Chapter 112 - You Just Started A War

Whenever Xavier was engrossed in his work, hours and hours would pass by like it was nothing. 

Looking at the wall clock, Xavier realized lunch had rolled around the corner.

'That was so fast, it didn't feel like a couple of hours went by,' Xavier thought to himself, just as a knock sounded from the door.

'And that should be Madeline,' he said as he walked towards the door. 

Before he turned the doorknob, he straightened his shirt and ran a finger through his hair.

"Hello Xavier," Madeline greeted, a teensy smile plastered across her face. 

She was excited for lunch. 

Why wouldn't she be? 

Lunch consisted of two things she heavily looked forward to.

Food, and Xavier.

Xavier was a no-brainer.

So was food, since Madeline was the biggest fan of food.

Anything spicy in particular. 

Shockingly, Madeline was a huge fan of spicy foods. 

And to her shock, Xavier was the complete opposite of her. 

Whilst she favoured anything spicy, he was always up for anything sweet. 

"You look incredible," Madeline praised. 

Xavier smiled, his racing heart slowing down. 

Finally, he felt like he was at peace. Like there wasn't a gun to the side of his head.

Strange how he only felt this way when he was around her.

'Must be because she's such an amazing friend,' Xavier thought to himself, dismissing it as nothing and continuing on.

Of course, instead of coming to the dining room to see a feast already prepared in advance for them, Madeline suggested that they both made lunch together the day prior.

"We make lunch together?" Xavier questioned, his brow raised as Madeline brought up the suggestion. 

"Yeah."

"Think of how fun it'll be," Madeline reasoned, a smile on her face as she held both his hands, a hopeful look across her face. 

Xavier stared back at her, his book stored under his arm. 

How could he say no to her?

Giving in to Madeline's request, Xavier said to her, "Alright."

"But be warned, I know nothing about cooking."

"Well that's alright. It's making lunch together, no one's trying to impress each other or anything. We can take things slow, make lunch together, and just have fun," Madeline reasoned.

"When you put it that way, it does sound fun," Xavier admitted.

He had to hand it to her, Madeline had the ability of making things he'd usually find boring and uninteresting the other way around.

Whilst Xavier could have spent the entire day researching what his and Madeline's red string situation meant, he chose to spend time with her. That was why they were having lunch together. 

Madeline was someone it was nice having around. She managed to make dark days bright, and horrible moods better. 

Sure, she didn't smile often in the past, but now she smiled more. 

He didn't see how that was relevant to anything, but it was nice seeing her smile. 

That same smile could easily light up the velvety, sparkly sky, among other things. 

"We're here," Madeline said, snapping Xavier out of his thoughts.

Clearing his throat, he nodded, "Oh right."

Madeline had seen the way he looked before. 

Was there something wrong?

'You're overthinking it, what if it's nothing and you asked him all this for no reason at all?' One voice in her mind said to her.

Another reasoned, making a valid point, 'Well, it's better to ask than keep silent.'

Madeline asked him worriedly, "You alright? You were spacing out before. We could always postpone lunch if you need--"

"No," Xavier answered instantly. 

"There's no need, I'm alright, it's nothing. I promise. We can continue, I'm fine, I need to clear my head anyway,"

Madeline was unsure whether to trust him about this, but she chose to let it go. If he said he was alright, then so be it. She'd believe him, unless how he behaved later on had anything to say about that. 

There was something that told her there was something on his mind.

But what could it possibly be? Work stuff? 

She didn't know much about his line of work, so there wasn't much to talk about there. That was the one thing that divided them most. 

Xavier was alpha. She was just her. 

Even though Xavier had made it very clear to her that she was not just any ordinary person. 

She recalled his exact words. 

'You're Madeline, you're not just any person. You're special, don't ever doubt that.' 

Madeline found it sweet that he reassured her about it. 

And if he still wanted to talk to her about work or anything at all, she was always there for him. And she hoped he knew that, because she was nearly sure there was something he was hiding.

Now, if Xavier was hiding something, it was probably between two things. 

One, something about work he couldn't disclose. Something that lingered in his mind. 

Two, something about her he didn't want to tell her. 

Xavier didn't seem uneasy around her or anything. He seemed peaceful and calm. 

"So, got any ideas on what we're going to make?" Madeline asked. 

After a bit of back and forth, they finally decided on what to make. 

Xavier's curiosity was piqued when he heard of this strange dish. 

"Tortillas?"

Madeline nodded. 

Basically, tortillas were thin flat bread made out of wheat flour usually eaten with dips or various sauces. 

"Let's make that then," Xavier said, wanting to know more about this strange food he had never once heard of.

Was this some sort of delicacy kept in Madeline's family? A family recipe of sorts?

Madeline threw her head back and laughed when Xavier had asked her that whilst they were collecting the ingredients needed to make the tortillas. 

It wasn't like that, it wasn't anything special. 

"No no, it's not like that. It's not a recipe passed down from generation to generation or anything with some long backstory. I just ate it at a restaurant and liked it so I tried making it."

"Wow," Xavier said as he successfully found the container of flour he had been looking for from a kitchen cabinet. 

Madeline looked at the ingredients they had collected.

"Flour, salt, baking powder, water, that should be all."

"And then, there's the dips."

"You take the reins on that one," Xavier said to her. 

"Alright," Madeline agreed. 

She decided on two dips. Hot salsa, and guacamole. 

Salsa was spicy and hot, while guacamole was supposed to have a sweet flavour. 

And then, Madeline got to work, with Xavier being her assistant. 

"I didn't know you could be bossy," Xavier admitted, slightly pouting. 

"What did you just say?" Madeline said, too occupied to have been able to listen to what Xavier had just said. 

She rolled the dough balls she and Xavier had made with a floured rolling pin, flattening them into the round, thin delicacy known as a tortilla.

"Nothing," Xavier lied.

"Hmph, liar," Madeline said, flour in hand. 

With the flour she was about to sprinkle onto the rolling pin, she accidentally threw it at Xavier. 

She gasped, "I am so sorry."

Now, Xavier had learnt that when someone threw something at you, whether it was a full-on attack, or flour… You didn't act irrationally.

You waited and thought about it for a bit before you did something about it.

However, when the battlefield was a kitchen… 

Xavier quickly grabbed a handful of flour and flung it back at Madeline, covering her in flour from head to toe. 

Instead of calling what he was starting off or continuing to make the tortillas, Madeline scoffed. 

"You don't know what you just started," she just said to him, trying her hardest not to break into laughter right then and there. 

Inside, all she wanted to do was pout and tell him, 'How dare you!' 

That, and smother him in flour. 

Then again, that would suck the fun out of things way too quickly. 

"Oh? I started something now?" Xavier asked, feigning ignorance and acting as though he was innocent. 

"But I did nothing," he lied, blinking innocently at her. 

Being- No, acting oblivious was his specialty, after all.

"Why you--"

Oof! 

Madeline threw flour at Xavier, aiming directly for his head. 

And just like that, Xavier felt something cover his head and face. 

"You ruined my hair!" Xavier exclaimed as his hands went straight to his hair. 

And just like that, the two of them engaged in an all-out war, flinging flour at each other until they were both covered in flour. 

Thankfully, no one else but them were allowed access into the kitchen, so it was just the two of them. They had the entire kitchen to themselves and they could do whatever they pleased.

And by whatever they pleased, they chose a food fight.

So much for making the tortillas.

__

Author's Note: Guess what I was doing whilst I was writing this chapter. Hint, I made it very, very obvious in this chapter and it's food related. 

Alright, alright, moving on to the next chapter. Hope you all had or are having an amazing day.. Author out.