AN: I understand I'm posting this way too late for the holiday season, but I can't leave this unfinished so thank you if ever you'll see this through with me and my erratic schedule.

This chapter deals with Doug's first time baking, and Evie's attempts at making herself better at it.

Hope you enjoy!

Baking Bad

Doug stared blankly at the board with listed measurements and ingredients. When he was required to take a subject called "Cooking Class," he thought it would solely focus on frying, boiling, or anything stove-related. He had done well so far, especially since he came from a fairly large family wherein cooking was an unspoken required skill to have.

Today, however, Professor Chef Louis rambled on about a lesson on baking and Doug's hope of getting an A at the end of this quarter shattered.

"And finally," said Chef Louis as he tapped his desk with a spatula, "you must always be precise. Think Chemistry, except instead of lab explosions, you have broken teeth or runny food as results." He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "I will not allow re-takers."

Chemistry? He was good at Chemistry. He could do this. With renewed enthusiasm, Doug double-checked his notes if he correctly listed the ingredients and their measurements.

"You are free to do test runs in the school kitchen before your practical examination in mid-December. Schedule sign-ups will be posted outside the door. Class dismissed."

Doug gathered his things and left the classroom, eager to get started on a lot of practice runs before the exam. The half-dwarf arrived at the kitchen and scribbled his name in for six different schedules prior to their exam date. Maybe he could ask Evie for help?

He shook the thought away, knowing Evie was as busy with exams as he was.

/-/

Evie rested her forehead against her desk and groaned. She baked two sets of cupcakes and they both turned out horrible. Like the previous festival where she asked Mal to fix her baking, they all came out wrong. Just wrong.

The holiday break was upon them, but before that, she had to pass her exams. Somehow, Evie thought it genius to put in "Baking" as a skill she would master under her "Good Habits" class. Now she wanted to go back in time and kick herself in the face for doing that.

"Who died?" asked Mal as she and Jay entered the room.

Evie lifted her face off the desk. "My dreams of getting an A," she sighed.

The purple-haired girl rolled her eyes. Her roommate had the tendency to be dramatic and over-exaggerate events as they happened. "Oh. No," she said in a deadpan voice, "What happened."

"I wrote 'baking' as a skill for my Good Habits class, and ugh," she grabbed a cupcake and threw it at Jay.

The boy instinctively caught it with his hand. "Oww!" He dropped the rock-hard cupcake on the floor and waved his aching hand.

The half-dragon rolled her head back in laughter. "At least you didn't put in all the elements of the periodic table anymore."

Evie glared. "Not funny." She gestured to the two trays on the side of her desk. "The first batch is all liquidy, and the second one," she nodded at Jay's hand, "can hurt someone."

"I thought baking was all measurements," said Jay, "aren't you good with numbers?"

Evie grabbed another cement-like cupcake and threw it in his direction.

/-/

"Are you meeting with someone else?" asked Evie. This was the fourth time Doug told her he wasn't available for dinner and it was getting suspicious. With exams fast approaching, it was impossible he was doing anything else except study, right? "I won't take it against you, I only want to know."

"No!" he said over the phone, the device stuck between his cheek and shoulder as he attempted to scoop flour into a measuring cup. "I'm just…" he wheezed when some of the flour entered his nose, "really busy with exams. I'm sorry."

When the line went dead after that, Evie fumed. They could study together. In fact, they almost always studied together. What made this 'exam' so different? She grabbed a handful of her steely, rock-hard cupcakes and threw them in a bag, ready to give Doug a piece of her mind… and some bruises.

She knocked on his dorm a few minutes later. When no one answered, she tried again and then for a third time. With strained patience, Evie opened the door but was unfortunately met with an empty room. She went to the library, the dining hall, then the outdoor study and picnic area, to no avail. Busy with exams my ass.

When she passed the kitchen on her way back to her dorm, defeated and frustrated, she heard a loud clattering of pots and pans. The princess rushed in, ready to help whoever was in need only to find her goofy boyfriend on the floor, with a sifter on his head and a generous helping of what looked like flour scattered all over and around him. "Doug!"

He coughed, waving some of the flour away from his face. "H-hi." As dopey as he could be on more than one occasion, he didn't want Evie to see him reach this level of dopeyness.

"I thought you were busy with exams." She wanted to believe she wasn't the demanding or jealous type of girl, but seeing Doug in the kitchen instead of 'studying' was making her internal alarms ring off like no other.

He stood and tried to dust himself off as much as he could. "I was," he coughed again, "I am." He sighed, picking up the sifter off his head and placing it on the kitchen counter. "My Cooking Class is requiring us to make cupcakes."

Evie winced at the word, considering that's what she had been trying to do as well. "I see," was all she said. She then grabbed a broom from the tiny closet in the corner and started sweeping up the mess on the floor while Doug busied himself with cleaning the kitchen counters and sink.

When the place looked presentable again, Doug wrapped his arms around Evie's waist, the broom in her hand getting trapped between their bodies. "Sorry."

She shook her head, realizing she'd been angry at him for no real reason.

He let her go and sheepishly asked, "You wouldn't happen to be able to teach me these things, would you?"

With a pink tint to her cheeks, she placed the broom off to the side and rummaged through her bag, picking out one of the cupcakes.

Doug's mouth hung open at the sight. It looked wonderful! "Did you make that?"

Evie hurled the cupcake at the wall and it slammed against the surface with a thud. It fell to the floor without breaking apart and if she squinted, she could have sworn it caused a dent on the wall. "Yes, I did." She huffed, crossing her arms. "I have to bake something for my Good Habits class."

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and picked up the deadly cupcake. With an awkward smile, he threw it in the garbage bin and asked her, "Want to practice together?"

/-/

Evie gasped when the oven timer rang loud. She pulled away from Doug, who was blushing to the tips of his ears, and stood from the floor. "Looks edible…" she mumbled, taking out the baking pan and laying it on the nearby counter.

Doug swallowed the lump in his throat before gathering his wits to stand as well. His girlfriend nibbled on his lip harder than usual and he was sure his legs turned to jelly for awhile back there.

The blue haired beauty took out one of the cupcakes from the sheet and bit on it, sighing in satisfaction. "Finally. I think it's passable."

The half-dwarf was still staring at his girlfriend's lips. She shouldn't expect he had recovered from their latest makeout session that quickly.

Evie, on the other hand, decided to take advantage of the situation. She took another bite and chewed slowly, making it as sensual as she could despite the giggle threatening to burst forth from her throat. "What do you think?" she asked innocently.

"Hot," he coughed and caught himself, "Uh, yes, I think we'd manage a C?" he squeaked at the end.

She finally allowed herself to giggle and gave him a peck on the cheek. Cute. Evie was well aware of her effect on him, but she thought he should know how he affected her too.

/-/

At the end of their exam week and their grades had been given, both Doug and Evie received a B for their cupcakes in their respective classes.

Jay whistled at Evie's grading card. "Nice one."

"Thank you," she beamed, then offered him one of her newest batch of cupcakes, "want one?"

The long-haired boy hesitantly took one and slowly chewed on it. It wasn't Evie's best work, unlike her other cooking masterpieces, but at least it wasn't as stiff as a board like her last cupcake. "How did you pull this off?"

"Doug and I practiced for way too many nights."

"May we never have to bake again," nodded Doug.

Jay raised a brow at the couple knowingly. "Are you sure baking was the only thing you two 'practiced'?"

Evie blushed and chucked a cupcake in his direction, but since they were no longer as hard as rocks, it broke apart and bits and pieces scattered on the floor when it hit Jay's arm.

Neither she nor Doug would admit that as bad as they both still were at baking, they were already fairly good at kissing each other and making each other squirm when they are alone.

AN: 'Til next time!