Pointdexter: A Swooning Over Stan-fiction

Chapter Nineteen

Normally, Alice would have expected the atmosphere to turn awkward, but she found herself anticipating something. She turned to Ford, a smile crossing her face.

"Good job calculating how much we needed to save the cakes," She told him, letting her hands fall to the belt of her apron.

Ford chuckled, leaning back against the counter, "Oh, I just eyeballed it and adjusted on the batter's viscosity, no calculation required. I couldn't let all our hard work go to waste after you suggested salvaging it."

"There is something I don't get," Alice prodded, her brow raised. "You wanted to start over?"

"Well-" He paused, pressing his lips together. "Well, I had a plan in mind. We were going to quintuple the recipe, and now it's more like... Octuple. But this was the better route to take, now that I think about it, that was the last of our flour."

Alice shook her head, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face.

"Wait, damn." Ford suddenly swore. "Stanley needs flour for pancakes this week."

"Do you think he'd take cupcakes for breakfast instead?" Alice asked, leaning against her section of the counter. "We'll have plenty to spare."

"Knowing him?" Ford said with a chuckle. "I think the probability is very high."

Alice was about to speak, leaning in to continue the conversation, when Mabel suddenly re-entered the room. Carrying a cardboard box stuffed to the brim with bright packets of Explosion Rocks.

"I'm back!" She singsonged cheerfully. "Alright, let's add these puppies in and make some cupcake magic!"

Alice exchanged a glance with Ford and began to help Mabel decant the rocks into the batter. His eyes focused on her as she shook the last packet into the bowl: knowing very well that the consumer of the cupcakes would get a surprise when the candy blew up in their mouths. Then it was time to split the batter and marble them in the pan. The three colors that Mabel chose matched her theme, deep purple, blue, and pink.

"Are we going to find out what the theme is?" Alice asked her, blowing her hair from her eyes. "Or do we have to figure it out?"

"Nope," Mabel grinned. "Now let's get these in the oven."

Ford lifted one of the trays and stuck it in the oven to bake. There was still plenty of batter in the mixing bowl: they'd barely scratched the surface with the first batch.

"Now time for the best part!" Mabel grinned, holding up two piping bags. "Frosting!"

"What kind?" Alice asked, hesitant of the answer.

"It's not what kind do we have, Alice," Mabel explained, presenting another recipe card. "It's what kind we are making."

Oh boy, Alice thought as an exasperated look crossed Ford's face. They were lucky that the frosting was easier to make than the batter. When Alice and Mabel separated the sugary results into a few different bowls for coloring, the first batch of cupcakes was out of the oven and cooling. And as Mabel put it, the cupcakes were ready to be "Mabel-fied", Ford grinning as he began to dye a bowl of icing bright pink.

Decorating the cupcakes was the most fun part of the afternoon.

The trio sat around the kitchen table, Mabel purposefully sitting Alice and Ford next to each other, while she took the remaining spot. Alice focused a little harder on designs than intended, enjoying herself if she was honest. Mabel finally revealed the theme to be in outer space as they worked on the cupcakes because space was "FULL OR ROMANCE" and "THIS WAY I CAN SAY THEIR COMPATIBILITY IS OUT OF THIS WORLD". So they covered the marbled cupcakes in galaxy-worthy combinations of colored frosting.