The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Angels
I stared blankly at the recipe in my hand, taking a deep breath. Angel wanted cookies? Well, Angel was going to get cookies then. Too bad Mr. Pyro Chef decided to play Dr. Medicine Man for Ella today…
Everyone else was crowded around the TV, watching some movie about a giant elf that was adopted by Santa and now has to save Christmas. Maybe if he lost the yellow tights and the pointy green hat…
Focus, Max. If the blind kid can do it, so can I. I looked down again at the list of ingredients for 'The Ultimate Christmas Sugar Cookie.' I can do this, I told myself. How hard could it be?
I started meandering around the kitchen, collecting the ingredients I would need and bringing them back to the counter.
I searched the cabinets…
Butter-flavored Crisco, check. Granulated sugar, check. All-purpose flour, check. Vanilla, check. Baking powder… I picked up a container that said baking soda. Hmm. I figured it was close enough and placed it on the counter with the other ingredients.
I couldn't remember why I had been so intimidated before. This baking stuff is going to be pretty easy…
I glided over to the refrigerator to get the eggs with my newfound confidence.
After double-checking the list, I noticed I had forgotten only the salt… Ew. I didn't want salty cookies, so I made the decision to leave that out of the recipe.
I pulled out a mixing bowl and some measuring cups from a different cabinet and set it down with the other items. Looking at everything in front of me, I smiled.
Let the cookie-making commence…
I realized I may have overestimated my abilities the moment I experienced problems just trying to open the bag of flour. I pulled at the flaps gently, attempting to open the bag carefully, but it soon turned into a struggle… and then I saw white.
I coughed violently as the flour exploded upwards into my face…
After I regained control of the situation at hand, I looked at the fragile eggs, hoping I could crack them without getting any shells into the batter. I picked one up, holding it firmly… It made a crack as I tapped it against the counter to open it.
"Easy enough," I said out loud, pleased with myself after I successfully dropped the contents of the egg into the bowl. "Just one more."
Again, my confidence backfired as I smashed the egg down with slightly too much force. Egg yolk spat out, adhering to my shirt…
I sighed. Not wanting to screw up the cookies any further, I very cautiously proceeded to add the other ingredients into the mixing bowl, following the remaining instructions carefully.
Until I came to the vanilla…
Mmm… vanilla. The recipe only called for one teaspoon, but that didn't sound like enough. Glancing around the room in a sneaky manner to make sure no one was watching, I poured about a quarter of the bottle into the mixing bowl. I was sure everyone would thank me for it later when they tasted how delicious the cookies were.
Using a big wooden spoon, I mixed everything together until it formed a creamy, light brown blend of stickiness. Then I dumped the mixture out onto the countertop and started pressing it into a flat sheet so I could use the cookie cutters Angel bought.
You can probably guess what shapes she picked out…
When I was satisfied with the thickness of the dough, I pressed the forms into it, creating little angel and santa-shaped cookies.
Okay, so they turned out slightly deformed, but they made it onto the cookie sheets in one piece, which was really all I could have hoped for.
Sliding the trays into the warm oven, I felt someone's gaze on me…
"Wow, Max," Fang said as I turned around and walked back to the table to start cleaning up the disaster zone.
I smiled slightly. "Yeah. See? I can bake if I try," I said, feeling proud of my newest achievement…
"No, I meant you're less capable than I thought," he chuckled. "You're covered in… what is that?" he asked, walking closer until he was standing next to me, picking at something in my hair.
I scowled, then looked at the finger he was holding up… Crisco. Somehow, a messy glob of the greasy shortening had taken up residence in my hair…
Taking in my appearance, I grimaced. The sticky remnants of the eggy mishap still remained on my shirt and there was dough stuck to my arms, not to mention the flour…
Fang went to the sink, grabbing a dishcloth from the counter. He dampened it with warm water before walking back to me with an amused expression. Instead of handing it to me so I could remove the flour from my face and the doughy bits from my arms, he took the liberty of doing it himself…
He ignored my expression and brought the warm cloth to my cheek, stroking it gently against my skin to remove the dusting of flour. He lingered when he came to my chin, and I couldn't help but wonder why I hadn't swatted his hand away yet. My face suddenly grew very warm… and it wasn't from the warm washcloth, either.
His face was unreadable as he moved on to my arm, wiping off the mess. His light touch made me shiver and I couldn't take it anymore.
"What are you doing?" I asked, snatching the cloth from him to quickly brush everything else off, while I refused to make eye contact.
"Cleaning you up, so that we can go outside," he answered.
"For what?"
He hesitated for a second and curiosity drew my eyes up to meet his. "I want to show you something."
He hastily left the room for barely a few seconds and tossed me my coat when he returned. I raised an eyebrow questioningly, but didn't get any more answers from him, so I shoved my arms into the coat and pulled it on.
Outside, we walked about twenty feet from the cabin before he told me to stop. I did as he said, but watched with interest as he took a few extra steps before turning around to face me… With a slight grin, he whipped his wings out halfway and flopped backwards into the snow.
"Fang, what are you doing?"
He slowly sat up, the grin still in place, and climbed carefully out of the Fang-shaped depression in the snow.
He walked back to where I was standing, shaking the snow off of his wings…
"Now you try."
I stared at him, unsure of why I should dump myself into the snow willingly.
As if he had read my thoughts, he said, "It's a snow angel, Max."
Ohh. A look of understanding crossed my face as I nodded.
I imitated his actions and unfurled my wings partially, then collapsed on my back into the snow. I flinched slightly, as the frosty chill bit at my wings, and started to push myself up immediately…
"Careful," Fang said quietly, holding both of his hands out. "If you move around too much, you'll mess it up."
"Yeah, well, I mess up everything these days," I muttered, reaching forward. I took his hands as he gently pulled me up from the snow.
"Well, it looks better than those angel cookies you made anyway," he said, brushing the snow from my wings. I wasn't complaining… His hands were warm…
"They were that bad, huh?" I asked, scrunching my nose up a bit.
"Well, they were only slightly contorted," he grinned. "I'm sure they'll taste fine, though."
I sighed, smiling at this new, sweet side of Fang exposed by the Christmas spirit. We stood together for a few minutes in companionable silence, gazing at our snow angels, mine appearing a bit more lopsided than his.
I turned my head to look at him and smiled again. His expression seemed peaceful as he stared at the ground in front of us… Something about it seemed to sum up this whole holiday – my new favorite holiday, by the way. We were safe, if only for a short while, and the whole Flock was relaxing. It was blissful…
I found myself leaning closer to Fang, but by the time I'd realized what I was doing, it was already too late…
What are you doing, Max? No, stop. Don't. Don't do it!
Oh. My. God.
I kissed Fang on the cheek.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
I had to get away…
"I'm… um… the cookies…" I stammered lamely, before racing back into the cabin, leaving behind a very dumbfounded Fang, frozen in place…
Big thanks to the following people who suggested this chapter:
RiRiana - xhatedvampirex - jenfan456
I think I'm really happy with this chapter. I don't know if you guys liked it, but I had fun writing it. ;-)
Now, please, please, please review? I only got three reviews for the last chapter… I know it wasn't amazing or anything, but really… Maybe you can help get my reviews up to 55 this time? I hate doing that, but I still want to know what you guys think and make sure it's worth continuing this. Thank you, those of you who reviewed! :-)