Idiots to Lovers (bxb)

45 | Bon-Bons and (Not) Baking

"I think that's filled enough," I said as Everett poured more and more batter into the bowl.

"It has to be to the brim so that it's a proper circle," he insisted, "or it'll be too flat."

"But there's no space for this to rise." I frowned as he scraped in the last bit of batter, densely packing it in. "I thought the recipe we made was enough for both halves."

"Is it? I don't think so." Everett waved me off. "Don't worry, it won't rise."

"Wait!" I stopped him before he could toss it into the oven. "Let me preheat it first."

Everett huffed impatiently. "It can preheat while it's in there."

"Why are you so against preheating stuff?"

"'Coz that day you were sick I tried to make a pizza—and I preheated it—and your oven caught on fire."

"It— What? What did you do?" I demanded.

"Nothing! It was spontaneous combustion."

Everett threw the cake into the oven. He didn't bother sliding in the tray, opting instead to slamming shut the door hard enough for the tray to bonk back in.

"Let's off this for now." He fiddled with his phone, stopping the recording. "This will take a while."

I was about to argue but the bell above the shop door jangled just then. Everett's dad walked in, arms piled high with flat square boxes. "Hi boys." He nodded at me. "Everything going alright?"

"Are those Bon-Bons?" Everett squealed, running up to him and attempting to grab one from the precariously balanced pile.

Mr. Jones stumbled, barely managing not to drop any as he swatted Everett off. "They're not for you." He glared. "It's for the tree. I thought it would be nice to let the kids coming to the event take one as they're leaving."

"That's a nice idea." I took half of them off his hands, stacking them under the tree.

"Think you can put them up?" he asked, placing the rest on the table. "Rosa and I are having date night."

"Gross." The half-hearted mutter came from Everett, who was still looking at the Christmas crackers avariciously.

Rob ignored him, instead turning to me. "I need to get going already but, Clementine, make sure he doesn't pull them all."

Everett waited till the door closed shut behind his dad before he dove into the pile. "Okay, he's gone. Let's burst these!" He tore open a box from the middle, seemingly too impatient to peel off the tape.

"He just told us not to!" I pried it from his hands.

"Aww you're no fun." Everett pouted, gazing longingly at the sparkly wrapping as I started placing the crackers on the tree.

"Maybe you can pull one tomorrow, if there are any leftover after the event."

"Leftovers?" Everett said the word as if were a cruel joke.

His eyes turned pleading as he hugged a single Bon-Bon to his chest. Damn, they were huge. I knew that he knew what he was doing with those puppy dog eyes. But they were so sparkly. I was close to giving in when the oven timer went off.

"Oh, we should go check on that," I said in relief, tying the last of the crackers on a bottom branch.

Momentarily forgetting about the crackers in the face of a more exciting prospect—cake—Everett ran to the kitchen. He crouched in front of the oven, stuffing both his hands into two right side oven mitts. The one on his left hand was flipped over so that the oven safe side lay uselessly over the back of his hand. I realized now what had caused all the faded burns on his thin fingers.

"Let me do that." I tugged on his gloved hand as I crouched down to peek into the oven. "Oh wait...that's not even close to done."

The batter was quite visibly liquid, rippling and wiggling as it rose over the bowl. It looked like it was going to overflow any instant.

"Let's poke it with a toothpick and check," Everett suggested.

"It's still rising."

"Noo-ooo." He dragged out the word till it formed two syllables.

We crouched next to each other and stared at the bubbling cake as it rose higher and higher. I sucked in my cheeks, stressfully waiting for the moment when it was going to splatter all over the oven.

Everett suddenly dropped his face into his hands. "Oh no—there's video proof of me saying it won't rise."

I snorted. "Yes. Your part in this has been documented."

He cracked a smile. "I guess I can't plead innocence now." Everett waggled the Bon-Bon he had sneakily brought with him. "While waiting for this to finish?"

"That's for the tree." I tried to sound stern, capturing his wrist and pinning it down.

"C'mon, just this one."

"But your dad—"

"He said not to pull them all of them but this is just one," Everett quickly said. "And aren't you intrigued too? Imagine all the exciting stuff that could be inside."

"Probably just a key ring." I considered. "Maybe an eraser."

"Orrr it could be a little toy. Or a secret treasure map!"

"I don't think they put treasure maps in those." I grinned, his excitement getting to me. "But alright. Just one."

We pulled it with a satisfying pop, a little plastic object falling to the floor. It rolled just beneath the refrigerator but Everett managed to hook a pinky around it and fish it out.

"Aw it's just a key ring. Let's open another," he said, already getting up and running to the tree.

"No!" I skidded after him. "You said just one!"

"That one doesn't count 'cause I don't have any keys to put it on."

"I think it still counts." I huffed, bending over to rest my hands on my knees. I don't know where Everett gets all his energy from.

"Let's open them till we find a pack of cards to play with. They have those sometimes."

I'd had a moment to catch my breath now, so when Everett went to snatch another cracker from the tree I tackled him to the ground.

"That's...for our...event!"

"No, just one more! Please!"

He was laughing so hard, trying to wriggle himself free. It was infectious, and soon my own stomach hurt from laughing. I couldn't recount ever laughing this hard before I met him, but it feels now like I'm smiling all the time.

We did end up pulling a few more Bon-Bons, and afterwards, a lot more. Everett kept finding a reason to open another and then another. I don't think I should be held accountable, really, because who was I to argue with that wicked grin and those dazzling eyes?

In any case, I should have known we weren't really going to get any baking done.