Big Shot | ✓

11 | it girl dress

"You could be one of those baking influencers on TikTok, for sure," Mara said as she surveyed the smattering of brownie ingredients on the kitchen counter. "You already have all the cameras and gear and video editing skills."

"I'm not that creative or innovative," I shrugged as I cracked an egg into my mixing bowl. "Like, I wouldn't be able to make up recipes and stuff on my own since I don't have that natural sense of what goes with what. I'm just good at following someone else's directions."

"She's being annoyingly modest," Bree called from the couch in the living room. "She cooks dinner without directions all the time."

"Cooking is different," I responded as I cracked another egg. "Baking is an exact science and you can't just throw shit in a bowl and hope it works out, because then you'll end up with some kind of burnt chocolate pudding instead of brownies." I paused and took a step away from the counter to glance into the living room at Bree. "As a fellow scientist, you should understand that part."

"Oh of course, I also end up with burnt pudding if I calculate something wrong in my geotechnical engineering class." Bree scoffed with a dismissive wave of her hand before settling back into the couch behind her laptop.

"Sarcasm noted," I replied with an eye roll. "Besides, some hobbies should just stay hobbies. I think if it was ever more than that, it would defeat the purpose of why I do it to begin with."

Mara had now taken a seat at the bar stool on the other side of the kitchen island, her back to the living room where Bree sat, and I took my mixing bowl back over there where the rest of my ingredients were. She'd had her braids threaded with a few strands in our school colors of purple and orange, and her faded gray Clemson sweatshirt draped off her shoulder as she leaned forward on the counter onto her elbows to glance into my half mixed dough.

She plucked an Oreo out of the open package beside her and bit into it. "I think I understand that. I guess that's sort of why I stopped playing lacrosse. I felt too much pressure and it all just became so...un-fun."

"Is that why you didn't stick with covering lacrosse for the media department either?" I asked as I dug into the Oreo package and started crumbling them up into the dough.

Mara huffed out a sigh and nodded. She scrunched her nose up in uncertainty, and I realized it was the first time I'd seen her zealous demeanor falter ever so slightly.

"I guess so," she finally answered with a shrug, and after a moment, she switched the beaming gigawatts back on and smiled. "Plus, my dad's a high school football coach, so I basically grew up around football. I know what I like."

I grunted as the dough became thicker and harder to mix with my spatula, and I mentally kicked myself for not splurging on a master mixer when I had the means to. "Well, that's good. You should."

I offered her a smile, and she beamed in return. Some people just radiated natural light, and it was hard not to feel the warmth that came from it. Mara was undoubtedly one of those people.

I supposed Reid was at one point, too. Now it was like he was caught in a perpetual storm. I knew that part of him was still there somewhere - I'd seen it occasionally shine through the clouds, and maybe soon the storm would start subsiding for good.

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After the brownies had gone in the oven, Mara and I ventured into my room so I could finish packing for our trip to Charlotte tomorrow for the ACC Kickoff event. It was about a two and a half hour drive from Clemson, so it made the most sense for Mara to just stay over at my place, pack my car with any cameras and equipment we'd need, and leave together in the morning.