summer boy ~ tal fishman ✓

~21~

'First the cake.' 'No first the cookies.' 'Cake.' 'Cookies.' 'Cake.' 'Rock-paper-scissors?' 'Fine', I say. I win twice and Tal once. That means that we will bake the cake first. I smile because of my small victory.

I grab a bowl and Tal grabs the bag with the sugar, flour, and other groceries from the hallway and places them in the living room. I go back to the website with the recipe and read aloud what we will need while Tal is grabbing those supplies from the bag and placing them on the countertop. Then I open some cabinets and grab measuring cups and spoons and a bowl to mix everything in. The problem is that the bowl is on the highest shelf of the wall cabinet and I can't reach it. I know Tal can't reach it either, it's too high for him. He won't admit that though.

I climb on the countertop while Tal is looking very confused. I usually climb on my countertops. I'm used to not being able to reach things. I get the bowl and jump on the ground, the bowl still in my hand. I didn't drop it and I got it; mission complete.

I place the bowl on the countertop. Tal is still looking a bit confused. 'What?' I ask him. 'You are a little monkey', he says and he laughs.

'Okay, so step one; soak the raisins in some lukewarm water', I read from the website with the recipe. 'We didn't buy raisins, did we?' Tal asks. 'No... Well, I don't like raisins that much so we're just going to skip that step', I say. 'Great. We already failed to do step one', Tal says. I laugh.

'Shhh, let's just skip step one and head to the second step. Plus, if we just leave those out, it won't have any raisins but who cares about that? Enough sugar and it'll be edible. Okay then, step two; preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius', I read. Tal does so.

We follow the recipe pretty smoothly until we land on a step with flour. I pour the flour from the measuring cup into the mixing bowl, and a dust cloud appears. I laugh since Tal is covered in a little layer of flour. I am too, but I can't see myself so I'll just laugh at him. 'I thought I couldn't get any whiter, now look at me!' he exclaims. I laugh even harder.

He dips his finger in the bowl and touches my nose with the same finger. Now my nose is all white as well. Even more than the rest of my face, which is already covered in flour. I smear some flour on his cheeks and he smears it on my forehead as well. After a few minutes, we are completely covered. 'Okay, okay we have to stop! Otherwise, there won't be any flour left for the cake', I say, while laughing because of how Tal looks.

Finally, we got the cake in the oven. It's supposed to bake for about an hour. 'How long did it take us to make that cake?' Tal asks. 'About two hours, why?' I ask him back. 'Because the website says it's supposed to take about half an hour to make', he says. He looks at me and we burst out into laughter again.

'Okay, okay, we need to clean the kitchen a bit', I say. 'A bit? It's like a bomb went off here, it's a complete mess! Including ourselves', Tal exclaims. I laugh again. 'That's true. I'll do the countertop, could you throw the trash in the bin?' I ask him.

We clean the kitchen in about fifteen minutes. After that, I'm completely exhausted. I didn't get that much sleep last night. I forget that I'm covered in flour for a second and I let myself fall on the couch. I notice I am slowly falling asleep...

I feel someone shaking me by the shoulders softly. I scrunch my nose. I don't want to wake up. '5 more mins', I mumble and I turn so I'll be comfortable again. I pull my blanket further over my shoulders. I hear someone chuckle. That does not sound like my mom waking me up for school when my alarm decided not to go off. I open my eyes slowly.

'Julia? Julia, can you wake up? I'm sorry, you were sleeping so cute, but I don't know how the oven works and the cake is ready so we have to take it out of the oven but you have to do it', Tal says. He is speaking a bit soft for me, which is sweet. I move a bit so that he'll know I'm alive. It costs a lot of strength, but I manage to sit up and open my eyes completely. I see him smiling in front of me. I slowly get up from beneath my blanket. I do everything way slower when I'm tired. Wait, blanket? I didn't fall asleep with a blanket, did I?

Tal sees I'm looking pretty confused. 'You were sleeping so cute and I thought you'd be cold, so I gave you a blanket', he says like it is the most normal thing. Then the oven beeps again. The cake. It's ready. I yawn and straighten my legs since I slept with them folded up.

'I am getting the feeling you're a bit tired, or am I wrong?' Tal asks with a smirk. We have found ourselves the new Sherlock Holmes right here.

'No really? Me and tired?' I answer sarcastically. I stretch myself out and I walk to the kitchen.

I open a drawer and put on some oven mitts. I open the oven and step back for a second so the hot air won't touch me that much. Then I grab the cake from the oven before it will burn. Wouldn't want that to happen.