Stardust (Complete)

Monsters

I helped put together the salad, cutting up the different vegetables Kyra took out of the fridge and sat on the bench. Most of them had been grown in the garden, he'd told me, so I had to look out for the spiders.

He laughed as I cringed, and I realized that he was just teasing. Even so, I still kept a sharp eye out for little eight legged monsters.

He was being kind of flirty, though, I wasn't sure if he was just being friendly, or maybe I was just reading too much into it. It's not like I was much of an expert on the complicated minds of men.

As well as the vegetables, I also cut up two apples and a mango to put in, then tossed the whole lot together, trying not to spill it everywhere. Once that was done, Kyra opened a small, empty jar and poured in a few drops of sesame oil, some sweet chilli sauce and then double that amount of olive oil.

"Then, you put the lid on, shake the shit out of it, then pour it over the lot," he said, grinning. "Make sure the lid is on tight. Rae forgot, one day, and it's still the funniest thing I've ever seen."

I laughed as well as he pressed a hand against my waist, brushing past to the stove. He turned off one of the burners where he had the tofu cooking, then checked on the pasta, quickly stirring it.

I turned toward the sound of the back door swinging shut, and Edgy and Kee came back inside, disappearing into the lounge room.

I glanced at Kyra, who smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Good timing," he laughed, turning off the stove to strain the pasta.