I don't own these characters.
Lavon turned back to Annabeth, who stared at him with her eyes wide before they both looked to Wade. He was slack jawed, but tried to recover quickly. The only sound they could hear was the sizzling of the skillet.
Lavon turned back to the stranger and nodded slightly while he tried to regain his thoughts, "uh yea, you're in the right place. Well, almost."
"Which must mean that you are Lavon Hayes," the man said, grinning, sticking out his hand to shake Lavon's enthusiastically. "And that makes you" the stranger said, looking past Lavon, "Annabeth, if I remember correctly." Annabeth nodded politely.
"Nice to meet you..." Annabeth started, trailing off.
"Joel," the stranger filled in smiling in her direction.
"Joel," she repeated. Silence filled the room again.
"Oh, sorry, he said, turning his attention to Wade, "I didn't catch your name."
Wade didn't respond. His throat was dry, and he couldn't swallow to try and speak. He had no grasp on what he felt at that moment. He shot Annabeth a look of appreciation when she responded for him, "That's Wade." Wade gave an imperceivable nod to confirm Annabeth's statement.
"OK," Joel said, glancing back to the mute man by the stove, "I think whatever's cooking on the stove is done, Wade." Wade looked down and quietly cursed under his breath. Smoke rose from the skillet while he grabbed the spatula, flipped a piece of blackened french toast to the garbage, and ran the skilled under the faucet. The sound of the cold water hitting the skillet filled the kitchen, and gave Lavon enough time to handle the situation. As the sound disappated, he stepped toward Joel.
"Let me show you Zoe's carriage house," Lavon began, before Annabeth jumped in.
"You know what, darling?" She said hopping off her stool, "let me show Joel the carriage house, and you and Wade can finish up making breakfast. I'll just grab my shoes. Lavon immediately knew she wanted him to stay behind and talk to Wade. As she walked by, he quickly grabbed her hand, and she reached up to give him a peck on the cheek. "If you knew about this," she hissed in his ear, the threat clear. He gave her an exasperated shrug as she turned, smiling at Joel.
"Now, to the carriage house," she said, as she moved towards the door.
"Before we go," Joel said, looking to the members of the kitchen, "that coffee smells amazing. Do you mind if I bring a cup to Zoe? You know how much easier it is to talk to her in the morning if you are armed with caffeine. I think she takes it with cream and sugar."
"Just cream," Wade said quickly, and all the eyes in the room turned to him.
"Ohh-kay," Annabeth said loudly, moving quickly across the kitchen towards the mugs. "You get your stuff, and I will meet you at the end of the porch with that coffee."