Noodles.

Ah, President's Day. No school. Yessss.

Still, this means Jenna is stuck with her nose in a biology book. So many of my roommates have been gone. Ashley was in urgent care, Rochelle, as usual, was missing in action. Jackie was at a relative's house. Hillary and Rachel were here, but were busy entertaining their old high school friend, Latecia. So... I was practically alone in the apartment. I suppose I could have gone over to the guy's hall, but Ryan was at his grandparent's house, and Will is just plain depressing.

Ah, biology. How exquisitely exciting when you don't have a test the next day. Poring over the book... filling out charts...

KNOCK KNOCK.

What does Ryan want? Wait a minute. Ryan isn't in Provo... is he?

I answer the door.

Hm. Ryan's back. So much for studying biology. And... I realize that I'm hungry. Snack time.

Ryan invades my kitchen and begins telling me all about his crazy adventures with cardboard boxes over the weekend. I happily start munching (I forget what I was eating... but I think I made myself something tasty). And suddenly, Ryan perks up.

"Hey! Did I tell you I learned how to make noodles?"

I blink. I must have misheard. "You made noodles?"

"Yeah, I learned how to make them last week!"

Wait. Whoa, now. Learned how to make noodles last week? My brain nearly fell through to my stomach. "You... you didn't know how to make them before?"

"Well, no... except for the noodles in the Mac'n'Cheese boxes... but then they make just plain noodles! And sell them in plastic packages!"

"You've never made noodles before?!? NEVER?"

"No!"

There is a slight awkward pause.

"Oh, and I also found out that they make spaghetti sauce and sell it in jars!"

Holy macaroons. My goodness. What has this boy been eating his whole life? "Well, yes..."

"And... they also make it in cans, right?"

I nod slowly. "Yes... of course they do... but it tastes slightly of can, and that's why most people prefer the jarred sauce..." At this, he looked confused, and didn't say anything. "Well, it's cheaper in cans, and you can get rid of the tinny taste really easy... you just add a little bit of sugar to it, and it's all better." He just kind of looked around at everything and anything except for me... he was ashamed... or something. "But that doesn't really matter if you know how to make your own... it tastes better if you make your own sauce anyway... you know, your own meat, your own seasoning..."

I think at this point he was excited to hear something familiar. "Oh, that's what Dallin said!" Dallin, Ryan's roommate, is probably the most amazing cook I've ever met in my life. I mean, he could cook for a girl and then propose... and not get rejected because the food is so good.

"Good, good..."

At this point, Hillary, Rachel, and Latecia enter the kitchen and start fixing themselves dinner as well. Hillary starts making Brussels sprouts. Ryan watches curiously. Timidly, he asks, "How do you make those?"

Add water. Add butter. Add heat. Done.

"Oh. Can you do that with pretty much any vegetable you want to cook?"

"Yeah..." Hillary and Rachel start to watch him suspiciously, as if they thought he were teasing them. But then...

I blurt out, "He's never made noodles before until last week!" I was glad my roommates took this news in much the same way I did. Their heads swiveled to look at the oddity was the noodleless creature Ryan.

"N-n-n-never?"

"Well, no. Not 'till last week..."

Can you make this? No. How about this? No. This? What do you think? No.

I eye him suspiciously. "Ryan... is there anything you can cook?"

"Uhh... well, I made mashed potatoes... once..." And then, hopefully, "Do you guys know how to make mashed potatoes?" We all nod solemnly, at which point Ryan droops again in shame. Then, he perks up again. "Oh, but have you known how to make them for a long time?" We gently assure him that we've been making mashed potatoes for as long as we could remember. His head dropped sadly.

He left rather abruptly after that.

But then, about an hour later, I hear another knock. I answer the door again to find Ryan peering in from the other side, looking extremely excited. "Jenna! Guess what? I made noodles! Wanna see?"

"Oh, I'm proud of you--"

"Wanna see 'em?"

"Um, sure... where are they?"

Ryan had commandeering my neighbor's kitchen. I walk in to see a pan of boiling water with noodles inside. And Ryan was just glowing happily. He dipped his stirring spoon into the hot noodle-water mixture to pull out a few noodles... then he poked them gleefully. "Ooh! Look, Jenna, noodles!"

"Yeah... noodles..." I look down at the pot. The water looked like it was about to boil over the sides. "Uhh... I think you put too much water in..."

He blinked and dropped his happy little noodles into the pot again. "I did? Oh no, what do I do now?"

"Uhh... turn down the heat a little. A stir a bit more... It'll still boil, just not as high..." That fixed, Ryan went back to glowing happily. And then, he pointed out his sauce. Yes, it was the kind they sell in jars. And he was so proud of it. I tried hard not to laugh. I ended up just shaking my head and smiling, and then I looked up at him. "How long do you have before your mission?"

"My availability date is June 19th!"

"And... you can't cook? Ryan, you're going to starve. There probably isn't going to be an abundance of frozen pizzas and Spaghettio's... especially since you won't have much money! You're going to die!"

He ignored me.

"Ryan, I'm going to teach you how to cook. Forget the potato gun. Cooking. I would prefer it if you lived through your mission."

"Uhh... I can cook more than you think! I... I can make macaroni and cheese! And mashed potatoes! I learned about gravy this weekend! You can actually make it from meat drippings... or you can buy packets for it at the store!"

"Um. Yes, I know." I looked pointedly at him. "So what are you going to learn to make this week?"

"Uhhh... Um. I think I'll perfect my mashed potatoes."

"Okay. And gravy. You'll make gravy too."

"Uhh, okay..."

And with that I went home.