Too Short To Ride

1 4 : Sugar burns really easy

"This is a bad idea," Jasmine whispered to her older sister as Aria got out some baking supplies. Karter nudged the younger girl, telling her to shut up.

"She's trying," Karter said, "what more can you ask for."

Ingredients littered the counters and despite the fact that they hadn't even begun baking yet, there was a smudge of flour on Karter's cheek.

"Alright," Aria began, "I decided we could make something easy but will still taste good even if it gets burned." She gave the sisters each a recipe to carry out. "These puff pastry instructions are really basic so don't worry too much about getting everything done perfectly because it's pretty forgiving." With graceful and swift movements, Aria moved the first ingredients to the table for the girls to start using. "Alright! Let's start!"

Karter studied the recipe with extreme detail. Aria didn't know Karter enough to realize that she could cook and end up with raw ingredients but a burnt pan.

"Before we get started I'd like to warn you," Karter said, "I think the cooking gods have a vendetta against me so don't be surprised if I somehow mess this up."

"Don't worry," Aria assured her, "I'm sure you'll do fine."

In a flurry of movement, the kitchen turned into an intense cooking scene. Jasmine sifted her flour as Karter measured out her ingredients. Aria helped each girl with certain techniques they were having trouble with while also completing her own dough. The initial steps to create the puff pastry dough was over relatively quickly and the girls sat around the kitchen as they waited for it to chill.

"So what are your guys' plans for the summer?" Aria said, trying to make polite conversation.

"There's this week long camp I'm going to about old radio communications and electronics!" Jasmine explained excitedly, "they also teach morse code and everything that goes along with communicating over a ham radio."

"Wow," Aria's eyes widened, "that stuff has always been over my head. What about you Karter?"

Karter thought about what exactly her plans were for the summer, "mainly surfing I guess. Near the end of the summer I'm moving into an apartment with some friends."

"Oh yeah," Jasmine turned to her sister, "aren't mom and dad also planning a camping weekend?"

Karter nodded, "I completely forgot about that."

"Hey! I'm actually going to go to that too!" Aria said, "it'll be right before David and I go on our honeymoon."

The sisters nodded.

"Are you excited to be getting married?" Jasmine asked.

Aria paused to think, "yeah actually. This might make you cringe because he's your brother, but he's honestly the most caring and loving man I've ever met. Everyday it's like a dream being with him. There was this one time I had a really important interview for culinary school and I was a complete wreck. All week I had been worried, imagining the worst possible scenarios. By the time it finally rolled around I was a mess. To make things worse, it was during those series of downpours so as I drove to the interview I could barely see through the rain. 

"Somehow my tire blew out and I had to pull off to the side of the road in the pouring rain with a flat tire and an incredibley important interview I was going to be late for. I just lost it. I started crying right there and with the little energy I had, I called David. In a flash he was there, changing my tire and helping me collect myself."

She paused.

"I think that's what love is. Working together. Both of you vs. the world. There's no other person I could be happier with."

Karter's heart swelled at the story. Love, she thought, that's what I want.

After 20 minutes had passed they got out the dough and began rolling it out, creating their individual puff pastries. All the while Karter though about Aria's story. 

-

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Smoke filled the kitchen and toppled into the living room where the three girls were waiting for their puff pastries to finish. They rushed to see what was going on and Aria quickly threw on an oven mitt before taking out the culprit.

Charred black preservatives surrounded Karter's creations and even though she knew something was going to happen, she was still upset.

"What the fuck," she swore under her breath.

"Uhhh, are these yours?" Aria asked Karter who solemnly nodded. "I guess I should've checked before we put these in. Preservatives are full of sugar, and sugar burns really easy. We should've wiped off all the excess jelly."

"Oh."

Aria looked at her soon to be sister-in-law, "hey, don't worry! We can just take a knife and cut them off of the parchment paper. It looks like the bottoms are the only thing that got burned. The actual shape is really well done!"

Karter understood that Aria was only trying to make her feel better, but it still lifted her spirits. "I told you I suck at baking," she laughed.

Jasmine and Aria joined in, laughing at how amazing Karter was at messing up a simple recipe. In the smoke filled room, the girls shared a moment of intimacy. Each understood that they didn't have similar interests but that was okay, in the end if they could laugh it was all good. 

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4/7/18