"thomas i fucking swear if you're making macaroni again-"

"it's not that bad!"

"lizzy, tell thomas that macaroni and fucking cheese is not a meal!"

"lizzy tell james that macaroni and cheese was a delicacy in france and that it is perfectly delicious."

eliza glanced between the two men, a half-amused, half-nervous smile on her face. "macaroni is-"

"-fucking delicious!"

"-absolutely repulsive." thomas and james interrupted her with their respective opinions on the meal.

"-fine..." eliza finished quietly, but neither of them seemed to hear her. thomas and james were having an intense glare-off, and she was caught in the middle of it. after glancing back and forth between them for a full minute, she cleared her throat.

"how about... i cook?"

that grabbed their attention. they looked away from each other and their gazes flashed to eliza.

"no, no, you're our guest! it wouldn't be right!" james exclaimed.

thomas muttered something and both eliza and james turned to look at him.

he met eliza's questioning gaze. slowly, he repeated, "be... our... guest!"

james groaned, but eliza let out a little snort of laughter. james lightly shoved her shoulder. "don't encourage him!"

but thomas had already continued.

"be our guest! put our service to the test!"

grinning, eliza joined in, spinning around the kitchen as she sang. "tie your napkin 'round your neck chérie, and we'll provide the rest." with a twirl, she grabbed james's hand. "come on!"

grudgingly, he joined in. "soup du jour, hot hors d'oeuvres, why we only live to serve."

together, the three of them continued the song, giggling and spinning around the room and crashing into each other, which only caused them to laugh more.

"it's a guest, it's a guest!" eliza sang out as the boys applauded her. "sakes alive and i'll be-"

she was cut off as a phone rang. thomas and james both booed in the direction of the device, but eliza walked over and picked it up, looking at the screen.

there was no name, but she recognized the number as one she had deleted from her phone:

"alexander."

with that, the mood was killed. eliza held the phone in front of her, unsure of what to do, and the boys were frozen, just as unsure as she was.

should she answer it? what would she say? what would he say?

"ignore it," thomas finally spoke up, then yelped as james kicked his shin. "what? that's what she should do."

"but that's her choice to make."

thomas let out a sigh but didn't argue.

that left eliza, staring at the screen. she knew that james was right. it was her choice.

but at the same time, what could alex possibly say that would be worth hearing?

with that thought, she pressed ignore, then powered down the phone completely before turning back to thomas and james.

"did you say something about macaroni?"

after a few seconds' hesitation, thomas let out a cheer, high-fiving eliza as james groaned good-naturedly. suddenly all thoughts of cheating ex-boyfriends were, for the moment, forgotten, and the apartment was once again filled with playful banter.