FicWad

Band practice ended and we filed back into the building. Joe had been complaining of hunger for some time now, and after he said something about his stomach touching his spine I finally decided to go make dinner. I walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and searched the endless cluster of take-out boxes and half empty soda cans for something even remotely edible. Finally I came across a package of hamburger, just two days short of expiration. I sighed, Andy would have to deal. I tossed it onto the stove and prayed that I wouldn't burn the house down. Within half an hour it was ready. The guys piled into the kitchen and immediately started scarfing down the food; except for Andy, who made due with the hamburger bun and potato chips. I walked down the hall towards Kendall's room. I knocked on the door, but got no answer.
"Dinner's ready!" I hollered.
"Be there in a sec!" came her muffled reply.
I walked back into the kitchen and sat down. Minutes later Kendall arrived as well.
"Jesus Dad, looks like Hemingway ain't the only dog you hang out with," she said, referring to Pete, Andy, and Joe. I rolled my eyes in response. She sat down and gingerly picked at her food, scooting it around her plate and occasionally eating a chip.
"Something wrong?" I finally asked her.
"No, nothing. I don't eat meat is all," she replied, earning a smile and some definite brownie points from Andy. It was a reasonable excuse; who was I to argue with that? Andy was the same way. Kendall sat quietly for the remainder of dinner, just listening and taking in her new surroundings.

And hour or two later Joe and Andy had left and Pete had stalked off to his room; leaving Kendall and I to do the dishes.
"You missed a spot," she pointed out for the thousandth time. I grabbed the towel and dried the plate off again.
"Better?"
She took the plate from me and tore a paper towel off her ever present roll and dried the plate.
"You know, for every roll of paper towels you use a tree in the rain forest dies," I informed her.
"Well I'm gonna die of amoebic dysentery from all the germs on that gunky towel, you tree-hugging hippie."
"At least I don't prefer tofu to normal hamburgers, my little friend," I countered.
"Then I won't be the one to get mad cow disease and go nuts, though it doesn't look like you have a brain to fry in the first place," she said, taking the towel from me as I tried to dry another plate.
"That may be, but at least I'm not the one holding the gunky germ-infested towel."
"Ew!" she shrieked, tossing the rag onto the counter, "Gimme that plate."
"Nope, sorry. You might infect it," I scoffed, holding the plate above her head. I lowered it and she latched on for dear life.
"Let go!" she shouted, pulling even harder on it.
"Hey, why don't you go get your little plastic baggie and go dig up some penicillin?"
"No!" she tugged one last time with all her might and the plate flew from my grip as well as hers.
"Get a broom," I told her.
I gritted my teeth as she walked off in search of a broom. I had already started counting down the days until she could move out. I thought as I knelt down to gather the larger pieces, It's gonna be a long ten years.