Afraid

Ch. 18 - I like you

Violet

I awaken to the sound of loud curses coming from the kitchen, if you consider 'shoot' and 'crap' to be curse words. Which I don't. Unless you're Eleanor, of course. I yawn, my heavy eyelids fluttering closed as I blindly reach for my water bottle. My mouth dry and my eyes puffy after spending most of yesterday crying. I sit up carefully, not wanting to disturb Olive but I notice she's not even here.

I look around my sunlit room, confused. Where is she?

I get out of bed, deciding to follow the noise downstairs. The kitchen comes into view and I find myself having to bite back a laugh at the chaos ensuing.

"What the hell is going on?", I stare wide eyed at Eleanor as she runs for the waffle maker, attempting to peel off a burnt waffle stuck to the inside. Smoke wafting from the waffle maker. I turn on the fan overhead, hoping it helps the smoke disperse.

"Oh no, you're up!" , She pouts, furiously scraping off the burnt waffle in chunks into the trash, "I wanted to have breakfast ready for us".

"Is that what this is?", I survey the destroyed kitchen with a nervous smile. The island in complete disarray, packed with opened ingredients and failed attempts of breakfast foods—burnt omelets, gooey scrambled eggs, pancake batter splattered everywhere, and a pile of charred pancakes and waffles. I survey the stove, making sure none of the burners were left on, when smoke starts rising from the oven.

"Oh my god, what did you do?", I yell, panicked. I grab oven mitts and quickly remove a baking sheet of what looks like burnt slivers of bacon and toss it in the sink.

I cringe. Oh god. Who let El near a stove? Why wasn't anyone supervising her? I glare at Olive, almost accusatory, as she ignores me, happily eating scrambled eggs scraps from off the floor.

"Oh no! Did it burn? I thought it would be a healthier way to cook it", She sends me a sheepish look, "you know, instead of frying it". She mutters, concentrating on pouring more batter into the waffle maker. I should probably stop her.

I laugh at her absurdity, "Um yeah! I didn't even know I had bacon"

"Turkey bacon", She corrects me.

I roll my eyes, intervening and taking the bowl of batter out of her hands. I adjust the waffle maker temperature then close it.

"By the way, I think your waffle maker is broken", El muses as she attempts to scrape off the burnt bacon from the baking sheet. I glance at the charred bits still stubbornly stuck on the sheet. That's gonna be a bitch to clean off.

"It looks to be working just fine", I gesture to the pile of burnt waffles on the counter.

She scoffs, "That's exactly my point! It didn't beep!", she throws her hands up in exasperation, "it's supposed to beep! How else am I supposed to know it's done?"

I cover my mouth with the back of my hand to keep from laughing but a few chuckles manage to escape, "It doesn't beep! You're supposed to keep watch!...oh my god". Another laugh escapes.

"Well how am I supposed to know that!?", She screams, incredulously. The baking sheet flopping in the air as she waves it around.

I laugh, taking it from her and placing it back in the sink. "Hasn't Robs been trying to teach you how to cook?"

She lets out an exaggerated sigh, "Ugh yeah, but I always zone out every time he gets started", she hangs her head dramatically on the kitchen counter, "It's just soooooo boring".