Sophitz: A Week to Find Love

Chapter 19

Sophie's P.O.V.

"Where are we going?" I heard Keefe's voice call out. Biana had told us that we had to be blindfolded. And being as clumsy as I was, I fell. A lot. Fitz was walking next to me so he had caught me all those times, but it was really embarrassing. First the cart disaster and now this? I just couldn't seem to act normally while I was around him. Perhaps I was getting a sickness - a clumsy sickness. Or you're falling in lo-ove! I told the tiny voice in my brain to be quiet for Biana had finally announced we were here. 

"You may take off your blindfolds!" she declared. "Our next activity is... Cooking class! More specifically, lunch." I took off my blindfold and sure enough, we were in a kitchen. Well, it looked more like a modified kitchen, with 4 large tables in a square formation and counters filled with ingredients around the edge of the room. And then in the middle of the tables was a young girl wearing a Chef's hat and outfit. She couldn't have been a few years older than our age with curly red hair, pale skin, and bright green eyes. 

"Welcome!" she announced. "I am Chef Alyssa, but you may call me Lyssie, as all my friends do." 

"Ooh, we made a new friend!" Linh squealed. 

"Yep! I know I'm supposed to be your 'Chef' and all that, but it sounds kinda boring. So instead, think of me as... your sometimes overcritical friend who's teaching you how to make pizza! From scratch." 

"That's ridiculous," Tam murmured. "How will we make pizza from scratch? I don't suppose you have a farm of wheat here?" Linh jabbed her brother in the side.

"Sorry, he doesn't get out much," she apologized to Lyssie. 

"I think I'm getting out too much these days," Tam corrected. Linh giggled nervously.

"Did I mention I really love your hat?" Lyssie laughed. 

"Why thank you!" she exclaimed. "And your brother is perfectly fine. In fact, I'm kinda glad he doesn't enjoy cooking. Everyone who comes here is always eager to learn, so it's nice to have a change of pace. It'll make the experience all the more enjoyable for me and all of you guys." 

Tam scoffed while Marella whispered to me, "I like her. She's super cool - do you think I could invite her to our wedding?" 

"Um..." I mean, it wasn't totally weird to invite someone you just met to your wedding, right? "Go ahead," I told Marella. "The more the merrier as Linh would say." 

"I see you've reserved the... Couples session," Lyssie read from her clipboard. "I assume you're all couples, then?" 

"Oh, well, Linh and Dex and Marella and Keefe are all engaged, but Sophie and Tam and Fitz and I basically just met today." 

"Huh. So you four - are you all engaged to each other?" Lyssie asked. Marella laughed out loud.

"Is that even a thing?" she asked. Lyssie shrugged.

"I don't know - but if you are, I don't judge. It's a very important rule here. No one may judge your fellow cooks - except me, since that's my job." 

"Hmm... Criticizing people for a living - sounds fun," Marella said. 

"It really is," Lyssie agreed. "Now, why don't you all separate into groups of 2 - anyway you prefer - and take a seat at one of these four tables?" 

"Same team as the last activity?" Biana asked us. Everyone nodded so I was back with Fitz. Not that I minded. Well, I might've minded a little, just because whenever I was near him, apparently I got the serious case of the clumsies. And my heart kinda melted. My face really heated up, too. Maybe I should check this out at the doctor's. Perhaps I had a deadly disease and I'd get out of this whole mess. 

"Sophie?" I glanced up from the floor and told my brain to focus. 

"Oh um, sorry," I said, "did I miss something?" 

"Just the entire instructions," Fitz said with a grin. "But it's alright, I'll show you." I nodded and felt my face heat up. Sign 1 of the deadly disease. 

"First you're supposed to knead this dough," Fitz told me. handing me a block of dough. I took it in my hands and just stared at it for a few seconds. 

"Uh..." I tried to push down on it, but it didn't budge. I really should try to exercise more if I couldn't knead pizza dough. 

"Do-Do you need some help?" Fitz asked hesitantly. 

"Please," I said, handing him the dough. "I'm just here for the food." Fitz laughed and started kneading the dough. He was definitely a lot stronger than me. 

"Throw it up in the air!" Lyssie instructed everyone. Fitz handed the flat circular dough back to me. 

"Try it," he encouraged. I took the dough uncertainly and tried to throw it. It went up like 5 inches before coming back down. Not very impressive, I told myself. I tried it again and this time it went much higher; the only problem was, I wasn't able to catch it. The dough landed with a flop on the floor and I flinched. Clumsiness - sign 2 of the deadly disease. 

"I'm really, really sorry," I told Fitz. "I didn't mean to do that."

"It's okay," Fitz reassured. "It's just some dough - we can get always get more of that from Lyssie." 

"No, but I dropped it! It was my fault," I protested with a frown. "Now we won't have lunch or food and I just... I messed everything up." I really had. Down the drain went all my chance with Fitz. Not that I had any to start with. 

"Sophie, it doesn't matter that you messed everything up or even if we don't have any lunch," Fitz told me. "I didn't come here just for the food - I came here to be with you." And that's when my heart melted. Sign 3 of the deadly disease - I definitely had it now.