Baker - G. BLYTHE

|38|

-ˋˏ *.·:·. [TWO WEEKS LATER] .·:·.* ˎˊ-

WITH THE ARRIVAL OF SUMMER VACATION, CAME THE ARRIVAL OF THE COUNTY FAIR AND A DELIGHTFUL SUNSHINE. Summer had never been more lively, chatter buzzed among the residents, summer-themed cakes and pastries flew out of the bakery at alarming rates and the fields of the Rayhill property saw floods of people daily coming to sunbathe, paint, read or just a chat in between the flowers. Despite all this, Charlotte often found herself standing in her bedroom painting the goings-on from a distance. Painting grew to be the only thing she didn't find herself getting confused about, the paints seemed to just sweep onto the paper without much thought. Her head raced with questions, questions that were not in any way shape or form helped by going over to Bash and Gilbert's every day without fail. Charlotte could not look him directly in the eye, she desperately tried to avoid being alone with him in a room in fear that the same feelings that she felt during the dance practice would occur. She didn't want to feel this way, it made everything too complex and she loathed the fact that a faint blush would bloom when he greeted her.

Charlotte found herself striding up and down the counters in the front of the bakery, trying to keep up with the requests of an old woman who was ordering. This order was likely to be the biggest one ever made, all the cakes and pastries were funnelled out of the bakery and into a carriage for a rather important garden party full of important people. After the rather large sum of money had been handed over and the lady had left with her abundance of workers, Charlotte slumped over on her stool with aches in every one of her limbs. Within minutes she was back on her aching feet again, ready to serve another customer. The tension in her shoulders relaxed slightly when she saw Gilbert walking toward her, she dimpled at the sight of him.

"Does your Brother happen to have any cufflinks?" he asked after they had greeted each other. Rían had quite the collection of cufflinks, he took pride in them all and they were one of the many things in his room that she wasn't allowed to breathe on let alone touch. She didn't dare ask what it was for, cufflinks weren't something one would typically wear so whatever Gilbert was headed to do had to be something special.

"He does," she replied turning to open the door to the kitchen. Charlotte's grasp on the door handle seemed tighter than usual as it swung open. Her brother stood in the kitchen, helping Mother to decorate one of the larger cakes that someone had ordered. You could hear everything through that door so she knew that they knew who she had been talking to for the past ten or so minutes. "Rían, Tá cufaí ag teastáil uaidh." (He needs cufflinks) The Rayhill siblings currently had a bet going on, the first person to talk to the other in English had to jump into the pond at the bottom of the fields. It had lasted the better half of two weeks. Her Brother got up from his stool and walked into the main part of the bakery, an amused look on his face as he looked between the two teenagers.

"Ní féidir leat breathnú air i ndáiríre, an féidir leat?"(You really can't look at him can you?) he teased, nudging his sister with his elbow. Charlotte grabbed the nearest thing - which happened to be a wiping cloth- and swat him on the arm to try and get him to stop. Rían however didn't quite get the message and kept giving her funny, suggestive looks. Each one vexing her further, each one deepening the confused furrow of Gilbert's eyebrows. She couldn't have been more glad for their bet then and there, Gilbert didn't have enough knowledge of the language to have any idea what he was saying.

"Is féidir liom dul agus iad a fháil mé féin tá a fhios agat." (I can just go and get them myself you know) she replied, struggling to not show her anger. Showing anger meant that Gilbert could have asked questions about the context of the conversation to make sure she was alright, something which Charlotte wanted to avoid at all costs. She wasn't a very good liar when it was on the spot, especially when it concerned her own protection.