My Civilian Goddess

Chapter 10: Effort

Eli was unsure what to do. The entire time he thought Lilly's crush on him was more akin to a spoiled child wanting to get a new toy they saw in the store. But now he started to doubt that. From the internal shadow beast to the happenings at the butterfly garden, Eli couldn't deny Lilly seemed a lot more sincere. Though to make a complete turnaround and become nervous when he touches her hand?

"Yeah," Eli said finally, needing to answer something to Ellie's irritating grin. "That's... Interesting."

He could feel his face burning. Was he embarrassed? He kept seeing Lilly's blushy face flash through his memories. He'd never seen anyone look at him like that.

Eli tried to speak but he couldn't get out any more than a few mumbles.

Ellie rolled her eyes and flicked on her phone.

"There," she said. "I sent it to you. Enjoy that, buddy."

"You should see yourself when you're listening to Cassie talk," Eli stammered out.

"Yeah, she makes me a mess. In the best ways," Ellie laughed. "And I like it that way. I've never felt more special."

Ellie pat him on the head as she passed him and moved in the direction Cassie and Lilly disappeared to. Eli was left alone and dumbfounded. And he stayed that way the rest of the time while they were at the butterfly garden, while they were travelling home, and when they finally got home.

Eli and Lilly hadn't spoken a word to each other the entire time. Eli practically hadn't said anything at all, besides wishing the girls goodbye when the group split.

"How about I make dinner for us," Lilly said eventually, after Eli had been on the couch playing with his phone for over an hour in silence.

"Uh," Eli stammered, being caught off guard.

"As thanks, for today... And yesterday," she finished with a smile. Her cheeks were red.

Eli nodded. "Yeah, sure." He looked away, not sure what else to say.

After Lilly walked off, he dared to look over again. She had opened one of the windows up, letting a breeze into the house. She pushed her long white hair up, and tied it into a ponytail. She looked around in the cupboards and fished out a pink apron, which she tied around her waist.

After that she started rummaging in the fridge, and putting a pan on the fire. Eli couldn't quite see exactly what she was making from the couch. Especially with the kitchen island being in the way. Regardless, though, she looked to be struggling.

Lilly was constantly running back and forth in the kitchen. While she was busy cutting something up she ran over to a pan to prevent the contents from burning. As she tried to move the pan around, the oven timer went off, which she had to quickly deal with as well.

Why was she putting so much effort into it? Eli expected her to magic it up with her goddess powers, but as far as he could see, she hadn't made an attempt yet.

As Lilly opened the oven, black smoke came out, which is when Eli got up from his seat and started to look. The oven had been filled with fries, which now looked to be charred pencils. The pan she had been cooking in had hamburgers in it, which were only slightly burned. Those still looked plenty edible.

"Would you like some help," Eli asked as he turned the oven off and had already started helping before Lilly could even answer him.

She was pouting and looked dissatisfied. "I wanted to do it myself..."

Eli patted her on the head as he rolled up the oven paper with the burned fries.

"I'm surprised you didn't use some goddess powers to fix it."

"Well..."

Lilly looked away. She had her arms crossed and was playing with the end of her ponytail, which was now flipped over her shoulder.

"You told me I should live like a human. So... I tried doing it normally, like a human..."

Eli thought for a moment. He did ask it of her, but he didn't think she would take it this serious. Maybe he shouldn't have been so specific in the spur of the moment. But if anything, this showed how badly Lilly wanted to be here.

"Thank you," Eli said finally as he threw away the fries and left the oven open to air out.

He grabbed two plates and pulled Lilly closer. "I'll teach you how to cook tomorrow. But for now, let's have some burgers."