The door slammed.
"Jake, I'm home."
"Oh, Dirk! You're back!" Jake said enthusiastically, coming over to greet him. Dirk smiled and gave his bro a friendly bro-hug before heading in the direction of the bathroom.
"I'm gonna jump in the shower, then I'll help with dinner or whatever, okay?" Dirk said, already halfway in the bathroom.
"Oh, don't worry about it, I've got dinner covered." Shades off, Dirk peered around the corner at his roommate.
"Really?"
"Oh, yeah. It'll be done when you're out. Alright?" Jake could cook? But, now that he thought about it, he could smell something cooking. Dirk shrugged and turned on the water for the shower.
Jake hummed as he poured himself a cup of water. He leaned against the counter and stared at the timer as he took a sip. 13:45. Thirteen minutes and forty-five seconds until dinner was done. Jake noticed an ant crawling across the counter. He sighed and took another sip from his cup.
"Hey bro, could you do me a favor?" Jake snapped back to attention.
"Oh, yeah, sure, what do you need?"
"I forgot to grab a towel. Could you get one for me?"
"Oh, okay, hold on." Jake strolled over to the laundry basket on the couch and grabbed the edge of Dirk's towel. Well, it wasn't really his, but it was his favorite one. He used it whenever he could. So, Jake yanked out the neon pink towel and walked over to the bathroom, where Dirk sat on the toilet, leaning back and displaying practically everything with the door wide open.
"Damn, I didn't know humans could turn that shade of red," Dirk joked.
"Oh, shut up. Here's your towel," Jake muttered as he tossed the pink thing at him.
"Thanks, bro."
"Mhm," he mumbled, walking back to the kitchen.
7:22. A little under ten minutes left until dinner. I wonder when Dirk's coming out? He's probably changing, thought Jake.
"Well, then I guess I'll use that lettuce in the fridge," he said aloud as he pulled out the bag of lettuce and a couple tomatoes. "I guess we're having salad, too."
He placed a tomato on the cutting board before chopping it into small chunks. He was about to do the same to the next one when there was a pressure against his back and a head rested on his shoulder.
"'Sup, bro."
"What are you doing? I-I'm busy!" Jake stammered out, no longer focused on the uncut tomato.
"Watching you. Just continue on."
"Dirk, please tell me you're at least wearing a towel."
"Yeah."
"'Yeah', what?"
"Yeah, I'm at least wearing a towel."
"And… that's it…?"
"Mhm." Jake sighed, half in frustration, half in anxiety.
"Look, Dirk, the food's almost done. If you want to help out, You can dump that bag of lettuce into one of the big bowls in the cupboard."
"You mean the ones we use for popcorn?"
"Yes."
"M'kay." Jake let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and went to chop the tomato. He took the risk of sneaking a peek over at Dirk. He had lied about the towel. Jake's face went as red as the tomatoes he was chopping.
The timer beeped. The pizza was done.