67 Baking Cake

Roselle ran around her kitchen ensuring she had all the proper ingredients for making red velvet chocolate chip cake, and that the utensils were all laid out and ready to go. She frantically grabbed a glass bowl and broke it. "NO!" she shouted.

Michelle walked into the room with greasy hair and tired eyes. "What are you doing?" she asked, sniffling.

Roselle completely dropped everything she was doing when she witnessed the state of her sister. "Hey, what's a matter?" she walked, walking up to her and petting her hair.

She sniffled again. "Dan and I broke up," she said, plopping down on the couch.

"He dumped you?"

"I dumped him."

Roselle took a seat next to her. "Why?"

"Because I don't want my eggs to be in a basket, Ro. I don't want to be tied down when I'm still so young. I have so much I still want to do." Michelle hugged a pillow. "I've been too clingy on Dan to be honest. I don't want to get too attached to him and forget how to be my own person.

She nodded. "I guess I can understand that."

"Do you realize how lucky you are to have that eight year plan with Armani?"

Roselle raised a brow. "Excuse me?"

"Think about it this way. You can party for the next eight years and you have all the time in the world to figure out who you are and what you want, then when it's done, you can finally be with the guy you want. Or not, if you choose not to. It's like, you're free, but you still have a backup plan."

"So Armani is a backup plan now?" She crossed her arms.

"Honestly? Yeah, he is. You shouldn't aim for him, Ro. Honestly, I think there are way better guys out there for you than him."

The doorbell rang.

"Ah, I'll get it," Roselle said, heading towards the entrance and opening the door.

Eliot was standing there in a dress shirt with a popped collar along with a red tie. "Hey, Ro," he said, grinning.

"Oh God," Michelle said. "When I said better guys, I did NOT mean Eliot."

"Me and Eliot are going to hang out for a while," Roselle said. "We can keep talking later."

"You mean you INVITED him here?" she asked.

Roselle gave her 'the look' and Michelle was off to her bedroom. She turned back to the vice president. "Thanks for coming today even though I asked you out of the blue," she said. "Please, come in."

Eliot entered the room and sat down on the couch. "I brought you something," he said, pulling out a box of heart-shaped chocolates.

She took them. "Oh, uh, thanks." She placed them down on the coffee table.

He leaned in. "Anything for you, baby."

She burst into laughter. "Baby? Are you out of your mind?" She smelled something fragrant. She sniffed. "Are you wearing cologne?"

He chuckled. "Ro, you invited me here last minute on Valentine's night to 'bake a cake'." Eliot slicked his hair back. "We both know what that means."

"Uh, NO. Apparently we DON'T both know what that means. When I said I wanted to bake a cake, I ACTUALLY MEANT BAKE A CAKE!" She facepalmed. "And why are you even wearing cologne? That scent is trash. You already smell naturally good." Roselle widened her eyes and turned away for a moment. "What am I saying?" she mumbled.

"Wait, so when you said you wanted to bake a cake, you actually meant bake a cake?" Eliot asked, scratching his head.

"Surprisingly, yeah," she said, intensifying her sarcasm. "Shocking, right? It's almost as if I was being direct with what I wanted from you."

He groaned and rolled up his sleeves. "Okay, let's get to work then, I guess."

* * *

Eliot and Roselle got to work preparing the cake ingredients. Roselle would never admit it, but she was actually impressed watching the process of Eliot's baking. He was so professional when he wanted to be. Too bad his good looks and talent were all overshadowed by his natural dorkiness.

"You whisk the ingredients," Eliot said. "I'll sift in the flour."

She nodded. "Right." Roselle rammed the whisk across the bowl, trying to jam the butter, sugar, and eggs together.

Eliot practically choked when he saw her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm mixing it just like you said!" She was red and flustered.

"That's not how you do it, dammit!" He groaned.

"Is there even a proper way to mix stuff?"

"Of course there is. Here, do it like this."

Eliot got behind her all of a sudden and held her hand which held the whisk. She hadn't expected him to get close all of a sudden! That dummy. She wanted to point it out, but her mind drew a blank.

"You want to do it kinda softer like this," Eliot said. "Got it?" The cologne was prominent, but he still smelled good as always. Why was the weirdest person in Roselle's life also the best-smelling one?

"Y—yeah. Whatever," she said. She pushed him away. "You can get off me now."

He scratched his head. "You're friggin' weird, you know that?"

"I'M THE WEIRD ONE HERE?"

He continued to sift the flour and poured it in the bowl. "Why the hell did you even invite me here to make cake anyway?" He grumbled. "I really thought I was gonna get laid tonight."

"Well, I wanted to make a cake, but I'm not really a good baker."

"Uh, buy one."

"No!" She turned back to her bowl, facing away from him as she spoke. "I want it to be special, so I'm making it."

"You mean WE'RE making it."

"Whatever."

"Wait a minute, am I helping you make a cake for another guy?!"

"Well . . ."

"Dammit, Ro, is it for that other Mexican guy?"

"It's not for him, and it's not like that." Roselle munched on the ends of her hair. "It's for James."

"KING-BOY?"

"Yeah. Eliot, I feel so indebted to him. He was the one that saved my life, and he's alone in the hospital because of me. I want to do something nice for him."

He looked at her seriously. "I know now. Next time a bullet comes your way," he pointed at himself, "I'll be the one who takes it for you."

"Do you expect someone else to try to shoot me or something?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Could happen. My Grandma is still out there and she's pretty crazy."

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO REMIND ME OF THAT?" She did her breathing exercises.

"Oh . . . Right."

"Eliot, I would be lying if I told you she wasn't on my mind on most nights. You're her grandson. What do you think?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Ro, I'm not the right person to ask. I'm up most nights thinking about her too."

* * *

As Roselle knocked on James's hospital room, she was hit with a sudden burst of anxiety. She didn't understand what was wrong with her. Why did she feel so compelled to bake him a cake? Why was she dressed up in a frilly pink dress with curls and makeup? Why was her heart beating so fast?

Maybe she felt compelled to be nice to him because he saved her life. Yes, that was it. It definitely wasn't because she had 'feelings' for him or anything stupid like that. She was just making a . . . nice gesture. Yeah, that was it.

She entered the room. "Hi . . . James," she said in a low, hushed tone. She immediately regretted dressing up so much. What if it was over the top or something?

James slowly got up and walked over to her. "Hi, Roselle," he said, matching her low voice. He looked at her with that intense stare for a moment, looking her up and down. "You look nice." He smirked. "I didn't expect you to be here tonight of all nights. I doubt it's a coincidence."

Roselle dropped her jaw. "H--hey, should you really be standing up like this?"

"I've been in physical therapy. I can walk around a bit now, but I still need to be kept under close observation." He walked back and forth a bit to demonstrate. "See?"

She smiled, a bit teary-eyed. "I'm so happy you're doing better."

James glanced down at the box. "Hmm. What's this?"

"It's . . ." She closed her eyes and handed it towards him, shivering slightly. "It's for you." She was talking so high-pitched and rapid that she could barely understand herself. "Eliot helped me bake it but he said it wasn't very good but I tried my best, alright?!"

He took the box and ate a bite. "It's very pleasant, little rose. Thank you for your thoughtfulness."

She blushed and turned around. "Anyway, I think I'll just be going now."

James touched her shoulder before she could go. "Leaving so soon, peasant? Do you think you're the only thoughtful one here? How dare you assume I don't have a gift for you as well."