Ella had no idea how she ended up babysitting.
She imagined that it was probably due to a deal made between her and Chloe after a tequila shot too many during one of their tribe nights, but it didn't bother her. After all, Trixie was a sweetheart—not to mention, she had an amazing taste in shirts.
Ella stood outside of Chloe's apartment door, fidgeting with her hands. Finally, the door opened and Ella was met by the smiling face of Trixie. "Hi, Ella!" she exclaimed.
"Hey, Trix!" Ella replied with equal enthusiasm.
Trixie turned around and yelled into the house. "Mom, Ella's here!"
Chloe came out of the kitchen, clearly in a hurry. She met Ella's eyes, smiling briefly. "Hey, Ella. Thanks again for doing this, I just couldn't get the babysitter in time and Dan's out on that case." she explained, grabbing her purse.
"It's no problem, Chloe." Trixie moved out of the way, allowing for Ella to walk in. "Besides, I love hanging out with Trix." Ella put her purse down on the couch.
"Okay, so, numbers are on the fridge." Chloe walked towards Ella, glancing down at Trixie. "She's supposed to do homework first—"
"That's so boring, Mom." Trixie interjected.
"—and then she can watch some TV. But only afterwards, alright?" Chloe questioned, addressing Trixie rather than Ella. Chloe then turned her attention towards Ella. "I'll be back in a few hours. Please make sure she doesn't burn the house down?"
"I'll do my best." Ella winked.
Trixie finished her homework fairly quickly.
Soon enough, Ella and Trixie sat in front of the couch, searching for something to watch. Trixie had snuggled herself into Ella's side as they scanned Netflix. Finally, they landed on a cooking show that they both liked.
"That looks so good!" Trixie mentioned, pointing at the screen during one of the segments.
"It really does." Ella felt her mouth watering. The recipe was a homemade artisan bread that one of the chefs was making from scratch. It looked delicious, and Ella couldn't help but notice Trixie's expression. Chloe wouldn't get too mad, would she? Ella made a split-second decision. "Hey, Trix? Why don't we make our own bread?"
Trixie's head snapped up to face Ella. "Really?!"
"Really. I think your mom has some yeast around here, right?"
Trixie got up from Ella's side, rushing into the kitchen. Ella chuckled at her enthusiasm as she got up from the couch, stretching slightly. She walked into the kitchen, where Trixie had already gotten the yeast and some flour.
"Alright, so I think we need some water." Ella said, opening the fridge to look for a gallon of water. Trixie hummed along happily as she measured the flour.
"How much flour is it supposed to be?"
"Uh, 3 cups?"
"I thought it was 3 and a half."
"I don't think half a cup will make a difference, Trix."
Trixie shrugged and measured out three cups of flour. Some of it spilled on the counter, but Ella reminded herself that they'd clean it up later. "What about yeast?"
"2 teaspoons, I think." Ella answered. She really wished that she had paid more attention to the cooking show, but decided that it would lower her authority if she rewound it to double check. "Okay, what else, what else?" she muttered, wracking her brain for the other ingredients.
"Salt!" Trixie exclaimed, rushing to the other side of the kitchen. Ella, meanwhile, had already grabbed the gallon of cool water. She eventually decided on using one and a half cups, pouring it into a measuring glass.
The two stood side-by-side at their gathered ingredients. Now was the hard part; making the bread.
"Okay, so what did we see the chef do first?" Ella questioned. At the very least, this could be an educational experience.
"Um, I think he mixed the dry stuff. Can I do that?!" Trixie asked, jumping up and down. Ella nodded, so Trixie ran to a bowl that was on the counter, pouring the flour and yeast together. She then added the salt, mixing it together with a spatula. Eventually, the mixture became harder for Trixie to stir as it got thicker, so Ella took over. Afterwards, Trixie poured the water into the mixture.
"What's next?"
"Now, we shape it!"
Both Ella and Trixie shaped the mixture with their hands ('You have to wash your hands first, Trix,' Ella warned.) and made the mixture into a ball-like shape. Ella covered it in aluminum foil and set it on the counter. "I'm pretty sure we're supposed to wait about three hours now. Come on, let's finish the show."
Three hours passed.
Ella and Trixie had lost themselves in their cooking show, but Chloe had sent a text that she would be later than expected, so it gave them time to get back to their homemade bread. The two walked into the kitchen, and their attention was drawn to the counter where the dough had been left.
"Woah."
Ella shared Trixie's awe—the dough had definitely risen, and it looked very different from when they had left it three hours ago. Ella cleared her throat—"Alright, let's shape these dudes."
The two shaped the dough into several loaves, which proved to be easier than expected. The instructions were to leave the loaves on the counter to set for about 45 minutes, so they did just that. Once about half an hour had passed, they preheated the oven and got the baking sheet ready.
Finally, they put the loaves onto the baking sheet and put on a timer for 25 minutes, so that the bread could cook. As Ella turned on the timer, she glanced at Trixie with a smile. "This is so easy! I wasn't expecting this to go this smoothly, Trix."
"I know, right?"
"Come on, let's go play some Zelda."
"Dios mio, I swear that if I have to pay 45 rupees for a shield every time it burns on Death Mountain, these guys are going to make me broke."
"I told you, Ella! You're not supposed to use the shield to block yourself from fire."
"But then what's the point of having one?"
"To fight people!"
Ella groaned as she held the controller, Trixie giggling next to her. Suddenly, the room smelled like something was burning. "Trix, do you smell that?"
Trixie nodded, scrunching her nose at the smell.
That's when realization hit Ella; the bread was still in the oven. As quickly as she could, Ella darted up and ran into the kitchen, grabbing an oven mitt. Smoke was coming from the oven, so she turned on a small fan and opened the oven door, grabbing the baking sheet.
"Ow, ow, ow." she muttered, practically throwing the baking sheet on the counter. She glanced behind her to make sure that Trixie wasn't harmed in any way before sadly drawing her attention back to the sheet.
The bread had been completely burnt, charred to a crisp. It was flat—too much water, maybe? Either way, the bread was unsalvageable. Trixie stood next to Ella. "Well, at least it was fun to make, right?" Ella asked hopefully.
Trixie grinned. "Yeah, it was really fun."
Ella glanced at the mess in the kitchen, exhaling as she put her hands on her hips. "I guess it's time to clean up."
Chloe came home about an hour later.
Ella and Trixie had managed to clean up, making the house appear spotless, and were now back to where they started—searching Netflix for something to watch.
The doorknob shook, and eventually opened. Chloe walked in, smiling immediately as Trixie ran over to her. They shared in an embrace, and Ella smiled at the sight—Chloe really was a good mom, and she loved her kid.
Chloe straightened herself and looked at Ella. "Everything okay over here?"
"Yup. Totally normal. Nothing out of the ordinary."
Chloe glanced at Trixie, and then put down her purse. "Hey, what's that smell?"
"Science project." Ella said, at the same time that Trixie said "Volcano." Trixie then said "Science project," when Ella switched to "Volcano."
Ella shifted on her feet. "Er, a science project that involved a volcano?"
Chloe looked at Trixie, then back at Ella, then back at Trixie. She exhaled. "You know what, I'm not even gonna ask."
The two said their goodbyes, and Ella gave one last wave to Trixie as she stepped out of the apartment. "Come back again soon?" Trixie had asked hopefully.
Ella giggled. "Of course, Trix. See you later!"
The apartment door closed, and Ella stood out in the hallway as she exhaled a breath. That was certainly an eventful afternoon that ended with a burnt bread and no rupees.
How had she ended up babysitting again?