Fractured

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"And now... it's finally... done," he said, just as he finished covering the rest of the baked and mysterious cake with chocolate frosting.  I didn't know how the cake would taste but let me tell you, the frosting was amazing.  After all, I ate more than I should have from the container. 

Looking down at our seemingly all-day creation, standing beside the one guy who helped, there was only one thing left to do.  And that was to taste it.   After a little bit, we each cut ourselves a piece and put it on a plate along with a fork.  Because we were so messy, once again, we accompanied each other on the floor, sittiing against the bottom cupboards that supported our backs.  Sitting next to him on the floor, plate in hand, I glanced to Luke with a smile but let the seriousness of the situation fill the air. Squinting my eyes in a dramatic fashion up to his, I nodded slowly.  "Moment of truth..." I said.

"We need to prepare for dramatic results," he nodded, in all seriousness, tilting his head down more to catch my gaze next to him.  His lips freezing in a perfect line, I could tell him and I were on the same side with how important this was.  This could make or break our afternoon.  We have to brace ourselves for the worst.  Like Armageddon.

Plates of cake tempting us as they sat in our laps, I had one last thing to say in our moment of all 'seriousness' - which I loved about Luke.  He understood the humor in our sarcastic serious game.  "Okay, before we try it, lets make a deal."

He raised an eyebrow and hide his smirk under his playful mask.  "I'm listening," he said dramatically.

"Since you are so great at baking, as you put it, there should be a punishment if it tastes bad."

His face broke and showed clear amusement at my words.  "Man, you have no faith in me.  I bet it will taste great."

"And if it doesn't?"

"If it doesn't, then you have permission to humiliate me."  After he said that, he looked a little doubtful.  Of course, he was too proud to back out and was keeping his little act up of trying to stay confident and cocky.

"Ooh," I smiled.  "Sounds good.  How?"

He scoffed.  "Worry about the details if it actually comes to that.  But it wont."

Once we agreed to it, it was time to figure out how well we did with our baking skills.  At the same time, we each pierced the cake with the fork. It took a bit of effort, but we got the fork in and managed to take a bite.

The first thing I tasted was anything but a land of deliciousness.  You could taste little flavor and the rest was just a sour taste with a tint of bitterness.  Not to mention how tough it was to chew.  I took a few bites and I knew that I was eating something comparable to horse shit.  Looking up at Luke, I saw that he was forcing a blank face as best as he could though it was clear how disgruntled the taste was through his furrowing eyebrows and tense shoulders. 

"That is terrible!" I said in disgust, giving up on trying to chew the damn thing.  I spit it out on my plate and did my body a favor in doing so.  We would get sick if we digested that shit. 

The lingering taste in my mouth gave me no choice in what I had to do.  With me sitting on the floor, closest to the fridge, I set my plate down on the floor and quickly crawled to the massive fridge from down below on the floor.  When I reached up and grabbed the handle, opening it, I grabbed the milk carton on the fridge door, slammed it shut, and crawled back to Luke's side, sitting against the cupboard.  Comfortable, I twisted the cap open and pressed it to my lips, lifting the jug up and letting gravity do it's job as I drank the milk and washed the taste away.  Sorry guys, I know it's rude or whatever to drink from the carton but this was an emergency.