Chapter 21: Learning Something New
Wednesday afternoon Buffy was about to leave work to meet up with Angel, they were going to go shopping to pick a few things up to make for dinner- and Angel had told Buffy she was going to help him cook! She knew she was in trouble there. He was keeping his word to teach her how to cook, shoot a gun and drive. Today they were going to do two of those things, Cooking and driving. Buffy was more then a littler nervous. The last time she got behind the wheel of are car was in high school when her mom was crushing on Giles. She told Buffy to take her car so she didn't have to leave Giles' house. Buffy picked up Willow and Oz to go for a joy ride because she was so excited to finally have some freedom. Buffy understood why her mom was being so over protective- Buffy had run away from home but it didn't mean she liked that either her mom, Giles or Keith were with her at all times. So, Buffy had felt that she needed a little fun but that fun was brought to an end when Buffy pulled out into an intersection to soon and was side swiped by another car. The other car had hit the back door on the drivers side. Buffy got the most impact as anyone in the car, she was in the hospital for a few days but she bounced back quickly.
Riley had promised to teach Buffy how to drive when they were together but he never did. She had hoped he would because Veronica had told her that if she learned how to drive then she would give Buffy her old car. The car was a black 1994 Chrysler LeBaron. Veronica's dad got her a Saturn Vue Hybrid as a high school graduation gift. Veronica loved it, it was her favorite color- silver. Now Veronica's little black convertible was in storage because she didn't have the heart to get rid of her first car, and it was still in really good shape. 'I wonder if Veronica's offer is still on the table.' Buffy thought when she was about to go out the door of the office. She turned around and yelled "Hey, V!"
Veronica came out of her dads office with a file in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. She was pulling an all nighter. "Yeah, B?" She smiled.
Buffy walked closer to Veronica. "Remember when you told me I could have your old car back when Riley was going to teach me how to drive?" Veronica nodded.
Buffy smiled. "Is that offer still open?"
Veronica raised her eye brow. "Riley is teaching you how to drive? When did this happen?"
"The offer is only good if Riley teaches me how to drive?" She asked putting her right hand on her hip. "Angelus said he is going to teach me how to drive."
"Ohhh, and then you and Angelus can have his and her cars?" Veronica joked.
"They are kind of alike aren't they?" Buffy said tilting her head to the left.
"Is this the part where you shout? Because I'm not about to tip you over and pour you out." Veronica joked about the position Buffy's body was in. She did look like she was doing the tea cup dance they did when they were little.
Buffy straightened her head and dropped her arm with a huff but smiled a little.
"Yeah, you can have the car… WHEN you get your license." Veronica told her.
Buffy hugged Veronica. She tried to move her coffee out of the way so Buffy wouldn't dump it. "Thanks!" Buffy smiled.
When Buffy pulled away Veronica asked. "Why is he teaching you how to drive?"
"Other then the fact that I don't know how to? We have a list. Right now we are working on 3 things. Driving, cooking and shooting a gun." Buffy told her.
Veronica gave her a strange look. "Good luck with that! I'm happy with my tazor." Veronica said referring to the tazor "gun" her dad had given her and Buffy when they were younger for protection. Buffy laughed and shook her head.
She started for the door again but turned back around. "Your going to LA with us this weekend right?"
Veronica nodded. "Yup. Me and Logan will be there. Everyone else going?"
"Will, Oz, Xander, Anya, Tara, Faith… pretty much the whole gang… well not Giles." Buffy laughed. "Gunn, Doyle and Spike too. Angelus said something about some of his other friends going too. I guess soldiers go there a lot, Angelus brings in lots of business for this friend of his that owns the bar. He tells all the soldiers about it."
"Sweet. We are just going to the bar though?" Veronica asked, not thinking a bar would be a good enough reason to drive 4 hours to LA.
"And shopping!" Buffy said with a mock excitement.
Veronica laughed. "Cant forget about the shopping. What time are we leaving?"
"Well Angelus and I are leaving about 3:00PM so we should get there around 7:00, maybe a little sooner if traffic isn't to bad. We hope everyone else gets there around the same time or a little later so we can go to the bar around 10. He said that's when the fun start." Buffy said with a laugh.
Veronica sat down at the front desk. "Doesn't Angelus have to work?"
Buffy shrugged. "He said he should be getting out around 2:45 on Friday."
"Cutting it kind of close. How will you get everything loaded up and gone in 15 minutes?" Veronica asked.
"Angelus seems to think he can do it… maybe we will pack everything up the night before. If Angelus didn't have the car then I could pack it up Friday during the day since I don't have to work but he kind of needs it to get to and from work." Buffy said.
Buffy walked out of the office building and was about to turn down the side walk to head home when she saw Angelus sitting in his car with his head looking down. She walked over to the car.
"Hey there, you falling asleep?" She smiled.
"Hey Baby. No, I was just still trying to figure this out." He smiled holding up his new Droid phone. "Are you ready to go?" He asked her as she got in the car.
"Yup… I just don't know how ready I am to get in a car accident or burn our pretty condo down." She said with a straight face.
Angel leaned over and kissed her. "You will be fine."
Angelus drove them to a movie theater that was out of business.
"Are you taking me to a movie because I think we are about 5 years to late." She said looking up at the building. "This place shut down years ago."
Angel put the car in park. "Not a movie, although if you would like to see a movie we can go sometime. This is where you are going to get your first lesson."
Buffy looked over at him. "Huh?"
Angel smiled and opened his car door. "A empty parking lot is the best place to practice. Come on. Trade places with me."
Buffy got out of the car and walked around the front of the car to get to the drivers side. When she passed Angel in the front of the car she said "When you said you were going to teach me how to drive, I didn't think you meant in YOUR car! Your car is nice! I thought you were going to use a piece oh crap car.. Like borrow Spike's or something!"
Angel pointed to the driver seat. "IN."
Buffy got in the car and shut the door. "Okay, now adjust the seat and mirrors so you are comfortable."
"I'm not going to end up breaking this mirror off, am I?" Buffy asked scared as she adjusted the rearview mirror.
"Hey, be careful with my baby." Angel commented.
Buffy looked at him. "The car is your baby?"
"I was talking to the car." He smiled. Buffy laughed.
"Okay." Buffy said to herself. "10 and 2." She put her hands on the steering wheel. Angel nodded.
"Now put the car in…" He began.
Buffy took her hands off the steering wheel. "Angelus, do you know what happened the last time I tried to drive? I got t boned!" She answered not giving him a chance to even guess. "I don't want to kill your car. It's a hot car!"
"I've got insurance." He smiled. "Now put the car in drive, and just lightly push on the gas. My car doesn't need much to go. Just nice an easy."
Buffy did as she was told and the car started to move. She thought she was going to have a panic attack at first but when she realized that there was no other cars around to hit her or be hit by her she calmed down. That is until she saw a pole about 100 feet from her and she thought she would hit it. Angel just reassured her that everything was fine and he would let anything happen to her. She actually did pretty good after that. Just a few incidents of pushing to hard on the gas and tapping the break on accident. She kept looking over at Angelus every time she had a little mishap to see if he was getting upset but he didn't seem to mind at all.
Buffy was driving around the parking lot for about an hour with Angelus coaching her on how to drive. He was a pretty good teacher. He never lost his cool when she did something wrong. After Buffy had had enough they switched back so Angel was driving and they headed to the store.
Buffy was pushing the cart, every once in a while she would push the cart faster and jump up on the bar so she was racing down the isle. Angel laughed as he grabbed a box of pasta off the shelf and walked over to put it in the cart. As he reached in to put the pasta in he gave Buffy a kiss. "Your so cute." He smiled.
Buffy put her arms around Angel's waist and slipped her hands into his back pockets of his jeans and peaked over at his list. She looked at all the items he had written down. 'Why does he need cream cheese for dinner tonight?' She thought. "Why do you need cream cheese for dinner tonight?" She asked him.
He kissed her again. "That's what the recipe calls for."
"Okay… but its dinner, not breakfast." She said.
Angel laughed. "Cream cheese is used for many different things. In this case its used to make it creamier."
Buffy looked at his list again. "Pasta, chicken, cream cheese." She made a gross face. "Milk, veggies and shredded cheddar cheese? What's for dinner?"
"Something simple. I want to start you off with some easy." He told her.
"What's its called?" She asked.
"Creamy Chicken Pasta Toss."
"Is it like your moms family recipe? Because I have never heard of it." She said unwrapping her arms from his waist and started pushing the cart again.
Angel laughed. "My mom? cook? I don't think do. We had a chef all my life. My mom would never even step foot in a kitchen. The chef we had while I was growing up taught me how to cook."
"Learned from the best, huh?" She asked looking over at him stopping by the chicken. He grabbed a big package of chicken and put it in the cart.
"Yeah, that and the fact I just have a natural talent for cooking." He told her.
Buffy smiled. "A natural talent for everything is more like it."
Once they got home Angel set everything they needed out on the counter.
"First lesson: ALWAYS have everything you need already out. Not only is it annoying to have to look for something once you have already started preparing but it could also set the whole thing off." He said pointing to everything. "Next, wash your hands. But you should already know that."
"Yeah yeah yeah. My mom always told us that one. And to always wash your hands after handing any kind of meat but chicken is the most important one because of bacteria." Buffy said as she washed her hands.
"See, you already know a few things." He said kissing her hair. "Now wash the chicken." He turned around to grab something and then added. "Don't use soap though."
Buffy laughed. "Yeah, I'm going to use soap!"
Once Buffy raised the chicken she set it on a plate and looked at Angel for further instructions.
"Cut the chicken into bite size pieces." He told her.
Buffy bit her lip. "My bite size piece or your bite size pieces?"
"Just small enough so it can fit into someone's mouth." He laughed.
"Right. So mouth sized pieces." She said to herself.
Once she had cut the chicken Angel put a large skillet on the stove. "Spray the pan with the non stick cooking spray. Word to the wise, don't get the cheap stuff. The cheap cooking spray will just cook off like its butter and cause it to burn."
Buffy sprayed the pan as she was told. "Your not going to help me?"
"No. Your on your own. I'm just here to tell you what to do and to make sure we still have a place to live when your done. The guys might not like it if you burn the place down. I'm just guessing." He smiled. "Add the chicken to the pan and let it cook for about 7 to 10 minutes… whenever its fully cooked."
Buffy put the chicken in the pan and looked at Angel. "7 to 10 minutes? That's a long time… can we make out while its cooking?"
Angel crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. "Yeah, sure… right after you turn the stove on… and you can make sure to stir the chicken so it doesn't stick WHILE we are making out."
"Oh!" Buffy hadn't realized she needed to turn the stove on. 'How else would it cook, Buffy?' she thought to herself. "So… was that a no to the smooches?"
Once the chicken was done Buffy stirred it one last time. "Okay, now add 1 and a half to 2 cups of milk… depending on how creamy you want it. Also the heat is turned up a little on the high side so you either want to lower it to medium or do the 2 cups of milk." He said watching the pan.
Buffy lowered the flame and added 2 cups of milk. "Oops. I did both…" She said looking at Angel with a worried look.
"That's fine baby, it will just be extra creamy." He smiled. "Now add ¼ of cream cheese."
Buffy looked at the pan. "Okay, creamy is good." She added the cream cheese.
Angel walked over to the other side of Buffy and handed her 2 gloves of garlic. "If you like garlic, go ahead and put these in. Some people don't like garlic so I don't always use it, but it turned out fine either way."
"Just throw them in?" She asked.
"Yeah, just push them in there and let it come to a boil." He nodded.
Once it began boiling she turned to him. "Now what?"
"Add 3 cups of pasta." He said handing her the box of pasta and a measuring cup. "It should take about 10 minutes for the pasta to cook."
"You don't cook the pasta in a different pan? I know I don't know anything about cooking here but I have attempted to make the KRAFT macaroni and cheese and I'm pretty sure you have to boil water and then put it in… although I have never actually gotten to the part where you put the pasta in. I burn the water." She said making a worried face.
Angel laughed at her and put his arms around her waist. "Normally, yes. But this time the milk is acting as the water."
After the pasta was done Angel handed her a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. "Put those in and let it cook for 5 more minutes, and then we sprinkle some cheese on top and we are done!"
Buffy looked at him. "Really? That didn't take very long and I have yet to burn the house down! … oh.. I hope I didn't just jinx it."
When it was done Buffy called the other guys down stairs to eat dinner while Angel set the table.
Doyle, Gunn and Spike sat down looking at the food. "You make this, Angelus?" Gunn asked.
Angel nodded towards Buffy and sat down. "Buffy did. I just stood close by with a fire extinguisher." He joked getting a dirty look from Buffy. "She did good though, really good. We only had to make it once and she didn't burn it at all." He said covering his own ass so he could get laid later.
"This is really good." Gunn complimented Buffy as all 4 of the guys starting eating.
Later that night Buffy lay wrapped in Angel's arms, in his bed. She was tracing small figure 8's on his chest.
"Do you want to go back on base tomorrow after I get out of work? They are having a sale at the PX… the place we got the phones from." He asked,
"Sure. What kind of sale?" She asked a little worried that they might see Janet again.
"Clothing. All 40% off." He answered kissing her temple.
"Sounds fun." She smiled. "Are we going to pack the car up tomorrow or try to get it done in 15 minutes of Friday?"
Angel let out a short laugh. "Well I hope you aren't taking to much stuff. We aren't moving there. Just remember that."