not exactly dinner

When Ellie remembered the quiche, it was too late. It turned out to be a brown brick.

"I don't think its exactly burned," Kyle said with a little comfort, "Its just brown."

"And hard." The both stared at the squared glass casserole dish on the kitchen counter.

"What's in it, anyway?" He mashed his finger on the hot square to see if it would bounce back, but it didn't.

"Bisquick, eggs and cheese."

"Too much Bisquick." He told her.

"How do you know?"

"Look get out a frying pan, I'll make you a cheese grilled sandwich. If all else fails, there are cheese grilled sandwiches." He sighed. "You didn't use all the cheese, did you?"

Ellie shook her head no, and got all the things he said they'd need for grilled cheese sandwiches, and before she knew it, he was cooking up dinner along with some tomato soup, heating up.

"Don't you want any?" She saw he'd made sandwiches for her and her sister, but not him.

"I can't." He shook his head, no. "Something is wrong with my stomach. I haven't exactly felt right since I saw Kelsey kissing Caleb." He reminded her.

"But aren't you hungry?" She bit in to her sandwich. It was so cheesy and crunchy to perfection.

He shook his head, no. She looked back at the casserole. "You think birds are squirrels would eat it?"

"I wouldn't chance it." Then he put on his little act how they might choke and die.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" She joked.

"Yeah, pretty bad, El." He tossed it in the trash before she had a chance to stop him.

"Thanks." She ate on her sandwich. "I feel kind of bad eating alone." She shouted then to him as he was delivering her sister's sandwich and some tomato soup upstairs.

"Why is that?" He asked when he came back to the kitchen.

"We use to all eat together when Mom was here. Even Lisa." She nibbled at the sandwich, pondering if anything would ever be the same again.

"I can't remember the last time we ate together at our house," Kyle said. "Mom works late. Tim's in college now and he only comes home with his girlfriend, occasionally. We eat out then. Mom hates cooking."

"So you do all the cooking?" She finished her soup then.

"When I'm hungry." He shrugged with his hands in his back jean's pockets.

"I hope you get your appetite back, Kyle." Ellie really didn't want to watch Kyle shrink anymore. He was pretty much a light weight as it was.