“Jagi, I’m hungry.”, Ricky whined, shaking me by the shoulders.

I looked at the clock on the far wall. 10pm. I looked at Ricky in disbelief. “We just ate dinner with the others 3 hours ago, Ricky. How can you be hungry already?”

“That was 3 HOURS AGO! 3 HOURS!!”

I sighed and stood up from the sofa. “I’ll cook some spaghetti.”

“SPAGHETTI? THAT TAKES SUCH A LONG TIME! ESPECIALLY WITH THE TOMATO SAUCE!”

“That’s why I’m going to the store. Wanna come?”

He nodded, put his shoes and coat on, then followed me outside. We walked to the convenience store across the street to buy canned tomato sauce and a few packets of pasta. We paid for them, and walked out of the store and into the cold night air again. As soon as we got back home, I started cooking with Ricky as my assistant.

Ricky got bored and ran off to the living room to watch TV after a while. When I finished cooking, I called out for him and he came rushing into the kitchen. He took the bowl from my hands and set it down on the dining table. I took two smalller bowls, but he said he wanted to eat it straight from the big bowl. I nodded and took two forks instead.

I passed one fork to him and started to twist the pasta with my fork. I put it in my mouth and chewed, and when I was about to swallow it, Ricky suddenly asked, “You know what a spaghetti kiss is?”

I almost choked on the food.

I drank some water and nodded slowly. “Why?” Ricky smiled slyly. “Well, since we’re eating spaghetti right now, why not give it a try?”

This time, I almost choked on the water.

“Oh come on! Have some fun and live life, jagi! Spice it up!”

After a few comments from Ricky, I finally agreed. He picked a long string of spaghetti and put one end in his mouth. He lifted the other end up at me with his fork. I put it in my mouth and started nibbling on it.

We got closer and closer towards each other, and we had to lean over the table just to do this ‘spaghetti kiss’. We were so close together that I could feel his warm breath on my face.

He hummed aloud, looking everywhere but me. I knew he was trying to cover his smile, but his corners of his lips were lifted and it was just too obvious. I closed my eyes and waited, but the feeling of his lips on mine didn’t come.

I opened my eyes and found Ricky still in front of me, the string of spaghetti still in his mouth. It was still connecting us, and Ricky hadn’t bitten it off. He was now smiling like an idiot, his eyes like inverted rainbows.

“Al yew hona hish me yeh?”, I asked, trying not to let go of the pasta.

“I hil, shoon.”, he teased.

“HEN?! HUWWY U-“

And then I felt his lips pressed on mine.

I bit the spaghetti off and pulled away, chewing on it. “Somehow, that was fun.”, I stated, wiping my mouth.

Ricky laughed. “I know. That’s why I suggested it.”

I giggled. “We should do it more often, you know.”

He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “We still have a huge bowl of spaghetti in front of us.”

I hit his arm. “Next time, sweetheart.”