New York Gem

Chapter 10

"Girls, we're going to go to the races tonight." Momma told us while we were cleaning up our stations after work. 

"Okay!" I nodded, gathering the materials for tomorrow's pie crust. 

"We'll come home after maybe an hour." Dad added.

"Yes, sir." Amber grinned, throwing away old onion skins. They left a short while later. "Hopefully they don't gamble too much."

"Momma hates gambling." I reminded her.

"She doesn't need to know." She shrugged. I gasped sharply.

"You know what I want?" I looked at her.

"An orange." Amber replied as she wiped the counter down. 

"An orange!" I agreed loudly, accidentally slamming a bag of flour onto the counter.

(As I eat an orange)

Amber was about to say something snarky when someone knocked on the glass window. We both looked up to see JoJo and Henry. We both then went to get the door.

"What're you doing here?" Amber asked, looking between them. 

"We's seen your folks leave and didn't want you to be here alone." Henry replied. I smiled in response and we let them in, locking the door behind. 

"I ain't never been here when it's closed." Henry commented, looking around with wide eyes.

"Pfft, slacker." JoJo crossed his arms with a scoff. Henry shoved him, turning to Amber.

"How've you been?" He asked her. 

"I saw you yesterday." She raised a red eyebrow. He grinned and held his finger to his mouth in a shh motion, eyes twinkling.

"Anyway," he shook his head violently. JoJo and I were watching intently, standing close to each other. "Percy's taken a month long trip to Maine and Mr. Jacobi wants me to take over while he's gone. Can you please show me how to do a few of the recipes?"

"Yes!" Amber nodded quickly. She whisked him to her station and got a few ingredients. I shrugged and dragged JoJo to the back kitchen. I then heaved the flour and other things for pie crust onto the counter.

"What're we makin'?" He asked.

"Tomorrow's pie crust." I informed him, wiping the counter down and poured a mound of flour onto it. JoJo grinned and raced to the rack where we kept the aprons. Then he came back and turned me to look at him. I knelt dramatically like he was going to knight me and he laughed and put an apron over my head. 

"Okay." I grinned, cracking my knuckles and putting a hole into the mound and putting ingredients into it.

"This is gonna be messy." JoJo decided. I nodded and threw my hands into it and started mixing. (To preface: 1, I haven't made pie crust in over a year so this is gonna be sloppy. 2 , this upcoming isn't my idea. It's my friend Amanda (Amanda Stevens, wattpad does a funky thing with usernames) she writes stuff.) 

"Your turn." I stepped aside after getting a start. I mixed it to the point of it not being incredibly gross. "But wash your hands first."

He nodded and washed his hands in the sink. When he came back, he thrust his hands into the dough. I winced at his technique. 

"Am I doing it wrong?" He laughed.

"Way." I grimaced, joining him at the counter. I then showed him what to do. Brows furrowed in concentration, he followed my lead. "No." I took his hand and showed him the rhythm.

"Got it." He nodded after a minute. I stepped back and let him have another go. 

After a few long minutes, it was done.

"What now?" JoJo asked, holding his now dough-y hands in front of him. 

"You wash your hands." I laughed, ushering him towards the sink. While he was gone, I plopped the dough into a bowl, covered it with a cloth, and stuck it into the fridge. 

"Okay!" He smiled, bouncing back. "What next?"

"We..." I trailed off, eyes landing on a dark spot in the corner. JoJo followed my gaze.

"The heck is that?" His eyes widened. I picked up a wood spoon and inched towards it with JoJo close behind. The second I got close enough to know what it was, it moved. I yelped and jumped back into him. He caught me.

"It's a cockroach." I informed him hastily.

"Don't like cockroaches?" JoJo laughed, lightly sidestepping past me I crouching down. It skittered away. I jumped up onto the counter with the spoon in hand, not keen on it touching me. JoJo chased after it and eventually slammed his foot onto it, emitting a gag-worthy crunch. 

"How?" I gaped, reluctant to jump back down. JoJo joined me on the countertop. 

"I live in the Lodging House." He laughed, absent mindedly picking my hand up. 

"That's...! That's fair." I conceded, hearing Amber and Henry laugh. I then turned and pressed my lips to his. He breathed in sharply and moved his hand to the side of my face.

"We're back!" I jumped off the counter at the sound of Momma's voice and pulled JoJo off as well.

"Hi!" I exclaimed when we greeted them. Dad's brow raised at the sight of JoJo. Henry was hiding. 

This won't end well, I thought to myself. 

"What'cha doing there, son?" Dad saw him. Henry winced and stood back up.

"Hi." He grimaced. "I's just been hired at Jacobi's and I needed help with a couple'a recipes."

"Was that all that happened?" Dad raised a brow.

"Yes, sir." Henry gulped.

"I would suggest you come back in the morning." Momma advised. Henry nodded and scurried off after shooting Amber an apologetic glance. 

"I'm going to let that slide." Dad told her, then looked at JoJo. "You can go now too."

"Thanks for coming." Momma told him. "And tell that other boy thanks."

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded, leaving. 

~Time skip to later that night~

"That could've gone better." I sighed, pulling the blanket over myself.

"Agreed." Amber nodded.

"Hey, but you and Henry--" I started as she turned off the light.

"Grow up, Brooke." Amber sighed, turning over and going to sleep. I stayed sitting with my brows furrowed for another moment.