Frenemies with benefits

Chapter 2. - Throwback Thursday

It was already the end of week 4 at school. It was Thursday, which means a mandatory staff meeting from 4 pm. Hurray. Every staff meeting was dedicated to baked goods, coffee, and tea. If we must suffer, do it in style, and I oversaw that. I have a pretty successful Instagram account under the name theflourgirl, where everything was about baking. Tips, technique insights, and a ton of baked goods. I'm not making any difference between sweet, salty, or even savory. I make sourdough bread of any kind, pastries, cookies, cakes, and every oven-related stuff. The theme of the first week was France, so I prepared green tea macarons with Boston vanilla crème, chocolate fake croissant (I'm not going to turn my kitchen into an igloo just to be sure, that the butter is completely chilled), and some sourdough baguettes with creamy camembert. I made 2 batches of coffee and Earl Grey tea. I was thriving, and everybody was pleased with the results. Somehow my Wednesdays are always short, I wonder why.

Last week, at the end of the meeting Mr. Figgs offered the new ones to choose as the next theme for our meeting. Lucinda cried out, "Oh, can we have Spain? My grandma emigrated from Spain and I'm dying for proper Latin sweets!" I couldn't help myself and a frown just appeared on my face. Susan and Dominic chuckled so hard, that it sounded like they suffocated. I spent the entire weekend finding recipes that are as authentic as possible. I decided to make churros with salted caramel sauce, Basque cheesecake, and some savory pestiños. Pestiños are supposed to be sweet, but I always prepare some savory options for the staff as well.

With Dominic we got an understatement. Since we cannot avoid each other nowhere, we tried and became friends. Or something else. Good neighbors at least. Polite greetings and small talk by the mailbox. He never knocked if I had any sugar though.

This Thursday felt off though. The previous afternoon all the delicious stuff just couldn't come together. It was either too sweet or not too sweet, it drove me crazy. In the morning, I was in a serious hurry, stepping into the car together with Dominic. Shove all my stuff in the trunk, hopped into the driver seat turn on the ignition... my beloved Mazda coughed up some fairy dust and nothing more. I could not believe it. Just to be sure, I tried to start my car at least 3 other times, but I gave up. I leaned close to the wheel, and I was very tempted to smash my skull into it. Just relax, Amber. Breathe in, breathe out. This fucking yoga breathing didn't help shit. I was about to cry when a soft knock reached my mind. Peaked out from my hair just to see Dominic effing Webster waving and smiling.

"Do you need a ride?" I swallowed my pride and just nodded to him. With my magic touch, the trunk flew open, as a sign for him to carry the food while I get my shit together. 5 minutes later we were on the road.

"Thanks, Dominic, I really appreciate your help." See, I can be civilized, if I want to.

We were a couple minutes into driving when the silence started to bother me.

"May I ask something?"

"You may, but not sure that I will answer, Amber."

"Is this the same car where we fucked?" His grip tightened.

"Yes."

"Man, it's giving me goosebumps. It was the first time when I ever fucked in a car." Or ever ever. But he didn't need to know.

"It is my... pleasure?" Yep, the conversation was awkward as fuck.

"Why didn't change?"

"I never had the money for it."

"If I recall correctly, you are rich."

"Magda and Elliott are rich, not me." I shoot him a questioning look. "My parents. I crossed their plans when I told them that I am going to be a teacher. They didn't approve and broke my piggy bank."