Conflicted Eyes, Confusing Feelings | Complete

t w e l v e

Another chapter featuring Sage and his friends 😆😄

Be sure to view the Q&A section at the end for a few good laughs.

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We only need two close friends in which we can trust.

Having too many friends is linked to depression and stress.

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"Sage, lesson one is that can't be cooking that far away from the stove." Randall said, placing his hands on either sides of Sage's waist to push him forward.

"B-but the oil is..." Sage tried to explain, ending it in a bout of hand movements towards the saucepan. Randall chuckled a bit before grabbing the spatula from Sage.

"Watch and learn, sophy." He flashed Sage a smirk before be turned back to the fryer, lifting the beef in the pot to sprinkle salt directly into the oil.

"R-Randall! You'll m-make it salty now!" Sage exclaimed, helplessly watching the boy ruin his masterpiece.

Randall threw him an offended look. "Do you not trust me?"

"I-I ... y-yes." He muttered, unsure.

"You'd better." Randall replied, his lip tugging up in his classical lopsided smile. He turned his eyes back to the golden-brown lump in the pot, bubbling over with foam. "When you sprinkle salt in the oil, it stops the oil from splattering, see?"

"R-really?" Sage questioned. He didn't know that before.

"Yep." Randall responded with, elevating the cooked ground beef to slot it between two slices of buns. "At least you can brag that on this fine day, I, Randall Kuusisto, taught you something useful."

Before Sage had a chance to respond, Nyx's head probed the kitchen, tentatively. Upon deeming it safe to enter, he strolled in, firmly planting his hands on his hips.

"Are you two gonna flirt all morning or actually go to school? It's 7:35."

Sage instantly perked up at the accusation. "We w-weren't!"

"Jealous much?" Randall questioned, arching a brow at his best friend, whose face twisted in disgust. "Nyx, is there something you'd like to tell me?" he asked, affectionately grabbing Nyx's hands to pull him closer.

Nyx didn't look impressed. He regarded his black-haired friend with an unflattering poker face. "You're hot, but I like chicks, not dicks."

"Love you too, Nyxy-Trixy."

Nyx awarded Randall with a blank stare before he stepped back. "Gross." He finally spat, walking between the two boys to peer at the food on the table. His eyes met Sage's, and he asked, "Where's mine?"

"Unlike you, we actually have school to attend." Randall fired back. "I was just teaching Sage a thing or two about shallow-pot frying the beef."

A smile spread across Sage's face when he recalled a day ago when he began working at Taste Buds. Randall had walked the talk, being true to his word to coax Cecilia into making Sage work; somehow. He was seriously starting to think that Randall had some sort of super-human hypnosis powers.