Darius & Chayla in the Kitchen

This month I have decided to take 15 minutes out of my schedule every day to just write. And in this 15 minutes, I decided to work on my untitled WIP where a the football guy and the Black nerd girl team up to shed their perceived images and find their true selves. In this teaser, Darius and Chayla are working in a soup kitchen and Darius is showing Chayla how to chop vegetables. Enjoy.

They worked in silence for a bit, Chayla finally done with the onions and moving on to the carrots and celery. Ms. Gayle had shown her how to chop them into cubes before walking off to deal with a delivery. 

“You’re doing it wrong, “ she heard Darius say from behind her. 

“How do you know?” She said indignantly. She turned around and saw him stirring the potatoes in a pot as it began to boil. “You’re not even looking?!”

“Don’t need to.” He was jauntily swaying from side to side. I stared up at the ceiling trying not to focus on his backside. We were still in a church and after what happened earlier, I was going to be on my best behavior. 

He drained the potatoes and added them back to the pot, setting it on the stove before pouring chicken stock and some spices she couldn’t tell into the broth. It already smelled good and I knew it’d taste even better once it was done. I hoped the patrons would like it. Just because someone was homeless doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have something good to eat. 

Darius turned his attention on her and saddled up beside me. He didn’t touch me but the air between us was sizzling. He inspected the vegetables, making a tsk sound as he picked up a few. 

“You’re knife cuts aren’t even. Watch me.” He took my knife from my hand, the slightest shiver running down my spine before picking up carrots and turning it on its and chopping really fast across. “See? Now you try.”

No I didn’t see but I would give it my best. I mimicked his movements and managed to do better than last time. And he gave me a thumbs up before turning back to the stew. Every now and again he’d check in on my and as I got down chopping vegetables, I’d dump three into the pot. 

“Much better. Those one you did with Ms. Gayle were garbage.” He chuckled to himself. “I’m going to definitely have to come over and show you the ropes.” 

“Oh please.” I rolled my eyes. “I wasted that bad.” 

“Mmhmm.” 

“Don’t mmhmm me.” I rolled my neck this time but he couldn’t see all that so I mmhmmed and added a psh to the end. 

“Oh it’s like that huh?” He magically appeared beside me.