The Odds of You and Me

04 | mayhem

M A Y H E M

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

-A Tale of Two Cities

⌛

"Alexis, how was school today?" Aunt Hillary asked as soon as I stepped foot into the house. I set my bag by the front door gently and took off my shoes as I thought of an appropriate way to respond. Charlotte was at cross country practice, so I decided to help Aunt Hillary along with some of her chores, because I barely had any homework.

"Overall, it was great. I expected it to be more dramatic, and it to be more clique-y, but everyone seemed to get along well. Charlotte and her friends were nice, but for some of the time they were actually gossiping. It was obviously kind of uncomfortable for me to hear some of the things they were saying, especially when they were talking about me, in front of me," I elaborated. "The teachers were nice and the classes didn't seem too difficult."

"Well, the last part is nice to hear," Aunt Hillary responded. She pulled a tray out of the oven, and whatever it was, it smelled heavenly. "This is a sweet potato pie I just experimented with baking. Would you mind bringing this over to Easton and his family?"

"No, that's no problem," I replied, grabbing the china plate she had placed the pie on. The pie was still steaming, but the plate was cool enough to grab.  I used my hip to force the door open, and walked along the gravel pathway that connected the houses.

Easton's house was actually quite similar to Aunt Hillary's, except flipped. Their garage was on the left side of the house, while ours was on the right. I pressed on the yellow doorbell button, which I assumed was originally white. I waited for a couple seconds before the door cracked open, and Easton looked out with an eyebrow raised.

"What's up," he greeted, looking distracted like I'd interrupted him.

"So, Aunt Hillary baked a sweet potato pie for your family," I explained, shoving the pie out in front of me.

Before Easton could reply, a woman appeared from behind me, whom I assumed to be his mom. She was tall, and her dark brown hair, the same color as Easton's, was thick and piled into a huge bun atop her head. "Hello, may I ask who you are?" She asked kindly, while shooting confused glances between Easton and me.

"I'm Alexis Wells, and a distant relative of Aunt Hillary, even though I call her my aunt. I'm staying next door temporarily because we have some...problems...back home," I recited. It was a vague story I'd made on the spot, but not terribly difficult to keep track of. "She baked you guys a pie, and it smells amazing."

"I see! Nice to meet you, Alexis. I'm Mrs. James, Easton's mom, but you can call me Marie. Come on in," Marie said, all in one breath. Easton, who was now standing behind his mom, rolled his eyes.

"Oh, well, thank you," I responded to her request, timidly stepping in the house. I balanced the pie in one hand and unlaced my shoes with the other. It smelled faintly of buttery Texas Roadhouse rolls next to the kitchen where I placed the pie on the breakfast table.

"Sit down, and we should have a taste of this pie together," Marie said. "Make sure to thank Hillary for me." She sliced the circular pie into twelve pieces, and the crunchy crust crumbled underneath the sharp blade. The filling, however, was soft and it was garnished with toasted marshmallows and pecans. This was the real definition of "heaven in your mouth."

Even Easton, who'd originally headed back into his room or wherever, came back and lingered around the kitchen for a taste of the pie.

"Easton, do have any classes with Alexis?" Marie asked, sliding some pie onto Easton's plate. He devoured the whole thing within seconds.