Blue

nine

Karina woke up to a beam of sun streaming across the bedsheets, practically blinding her. She groaned, rolling over and reaching out for the smaller girl next to her. When all her hand found was a clump of blankets, she grew confused.

The brown eyed girl groggily sat up, wiping her eyes and looking around the room. There was no sign of Winter. Her mind instantly thought back to the night before, to what they'd confessed to one another. Karina's heart stopped.

Was it too much for Winter? Had she gotten up and left in the middle of the night? Anxiety boiled in Karina's veins and she quickly threw the blankets off of her legs, hurrying down the hallway to confirm her greatest fear.

She let out a sigh of relief when she found Winter's converse in the same spot they had been the night before, at the bottom of the stairs. Just as she was about to call out to the girl, she heard a groan of frustration echoing from the kitchen.

Karina moved forward slowly, listening for a moment.

"Now add one forth of a cup of oil and-,"

"No!" Winter huffed, tapping on the iPad and rewinding the video. Karina peered out from behind the wall, watching the small girl in her pajamas studying the iPad intensely.

"Add one tablespoon of salt," the voice rang out from the iPad. Winter groaned, pausing the video and looking around the kitchen slowly. Her eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance.

"There is no spoon on the table, I told you!" she mumbled, shaking her head and pressing her palms on the counter. She picked up the empty bowl, holding it up and eyeing it suspiciously. This wasn't turning out the way she thought it would.

She started the video over, watching as the woman added a cup of flour into the bowl. A cup. One cup. That sounded familiar. Winter walked over to the cabinets, finding the yellow cup she usually drank out of and padding back over to counter.

Before she could scoop it into the container of flour, though, Karina quickly scooted out from behind the wall and caught her attention.

"That's not the kind of cup they're talking about," Karina laughed softly, walking over to Winter and opening one of drawers. She pulled out a measuring cup and handed it to the smaller girl.

Winter's shoulders dropped when Karina appeared. This was supposed to be a surprise. And now she'd ruined it, because she couldn't follow the simple instructions in the video. Karina noticed this.

"Hey, hey it's okay, cooking is never easy," Karina ran her hand down Winter's arm and squeezed her hand. "Following a video is pretty hard too. You can never keep up with them."

Winter shook her head and took a step backwards. "I was trying to make you a surprise," she admitted, sighing heavily. The smaller girl turned back to the iPad, slamming her hands down on the island.

"You lied about the tablespoons!" she shook the iPad, groaning in frustration. Karina bit her lip, grabbing Winter's hand before she broke something valuable.

"Jeong, it's fine," Karina laughed softly and shook her head. "It's not a big deal. I appreciate the effort, though," she gave Winter a comforting smile.

"No," Winter pulled away from Karina and began pacing back and forth. "I am broken, this is not normal. I am bad. I can not do this. I should be able to do this."

Karina opened her mouth to speak but Winter continued pacing in circles around the island, mumbling to herself. Growing frustrated, Karina slammed her hands down on the counter.

"You don't need to be fixed, Winter! You aren't broken!"

The smaller girl jumped backwards, staring at Karina with wide eyes. The older girl's outburst was unexpected. She took a few steps away from Karina and brought her hands up in front of her face.