After Hours: Ollie, cooking lesson

The living room is quiet in that late-afternoon way, when the sun starts slipping through the curtains and everything turns gold at the edges.

Ollie is stretched out on the couch, one arm tucked behind his head, the other holding his phone just above his chest. He’s still wearing his striped tank top and lavender shorts from earlier, too comfortable to bother changing.

On his screen, a cooking stream is playing.

A woman with a bright apron and an even brighter smile is explaining how to make homemade chicken teriyaki. The camera zooms in on the pan as the sauce thickens, glossy and dark, bubbling softly.

Ollie watches closely.

He tilts his phone a little, squinting at the measurements. “Wait… was that two tablespoons or three?” he murmurs to himself, rewinding a few seconds.

Cooking streams have become his thing lately.

His mom works late most days, and Ollie hates the idea of her coming home tired and hungry. So he experiments. Sometimes it’s pasta. Sometimes it’s soup. Once he tried baking bread and nearly set off the smoke alarm.

Still, he keeps trying.

On screen, the woman stirs something that looks like rice in a wide pan, grains glistening as the sauce coats them. The movement is steady and practiced, the sound soft and rhythmic.

Ollie smiles, impressed. “That looks easy enough,” he thinks.

The house smells faintly of clean laundry and whatever his neighbor is cooking. The couch is warm from the sun. His phone vibrates when a notification pops up in the chat.

He saves the recipe. Adds it to a little note on his phone titled Meals to Try. There are more entries than he remembers writing.

Later, when his mom gets home, he’s already planning what to say.

I learned a new one today.
I think you’ll like it.

For now, he stays where he is, watching the stream, bathed in soft light, feeling quietly proud of himself.