Pay the Sun

Ten

Later in the week, while my parents are still away, Robin and I go to the ice rink to get away from the heat. Neither of us are very good since it's our first time, but we have fun. I'm better at it than Robin, but that's not much of an accomplishment. We both hold tightly to the walls and slide around the sides of the rink the whole time. I help Robin up a few times and he does the same for me. Our feet, unused to the skates, start to ache after an hour or so. Once both of us are too sore to continue, we get off the ice and put our shoes back on. Even when we're off the ice, we're still giggling and smiling like idiots. That felt like it was a date.

After our first ice skating adventure, we go back into the heat. We get into West's car and take it back to his house before getting out. We pass the Dupuy building, which we haven't been hanging out in as much. I'm sure it'll resume as our top hangout once school starts.

We walk back to my house and at some point on the walk, our hands become intertwined. I'm not sure when it happened, but I'm not complaining. I swing our hands between us as we walk.

I unlock the front door, Robin's hand still wrapped in mine. Was this a date?

"Want to bake sweets?" I ask.

Robin nods, smiling. "What kind?"

I walk into the kitchen, reluctantly letting go of Robin's hand so I can rummage around in the cabinets. I go through the cupboards, placing various ingredients on the counter.

"We can do banana bread and chocolate chip cookies," I say.

"Sounds good."

I pull up the recipes on my phone and set the timer for the alloted temperature for the cookies. I grab bowls and utensils from the cupboard, while Robin reads through the first recipe, setting the ingredients to the side and getting out the rest of the ones we need.

We put all the sugar, eggs, salt, and other ingredients together and then put the dough in the mixer. After that, both of us get to work on taking chunks of dough and rolling them into balls to place on the baking sheet. We made so much dough that we end up with three trays full of cookie dough balls. We put those in the oven, then get to work on the banana bread.

We end up putting cinnamon and walnuts in the banana bread dough despite the recipe not calling for it. I feel like I'm in an episode of one of those baking shows that my mom likes so much. Once the cookies are out, we put the pan of banana bread in to cook. We set the cookies out to cool, setting one final timer before we cross the room and flop onto the couch.

"Those look so good," I groan.

"They really do. We're proper bakers now."

Robin looks over and smiles at me, warmth flickering in his eyes.

"Can I ask you a question?" I query.

"Of course."

I chew on my lip. "How come you didn't talk to me until the Fourth of July?"

Robin mulls over this questions. "It's not that I wasn't comfortable, I... I didn't let myself speak because I thought it would help keep me from getting attached."

"Did it work?" I ask, a grin spreading across my face.

Robin untangles himself from his blanket and looks over at me. He studies my face very carefully, deep in thought. A smile touches his lips.

"No."

I beam. Robin smiles back, just as brightly. He tentatively scoots closer to me.