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Keren... was not a very good cook. She had a brilliant scientific mind and she was awesome at, like, a lot of stuff? But in the kitchen that all sort of vanished and she couldn't remember why she'd invited Jeanne over for dinner in her new apartment-style dorm besides that her roommate was gone for the weekend and Keren felt the need for an absolutely silly display of bravado.

Like frying falafel?

Come, let me feed you the food of my people, and completely ******** it up.

Bravely dodging a spray of hot oil, Keren turned off the stove and called over to Jeanne, "Food in like two minutes. Do you want tahini? Yogurt sauce?" Personally, she liked it with every fixing imaginable, but who knew what other people were into. She expected Jeanne to have good taste just based on knowing her... but falafel pockets were a highly individualized experience.

At least, she thought, she had not ******** up completely: all the condiments came ready-made. She stuffed the hot patties into pita, tossed them onto plates, and, precariously balancing containers of hummus and tabbouleh and like five other things on her arms, rushed over to the table.

"Okay," she said, easing everything down. "Do you want - something to drink? I've got cokes and, uh, beer? Do you like Blue Moon?"

"I've got it all under control!" Keren assured her, although it could be said that she very clearly didn't. At least the food was on the table now! One more trip to the kitchen should do it - and did, because she came back to the table with a six-pack and set it down ceremoniously. Being underage meant that the alcohol was, at the very least, somewhat hard-won. She opened the first bottle and handed it over to Jeanne, as was only polite, and then took one for herself.

"Okay, so, it's okay if you don't like it?" said Keren, swigging from her beer. "It's not for everyone and I get that, some people are like what is this, why would you eat this when you can just have, like, actual meat? And there's also, like, the complete possibility I just ******** it up."

She was making it from mix. It should be foolproof. That was the kind of bad cook Keren thought she was.

"And also, if you don't want to date me anymore after you realize what a s**t cook I am? That is also like 200% okay, okay? Like," she took another swig of beer before continuing, "I do not think that I would want to date me if I knew how bad at this I was."

Which was to say, she had not yet tried her own cooking.

Keren grinned, and touched a hand to her collarbone with mock modesty. "Oh, well, I am ever so flattered," she said. "Would those be my talents on the field of battle making poor suckers' heads roll? Or my talents in the bedroom making you red in the face? Or both?" Both was good. She set the beer aside and picked up the pita, nudging its contents with a fingertip to rearrange them.

"So, uh, this if falafel and pita," she explained, holding the sandwich up demonstratively. "It's like, standard Mediterranean street food? My dad's Israeli, so I come by it honestly, swear to god. Like, I went on an exchange year with my cousins and ate probably way too much of the stuff and was like oh my god I'm never eating falafel again but here we are. The pita's the bread, the falafel is the hella delicious vegetarian patty thing. And then it's got like, your standard array of toppings. I did it up right. Wouldn't ever steer you wrong."

"Like, granted, the only part of this that I could have ******** up is the mixing and cooking the falafel part and in that case if it's really bad we can like, just eat the salads?" Even the worst case scenario wasn't too terrible, she figured. "Anyway."

She took a bite. She chewed. She waited for the moment of truth. It tasted... pretty okay, actually! Like, holy crap.

"So? What do you think?" she asked, smiling toothily at Jeanne.

Keren blushed in what she imagined would be a very pretty matter, if her mouth was not currently overly full of Israeli salad and hummus. Swallowing, she said, "Why, thank you, my dear," and reached for her bottle of beer.

"Anyway," she continued, after taking a swig to clear her throat. "And speaking of my considerable talents. I was thinking that after dinner, we could either go out and exercise the former, or stay in and test out what I can do with the latter in a lofted, twin-sized bed? It will require some creative positioning is all I'm saying, but I'm also saying that I think we can make it work."

She grinned.

"Both is also an option, in either order, but it will require making one or the other unfortunately fast and I get sloppy when I rush s**t," Keren added. "Your call."