Effervescent

CHAPTER 5 - I'm the best egg cracker out there.

"What's today?" These were the first words that slipped past Jayden's lips the second Cara entered the room the next day after her trip to the library.

"Huh?" She looked at him dumbfounded.

"What's the Tuesday tradition?" He elaborated further.

"OH! That's what you mean. You know how those wives trick their husband into thinking today is an important day and make them guilty about forgetting, those stupid videos on Instagram, for a second I felt like I walked into one of those." She chuckled.

Jayden barked out a laugh and patted the space on the bed beside him, indicating her to come and take a seat next to him. She waddled towards him and plopped on the bed. He was about to make a comment but then he got a closer look at her face. Her chubby cheeks were red, her nose red and her lashes wet. "Have you been crying, Brownie?"

Cara shook her head unconvincingly. "What's the matter? You can tell me. If you're not comfortable I'll call Chris or maybe Drew?"

He realised he didn't like seeing her upset. She was always happy and spreading joy in the little time he's known her. Seeing her teary eyed made him feel something in the pit of his stomach, he felt unsettled.

"You'll make fun of me." She whispered.

"No, I would never make fun of you for crying, Brownie. You're worrying me." He said, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

"Dobby just died." She whimpered.

"What?" He questioned.

"Dobby the elf. I was rereading Harry Potter and I reached the part where Dobby dies, now I'm sad." She explained. He found her to be extremely adorable. He wouldn't have guessed that she was shedding tears for a fictional character.

He pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back soothingly, "It's alright, he's in a better place now." He did feel stupid for comforting her over a fictional death but he couldn't bring himself to let go.

"This is funny. I am being so stupid." She giggled making him chuckle along with her.

"Let's distract you, tell me about today's tradition." He said, still holding her in his arms.

"Turkey Tuesday." She squeaked out.

"Okay and what do we do on turkey Tuesday?" Jayden was amused with all these traditions she had going on but he felt happy to be a part of it.

"I cook, I love cooking and eating and feeding everyone." She said.

"Then that's what we'll do, let's go wherever it is that we need to." He pulled her up and they were both standing.

"The kitchen. Obviously." She said.

He nodded his head with a small smile, "Obviously."

**

"No don't add flour in the curry, add it in the brownie mixture you baboon." Cara screeched. Jayden was absolutely hopeless in the kitchen. They were in the student kitchen which was barely used by anyone.

"Calm down woman, I know what I'm doing." He said, proudly.

"Just like you knew how to crack an egg? We spent the last twenty minutes teaching you how to do that so I'm sorry if I don't trust you with my brownies." She sent him a pointed look, a spatula in her hand and an apron clad on her body.

"Yes but now I'm the best egg cracker out there, give me some credit here." Jayden pouted.

She shook her head and they went back to cooking. It was a fun experience, cooking with Jayden, even though he couldn't tell salt apart from sugar without tasting them. He cracked jokes and made her laugh and she did the same. Soon, their dinner was ready and they brought everything to their room.