An hour later, Joe’s Cooper has parked in front of the Monarossabergie House once again. This time, the residents of the household are climbing out from the small vehicle.

Joe pokes his head forward to see the trio past Stu, who is in the passenger's seat. “I’m so glad we can help you guys out!” he tells them in his typical ebullient voice. “I hope you’ll have your car fixed soon!”

Bryan pokes his head from the back window. “You’re gonna stay all day long in your house!” He taunts at them. “Have fun!”

Stu eyes his friend with bared teeth. “Bryan…!”

From outside, Joseph narrows his eyes at the back passenger. “Do you want to join us, squirt?!”

Delight appears in Bryan’s eyes. “YES--!” He immediately gets pulled back deeper into the car by a rough pull of the shoulder by Stu.

“Hahaaa, nope!” Stu then peers up at the teammates outside. “You guys go on, we’ll be stuck in our own…place…”

Brandon nods to them. “Uh, thanks, guys!”

Then with one last goodbye, the roommates stroll back into their house as the Cooper tears down the road and out of sight.

Inside the Monarossabergie House, the residents are ambling into the dining room. Nick trudges into the kitchen and opens up the refrigerator.

“What’s to eat?” he mumbles as he peers at its contents.

“Well, chatterbox just ate all the pancakes,” Joseph points out dryly as he kicks a chair away from the dining table and sits on it.

Brandon halts in front of him. “I can make you guys something else?” he suggests with a shrug.

Joseph gives him a half-shrug. “Sure.” He then rises to his feet and strides through the living room and out of view around the bend of the foyer.

Brandon pads to the kitchen, where he meets up with Nick.

Nick closes the refrigerator's door and faces him with a small frown. “I gotta have something to eat before I take my post-lunch nap.”

“Okay, let’s see…” Brandon rubs his chin. “What to make…”

His eyes light up. “Ooo, can you make…spaghetti?”

Brandon raises his eyebrows at him. “Sure! Let’s see if we can find all the ingredients…!” He then turns to the different cabinets and pulls out the different ingredients and equipment necessary to make spaghetti: spaghetti noodles, tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese, oregano, a pot, strainer, and wooden spoon.

Brandon places all of the ingredients and equipment on the countertop. He peers at his roommate. “Alright! Let’s get cooking!”

---

About thirty minutes later, the three roommates are sitting around the dining table, munching on Brandon’s spaghetti. There are no complaints about it: the roommates are silent because they are speechless.

Suddenly, Brandon makes a curious expression as he senses the sparkle of energy whizz through him.

Joseph perks up from his bowl with the same facial expression as he feels the same sensation.

Nick sways as his eyes flutter, attempting to stay open. Yet he leans forward and slams his head into the bowl; snores immediately come out from him.

After taking a concerned look at his sleeping roommate, Brandon turns back to his bowl of spaghetti. He scoops up some of the long noodles between the tines of his fork and spins them around the utensil.

Huh, that feeling came back. Joseph’s voice rings through his mind. That felt odd.

Brandon’s eyes fly open at the sound; he drops his fork, becoming frozen.

Whatever, he hears the voice sounding like his other roommate conclude.

Brandon slowly lifts his eyes across the table to take a good look at Joseph. Joseph is contently consuming his bowl of pasta with his attention fully on it.

How does Monty make this good of spaghetti? Brandon hears Joseph’s voice continue on in his mind. Last time he cooked pasta, he almost blew up the house. I want to know how he does it so that I can cook this good.

Joseph halts his eating as he frowns at the bowl. This sauce is just like how my father used to make it…

Am I hearing Joey’s thoughts—? Brandon thinks to himself.

Joseph immediately flicks his eyes at him. “WHAT?” He throws his fork against the table.

Brandon shoots him a terrified expression. “What?”

“I hear your thoughts.” He lowers his eyebrows.

Brandon swishes his eyes from side to side. “Uhhhh…”

“I can hear your thoughts…,” he tells him again, this time more sternly.

Ooo, now I know if he makes snarky comments about me… Brandon hears Joseph’s voice point out. ...and then I can get him back…

“JOE-YYY!!!!” Brandon cries out.

A massive smirk spreads across Joseph’s face. “Can’t hide anything from me, Monty Muffins.”

Brandon gawks at him. “I never think anything bad about you!”

He’s so annoying! Brandon’s mind instantly spits out. He always makes rude comments to everyone and bosses everyone around. And does nothing himself. Can’t he appreciate something for once?!

Joseph shoots him a flat expression. “Yeah, okay, nothing bad about me, I see.”

Brandon shrugs, covering up his thoughts. “Well, it’s true!”

“Why don’t you look at yourself first before bashing on me?” he snaps at him sternly.

“I’m sorry, I know you have bad thoughts about me as well!”

Joseph stares hard at him as Brandon hears him say in his mind: Oh yeah, definitely, like you’re a—

The doorbell rings: Ding, dong!

Joseph faces the front door with narrowed eyes. “Who’s here to annoy us now?”

I don’t want to be disturbed! Brandon hears Joseph say mentally. I’m sick of people!

He shoots back with his mind, You’re a person.

Joseph whirls his head to him with furious eyes. “SHUT IT!”

Brandon shrugs again. “I can’t really shut my thoughts…”

He quickly gets up on his feet and storms across the vast room and into the foyer.

He’s so irritating, I just want to— Joseph cuts his thoughts once he throws the door open and sees who is on the other side.

On the other side are the two goalie buddies: Matt with Ryan Faragher.

Oh, it’s Ryan and Hacker— Joseph points out mentally. They’re nice: Hacker’s a sweet guy and Ryan’s a chilled guy. I’d rather room with them.

He immediately freezes in place when he hears Matt’s voice come into his mind:

Hopefully, they don’t mind us coming to their house, Matt’s sweet, humble voice rings into his mind; Joseph spots him standing innocently. I just want to see if they’re okay. But if what they’re not okay? What if they don’t want us here? I-I think I’m about to… Wait, wait, stay strong, Matthew, stay strong. Don’t cry. Joey is nice, he’s fine with us. Yeah, he’s fine with us.

Joseph then reverts his gaze at Ryan. Right away, he hears Ryan’s favourite heavy metal music blare through his mind. Suddenly, it stops.

Did I feed Zeppelin? he hears Ryan thinking. Then the music resumes.

Joseph faces both of the goalies and nods to them. “Hey.”

Matt’s smile brightens up. “Hi, hi!”

Ryan returns his nod. “'Sup, Crammer.”

“We’re okay—” He immediately halts his sentence, composing himself for a more natural conversation. “Well, yeah, we are okay, if you’re wondering.”

Doing okay? he hears Matt’s worried voice float into his mind. Wait, does he want us here? I don’t think so, he just flat out said that they’re doing okay… Th-they don’t want us… Matthew, stay calm STAY CALM.

Joseph turns to Ryan. He mentally hears Ryan’s metal music still on full-blast. It then immediately stops.

I think I did feed her. Ryan concludes in his mind. The music continues on.

“That’s good!” Matt tells Joseph with his hands clasped in front of him. “We just wanted to make sure.”

Joseph presses his hand against the doorjamb. “Yeah, we’re having spaghetti, if you guys want any.” He nods toward his right.

Ryan knits his eyebrows. “How did you guys get spaghetti if your car’s broken?”

“Monty cooked it.”

I remember what Joey told me about Monty’s cooking— Joseph hears Matt remember mentally. --it’s terrible! But I don’t wanna say that Monty’s cooking is terrible because that’s mean and I don’t wanna hurt anyone’s feelings…

Joseph turns to him. “It’s actually really good, believe it or not.”

“Really?” Ryan says with surprise.

“Yeah, come inside.” He then pushes himself off from the doorjamb and spins into the house. The two goalies follow after him, ambling toward the dining room.

Matt exclaims in Joseph’s mind, We’re fine! We’re fine! We’re still on good terms! Good!

From the dining table, Brandon spots the visitors following his roommate. Oh, it’s the goalies! He thinks automatically into Joseph’s mind. What are they doing here?

Joseph halts in front of him. They’re gonna have your spaghetti.

Brandon knits his eyebrows. They knew we have spaghetti?

No— I invited them. Joseph crosses his arms. Got a problem with that?

Brandon warily casts his eyes on the floor. I don’t think we have enough…

Wait, pause the music, the two hear Ryan shout mentally over his hardcore metal music. The music stops at his command. Why are they staring at each other for a long time? It reminds me of that one fanfic I read where the two characters were telling their life story with their eyes.

Brandon and Joseph turn to face him.

“You guys okay?” Ryan swishes his index finger from skater to skater. “You’re staring at each other.”

Brandon makes a confused expression. “Huh?”

“No, we’re looking at this bear here.” Joseph nods at Nick, who is still snoring into his bowl.

Ryan’s eyes narrow as the two hear him think, There’s something off with them. They’re not talking. Are they okay? Let’s see here without ticking Joey off…

“That’s an awful long time looking at him…,” Ryan points out, nodding at the tallest skater.

Brandon eyes his roommate. They’re getting suspicious… Should we tell them? He flicks his eyes away from him in panic. Oh no, no, no, I don’t even know what’s going on with Joey and me! We gotta talk together about this. He peers back up at him. Joey, please?

Joseph frowns at him. Fine.

Brandon hops to his feet and throws his pointer finger into the air. “Wait up one moment, guys…!” He then takes Joseph by the wrist and leads him across the room and around the bend.

At the hallway, Joseph tears his wrist from his grasp and takes the lead. He turns to the second room to the right: his own bedroom.

He leads him to the back corner of his room, where a table spewed with ceramic equipment is situated.

Brandon slows down as he approaches the table. Should we talk or think—?

Think, they might hear us if we talk. He takes a seat at the table.

Brandon does the same, sitting across from him.

If they come into the room to check on us, let’s pretend we’re doing ceramics. He picks up a dried slab of clay and holds it out to him. Here’s this— His eyes immediately fly open as Brandon takes a tight grasp at it. DON’T BREAK IT!

Brandon leans back with the ceramic piece in his hand. Not so loud!

He’s so annoying! Brandon hears him quickly think. Joseph then shoots him a cynical expression. Deal with it.

Brandon plunks the slab on the table. Joey, what’s going on? Why can we read each other’s thoughts?

Joseph folds his arms on the table. I don’t only read your thoughts— I also read Ryan’s and Hacker’s thoughts. Hacker thinks about trying to contain his emotions and Ryan just has his music on twenty-four seven with a pause about his cat.

Brandon’s eyebrows shoot up. Really? So it’s just not between us… His eyes drift off for a moment. Can they read our minds?

Joseph lowers his eyebrows. Didn’t you read Ryan’s mind? He has no idea what’s going on between us— We would’ve known if they could read our minds since he would’ve thought about it. Now that we can read thoughts, nothing is private. Thoughts are as private as one gets.

Brandon’s eyes slowly widen as he leans back in shock. Whoa… Oh no, now everyone will know when I think--

I will only know when you think— Joseph’s eyes quickly widen. MONTY!

Brandon grimaces at him. Sorry, sorry-- He immediately makes a horrified expression. JOEY STOP!!!

Joseph makes a haughty expression at him. You thought of it so I thought of it.

He places his hand on his chest. Okay, so now you’re blaming it on me?!

Joseph slams his hand against the table’s top. It’s YOU who thought of it first!

You’re in control of your own thoughts— Brandon immediately takes control of his train of thought, steering it back on track. Okay, okay, okay, let’s get back on track here… He begins counting off with his fingers: Reading minds, nothing is private, who can read minds. How did we get the ability to do this?

Joseph looks up as he reviews the day in fast forward: Got up, had breakfast, practice, had lunch, and now… He reverts his gaze at him. It started right after I ate your spaghetti.

Brandon mentally flies through his day in montages. Yeah… It’s the spaghetti.

Joseph scowls at him. Icemare cursed the spaghetti? What does he NOT curse?

You. Brandon automatically states. But anyway—

What—?

—Icemare cursed the spaghetti. He throws his pointer finger into the air. So no one eat the spaghetti!

They instantly launch to their feet and rush out of the bedroom and down the hallway.

“NoooOOO!!!” Brandon bellows as he reaches the dining room.

Matt and Ryan, who are standing by the sleeping Nick, whirl around in fright at the charging skaters.

Oh no, what’s going on? Matt squeaks in the two skaters’ minds. Fire? Spider? Burglar? Is he yelling because of something we did? Oh no, he’s mad at us! I’m gonna— Matthew, stay strong, that’s right, stay…stay strong…!

Over his metal music, Ryan exclaims mentally, Something’s up--Monty’s yelling. The music pauses.

“What?” Ryan snaps at them.

Brandon halts by him, panting. “Don’t eat the spaghetti!”

“Why?” He scrunches his thick eyebrows.

“He’s a terrible chef,” Joseph answers with chill, standing next to his roommate.

“Sugar,” Brandon forces out on the spot. “I put in sugar instead of salt. And it’s really bad.” He grabs Nick’s bowl with both hands and yanks it out from underneath his head. He then begins going around the table, collecting the other two half-eaten bowls. “That’s what we were talking about. Sorry.” He pads off toward the kitchen sink.

He then hears Matt point out mentally: But didn’t Joey say it tasted good? Or they don’t want us here. Oh no, I gotta stay strong, I gotta stay strong, but they don’t want us here…!

Brandon places the bowls on the countertop by the sink and spins around to face the goalie. “Joey got this spaghetti mixed up with the spaghetti his father used to make, so he actually said that HIS father’s spaghetti is good, not mine—”

“What, you really think I’d be that stupid to mix up your disgusting spaghetti with my father’s delicious spaghetti?” Joseph spits out incredulously.

“You don’t want us to eat the spaghetti?” Ryan asks.

The two roommates face him and bark together: “No!”

They’re mad at us! Matt cries out mentally. Oh no, they’re mad at us…! I’m gonna cry, I’m gonna cry—!

Joseph pats Matt’s shoulder in comfort. “It’s Monty’s fault, not yours.”

Matt lets out a sigh and peers down at him. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

Matt flashes him a sweet smile. They’re okay with us! They’re okay with us!

On the other hand, Ryan has narrowed eyes with suspiciousness. Something’s fishy around here… Icemare?

Joseph eyes his roommate from across the room. Monty, he knows…!

Brandon purses his lips. Shoot.

“I think we should be heading out then…,” Ryan announces to the two.

“Hopefully next time we can have spaghetti together!” Matt says happily.

Joseph nods to him. “Sure.”

Ryan gives them a quick wave as he begins ambling away from them. “Bye, guys!”

Matt waves to them as he follows his friend. “Bye, bye!”

Brandon waves to them with a hasty wave. “Byeee!”

The goalies then disappear around the bend, to be followed by the front door closing with a slam.

Brandon faces Joseph with a worn-out expression. “THAT. Was close.”

Joseph frowns at him. “I don’t get it though— They know about Icemare, why hide it from them?”

“Because—” He dips his head. “Ugh, I want to know what’s going on with us then bring other people in.” He takes in a deep breath as he ambles back into the living room. Then he immediately halts next to Nick with shock. “Wait…I can’t read Nicky’s mind…”

Joseph frowns at his sleeping roommate. “Probably because he’s sleeping.” He slaps his head.

Nick jolts at the movement with mumbles. Yet he settles back down and continues emitting snores with deep, steady breathing.

“True.” Brandon immediately freezes. “Wait…”

He hears Matt’s voice in his mind: They were off this morning…and now they’re off again… Well, not the same type of off as this morning, but…there’s something off with them now…

Meanwhile, Ryan’s mind is occupied with his usual music.

Then the car is heard revving its engine and peeling into the roads and its sound fades off into silence.

Brandon slowly turns to Joseph with bewilderment. “We were off this morning?”

“Hacker did ask if we were okay after practice,” Joseph tells him with a cross of his arms.

He frowns at the floor. “Huh. Well, at least we’re not the same as this morning…” He peers up at him. “I guess it’s time to look for the cure…”

---

Hours has passed and the house is not in its best shape: The furniture has been pushed around, cushions have been spewed all over the place, the lamps are on the floor, the tables have been overturned, the paintings on the wall have been taken down… It could be mistaken as a tornado wreck. If tornadoes are possible in San Diego!

From the turned-over sofa, Brandon’s head perks up with cushion popping up behind him. “Found anything, Joey?”

Joseph ambles into view with clothes over their hangers draped on his head and shoulders. He has an unamused expression. “No.”

Brandon groans as he gets up. “What can it be?”

He stands in deep thought. His eyes then widen. “Wait…I got something…” He gazes at him. “I can’t read your mind.”

Brandon knits his eyebrows. “You can’t?” He gasps as he experiences no voices drifting into his mind. “I can’t too!” A grin forms on his face. “We found the cure!”

He raises an eyebrow. “Which is?”

“I don’t know.” Brandon lifts an index finger into the air. “But let’s never eat homemade spaghetti here EVER again.”

He shrugs. “Fine with me. I’ll get it at the Italian restaurant…” He immediately pauses; a glower takes over his face. “Stupid car’s broken.”

“You can carpool with Joe and—”

“NOT HAPPENING.”

Brandon lets out a nervous chuckle. “What I thought…”

From the dining room, Nick’s body stirs before his head raises up from the table. He has a drowsy mien.

“Oh?” His eyebrows slowly rise up. “Lunch is over. Time for my post-nap snack.” He gradually rises to his feet and shuffles into the kitchen, wading through the thrown culinary equipment.

Brandon flashes an anxious smile at his direction as he steps up to him. “Heh heh, sorry, Nicky, I, um, was looking for something.”

Nick turns around to face him. “I just want my post-nap snack.”

“I can make you something?”

From the living room, Joseph is giving Brandon a disapproving expression.

Back in the kitchen, Nick’s eyes light up. “Like what?”

“Like…” Brandon steps over to the refrigerator, opens it, and pulls out a package from one of its drawer. He raises it up at his hungry roommate, revealing it is ground meat. “Hamburgers!”

Notes

E.14 "What A Great Dish!"
Part 3/7
Episode 14/20