Tuna Steak

An assortment of dishes and sauces littered the counter in the tiny kitchen in James's apartment. He poked at a tuna steak with a spatula as it sizzled in a sea of butter, completely absorbed in his cooking.

"Hey."

James jumped and dropped the spatula. "Shauna, hey! Uh, how'd you get in?"

"The front door was unlocked," his girlfriend Shauna said, entering the kitchen.

James raised an eyebrow. "So you just walked in?"

"I wanted to surprise you!"

"Well, mission accomplished, I guess." James gingerly fished the spatula handle out the butter. "But maybe knock first next time. I'm not quite as into surprises as you are."

Shauna crossed her arms. "Sure. I'll make sure to give you plenty of notice next time."

"Thanks." James gestured at the stove. "I'm making tuna steak, by the way."

"I can see that."

"It's nearly done. Can you set the table?"

"Sure." Shauna pulled two plates out of the cupboard and walked out into the dining room. "By the way," she called over her shoulder, "how was the movie?"

"Movie?"

"You know. Trash Monsters Destroy the City. At the theater."

"How'd you know about that?"

"You posted a picture of the poster on Facebook." Shauna returned for the cutlery. "Why did you go without me?"

"I didn't think you would be interested," James said. He picked up the frying pan and slid the tuna steak onto a serving plate.

"I was interested. Last week you promised me we'd go together, remember?"

"Did I?" James carried the tuna steak to the table. "I could've sworn..."

"Could've sworn...?" Shauna pressed.

James shook his head. "Nothing." He took a deep breath. "Man, that smells good, right? I'm ready to eat. Let's eat."

Shauna sighed and slid into the chair opposite James.

"You seem a little off today," James said. "Busy day?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to."

"That bad, huh?"

"Let's go with that."

"Cool." James nodded, and that was the end of that. His phone began to vibrate with an incoming call, but he read the name and decided to let it go to voicemail.