That really was not fair. “I could go for Chinese,” I said meekly. She grinned.
“Good choice. Have you ever had hong shao rou?”
“You vastly overestimate my palate if you think I know the actual Chinese names of any of the dishes, so I’m gonna guess no.”
“There’s a place close to here that comes with Linyue’s highest recommendation, and she doesn’t recommend things lightly, let alone Shanghai-style Chinese restaurants. The only problem is that they load you up with so much meat you feel like you can’t move for a week, so I am going to order us a few dishes, and then I will put on some frozen vegetables, and we will have a nice meal before you get some rest.”
I wanted to protest, butgodit was hot when she told me in that slightly patronizing voice exactly what we were going to do. Still, I protested a little. “I can help. In the kitchen.”
Laughter danced in her eyes. “You think I need help putting frozen vegetables in the microwave, Cassandra?”
“Well…”
“Sure. You can make drinks.”
“God. Thank you. I hate feeling like I’m being a burden.”
She brushed her thumb over my cheek one more time before she stood up, and then I think I must have hit my head harder than I realized, because I suddenly had a very vivid hallucination of her bending over and pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Come join me whenever you’re ready,” she said, turning back towards the conjoined kitchen, and I took a minute slowly blinking, trying to remember how to use my body.
That was a nice hallucination. I needed to hit my head more often.
Helena was clearly placating me a little, because there really wasn’t much to do, but I felt impossibly blissful moving around her kitchen with her, as she showed me what was where in her refrigerator and her cabinets. I put on tea and, at her request, set out to make cocktails, even though I protested I had no idea how to make cocktails, and we laughed togetheras I tried mixing things, sampling them to mixed results. She put on some music not long before the food arrived—a little John Legend, which was completely in line with the music I’d expected from her—and we sat with tea, dubious cocktails we’d invented together, and food that smelled so good it made my stomach cramp.
I had to pace myself eating, my body not knowing how to take food after all this time of starving it—I hadn’t realized I was starving it, but I guess you learn something new every day—but Helena was in no rush to go anywhere. And I was supposed to be in a rush, but apparently I wasn’t allowed to be.
Once we’d finished, I felt meek and shy, like I’d encroached on her hospitality enough for one night, and I went to clean the dishes, but she batted my hand away from the sink.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she teased.
“I’m cleaning up my mess!”
She flicked water from the faucet at my face. “Put down the brush and step away from the sink, ma’am.”
“I want to be helpful!”
“You can clean up something else,” she said, shutting off the sink. “Namely, yourself. Do you want to take a shower? If you fell off your moped on the way over here…”
Oh, Jesus. I hadn’t had a shower in so long. I’d forgotten people had showers and not awkward sponge baths with cold water out of a laundry sink. But still, there was one specific reason I couldn’t accept, and not just that I’d already asked her for too much. “I, uh, don’t have any clothes to change into.”
She smiled at me, leaning on the counter. “That’s a shame.”
“Uh.” I stood like I’d been caught in a crime. The crime of fantasizing about Helena. Who wouldn’t commit it? “What do you, uh, do you, is that, are you… do you mean… is it… are you…”
She smiled wider. “Do you need another drink?”
“Um.”
She laughed, finally, pushing off from the counter. “What size do you wear? I’ll pop out and buy you a set.”
“What—you’re buying me clothes?”
“Buying clothes is actually an important part of my day-to-day life.”
“Is it? I thought you had Mister Shiyun come in each morning and give you your clothes to wear for the day.”
She grinned. “You mean my dad? You think my dad dresses me in the mornings?”
“Probably his attendants for the little princess.”
