Inconvenient Things

5. A piece of cake

Ashley didn't expect receiving an urgent message from Emery at 7 pm on a Saturday, telling her to come over. 

And without a second thought, she had declined. She preferred spending her Saturday evening doing something she enjoyed, maybe watch a movie with her mom. She didn't enjoy Emery's company, therefore it would be quite moronic to voluntarily spend time with her. Her decision solidified when her phone pinged with yet another message. 

Soggy turd

My sister tried to bake a cake but it didn't exactly go as planned  and we need to clean the kitchen before our parents get home. Please, I'll even pay you if you want.

You

I'll pass

Soggy turd

I'll owe you anything

You

Anything?

Soggy turd

Sure.

You 

Fineeeeee. Send me your address.

That's how Ashley found herself knocking on the door of a quite modern looking house. The door swung open and a distressed Emery stood in front of her. Her dark brown hair, which was probably supposed to be tied in a bun, was one jump away from falling loose. She was covered in flower and batter and -

„How on earth did you burn a silicon spatula?" Ashley gasped, staring at the charred utensil in the girls hand. 

Emery gritted her teeth „Some doofus forgot the spatula in the batter and then forgot the batter in the oven." 

A voice came from behind her „Well, you're the goon who put the oven on 280*C instead of 180*C."

"Oh shut up, Chloe." Emery shot, turning her head back slightly. 

Ashley snickered at the two as Emery led her inside. A pungent smell stung her nostrils, making her gag. A girl of about 13 years stood in the hall and was shooting eye daggers at her sister.  Incompetent fools, Ashley thought while she followed Emery into the kitchen. 

 "Horny mother of cows, what the Hell!" Ashley exclaimed as soon as the saw what might have been a kitchen once.

Because now it was a smoking, burned mess of a room. Eggs and batter were dripping off the walls and ceiling, barely visible in the smoke that filled the room. The oven door  was lying on the ground, next to a block of coal that might have been a cake. A milk carton was lying on its side, spilling milk onto the floor. Ashley noticed a book catching fire and quickly dashed to put the fire down before anything else got burned. 

She turned to Emery's sister „Hey you, Clara, or whatever you name is. Go open the windows and mop the floor." 

The girl scowled at her „My name is Chloe." but Ashley had already turned to Emery.

„You clean the walls and ceiling. I'll try to fix the oven."

Emery scoffed „Why do you get the easy job?"

„Oh I don't know. Maybe because I didn't partake in 'Operation-banjax-the-kitchen'. Do you even know  how to fix the oven?"

Ashley managed to attach the door to the oven quite quickly, but when she turned it on to see if it worked...it didn't. She sighed and grabbed a towel, heading over to where Emery was still scrubbing the wall. She stood next to her, wanting to help her out, when she noticed the girls questionable scrubbing technique. Emery was using a piece of tissue paper drenched in dish soap. She wasn't even scrubbing, only lightly stroking the wall with it. No wonder that she wasn't even close to halfway done with the walls.

Ashley cleared her throat „How nice of you to massage the wall. It really did have a stressful day, didn't it?"

She lightly grabbed Emery's wrist and took the soggy tissue paper out of her hand. Noticing Clara nearby, she tossed it at her and turned back to Emery. Ashley sprayed some cleaning spray on the towel she was holding and pressed it into Emery's hand. Making sure she didn't hurt the girl, she slowly guided her hand up to the wall again. Emery's breath hitched when Ashley pressed her other hand onto hers as well and started moving their hands to scrub the wall. Only then did the girls notice how close they were standing. Emery froze and turned, grey eyes meeting green. She couldn't help but notice how delicately Ashley was holding her wrist, as if she was a dandelion that would crumble under the slightest pressure.

The moment was interrupted by a horrified gasp coming from the door. Emery felt her hands go cold as Ashley hurriedly scrambled away from her. She turned around, facing towards her parents and 4 year old brother, Bennie. Her mother was seething, her face turning red and her teeth gritted so hard she could break a jawbreaker.

"Explain."

Emery grimaced, glancing at the burned cake on the ground then back at her mother.

"Happy Mother's Day?" she squeaked.

Ashley perked up at that. "It's Mother's Day? Oh shit." After deciding that she wouldn't want to stick around for the drama that was to come, she quickly started scooting towards the door, saying: "Well, it's been a pleasure. I'll see you later, Emery. Bye Clara, Mrs. Hart, Mr. Hart,...kid"

"Bennie", the boy grumbled, but Ashley was already out the door.

The family was left in deafening silence. Their father, a very genuine person who wasn't exactly the brightest of men, cleared his throat. "Is the cake still edible?" That earned him a whack on the head from his wife. 

Their mother sighed, her expression softening slightly. "Come on, let's clean up the mess."

"But-" the father started to complain.

"You too, Chris." 

The man huffed, but gradually started to help Chloe out with the floor.

Grace decided to take Ashley's place next to Emery while Bennie went upstairs to play with his new Lego set. The mother and daughter scrubbed in silence for a while, the only sound being Chloe's shrieking as Chris chased her with a mop. Grace suddenly bumped her daughter with her hips, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Who's the girl? You never told me you had a girlfriend." 

Emery spluttered "What?! No! You mean Ashley? Nooooo, she is not-, we're not- ...ugh! She sucks, I don't like her."

"Sureee." Her mother drawled, then her eyes lit up with an idea. "You need to invite her and her family over for dinner sometime!"

"No."

"Do we need to have the talk?"

"No."

"When is the wedding?"

"NO!"

"Ok, fine. But we'll still have the talk."

Chris suddenly scrambled their way. "No, wait. I want to do the talk! I've already written my speech, Grace!"

He started to rummage around his pockets and pulled out a small, rumpled piece of paper.

"You carry it around in your pocket?" Grace asked in disbelief.

Chris smiled "I like to be prepared."

He cleared his throat: "Emery, I know that you, as well as everyone your age, have urges to explore each others genitals in various ways. I support your sexual journey hole-heartedly — get it? Because 'hole' and vag-"

"Chris. Please shut up." Grace interrupted, her eyes wide in horror.

"But-"

"Just...let me do the talk. Watch and learn."

Chris' shoulders slumped slightly in disappointment, but let his wife talk nonetheless.

"Emery, we just want you to be responsible and use protection...wait, how does lesbian sex even work? I'll probably have to look it up first."

"Don't watch porn, mom." Emery quickly warned.

"I wouldn't! We'll continue the talk later, when I know more about it."

Emery decided to sleep on the highway that night.