10 Days

Chapter 6

I had been up for a few minutes, waiting to see if Ethan was home or not. The number 6 was already painted on the door. When I was sure he wasn't in the house, I got up and walked outside of the room.

A sweet smell was filling the house. It was a mixture of sugar and apples. Freshly baked apple pie. After a few seconds, I finally understood.

Back when I was five years old, I used to bake apple pie with my grandmother and then go out and sell it to people. One day I was at my usual selling spot, when a boy came. He just sat next to me on the floor, and didn't say a word.

"Hi, I'm Ethan." The boy said after a few minutes of just staring at me.

"I'm Kaylee. What are you doing here?" I asked and he chuckled.

"I enjoy watching you sell your pie." He said, sounding a little bit creepy. I smiled at him. "Do you want to be friends?"

"Of course, Ethan." My cheeks went red, it almost looked like I was sunburnt. When I was little, I didn't have many friends, so I thought I could enjoy a weird boy's company.

I couldn't believe Ethan remembered. That was the day we met, about 14 years ago. Was he baking a pie for me?

The car wasn't parked outside of the house. There was no sign of Ethan in the living room, bathroom, or backyard. I was alone in the house, with an apple pie on a table in front of me. Since my boyfriend didn't tell me what to do with the pie, he wouldn't mind if I tried some, would he?

I stared at the pie, and then gave up. I couldn't wait to eat it, so I grabbed a spoon from the kitchen cabinet and tried a little bit. Then a little more, and more. I ended up eating almost half the pie by the time Ethan arrived.

"I'm so sorry! I couldn't wait!" I screamed when I heard the door opening, but I didn't stop looking at the plate. I heard a familiar laugh.

"I knew you would do that. That's why I went out to buy more apples." Ethan said, and continued laughing. Then he hugged me and kissed my forehead. "Is it good?"

"It's amazing, but..."

"Oh no, did I burn it or something? Too much sugar?" He asked, concerned and I smiled.

"It was okay but... My pies are better." I said and he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah..." I said licking my spoon again.

"We'll have to test that out." He said, placing the bags on the counter. I smiled, knowing that I would win. Ethan was great at baking, but he learned it from me.

We both grabbed our supplies and started mixing. I remembered the order of the ingredients perfectly because my grandmother had taught me how to add them with a song. On the other hand, Ethan was struggling a little bit with cutting his apples. Too thin, too thick and some were close to the size of the whole apple. I laughed at him, showing my competitive side. I opened the bag of flour, and Ethan blew, making the flour cover my face almost entirely.

"Oh Ethan..." I said, snatching a towel from his hand and wiping my face. "You're going to pay for this!"

Then I grabbed a handful of the white powder and threw it at his face. He coughed and I laughed. He did the same after cleaning himself up a little bit. After a few minutes of fighting, we ran out of flour.

"Look at what we did..." Ethan said staring at the mess that we made in our small kitchen. I looked at him, and he chuckled. "I guess we have some cleaning to do."

I sat on the floor dramatically, feeling defeated. We would have to clean, and I knew Ethan was exhausted. I could see it in the way he was breathing and leaning against the wall. With all of the things he had planned, he barely had time to rest. Waking up early in the morning and going to sleep later than usual had gotten him so tired, but he didn't like to show it.

"I'll clean today, you've worked really hard these past few days."

"Kay, soon you'll have your own place to clean alone. Please let me help you." Ethan said and his eyes watered. I ran towards him and hugged him. He didn't cry easily. "I-I'm going to miss cleaning with you." He laughed a little bit and I hugged him tighter.

"I'm going to miss cleaning with you too."

"Well I guess we should start now, or we'll never finish." He said standing up and wiping his tears. "I'll go get the broom."

We cleaned until the place was totally free from flour, stains and apple. After that, we finished eating the half pie that was left.

"Okay maybe you are good at baking..." I admitted after arguing with my boyfriend about his pie-making skills. He cheered and jumped around the living room childishly.

"I knew it!" He said laying down on another couch. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"E, you look exhausted." I said, but he was already sound asleep. I walked over to him and kissed his forehead. "Good night, bestie."

I went to sleep on the couch, knowing that Ethan would be confused if he woke up alone in the living room. Excitement filled my body every time I thought about what my boyfriend could have planned for the next day.