What's Not Your's To Keep

Chapter 5

"1 and a half cup of flower.." Shaylene squinted her eyes at the cookbook while reaching her hand in my direction. I gave her the desired amount of flower. "I tablespoon of baking powder." She read out.

I searched in the cupboards for anything that had 'baking powder' written on it. I took out a container, got exactly 1 tablespoon, and poured it in the bowl that Shay pushed on the counter towards me.

"And mix." Shaylene took out a wooden spatula and started mixing vigorously.

"Slow down cowboy. Your only making pancakes." I sighed at her tremendous effort at something so simple.

Shay looked at me and burst out laughing. She continued laughing while I stood there completely oblivious, wondering what all on earth was so funny. Shaylene took a breath and looked at me stunned. "You really don't get it? You said slow down cowboy... like slow.down.cowboy!" The giggling started again.

"Is is suposed to be a s-"

"Yes!" She wiped her forehead with her hand. Batter was on her figure and now it was on her temple. "And Mr. Businessman here doesn't think it's funny! Oh look at me, I'm Ethan and I'm so boring!" She made her voice extra deep for the last bit, trying to mimic my masculinity.

"You got something there." I pointed, ignoring her comment about me being boring.

"Where?" She touched her cheeks thinking it was where i pointed.

"There."

"Huh? Here?"

"No a little bit to the right."

She moved her hand to the right, still nowhere near the spot.

"More."

"Is it gone?"

"No. Here let me get it." I moved closer and wiped the yellow mix off her forehead in a swift motion. She stood there staring at me in aw like I saved her life or something. "What?" I popped the batter in my mouth, not feeling the need to wash my finger. "Stop that, and concentrate on the pancakes. It needs more sugar."

"Huh?Oh...yeah." Shay finally snaped back into reality.

"Girls and their moments of blank awkwardness." I mumbled to myself.

"Did you say something?"

"No...tell me when the pancakes are done. I'll be upstairs getting ready for work." I shifted my eyes towards the calendar. Saturday.

"It's the weekend Ethan." Shaylene shook her head while trying to hide a smile.

"I knew that..." I leaned against the counter while Shaylene cooked the pancakes in her frying pan. The first one turned out looking awful.

"First is the worst. The second one'll be better, trust me." Shaylene had a look of disappointment in her eyes. But unlike her prediction, they all turned out the same. Flat and disgusting. "No! How could this happen? I followed all the instructions! This is impossible." She plopped on the dining table chair and sulked.

"You obviously did something wrong." I crossed my arms across my chest.

"I did something wrong!? I couldn't have! " Shaylene jumped up in fustration. Her eyes closed and I saw her body slightly sway. When they re-opened, her hands shot up to her head.

"Shay!" I rushed over to where she stood and gripped on to her shoulder as support.

"I'm fine. It's just that my head hurts when someone messes up my cooking." She gave a quite chuckle and looked more relaxed now.