Flour and sugar covered the counters and table top while spatterings of oil, milk, and batter covered the floor. Fred swore under his breath as the electric hand mixer jerked in his hand and another spray of batter hit the floor.
"Are you making a mess over there?" Fina called over her shoulder.
"No." Fred lied and tried to wipe up the batter with his foot. He cringed when all he did was smear the batter even more.
"I can tell you're lying." Fina called in a sing song voice.
Fred pursed his lips to keep from laughing. Fina had only been here for a month or two but they had come to know each other pretty well and were pretty good friends. Right now she was helping him bake some treats for his team's upcoming bake sale. She was frosting the cake while he was on mixing duty for the cup cakes. Normally he wouldn't be caught dead baking since that was a girl's job, but Fina was doing him a favor. Besides, she promised him a fresh batch of cookies if he helped. Fred had to admit it; he had fallen absolutely, totally in love... with her cooking. He truly envied Joe because living with Fina meant that she cooked all of his meals when Mrs. Arthur's back was turned and Fred had to settle for the occasional leftovers. It was only fair that he leveled the playing field by skipping school and have Fina and more importantly her cooking all to himself.
He turned on the mixer again but was only able to mix a few times before the stupid thing jerked again and splashed batter onto the floor.
"Fred!" Fina spun around and walked over to him to look at the mess. "How do you keep spilling batter all over the floor?"
"Hey!" Fred lifted his hands in self defense. "It's not my fault. Joe's mixer is possessed okay?"
Fina looked around the kitchen at the rest of the mess and wrung her hands together nervously.
"Joe's going to be so mad at me." She said biting her lip.
"Relax," Fred said draping an arm across her shoulders. "He's not going to get mad at you. I'll make sure of it."
"You're right," Fina smiled up at him sweetly. "I'll just tell him it was your fault."
Fred dropped his arm from her shoulder. "No you won't."
"Yes I will."
"No you won't."
"Yes I will."
Fred tried to frown and look intimidating but couldn't help but smile. Fina giggled and turned to take the cookies out of the oven. He was considering stealing a little taste of the frosting on the cake when he heard her give a little hiss of pain. He spun around and saw her taking out the baking pan with her bare hands.
"What the hell, Fina!?" Fred shrieked, grabbed an oven mitt, and snatched the tray away from her.
"What?" Fina asked innocently. "What did I do wrong?"
"You're freakin' burning your hands!" Fred set down the pan and turned to look at her. "Doesn't that hurt?"
"Fred," Fina sighed and showed him her hands.
He watched as the nasty looking, dark red burns slowly change color and heal. He shuddered in mild disgust. Fina had accidentally cut, burned, and even broken her hands or arms over and over again and healed over and over again, but he still wasn't used to it. More importantly he never liked seeing her in pain, even if it was temporary.
Fred sighed in frustration. "Please stop hurting yourself. Or letting yourself get hurt. Or whatever. I don't care that you're a healer, just... please be more careful."
Fina shrugged and went back to the table to finish frosting the cake. Fred grabbed the bowl of cupcake batter and followed her. She was humming softly to herself and he felt his aggravation fade away. He stuck his tongue out of his mouth and tried to carefully pour the batter into the paper lined pan. He glanced up to see Fina watching him with a small smile on her face.
"Hey," He said quietly. "Why don't you let me take you on a tour of New York sometime? I could show you some really cool stuff."
Fina smiled at him brightly and tilted her head to the side. "You mean like a another double date?"
Fred's smile dropped a little. Oh yeah. That's right. He had a girlfriend. Not that he was trying to hook up with Fina or anything, it was just that Jodie had a tendency to get jealous around other girls. Besides, Fina was kinda, sorta with Joe right?
"I didn't mean like a date or anything," He quickly tried to recover. "Just as friends or whatever, if Joe hasn't already-"
"If I haven't already what?" Joe asked suddenly walking into the kitchen followed by Sam.
Joe's confused look turned to shock as he stared at the mess in the kitchen. Sam's mouthed formed a small "O" and he looked like he was struggling not to laugh.
"What. Did. You. Guys. Do. To. My. Kitchen?" He asked slowly no doubt trying to hold in his outrage.
"Is this what you skipped school for Fred?" Sam snickered. "Is Fina teaching you how to be a good little house wife?"
Fred glared at him but winced when Fina hit him in the arm.
"You lied to me!" She chided him. "You told me you got special permission to skip classes to prepare for the bake sale!"
"What about my kitchen!?" Joe said angrily. "My mom is going to kill me if she sees this mess!"
Fina walked over to Joe and placed a hand on his arm. "Calm down, calm down. I'll start cleaning right away."
"No," Joe sighed and threw a look at Fred. "It wasn't all you're fault. I'll help you too. Come on, I'll show you where the mops and bucket are."
Fred watched them leave the kitchen with a small frown on his face. Sam walked up to him and gave him a look.
"What?" He asked defensively.
"Really?" Sam shook his head. "Skipping school to mess around with Fina behind Joe's back? While you're dating his great grand daughter?"
Fred looked at Sam like he was crazy. "Mess around with Fina? What are you talking about? We're just friends and she's doing me a favor."
"Really? So would Jodie be happy with you two alone in the kitchen like this?"
"Of course not. But that's because she's the jealous type. Me being around any girl would drive her crazy."
Sam scoffed and rolled his eyes. Before Fred could defend himself further Joe and Fina walked back in carrying several mops, brooms, and pushing a bucket full of water. Joe and Fina mopped one side of the kitchen while Fred and Sam swept the other side.
"Ugh, this is taking forever." Fred groaned after only ten minutes. "I know a waaay better way to do this and we could be done in thirty seconds.'
"Oh yeah?" Joe said rolling his eyes. "And what way is that?"
"I'll show you." Fred grinned and went over to Joe's discarded backpack.
It was the same backpack Joe had since the fifth grade and just like then, The Book was nestled in between textbooks and notebooks. Fred pulled it out triumphantly and saw Sam pale.
Joe finally glanced up at him and took a step back, apprehension written all over his face.
"Fred..." He said slowly. "What are you doing? I'm still not finished reading that yet."
"Chill Joe," Fred waved a hand dismissively and started flipping through The Book. "Samantha once did this thing where she used The Book and made me and Sam dig a ditch in like five seconds."
"Yeah but do you remember what she said?" Sam asked panicky. "Because I sure don't and who knows what could happen if you mess with that thing?"
"I know what I'm doing." Fred frowned.
Uh-oh. Now what he mentioned it, Samantha did say something to make The Book do that thing. And... Fred couldn't remember what it was. He tried to b.s it though and started mumbling whatever he could think of, hoping that The Book would do the rest for him. He knew he made a big mistake when curls of green and strangely cold mist began pouring out of The Book followed by what looked like green snow.
Sam screamed and started to run away but slipped on some spilled milk and fell into him, knocking them both over. They fell through the mist and quite literally through time and space.
They landed hard on a cold, damp wooden floor and the freezing night air closed around them in a choke hold.
"Holy crap!" Fred leaped up and started jumping and down holding his arms. "What happened to the heat!?"
"F-f-Fred," Sam stood up and pulled his jacket tighter around him. "I swear if you warped us to Antarctica again-"
Fred ignored him and started to look around. It was pitch dark out except for a spattering of stars in the sky and he could hear the sound of water. When he noticed the railings he broke into a smile.
"Cool," He turned to Sam with a grin. "I think I warped us onto a cruise ship."
"With our luck I highly doubt it." Sam mumbled taking a look around himself.
Fred rolled his eyes and looked around to see if Joe and Fina had warped with them. He frowned. Oh well, more gambling and shrimp cocktails for him. He looked around again and saw Sam staring at something on a door. He was trembling in fear and looked even more spazzy than usual. Fred went over to see what he was looking at.
"R.M.S Titanic." He read out loud and grimaced. "As in that sappy movie Jodie keeps trying to get me to watch with her?"
"No, Fred." Sam said in a whisper. "Titanic as in the ship that hit an iceberg, sank, and over seventy percent of the people died."