Sweet on You

Chapter 5

The next day, Lydia lounged around at home. Rhia had asked for more hours so Lydia didn’t feel too guilty asking her to work this weekend. She craved some much needed relaxation after the events of the past two weeks. The only thing Lydia needed to do this weekend that required the slightest bit of work, was baking a cake for her cousin, Nathan.
   
Lydia hummed to herself while she set the ingredients for the cake on the counter. Xander sat across from her, sipping his coffee while he watched her. “What kind of cake?”
   
“Chocolate,” Lydia answered. Nathan requested the cake to be the most chocolate-y cake that ever existed. Lydia was happy to oblige, being a firm believer chocolate cake was the ultimate cause of happiness.
   
Xander finished off his coffee, placed the mug in the sink, and then turned to Lydia. “Do you want help?”
   
Lydia was taken aback by the offer, but she hid it. Instead, she nodded her head. “Sure.”
   
Lydia ruffled through her cabinets to find her recipe card box.
Although she memorized the recipe, she wanted Xander to be able to read it so he could help her without needing to ask her what to do. She had a feeling Xander didn’t particularly like not knowing how to do something.
   
After Xander washed his hands, Lydia handed him the recipe. “You could prepare the wet ingredients, and I can do the dry.”
   
Xander nodded, grazing her fingers gently as he took the card from her. Lydia hated the way it made her feel, knowing he’d think nothing of the action at all.  He went into the fridge and dug out the eggs while she sifted the flour.
   
“Did you ever bake when you were younger?” Lydia asked, breaking the silence.

Xander shook his head as he set himself up beside her at the counter. “No, I just ate whatever my grandmother baked.”

Lydia grinned. “Taste-testing is the best part. Did your grandmother bake a lot?”

“Oh yeah, between me and my grandfather’s appetite, she had no choice,” he chuckled quietly, but stopped as soon as he realized what he had just revealed.

They fell into another silence until Xander began cracking the first egg. Cracking was a bit of an understatement, seeing as he smashed it on the counter. Lydia flinched at the sound, her eyes wide as she looked up at Xander, who looked just as surprised as she was.
Red tinted his cheeks ever-so-slightly. “I always thought they were harder to break.”

Lydia burst into a fit of laughter. She grabbed the closests dish cloth and began wiping away the broken yoke off the counter. Without thinking, she also began to clean off Xander’s hand, which had remnants of egg shell and egg whites left on them. Xander’s breath hitched at the contact, but he didn’t move away. “I think I shouldn’t help anymore.”

“Nonsense,” Lydia said, done wiping away the ill-fated egg. “How about I do the wet ingredients and you do the dry?”

Xander nodded his head, the tint of red still lingering on his cheeks. “That probably would be best.”

After that, the pair worked seamlessly. Usually, Lydia hated sharing the kitchen, too many people overwhelmed and frustrated her, but Xander seemed to know where she was going before she made a move, giving her plenty of space to not feel crowded. 

However, Lydia felt bad. She knew he was embarrassed about the egg incident and she wanted to even the playing ground. To make him feel more comfortable. “When I first started baking,” she began, feeling Xander’s gaze on her while she poured the mixture in a round pan. “I was atrocious. Before I bothered to learn the basics, I decided to try crazy experiments. My dad took them like a champ until one went horribly wrong.”

Xander cocked an eyebrow. “How bad?”

“He went to the hospital with food poisoning,” Lydia replied, biting her lip, waiting for his reaction. She wished she was lying, but it was true.