Rain, Rain, Come Again {Kai & Laney}
changinglaneys:
Laney listened intently on Kai. Bluebell was such a tiny town, most people were born and died there. The last ‘new’ person that had come to the tiny town was Lillian, who lived there. Rarely did the town see many visitors outside the Konahana citizens dropping by for a visit. So for one to travel around the world, own their own little restaurants of sea side shack in multiple different areas, seemed like a dream to her. To be able to live such a life had to be tiring, yet so incredible and exciting.
“I see,” the blonde whispered to herself as she listened intently on the bandana wearing man in front of her. Blue eyes followed every movement he made around the kitchen, watching him just as intently as she listened to him. She wasn’t afraid he would mess up her tea order, oh no, that was fine. Tea was easy. But the way he moved around was almost like a dance. Arms lifting, his body tending to every movement in a slow and steady way.
She moved her hands back up to the towel on the top of her head, making sure it hadn’t fallen out of place. “It must have been tough work to own your business, and four of them!” It was amazing, to her at least. “Is it not lonely to have to move from town to town?”
“I only ask that because I have a business as well.” She blurted out. Oh great, here she went. She wanted to know about him; so it was only right for him to learn about her. “I co-own my business with a farmer nearby where I live. He supplies the produce and I bake pies, cakes, cupcakes- we had an order recently for a pineapple upside down cake which was unusual from our clientele. I also work at my father’s cafe in Bluebell. I guess the reason I cleaned up that mess was because I’m so used to it at home.” She paused for a short bit, before waving a hand in front of her. “But we aren’t talking about me! I’m sorry for that!”
Laney let out a laugh, holding a hand in front of her mouth again. She was laughing both because of her own babbling, and because of Kai’s ridiculousness. “Thank you,” she smiled. She surveyed the different boxes of tea before picking up a bag of rose tea. “I think this one would be perfect for a day like today.” Her eyes twinkled at the package; one of her favorite teas.
But, as she turned around to look back at Kai, her heart almost stopped. That wink. There was something about it that just made Laney stop dead in her thoughts. He was, really, really cute. His voice was cute. His eyes, dark and full of life, were cute. Dear Goddess, his face was really cute with a slender nose and a beautiful smile. So different from Ash and Kamil, so blunt and honest. “Stir fry would be lovely.” She said matter of factly with a smile.
“Laney Dufour.” She gave him a soft smile, before taking his hands into her’s. With a gentle handshake, she continued, “and it is a pleasure to meet you as well Kai.”
Was it lonely to move from town to town so often? Kai thought to himself for a moment on his answer to that question, not really to sure of the answer. “Lonely?” He repeated, giving himself more time to think. “Nah, not really in the sense that you’d think it’d be! I mean luckily everyone is just so nice, it’s hard to be lonely when you’re surrounded by such kind hearted people.” As he went forth with his chatting, Kai retrieved the cookware he needed to put together stir fry a dish he’s made over and over again. With a bit of flare, he pun the frying pan in his hand while he spoke to her, before lighting another burner and putting it down.
“But I do suppose it gets lonely in the sense where sometimes you just constantly miss the people you’re close to.” He poured out oil onto the hot pan, becoming so used to the motion that he looked at her over his shoulder as he spoke. “Though I suppose that’s the give and take, missing your people but getting to see different towns and different parts of the world. Guess you can’t have both.” The man smile with a bright grin. “Though for now the mayor said he’d pay me quite a bit to hang around Mineral Town for a while, so it’ll be nice having some time back in the place I consider home.”
When the girl mentioned that she ran of a business of her own, Kai looked to her with an even more intrigued sense of curiosity. “Really now?” He chimed while he was retrieving his hoard of previously chopped vegetables from the fridge. As he listened to her speak, he bit into a spare piece of chopped bell pepper while he poured the rest into the pan.
“A baker hm? Well, now I understand why I got such a sweet vibe from ‘ya! I can’t bake to save my life. I mean, if it was a life or death situation I could probably bake something— but it’d probably make them drop dead before they could come after me!” Laughter escaped from the man as he continued, shelling a couple shrimp as the pan continued to sizzle. “Pineapple upside down cake huh? Well we should do a little trade then!”
Throwing the lid on top of the pan and decreasing the flame to a mere simmer, with a swift motion he place the mug in front of her. A twist and a turn, and he picked up the teapot just as it was about to sound it’s alarm, and he filled the cup with it’s hot water. “Pineapples are kind of the best fruit there is.” He spoke teasingly, pushing the now full mug a little closer to her. “And I’m sure pineapple upside down cake, made by a professional baker like you, would be to die for.”
“So I purpose a trade,” He spoke with confidence. “Professional to professional, you tell me how you like my stir fry and then you stop by again sometime with this pineapple upside down cake you mentioned!” As he leaned against the counter, chin rested against his palm, he continued. “That way we don’t have to worry about anything like a bill at the end of this, simply using the barter system instead.”
Though Kai simply shrugged his shoulders, smiling back at her as he turned back to the pan. “Though that might just be my silly excuse to see you again.”
When the girl piped up, apologizing for interrupting him with facts about herself, Kai couldn’t help but muse over how cute she was. Not cute like a child, maybe cute like a kitten? He wasn’t sure, but all he knew was sweet was definitely an adjective that fit her. “Well maybe I want to talk about you ♪.” As he lifted the lid off the frying pan, the space filled with steam. With a bit of a hum and an upbeat attitude, he used his spatula to assure that everything was cooking evenly. “So tell me Laney,” he cooed. “Is cooking a job or a hobby for you? It could be both, but I’m curious since you say you work for your dad. Is it something you enjoy doing, or something that you do for work?”












