First Words

First Words Chapter 7

Chell walked down the gravel streets of the small town, breathing in the sweet air. The buzzing core at her side looking around excitedly, taking in all the details he could at their brisk pace. "Oh, this is really exciting! Isn't it!" Chell nodded a bit, she was more nervous than excited though. She walked along for a while, looking around at the various buildings around her. "Oh! Look over there! A bank! You could work there!" Wheatley chirped, getting stares from nearby people. Chell shook her head, she never was good with numbers. "Ok, how about that... bakery!" He suggested, raising his handles a bit. A bakery? That doesn't seem like a bad idea! She walked down the road, turning right, the gravel splaying behind her boots as she walked. She arrived at the door of the bakery. Chell took a deep breath, opened the doors, and walked in. She inhaled the sweet scent of fresh baking bread. "Hello! Do you need anything?" A woman behind the counter said. Chell nodded, she set down Wheatley for a moment, to flatter her left hand and making a scribbling motion on top of it with her right. She picked up the happy core. "Oh, you need a notepad?" Chell nodded. "Okay, I'll be right back." The woman stepped out form behind the counter, going underneath it, digging around for a peice of paper and pen. After a while, she came back up, handing Chell a small notepad and a pen. She took them in one hand, and set Wheatley down on the counter, somehow managing to keep quiet this whole time. Chell scribbled down some words on the notepad, and handed the pad back to the woman. The woman read it out loud to herself. "Can I apply here? Of course you can!" The woman informed her. Chell smiled, picking Wheatley up again. "But, before we can hire you, we need to test how well you can bake bread. Is that alright?" Chell nodded. She followed the woman back to the kitchen where there was a large bowl filled with a large clump of dough. Next to it was another bowl, only empty, but on the counter there was water, flour, salt, and other things you need to make the bread dough. Chell walked over to the counter, setting Wheatley down on an upside down plastic container. She picked up the flour, dumping a small amount of it into the bowl, then Chell picked up a small cup, filling it about halfway with water. She dumped it slowly into the bowl. "Wow! How do you know what you're doing?" Wheatley asked, impressed. Chell shrugged, this all came naturally to her. Chell continued to add ingrediants, the lump of flour eventually becoming stickier and stickier until Chell was able to knead it into the shape of a dinner roll. She placed the lump of dough on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper, opening the oven and sliding it into it. Wheatley watched her every move, afraid to speak in case he might have startled her into messing something up. "Wow... you, are amazing! Amazing! You just know how to do everything! Cooking? Bam. You're just bloody amazing!" The core said, wiggling his handles. Chell smiled, he really had changed when he was attached to the mainframe. She walked back over to him, brushing her fingetips along his handle, and he moved it slightly, trying to return the smooth motion of her fingertips, alomst as if he were... holding her hand. Chell blushed, and looked away, eyes darting to the timer on the oven that had been set earlier by the woman. "What's wrong luv?" He asked her. God, she loved it when he called her that, she denied it over and over internally, but she did. Chell's fingers slipped away from his handle, gently brushing the area above his optic plate. He shuddered slightly, raising his optic to look at her face. The oven made a 'ding' sound, Chell snapped her focus from Wheatley to the oven, bending down to open it, she reached her hand to the counter and groped for a towel, when she found one, Chell reached into the oven and pulled out the dinner roll. It was the perfect shade of golden brown, the sweet smell of the warm bread wafting it's way through the kitchen. Chell set the pan on the counter, and walked out of the kitchen for a moment, motioning her hand towards herself, a "Come here" type of motion. The woman got up, and walked into the kitchen with Chell. She only had to glance at the roll to be impressed. "Wow. This is just amazing! You're hired!" The woman exclaimed, shaking Chell's hand. Chell smiled wide, now she could earn money to get their own apartment! She shook the womans hand back. "Oh! And by the way, you start tomorrow, 8:00 AM, and my name is Mel, what's your's?" Mel asked her. Chell pulled the notepad and pen out of her jeans pocket, writing down her name. She showed it to Mel. "C-H-E-L-L, how is it pronounced? A 'sh' sound or 'ch' sound?" Mel asked her. Chell scribbled down some more on the notepad, and flipped it around again to show Mel. "Oh, Chell! Nice to meet you! Well, uh we already shook hands, so... hi." Chell shrugged. "Well, you can go now! Have a good day!" Mel called from behind the counter. Chell walked back over to Wheatley and picked him up by the handles. "You did it! You got the job!" He exclaimed, his lower optic shutter raising a bit in a smile. She nodded, and walked out of the bakery. The personality core's optic rolled around in a circle. "This is just brilliant, seriously, really bloody brilliant. Now you can get money, and we can live somewhere! Really luv, you're just so brilliant. Can't say it enough." Chell raised him up to her shoulder, holding onto his top handle still so he wouldn't fall off. He nuzzled his optic plate to her cheek. She blushed again, reverting her crystal eyes to the core, meeting his. The more Chell thought about it, the more she thought she was in love with the metal ball... Nope, she wasn't going to think about it. She continued walking back to the motel. Wheatley continued to blabber on about how he thought Chell was so amazing. When Chell reached the room they were staying in, she set him down on the nightstand, and she lay down on the bed, picking him up again, and setting him down in front of her, gently rubbing the back outer shell of his casing. "What are you..." Chell put a finger up to her lips, making him widen his optic and nod. "Silence, got it." Chell raised her hand from the back of the core to the top, gently rubbing the metal on his handles. "Nnngh, just- just keep doing that, really, please..." He begged her. Chell continued to run her fingers along the smooth metal surface, her hand dropped to the bed, index finger tracing a circle around his optic plate. His cracked optic was a small point of light, darting around for a distraction. Chell closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep. She was happy, nothing could ruin her mood right now.