A/N – "Thoughts", Samantha refers to her Sanchez grandparents as Abuela and Abuelo and her Gordon grandparents as Grandma and Grandpa.
Chapter 3 – Cooking With Miranda And Gordo
Miranda was finishing preparing dinner, tamales and rice, when Gordo and Samantha came into the kitchen from the bathroom. As Gordo helped Samantha set the table, he chuckled under his breath.
"What's so funny?" Miranda asked.
"The trip down memory lane just reminded me of the first time I tried to make tamales."
Miranda thought about it for a moment and the memory came back. Laughing softly, she grinned at him, "I remember that. Seventh-grade social studies project. Lizzie was sick the day we picked partners, she got stuck with Kate and we partnered to do Mexico."
"If I remember correctly, I did all the research."
"I told you then and I'll tell you now, if we want to research Mexico, we talk to my parents," Miranda said sarcastically.
"Abuelos?" Samantha asked, interrupting them.
Putting the tamales and rice on the hot plates on the table, Miranda glanced at her, "Yes. Your abuelos are from Mexico. Abuelo is from Cataviña and he moved to Los Angeles when he was ten. Abuela is from Guaymas and moved to Los Angeles when she was eighteen," she told her.
Samantha looked over at her father as he sat down, "What about Grandma and Grandpa?"
Gordo chuckled softly, "They're from California, like you. Grandpa grew up in Bakersfield and Grandma grew up in Hill Ridge."
Miranda returned her attention back to Gordo and the conversation they were originally having, "I did my share of the research. Just because I didn't do it like the first day we got the assignment like you, doesn't mean I didn't do it." As Miranda started to serve Samantha, "And when we actually made the tamales, you made a mess of the kitchen."
"I did not," Gordo said like a little boy.
As Miranda and Gordo served themselves, "The way you handled a knife, I thought you were going to slice a finger off," Miranda joked.
"So? Did I? No. Besides, you enjoyed teaching me how to cook?" he said to her across the table with a grin. Many times during college when they had been home on break and Miranda would teach Gordo how to cook some simple dishes. Slowly over time, she taught him how do some more complicated stuff.
Miranda smiled as she remembered teaching him, especially when they're lessons evolved into something more. Trying to fight back the blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Someone had to set you straight. I have no intentions of cooking every night for your lazy butt."
-----
Hanging up her phone after talking to Lizzie, she continued to jump on her bed as she watched Gordo sitting at her desk, researching their social studies project. Dropping onto her butt and bouncing off of the bed, landing on her feet, she walked up behind him. "Why are you putting so much effort into this?"
Gordo glanced at her, "Cause I want an A."
Miranda rolled her eyes, "Gordo, all we gotta do is talk to my mom when she's helping us make the tamales."
"I don't want to do the bare minimum. That's the difference between getting Bs and As."
Glaring at him, "There's also a difference between working smart and working hard."
Turning around in his seat, he looked at her with a grin. "Wanna know something scary?"
Looking at him confused, "What?" she asked as she jumped off the bed and landed on the floor.
"You almost sounded like me just then," he told her.
Snickering, "Oh no. We don't want that," she teased. "Come on take a break. You've been hunched over there for like two hours," Miranda said as she pulled a reluctant Gordo out of his seat. Jumping back onto her bed, she started to bounce again, "Come on," she urged with an evil grin.
"Miranda, what are we five?"
"You act like it sometimes. Throwing your little tantrums," she said sarcastically, goading him into doing what she wanted.
Gordo glared at her and did a standing jump onto the bed. Glaring at each other and grinning, they both started jumping. Miranda grinned as she saw a smile start tugging at Gordo's mouth.
"Miranda! Gordo!" a voice shouted from the doorway.
Scarring them, they both lost their footing and fell on top of each other in a heap on top of the bed. When her head cleared, Miranda looked at the doorway and saw her mother glaring at them. "Hi Mom."
Looking at them for a moment, a little disappoint and a little amused at the same time, "I'll meet you two downstairs. I have the stuff for the tamales," Mrs. Sanchez said and then left to go to the kitchen.
Untangling themselves, Gordo looked over at her. "You are such a bad influence on me."
Miranda looked back at him with a smirk and slapped his shoulder. "I am not a bad influence. I teach you how to live and not be such a stick in the mud."
A few minutes later, they were standing in the kitchen with Miranda's mom, cooking the tamales they would need for their project.
"How much more do we have to do for our paper?" Miranda asked as they were peeling and slicing some onions.
"All we really got do is write it," Gordo told her without looking up.
"Ok." Miranda paused for a moment and watched Gordo cutting. "Gordo, stop, you're gonna slice your hand open." She reached over and took the onion and knife out of his hand, "Like this," she put it on the cutting board and expertly using the knife, cut it in half and sliced it up.
Grabbing the other half, she put it on the cutting board. Handing the knife back to him, "Now you," she ordered.
For the next few hours, Mrs. Sanchez taught them how to cook tamales. After finishing and cleaning up the mess they both had made while cooking, they were back upstairs in her room, typing up their report.
As Gordo typed, Miranda sat on her bed watching and interjecting here and there.
"Considering you almost lost like three fingers, I think the tamales came out pretty good," Miranda said, a slight sarcastic tone to her words.
Gordo glanced over his shoulder and glared at her. "You wanna type this?" he said sarcastically.
Miranda grinned, "Nah. You're doing just fine," she shot back
Grumbling under his breath, he turned back to the computer. Getting up, she walked over to him and resting her arms on his shoulder and chin on top of his head, she read what was on the screen.
"You mind?"
Miranda smirked, "No, not really." Hearing him snicker under his breath, she giggled softly. "We make a pretty good team," she said softly as she read the end of the report.
"Yea we do."
-----
"I'll admit you're the better cook. I mean you are the expert in flambé," Gordo teased.
Miranda glared across the table at him. "You start one small fire and you're branded for life."
Snickering, "I'm still trying to figure out how you set fire to grilled cheese."
Samantha laughed, "You set fire to grilled cheese?"
Rolling her eyes, "Once, I did it once. Can we talk about something else?"
"Mommy," Samantha said, "Will you teach me to cook?"
Miranda smiled at her, "Maybe when you're a little older." Seeing the dejected look on her daughter's face, pulled at her heart. "How about I teach you how to bake instead?"
Samantha's face lit up, "When?"
"How about next weekend," Miranda said and she nodded excitedly. Looking across the table, she saw Gordo grinning at her and she grinned back at him.