9. Nat #2
Azalea held up a fishbowl with papers inside it and made a show of putting her hand in and spinning the papers around.
She drew names, and Sawyer was drawn first. I tried to see what was on the wild table, but our view was obstructed, probably so we couldn’t plan ahead.
Sawyer brought back a bottle of Coca-Cola, along with a fancy chocolate bar and marshmallows.
I had no idea what their plan was or if you could even bake with Coke, but my best guess was that I’d be stuck with something weird.
Felicia was up next, coming back with her arms filled with raisins, cream cheese, and… applesauce? Chase came back with matcha, cherries, and edible violet flowers. Then it was my turn.
I walked up to the table and cringed. The only remaining items were bacon, ginger, vodka, chili pepper, sage, and…
mayonnaise. That seemed less controversial than bacon and ginger, and I had no idea what to do with the vodka.
But mayo was made with eggs and oil, if I remembered correctly, so it had to bake well, right?
I grabbed the jar and moved to the other table, lifting the gingham tablecloth, and grabbed raspberries and gelatin. I could make this work.
I smirked at Jack as I walked my goodies back to my station.
Lamar was called, and he ended up with the ginger, then took his time selecting almond milk and lemon.
Jack came back with the bacon, as well as maple syrup and espresso to go with it.
And lastly was Emerson, who was gifted with the vodka.
She also chose lavender and vanilla bean flavorings, which sounded yummy together.
Bobby gestured to Azalea, who took over. “Random ingredient cake baking is a camper favorite during cooking class. You may think that’s beyond the scope of what these toaster ovens can achieve, but those little things can get up to four hundred and fifty degrees.”
Bobby jumped in. “We’ll be judging you on three criteria: taste, texture, and décor. Be sure to focus on all three areas. If you fail in one of these categories, that will be the yeast of your problems. Get it? Yeast?”
“It’s always funnier when you have to explain the joke, Bobby,” Azalea deadpanned.
Jack snorted, and I realized how close he was behind me.
Was I actually able to feel his breath? The goose bumps breaking out over my skin were either caused by a figment of my imagination or he’d moved closer.
And why did that excite me so much? It couldn’t.
Just because he was hot did not mean he turned me on. Personality mattered.
Did I even like his personality?
The man had many facets, especially when it came to everyone but me.
As much as I didn’t want to admit to my awareness of his interactions, it was glaringly obvious.
His campers loved him, and he was playful and amiable with his friends, of whom he had many.
I questioned why I’d even noticed this. This was starting to become a problem.
I reminded myself that I had a competition to win, and I was going to rub it in his face when I—
“For our panel of judges today, we have three Wildwood business owners. Felix, the owner of Beans and Beans. Our favorite Wildwood baker, Kristy. And Cherie, the owner of our antique and secondhand store, the Treasure Trove.”
Everyone cheered, probably for points. Man, I needed to get this competitive streak under control. I was turning into an asshole, just like my nemesis. I had to be better than this. Better than him.
“All right, counselors, you know what to do. One, two, tree!”
Some light chuckling resounded at Bobby’s flair, and I grabbed the recipe book from my station and started flipping through the pages.
We didn’t know what we’d be making ahead of time, so this was helpful.
Baking was a science, so you needed to know the exact measurements to make sure the batter would turn into a cake, let alone one that tasted good.
I scanned each of the pages and found what I hoped to be a crowd-pleaser: a raspberry layered cake.
Of course, I’d call it something more Starlight-focused.
“Reminder to preheat your ovens,” Azalea offered.
Bobby jumped on this. “Yeah, batter to be safe than sorry.”
Jack watched me carefully measure my ingredients, and I wondered if he was going to mimic my every movement because he didn’t know what he was doing or if it was for some nefarious purpose.
It went without saying that I wouldn’t sabotage anything, but I wasn’t about to broach the “no cheating” discussion.
And who knew if he was trying to get me back for wrongs he’d thought I’d committed. The man was ridiculous.
Azalea and Bobby had started their walk-throughs with all the contestants, and I doubled down on my focus.
I mixed the batter until it was ready to pour.
I bit my lip as I carefully did so, only to find Jack staring.
I let go of my lip, and his gaze bounced up, as if he’d been caught.
I could never guess what was going on in this man’s brain.
“How are we doing over here?” Azalea asked.
“You can taste the tension,” Bobby said in a voice that sounded like it belonged on a TV show. “I’ll tell you what, Azalea, if their rivalry ruins good cake, it’ll just bake my heart.”
“Does he always use baking puns in your kitchen?” Jack asked Azalea.
She shrugged. “You get used to it.”
“Aw, you know you’re going to miss me.” Bobby booped her on the nose, and Azalea batted his hand away before smiling lovingly at her friend.
“Always.” She cleared her throat. “Now, what are you making here, Nat?”
“It’s a classic raspberry cake with fruit filling and frosting. It’ll have a Starlight touch, though, I promise.”
Azalea waved her hand, as if wafting the smell toward her. “Can’t wait to try it. Shayne actually picked out these recipes.”
This year’s cooking intern wasn’t here today, but what twenty-two-year-old would be enthralled by this shit show when they could be doing… whatever twenty-two-year-olds did on their days off?
“And you, Jack?”
Charming as ever, Jack walked the judges through his bacon, coffee, and maple syrup concoction. He dropped some of his batter into his pan, but it was looking a little more… soupy than I expected. Maybe this would be his downfall.
“Did you remember to—” Bobby started before Azalea cut him off.
“No helping,” she reminded him.
“Right.” His right hand clenched, as if he were fighting the urge to be his sweet self and come to Jack’s aid.
Jack tilted his head as he stared at the mixture, going back to his recipe and running his finger down the instructions with a puzzled look on his face.
I fought back the urge to smile like the Cheshire Cat and turned back to my own batter.
I’d added different colors of food coloring to three bowls to simulate different planets.
All I had to do was use a rounded scoop to drop them in the plain batter, and I’d be good.
But as I did the first one, it kind of… spread. Was this even going to work?
I glanced around at my competitors, who were already putting their pans in the oven.
I was running behind. I plopped the other two planets and poured the remaining plain-colored batter over them before placing them in the oven a little too roughly.
I winced. Jack was already standing with his arms crossed.
He wasn’t gloating, but I couldn’t quite get a read on him.
His furrowed brow did look more pensive than frustrated with me, which was an upgrade.
“Psst,” Emerson whispered.
I subtly glanced at her beside me.
Unwrapping her butter, she spoke out of the corner of her mouth. “What say you to an alliance?”
An alliance? “And how would that work?”
“I don’t know. You put your cake on top of mine or vice versa. The end result: super cake. We’d have this competition in the bag.”
I burst into laughter, and she dramatically shushed me. “And who gets the point for winning?” I whispered back.
“Well, obviously that would be me. You already have a point for stomping on Jack at flag football. Great job, by the way.” She raised and lowered her eyebrows several times, I assumed as a way to show she was impressed.
What it ended up looking like was a woman trying to regain the feeling in her face.
“Don’t think complimenting me will be enough for me to forget that you’re the only one coming out on top in this scenario.”
Emerson waved me off. “That’s not what matters. What matters is that we’re a team. And teamwork makes the dreamwork.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“You love me,” she said with a smile that made her mischievous dimple I’d never noticed before pop adorably. These people were such weirdos.
I turned to find Jack shaking his head with a smile at Emerson’s antics. At least he wasn’t jumping down my throat over this fake alliance offering.
He looked so good when he smiled. But I ignored the warmth in my cheeks as I thought of him and got back to work, measuring powdered sugar for my frosting.
Time was called just as I pulled my cake from the oven, and I wasn’t surprised to see that most people were at a similar place. I was surprised that Jack’s cake looked perfectly cooked. But that didn’t mean it tasted good.
I turned away from Bobby and bumped right into Jack. He let out an umph before dusting himself off. Even stunned Jack was hot.
“You’ve got something right there.” I pointed at his cheekbone, which had a bit of batter on it.
He wiped flour off his hands onto the same spot, almost purposely, which made me smile.
Not because it was cute. Definitely not that.
He then proceeded to brush it into a dangling lock of hair, which had me laughing.
Was this the feeling people got when he was being playful with them? I wanted to eat it up with a spoon.
“To allow time for our cakes to cool, we’re going to break for lunch.” Bobby’s interruption was both welcome and unappreciated, because I wanted this moment to go on, even if I shouldn’t.