Nothing really happened on Sunday and Monday. I went over to Ivan's hotel, watching TV and movies all day. On and off, Natalya and I were snuggled up to Ivan. Whenever she felt sick, she went to Ivan but if she was feeling okay, she snuggled up to Liet. Fortunately they never said anything about us snuggling together. I was worried Natalya would be so angry if she found out her brother and I are dating. If you can even call it that. At least Toris seemed happy, having Natalya nuzzled in his arms.
I met Ivan in class with coffee again. It seemed to help brightened his day and wake him up for class.
"Thank you." He smiled and took a sip when I noticed something pink on his cheek. Leaning in closer, I felt a pang of jealousy. He had faint pink lipstick stain shinning against his pale skin. Was he boring of me?
"What?" He looked at me confused, wondering why I was staring at him.
"Dude…you have lipstick on your cheek," I muttered, trying to sound normal; like I wasn't worrying.
"What? Oh." He grabbed a paper towel from the class sink, wiping the stain off his cheek. "Must be my Natalya's. Her lip balm is quite pink."
Well, that was a relief. Kind of. Who knows what her intentions will be later?
"She always kisses me goodbye. Ever since we were children," he mused, snapping me out of my worry. Perhaps I was just over thinking things.
I shrugged moving on from that thought. "I wonder what we're going to make today?"
Right on cue, Mrs. Winters came into the classroom. "So today we're going to make a side dish that will impress all your friends. It's so simple to make yet wow worthy!" She seemed pretty excited about it. I'm guessing she loves entertaining and throwing dinner parties. "Maple Pecan Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. Don't they sound amazing?"
"Dude! Matty would love those!" I mentioned to Ivan who instantly agreed. This excited me, wanting to impress my brother after his amazing Thanksgiving dinner.
"On each station, there is four sweet potatoes. Each of you will cut two lengthwise," Mrs. Winters instructed as she demonstrated the cut. "Rub all sides with olive oil."
I watched Ivan cut his first potato before doing mine; just to be sure. But nonetheless the cuts were easy to make and rubbing with oil was simplicity itself. Next they were put in a preheated oven to bake for half hour.
"Since we have to wait for the sweet potatoes to be done we'll be making another recipe," Mrs. Winters explained, pointing to a written recipe on the board. "Sticking with the sweet potato theme, we'll will be making soup."
Well that was new to me. I have never heard of doing that.
"One member will melt butter in a soup pot while the other chops the garlic and an onion," our instructor called out the steps again. "Then sauté them until golden brown."
Ivan, for once, let me doing to the knife work so he did the butter. I did call Mrs. Winters over and had her show me the proper cutting techniques. She guided my hands gently, showing me what to do. She had the sweetest of smiles on her face. It was obvious that she really loved her job.
After that, Ivan was stirring the onions and garlic in the pot. There was a burner on each station; the sweet smell of onions filling the air. I don't know why but I always loved the smell of onions. Maybe because I used to smell it a lot when Francis cooked for us.
While he did that, I was grating two sweet potatoes with a cheese grater. It felt like it was taking forever but I liked being busy, doubting I would care if doing this on my own.
Ivan on the other hand was now measuring and adding the heavy cream, chicken stock and spices to the pot. All we needed now was the potatoes so I hurried it up, finishing the last potato. Now while that was cooking, it was time to deal with the other potatoes.
Mrs. Winters brought over the cooled potatoes over to each pair before demonstrating how to scoop out the potato from the skin. We each did our potatoes, following the instructions. Ivan measured out the butter, cream cheese, maple syrup so I could mix with the sweet potato stuffing. I followed Mrs. Winters' instruction, mixing it with the back of the spoon. Ivan chopped the pecans, sprinkling them onto the stuffed potatoes. Back into the oven they went.
The last step of the soup was easy; just blend until smooth. After pouring the soup in, I hit the puree button before Ivan could get the lid on. A little hot soup splattered on our faces. Luckily Ivan got the lid on in time before it could spill everywhere. I expected him to scold me, same with Mrs. Winters but they just laughed their asses off. In fact the whole class was laughing. My cheeks turned warm and rosy with embarrassment.
"Alfred, sweetie, you need to put a lid on the blender before turning on," she chuckled teasingly, sounding like a grandmother. "Otherwise it make a big mess, yes?"
"I know," I grumbled; feeling my cheeks turn a deep red colour.
"Are you okay, dear? Here," she asked sweetly, giving me a rag to wipe up the station with.
"I'm fine," I sighed quietly. "Just a little embarrassed."
"Don't worry, honey. The blender is the downfall of many great chefs," she chuckled, going back to her front table.
Everyone was back to their own soup so not a pair of eyes looked our way. Which is probably why Ivan took the opportunity to lick the soup off my cheek. If any redness left my face, it returned with a vengeance.
"Yummy."
Bastard! He got me good this time! And he wiped his off! No fair!
As payback, I gave him the silent treatment. While we cleaned up and packed our food, I said nothing. Every time he was looking, I would pout. Maybe a little over dramatically sometimes to make my point.
Somehow we managed to be walking out together even though I was yet to say something to him. Once no one was around or at least any one we knew, he slammed me against up the wall. His face hovered just above mine, centimetres away. "You were so fucking cute in there with your pouting. I love it when you blush."
With that he slammed his mouth on mine. It wasn't hard for him to convince me to part my lips, playing with my tongue. It continued like this for several minutes; almost like an attack on my lips. This was the one moment in life that I wanted to last forever…
He pulled away to breath, grabbing my free hand with his. "Let's go."
That moment snow started falling, lightly dusting everything in white. Walking back to his hotel, he placed several little kisses on my forehead along the way. I wasn't going to go inside the hotel but he offered to let me warm up. I didn't object, feeling pretty cold.
Since no one was in the elevator, we spent the short ride kissing again, interrupted by the ding. I couldn't help but pout, winning another kiss from Ivan.
Once inside his room, the first thing I was looked for was his sister but I didn't see her. Toris was there, making something in the microwave. "Oh hello Ivan, Alfred. How was class.?"
"Class was fun today, wasn't it, Alfred?" He asked teasingly. Toris noticed this but did not say anything of it. "Where's Natalya?"
He grabbed a mug from the microwave, putting a second in the microwave. "She's laying in the bed."
He set the two mugs out for us to take. Now I could see that it was hot chocolate. He must have seen it snow and made some to warm us up.
"How's she feeling?" Ivan asked as he put the food we made in the mini fridge.
Toris smiled his sweet little smile. "She seems cheery today."
I followed Ivan into the little bedroom, seeing Natalya laying the bed closest two the window. She had her earphones in, looking at a laptop which I guessed was Ivan's because of the Russian flag sticker. She didn't notice us until Ivan's tall shadow covered her. "Braht, you're back. Did you have fun today?"
"We had lots of fun today. Brought back some yummy food for you."
She clapped her hands like a happy toddler, leaning into the kiss her brother placed on her forehead.
My cell phone beeped with the reminder that I had paperwork to finish. I said goodbye to Toris and Natalya; sneaking a good kiss from Ivan before heading home.
Maple Pecan Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and Michael's Sweet Potato Soup can be found on the canadian foodnetwork website.
