Under The Skin

C h a p t e r E i g h t

© Amber Kalkes 2015

Song: "Love, Love, Love" By Of Monsters And Men {Live Version}

C h a p t e r E i g h t >

Cassidy is in the kitchen with Jace most of the morning. Since the run will be held here this year that means they're in charge of the feast and party that follows. She's covered in flour from head to toe from when they were making strudels but she doesn't mind it. She wouldn't mind anything at the moment actually. She's just thrilled to be able to hang out with her big brother today.

Jace hasn't studied the culinary arts officially but that doesn't mean he's not a genius in the kitchen. Currently, Cassidy is in the middle of painstakingly rolling the dough into the perfect shape for the wagashi sweets. According to Jace have to be perfect if they're going to be served, something he learned from Mrs. Hashimoto, his boss at the sweet shop he works at. The pressure has her hand shaking and her stomach in knots as she tries to make the dough into a perfectly round shape.

"Is this good?" She asks and Jace glances at it before nodding.

"It's good. You know if your looking for a job I can put in a word for you at the shop."

Cassidy shakes her head immediately, "No, I don't think I could do it. From what you've told me of Mrs. Hashimoto she would fire me the first day."

"You're probably right," Jace admits before smiling at her, "But then again she fires everyone at least once a day."

Cassidy laughs a little and places the perfectly rolled piece of dough on the wax paper sheet in front of her, "I think I'm going to go get some air, okay? It's warm in here."

"That's because he has every contraption on in this damn kitchen and probably a few more in the basement just for good measure."

Cassidy looks up and sees Mackenzie smirking at the pair of them before reaching over the counter to grab an apple strudel from the cooling rack. She bites into it and does an embarrassingly loud moan that has Jace grinning and Cassidy blushing bright red. After swallowing the bite, Mackenzie licks some crumbs off her mouth and gives Jace a heated look.

"You need to stop seducing me with food babe or I may never leave you."

Jace arches a dark auburn brow at her, "Is that supposed to encourage or discourage me?"

She shrugs, "I don't care how you take as long as you just keep feeding me."

"I-I'm going to go get some air," Cassidy says, her blush only getting brighter when she sees the look on Jace's face. Doesn't he realize he's in a room full of teenagers who are watching their display like entertainment? Maybe but more likely he just doesn't care.

Jace doesn't answer her and she takes it as the close to an 'okay' as she'll get. Untying the blue polka-dotted apron from around her lower back she pulls it off over her head and sighs as more discarded flour falls over her head. It'll take a few showers to get all of this out, she's sure. Using the back kitchen door, Cassidy walks outside to the side yard of the house. The woods are pretty close to here and she can smell the fresh pine as she takes a deep breath of cool air.

Cassidy pulls at her baby blue sweater and tries to get the flour out of it but it just forms a cloud that hits her in the face when the wind picks up. She coughs when it goes down the wrong tube in her throat. She sounds like she's dying or something and it catches the attention of someone she's wanted to see anyway.

"Shit, Cass, are you okay?"

Cassidy nods as she continues to cough up the flour before doing a very unlady like spit on the ground, "Flour."