocked the door to our room to wander out into the hallway then the living room. I frowned, hearing the distinct sound of utensils from before. I walked towards the kitchen, making up my mind that Devien was probably up to something. I opened the door a bit, looking in to find Devien fiddling with the stove, a frying pan, and a spatula. Roxanne was watching her from the corner of the kitchen with a curious look.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I watched her back off from the smoking frying pan will cussing. She turned to face me, going pale before looking back at the frying pan disaster with a guilty look on her face.

"I was trying to make breakfast," she muttered, running a hand through her blonde hair as she looked on at the disaster. I entered the tiny kitchen, telling Devein to move over before turning the stove off and inspecting the damage. There was a burnt omelet with pieces of eggshells in the frying pan. I sighed, taking the pan off the stove before proceeding to throw the egg away in the waste bin. I blinked, not expecting to see several other ' omelet' disasters within the bin.

"I never planned to waste so much," I heard Devein mutter behind me, "I'm sorry."

'It's okay." I assured, hearing the sincerity in her voice. I put the blacked pan in the sink after I emptied it, turning to meet Devien who was giving me a wary look afterward.

"If you were hungry you could have just woken one of us up." I pointed out, walking over to the windows to pull the curtains back. I had to wake Andrew up soon so we could take a bath together before I headed out to school.

"I wasn't doing it for me," she said, coming up beside me. I looked down at her with a quizzical look before looking back out at the yard. The sun was coming out and it was probably around seven in the morning.

"What, you wanted to feed Roxanne?" I asked, rather curiously as I looked over at the dog that was grooming herself by the door. Devien shook her head, sighing.

"I wanted to make breakfast for you and Andrew, you know kind of to congratulate him on his book stuff," Devien said as she fiddled with her fingers. I figured she was talking about the debut.

"Oh," I said before walking over to the fridge, "You can help me make breakfast then, it can be from the both of us."

Devien nodded, giving me a small smile before taking the loaf of bread I held out to her. We chatted randomly as we prepared three omelets. I quickly learned that Devien was a safety hazard around the kitchen. She did everything from trying to dice ingredients with a butter knife to leaving the stove on.