10
Cooper
Iset up the bakingutensils on the kitchen island when the shrill noise of the doorbell stops me in my tracks.I wait for a second to know if it is Luna, and the three distinct knocks follow the single ring of the bell, like clockwork.I smile knowingly because it is her; we decided two months back that whenever we reach others’ houses, we would follow a certain code to easily identify that the person on the other side of the door is one of us.
I walk over to the door and open it, only to be met with a sudden chill that sends a shiver down my spine.It is already the end of summer, giving way to autumn.But I ignore the cold because my eyes are transfixed on Luna standing before me in a long red dress with polka dots sprinkled across.My breath quickens; she is always a sight for sore eyes.My attention moves towards her hand that is holding a basket full of fresh strawberries.I raise my eyebrows in surprise.‘Luna, I thought we were going to be baking a chocolate cake?’
She squeezes past me with a gentle push to my chest with her palm.‘Hello to you too,’ she says, faking annoyance.
‘Sorry, where are my manners?’I say as I bend down to pepper kisses on her cheeks.‘Hello, beautiful.’
Her eyebrows are still pulled close as she tries to fake being upset at me, but as soon as I wrap my arm around her waist to pull her close, the smile that she is suppressing comes out.‘We are baking a chocolate cake, but I couldn’t resist bringing your favourite strawberries from the market so that we can add them to the cake.It is a good combination’ – she looks deep into my eyes – ‘just like the two of us.’
A grin breaks out of me, I chuckle out loud and pull her into an embrace – her face lands on my chest, and her head is tucked underneath my chin – and I place a kiss on the top of her head.‘My adorable, cheesy, Luna.’As I stand there with my arms wrapped tightly around her, my thoughts drift off for a second.Luna has become more comfortable in my presence recently, which brings out a childish side to her despite the wound that still resides in her from her brother’s death.And I’m glad that I have created a safe space for her to be that way.
After a while of standing in silence and enjoying being in each other’s arms, Luna untangles herself and quickly turns around, facing away from me.I suspect that she teared up, but she doesn’t want me to see it.I respect her wish and avoid questions.It does stay in the back of my head that even though she is getting more comfortable being vulnerable around me, sometimes she tries to be strong and independent.I watch her quickly wipe her tears and turn to face me again.‘Where’s my apron?’she asks jokingly.
I bring her an apron and slowly put it over her head, onto her neck and tie it around her waist.While I do this, Luna’s soft gaze falls on me.‘Thank you, Coop,’ she says.The bursts of warm air from her words land against my skin.
‘Anytime, precious.’
Luna looks around the house.‘Is your Mum not here?I thought she was going to join us for baking?’she asks, unsure.
‘She was, but she was paged at the last minute.She had to go for an emergency.But she asked me to tell you that she is sorry about not joining and that she will join us for next month’s baking session.’My face falls, I wish I could spend more time with my Mum.But I quickly shake the feeling off and walk over to the kitchen to start baking.
We follow a recipe online to make the cake batter, but as we pour it into the cake tin, we realise that this recipe was meant to bake three whole cakes.My eyes dart back and forth between the bowl full of remaining batter and Luna, which sends us both into a laughing fit.We move on to making the strawberry frosting and try to add it to the top of the baked chocolate cake, but it slides right off because the cake was still warm from the oven.
After three hours of measuring, mixing, and being covered in flour and chocolate, we clean everything and sit on the couch to eat the cake.The cake tastes exactly as we imagined, and we high-five each other because we did a good job.Tiredness creeps up on us, so we lie on the bed, intertwined with each other.My thoughts run a million miles an hour while I lazily draw patterns on Luna’s arm with my fingers.I draw in a deep breath and let out a sigh.
Luna stirs in my arms and lifts her head from my chest to look up at me.‘Everything okay?’she asks.
‘Yeah,’ I respond unconvincingly.
Luna doesn’t say anything and lies down again.But after a beat, she speaks, ‘Something bothering you?’
My fingers move faster across her skin.‘I want to tell you about my Dad.’I hold my breath and wait for her response.
I expect her body to stiffen; no one has ever taken it normally when I spoke about my Dad, which is why I never talk about it with anyone.She wouldn’t judge me, but I also couldn’t help but be afraid – fear that this would be all it took for her to lose interest in me.
Luna doesn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to either.She interlocks her fingers with mine and squeezes them gently – an invitation to continue.She was returning the same gentleness and grace that I showed when she was telling me about her brother, and I couldn’t appreciate her more for it.
I continue, ‘It was a long evening of them fighting, after which we all went to sleep.My Mum and Dad slept in different rooms, and I was sleeping in mine near the door.I couldn’t sleep.I stayed awake looking out at the sky from my window.All I heard were soft footsteps and the creak of the main door.He never came back after that.Never even reached out to see how I was doing.’
Luna gets up, sits in front of me and looks at me.My eyes glisten, but the tears stay frozen in place.I look down, my sorrow takes me hostage.She cups my face and lifts it to face her.‘I’m sorry that happened to you.You didn’t deserve that.’
