Capture The Moment (boyxboy)

Chapter 3: Eggs

"I was looking forward to eating that!"

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Clark was more than relieved that Roshan had finally made his way to the front of the class and was even more blessed that he was sat at the back.  He stares at the solitary egg laying on its side on the desk in front of him. He had never felt pressure like this in his life. He would have preferred an exam any day! 

"Ok..." Roshan says, clapping his hands together, making Clark jump and bump the table with his knee, causing the egg to wobble. "To your right or your left, depending on which side of the room you are sitting, you will see a circular disk with a handle. If you lift it, you will find your gas ring." 

Clark watches as the others in the class lift up the disks to reveal one singular gas ring. He now does the same. He looks up to the front again to see Roshan with an almost identical setup. He is now pulling items from a cupboard to the left of his table. "It goes without saying that you will need a frying pan, a spatula and some cooking oil." He now places all the items before him. "Please watch closely as I demonstrate." 

Now all eyes, including Clark's, are on the front as Roshan turns on the gas ring, drizzles a spiral of oil into the pan and seconds later is cracking an egg using one hand on the frying pan's raised edge, before letting it fall and sizzle in the now hot oil. 

Clark watches on in awe and envy in equal measures as the perfect looking egg comes into form, with Roshan finishing off with the egg being slid onto a plate. "So simple. Now you go." 

Clark suddenly feels like he is brought back into the room. He felt the pressure, it was real! Not only did he now have to produce a fried egg, but a perfect fried egg as he had apparently done this before. It didn't help one bit that it was  under the watchful eyes of Chef Roshan, the guy whom he didn't even know an hour ago, but now had somehow ignited a fire of something within him. That 'something' Clark was still figuring out. 

He momentarily watches Ben and Tully work together as one, with one putting on the gas ring, whilst the other swirls the oil around the pan. Clark felt very single right now, so much so, it physically hurt his chest. 

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Clark looks up to see Roshan walking slowly his way, with his hands laced together behind his back as if he were an exam monitor. 

"Of course!" Clark insists as he attempts to turn on the gas ring, but the God damn thing isn't lighting. Come on... light!

"Ok, you're actually killing me right now." Roshan laughs as he literally pushes his way right up to Clark, who wasn't quite ready for the invasion of his personal space, before igniting the gas flame and again stepping back. 

Clark again reluctantly steps forward. The sequence of culinary events leaves his thoughts entirely as he picks up his egg and attempts to crack it just as Roshan had, but not only does it fall into the pan along with half of the shell, it begins to burn almost instantly. 

"The oil. You forgot the oil!" Roshan shouts as the smell of burnt egg fills the room with Roshan resorting to turning off the gas ring and pushing the pan onto the trivet. "I think you need to start telling me the truth." He says with an irritation in his voice as he tries to fan the smell away with his hands.

"You, you distracted me, hovering over me. I can't work when people watch!" Clark shouts back. 

"I'm your teacher, I'm trying to teach you! How am I supposed to know how well you are doing if I cannot see what you are doing?" 

Clark suddenly heads to the front of the class, pulls Roshan's frying pan from the table and heads to his station once again, pulling yet another egg from the basket on the way. "I will show you!" Clark insists as he again ignites the gas ring, maybe pouring far too much oil in, before cracking the egg. The oil begins to spatter like mad, dancing up from the pan like a firecracker. It isn't long before it hits Clark's skin, making him pull away and curse at his own carelessness. "Shit!" 

"Ok, that's enough now." Roshan reaches forward to grab a hold of Clark's hand, but he pulls it back in protest. 

"I'm ok, I'm ok." He insists, still trying to fry the egg. 

"You have burnt yourself and you need first aid." Roshan reiterates as he again takes the hand of Clark. This time, he doesn't protest so much. The burn did actually hurt quite a bit. "Everyone turn off your gas burners and take five." He hollers, with "Yes chef." Echoing around the room, as Roshan leads Clark away by the hand out of the classroom.

Tully pouts as he looks at his half cooked egg. "I was looking forward to eating that." He huffs.