LIVE FAST | REDDIE

- 01 | LIVE FAST

◦ ◦ ◦

"No, no, no, Dad, look, you put the eggs in first, and then you mix everything together. It says so on the box." Eddie threw the piece of cardboard at his father, and it bounced off of his forehead, landing in the mixing bowl. Eddie smirked, quirking a brow. "Or can't you read?"

"I can too read!" Frank huffed, picking up the box and dusting the brown powder off of it. "I don't even understand why this is necessary. We haven't baked together since you were what, 5? Why are we baking now?" He squinted at the box, holding it back at different distances as he tried to read the tiny instructions on the back.

"Because it's almost Mike's birthday, and he said he wanted brownies instead of cake, so we got the brownies, and we are being good people." Eddie pushed his father out of the way and cracked an egg, plopping it in the bowl with everything else. "Who even cares if it's been 12 years since we baked together? This is a good bonding moment. I'm in my senior year, I'm 17. You could learn from this experience!" Eddie raised his eyebrows, shrugging. Frank scoffed, but he was smiling.

It was a hot, lazy Saturday afternoon, the first weekend since the start of school. Music buzzed quietly out of the Walkman in the corner, and Eddie was at ease.

"I know more about you than you know about yourself! The only thing that's going to be learned from this is the fact that Mike Hanlon doesn't like cake." He laughed, grabbing the spatula out of Eddie's hand and mixing the ingredients together as Eddie added them. "Besides, you're barely 17 as it is. You literally made the cut for the grade you're in by 24 hours almost on the dot."

"Shut up, I've heard that a million times from the idiots at my school, I don't need to hear it from my own father." Eddie rolled his eyes, grabbing his water and taking a swig. "Make sure you get out all the chunks."

"Okay, Princess," Frank snickered, breaking up the clumps of brownie mix as he stirred. Eddie grinned, setting the oven to the temperature it said on the box and digging the timer out of their junk drawer.

"Where's the pan?" He asked, sticking his head in the cabinet under the sink.

"Well, it's not with the dishsoap," Frank remarked. Eddie slammed the cabinet shut with a hefty sigh and continued his search. "Look in your mother's cabinet. The one that's lower than the rest." Eddie followed his instruction, finding the glass container with a soft 'aha!' and putting it on top of the stove. He grabbed the cooking spray and doused the glass with a layer of it, pulling the bowl of mix away from his father and spreading it evenly out over the pan.

"Well, aren't you talented?" Frank mused. "That looks like the most even batch of brownies I've ever seen."

"Damn right it is," Eddie shot back, putting on the oven mitts and putting the pan in. He set the timer for the designated time on the box and washed his hands, smiling to himself.

"So what are we gonna do while we wait for those to be done, huh?" Frank asked, spreading his arms out. "We've got a world full of possibilities. We could watch a movie, play catch, go play with the cat.." As if on cue, Teddy came slinking into the kitchen with perky ears and big eyes.

"Hey, Fatty!" Eddie greeted the cat, who, in reality, was as skinny as a cat could be without being considered 'unhealthy'. The cat dashed towards Eddie, who crouched down and scratched behind his ear gingerly. He glanced at his father with a furrowed brow. "The brownies are only gonna take like 20 minutes, so we might as well just wait around in here."