𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐘 → original

six

Much of the first day was spent lounging around in the living room, each of them too tired to make the walk to the lake. Ophelia and Lou passed the time by playing cards on the living room floor while Amory and Marc half-watched their game and half-watched the movie that was playing on the TV. Caspar sat on the couch upstairs in the other living room, reading by lamplight. Tyler was outside for all of this, going back and forth between the shed and the front yard, occasionally splitting firewood.

When it hit 5 pm, Marc busied himself in the kitchen. He had made Caspar stop at a grocery store in town, which was only about a 20 minute drive down the mountain. He didn't plan to cook elaborate meals for everyone every night, but the first night felt like a special occasion. When it came to his cooking, he was still a little like the guy he was in college. He wanted to show it off.

Ophelia stood for the first time and stretched her legs, both she and Lou tired of every card game they had run through. Ophelia excused herself and joined Marc in the kitchen, smiling widely at him as he prepped.

"Need any help, chef?" Ophelia questioned, resting her hip on the counter and crossing her arms.

Marc looked up at her in shock, like he had been so focused that he hadn't even heard her come in. He preferred to do the cooking alone, truthfully, but Ophelia had such kind eyes and looked so eager to help that he couldn't turn her down. He nodded his head slowly, then gestured to the bag of potatoes on the end of the counter.

"Sure, you want to start peeling those for me?"

"On it." Ophelia saluted him, then got to work.

It didn't take more than 10 minutes for Marc to realize the mistake he had made. For starters, Ophelia seemed to miss the vegetable peeler in the drawer and had begun peeling the potatoes with a knife, which of course led to misshapen potatoes and a nicked thumb.

"Alright, let's get you off of potatoes." Marc laughed lightly after securing a bandaid around her thumb. "Um, how about..." He thought for a moment, trying to figure out where she could do the least amount of damage. He was going to ask her to trim the asparagus and get it prepped to go in the oven, but then he thought better of asking her to handle knives. "Well, what are you usually good at in the kitchen?"

"Honestly?" Ophelia raised her eyebrows. "Um. Well, nothing. I once burnt pasta."

"You..." Marc paused, genuine concern and shock on his face. "You burnt pasta? How... How do you even do that?"

"Well, I guess I didn't put enough water in the pot, and I also forgot about it, so when I remembered all the water had boiled off and the pasta was just kind of blackened and stuck to the pot. Had to throw the whole thing out."

Marc was looking at her like she was crazed, his eyebrows raised and his eyes wide. He stuttered for a couple seconds, thinking that she might just be a hazard to even have in the kitchen with him.

"Well." Marc said after a moment, once he regained his composure. "Drinks it is then. Uh, I'll give you my recipe cards, and you can pick one and use some of the alcohol I brought."

Ophelia laughed at this but nodded, knowing that if Marc were a little less kind than she surely would have been pushed out entirely. She didn't care much about cooking or preparing a meal for everyone, but she did want to spend time with Marc, so she was glad he was still finding tasks for her to complete.

After going around and asking the others what sounded good to them, Ophelia got to work. Nadia had at some point woken up and joined Amory and Lou in the living room. Lou asked for a martini, Nadia asked for a whiskey sour, and Amory and Caspar both politely declined. Marc told her to just make two of whatever she wanted, and he would have the second. Ophelia considered going outside and asking what Tyler wanted, but he seemed like more of a beer guy, so she left it alone.