The Hills | w2s

ten.

Before cooking, Stephen started to fiddle with the cupboards and drawers. "Is everything alright?" Cal asked with a confused look planted onto his long face.

"Yeah, just struggling with this kitchen mate. I'm used to eating and cooking in my own area." Stephen then went on to ramble on about his experience in his GCSE Food-Tech class. "I had to share with an albino, so, bad memories." He cracked up as he continued. "He's gone a bit UKIP-y now, didn't really have a choice, did he? Bless him."

Isabelle thought to herself 'what the fuck is this guy on about'. She was quick to make her own joke, "I had to cook with a ginger, so not much has really changed for me in terms of cooking partners, has it?" She wasn't lying, except for the fact she didn't do GSCE Food-Tech, she did just regular Food-Tech in the years leading up to her GCSE's. The joke managed to earn her a laugh from Harry which was rare - who was leaning against the wall out of shot, just watching with a red solo cup filled with beer in his hand - and a jokingly disappointed look from Stephen, who tried hard not to laugh.

Isabelle thought, that for some reason that she couldn't quite pin point, the Dr Pepper jumper just looked really good on Harry, especially combined with his usual messy hair, that he somehow pulls of seamlessly. He looked like a hot mess in all the right ways. If it wasn't for the cameras and their friends stood around them, she would have pounced on him and planted a kiss right on his soft lips, but she couldn't allow herself to do that.

Once Callux had joined them, Harry finished his drink and threw his cup to Stephen who then poured a 50/50 Vodka Red Bull mixture into his cup. "Hang on a second, this isn't fair. He's already ahead of me because he was under budget, and now he's supplying drinks?" Isabelle complained at the disadvantage she'd been forced into. "Ref?" She asked, looking around to see if anybody would take her side, yet nobody did and she just huffed with a laugh. Isabelle then went on to frantically look around the kitchen until she saw a bottle of Pino Grigio. "Lux, any interest in some Pino?" She offered, hoping he'd take her offer feeling some sympathy. Freezy looked astonished that she'd just nabbed his bottle of wine and she shot him a 'I'll buy you another'  look.

"Go on then, to make things fair." Lux answered as she was already pouring it into a cup on the kitchen countertop.

"On your marks, get set, cook! 25 minutes on the clock." The timer had started and Isabelle and Stephen had already began to fight over pots, pans and utensils due to the lack there of.

Isabelle grabbed a pan and rushed to get the larger chopping board and a sharp enough knife to cut the onions she'd bought. Her eyes were extremely sensitive to onions, they always had been and she never exactly knew why, all she knew was that they were her kryptonite.

Once she started chopping, she could already feel her eyes burning from the stench coming from the vegetable. Within 15 seconds of chopping, Isabelle had mascara stained tears running down her cheek. Unable to do anything about it other than dab it on her sleeve as Cal made Sam get a close up for the thumbnail. Isabelle couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else at the state the onion fumes had put her in.

Due to her eyes being filled with water, her vision was slightly blurry and she managed to slice into her finger. It wasn't major, just a little bit deeper than a papercut. The onion juices on the knife made the stinging feel much worse than it needed to be.

"For fuck sake." Isabelle mumbled out in frustration. "First I'm partially blind, now I'm bleeding." Harry left to get her a plaster as she ran her finger under the tap, trying to wash out the onion juices. Unfortunately there were none so he brought toilet paper and some cello tape and be applied it around her finger to which she thanked him for. After that fiasco, she continued trying to battle with the onions.

"My blood, sweat and tears are going into this dish, literally. So if I lose to this..." Isabelle pointed at Stephen next to her "...I'll never cook again!"

"The albino would be laughing at your shit show shenanigans." Stephen chimed in.

Due to the inconvenience, she'd lost 2 minutes and Stephen was already miles ahead of her with his meal. She took the finely chopped onions and placed them into a pre-heated pan with a drop of oil and left them to brown whilst she cut up the chicken to put in next.

"I have a feeling we're not gonna get any good meals in today." Harry laughed to Lux.

Throughout cooking, Isabelle and Harry's eyes had met multiple times, holding eye contact after not seeing each other in weeks, which she had hoped wasn't able to be recognised by the fans when the video was later uploaded.

Eventually it got to the last 30 seconds of the time they were allocated to cook. "30 seconds on the clock, best start playing up chefs." Cal shouted.

Isabelle played up her fajitas, and Stephen slopped his pasta onto a plate, placing a basil leaf on top... as if it was going to save his dish.

A/N
I feel like this chapter is so long so doing the results in the next chapter :)