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He flushed a bright red, hiding behind his hands. “M-maybe you are, maybe you aren’t… either way I just want to draw you.” He responded, quiet as a mouse and flushed as red as a tomato.
“You’ve got nice features…”
"Ohh I'm just teasing. But thank you. Do you want me to send you a picture? Or do you wanna take a picture? Either way works for me." Gene straightened out his legs from the previous curling to his chest. "As payment, I need to know, when is your birthday? I make birthday cakes for family and friends, so I might as well make one for you when it's time."
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“A picture would be best. Could you send one to me? Any photo would work.” Jay laughed nervously, feeling a little awkward as he shifted to a better sitting position. “My birthday? Oh. It’s in June! June 10th, actually. It’s kinda far away from now but that’s when it is. I’ll be 21. Finally going to drink alcohol, legally.”
"Great, I'll send you a pic once I grab my phone. Let's hope I have a decent picture." Gene giggled a little. He fought the urge to eat a fourth cupcake, knowing he'd probably get sick if he ate too many more. "Legally. That's the keyword. Although, I'm a "perfect child" so I've never touched a drop." He laughed a little more.
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“Ah, I've drank a lot more than I probably should have.” He murmured softly, embarrassed. “I’m a little bit of a rebel.”
He admitted, laughing nervously and shrugging. “And as for a photo, you’d look good in any.”
"To be fair, the only reason I haven't is because I was never invited to anything with alcohol. I either wasn't cool enough or my high school was just a glitch, like where basically everyone was good students. Who knows, but I know I would have at least tried it if I had had the chance." Gene rambled. He leaned the side of his head against the wall, still facing Jay. He didn't say anything about the compliment, instead, he just smiled.
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“I never drank a lot in high school. Now that I’m in college I’ve gone to so many parties with alcohol I eventually just gave in and tried a lot. I don’t like how I am when drunk so I try to avoid it. But once I turn twenty one I’ll probably stick to having wine or something on special occasions.” He smiled at the other, staring back at him with a laugh.
“I’m trying to be better as a person. I’m not exactly a perfect person.”
"Well, my point still kind of stands, I'm not cool enough or maybe I just don't know enough people. But hey, not being invited to that kind of thing gives me the opportunity to either be super lazy or bake more… in which I do a mixture of both." Gene laughed a little. "But it's good that you're trying to be a better person… but, I don't think you're all that bad so far, if that means anything."
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“I think you’re cool enough. Let’s throw our own party. Right here. Just us two. We’ll annoy the hell out of anyone who thought you weren’t cool.” He laughed softly, rubbing at his neck.
“It does mean a lot to me. Means the world.”
"Wow, we seem to just be throwing compliments like we're playing catch, huh?" Gene said softly with a wide grin. "Anyway, that sounds like a good plan. I think we should bake something… simple maybe like cookies? Then we can start our marathon and figure out dinner if we're not too full of sweets. Sound good?" He lifted his head from the wall and grabbed the container of cupcakes, ready to head out to the kitchen, if that was their plan of course.
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“Hey, gotta keep it wholesome.” Jay mused, winking playfully. “That sounds perfect. I do love a good cookie.” He stretched out his arms and slid from the bed, offering the other his hand to take the cupcakes. “I can take those. Might steal another one.”
Gene giggled, winking back. He handed the container to Jay and slid off the bed himself. "Perfect! SO you're gonna make them with me unless you really don't want to. But what are your opinions on ginger?" He asked, smiling. They started leaving Jays room as they continued talking.
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Jay took them happily, opening the container and taking another cupcake for himself. “I’d love to help make them. Teach me how?” He smiled happily, humming happily. “Ginger? As in the spice? It’s pretty good when made right.”
"Yeah, the spice. Perfect though, I'll teach you how to make my grandma's ginger cookies. They're actually one of the best things I've ever had." Gene lead Jay to the kitchen. He went straight to one of the cupboards and pulled out a recipe box.
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Jay placed the cupcakes on the table, scarfing down the cupcake he had took.
“I’m quite excited! You make the best sweets and cookies happen to be my favorite!”
Eugene smiled and found the ginger cookie recipe. He pulled it out of the box, placing it on the counter. Turning back to face Jay, he took the cupcake container and placed it with the rest of them. "Hey, you wanna start getting ingredients out? They're all on the recipe."
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“Oh! Yes! Of course!”
Jay turned to grab the box, smiling at the ingredients he needed to get. He went to work quickly, tilting his head.
“Do you remember where we keep our sugar? I don’t really think I remember.”
"I've honestly never seen you use sugar." Gene laughed, pointing to a cupboard. He kept most of his cooking stuff in one cupboard just to make it easier. While Jay was getting some ingredients, Eugene went to get bowls, measuring cups and spoons, and any other utensils they would need.
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“I don’t use it often…” he admitted with a sheepish grin. Jay opened the cupboard and smiled at the sugar and other cooking items. Perfect!
Everything else he needed was in the cupboard as well. He pulled the sugar down, humming softly as he turned to look at Eugene.
Eugene had everything on the counter and a large smile on his lips. "So, could you start just measuring the flour into the bowl according to the recipe? I'm going to get some music started. I always listen to music when I bake, so I really hope you don't mind."
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"I don't mind. I use music for everything." Jay admitted with a soft giggle into his hand. He eyed the flower, drawing it closer along with the measuring cup.
He had to admit it took too long to read exactly how much he needed to measure out. He really should have gotten replacement contacts. He was not going back to wearing glasses.
"That makes two of us," Eugene said, connecting his phone to a small set of speakers he had. He started his playlist then quickly went back to the kitchen, humming along to the first song. "Okay, so we need to preheat the oven, I'll do that. Did you get all of the flour?"
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Jay smiled. He swayed slightly to the music and nationally poured the flower into the bowl. He was proud of himself for measuring it out. “Yeup! It’s all measured now,”
"Perfect, thank you." Gene said, pulling the other bowl towards himself. "Would you mind measuring in all the dry ingredients, except for the sugar?" He measured out the sugar and butter into the bowl and started creaming them together.
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Jay blinked at the bowl, tilting his head as he watched. “How often have you done this?” He asked, grabbing the dry ingredients. He started to measure them out, biting his tongue as he did so. “Mm… this is kinda fun. Just measuring.”
"Well, this is a pretty common thing for cookie recipes and considering cookies are a universal favorite and they're one of the easiest things to make, I would say pretty often. But for this specific recipe, I usually make these every year around Christmas, as well as many other times throughout the year. Long story short, I have done this very often." Gene explained, focused on creaming the two ingredients in his bowl.
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Jay laughed, shaking his head. “Often, huh? You must be really good at this then.” He praised, bringing the bowel of dry ingredients over to Eugene. “Do I mix these?”
Taking a very short break from the butter and sugar to look at Jay, Eugene smiled and nodded. "Yes, you do." He got back to mixing, taking only a little more before adding the other wet ingredients and mixing them together as well. "I guess I am pretty good at it, huh?" He giggled quietly to himself.
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Jay nodded sheepishly. He was way out of his element here. He really hadn’t cooked before. He sure as hell hadn’t baked before. But it was comforting to have Eugene with him, mixing while he told Jay what to do.
“Way good. I’m not even sure where to start on my own but you were able to just dive right in! Amazing.” Jay leaned over to see into the bowl, his eyes wide. “How many cookies will this make?”
Eugene smiled at Jay's compliment "Hmmm well, at least 24, if I'm remembering the right recipe. But it could be more or less depending on how consistent the size of the cookies are and if they're bigger or smaller. I have a cookie scoop, you can use that since it's pretty easy to use." He set down his bowl to search for the cookie scoop in a drawer. He found it and set in on the counter close to Jay.
It looked like those ice cream scoops that have a handle that is squeezed and a piece of metal scrapes along the inside of the scoop. "You just squeeze the handle after you scoop up the dough and the dough will fall onto the pan. I can show you if that explanation didn't make sense." He said laughing.
