"Well, that's the first step to doing it wrong," Terre laughed and took my knot of dough away from me. He unknotted it and lay it out in a string again. He picked it up by the ends, spinning it twice and flopping it back on the table, adjusting it where needed. "Think you can do it now?"
"I don't know. Seems like I'm pretty bad at this." I laughed and wiped my hands on my apron. Terre gave me another string of dough for a fourth try. I grabbed the ends of the dough and spun it, flopping it on the table. "Dang, I screwed up again." It looked like a screwed up twist doughnut.
"No, you got it! All you need to do is adjust the loops." He saw my skeptical look.
"Here, look," He stepped closer to me and adjusted the loops, "See? Sometimes all you have to do is some adjusting." He looked at me with a sense of pride.
"All you need is some adjusting," I stated fondly, looking at the pretzel. I turned to Terre realizing how close he was to me. I took a step to the side and put my pretzel on the pan with the other ones.
"Do you want to help me get some more done?" Terre asked while he grabbed another bowl of dough out of the refrigerator.
"I would love to. This is more fun than I thought it would be."
"Awesome," He gave me a goofy grin as he came back to the table.
***
One flour fight and three dozen pretzels later, Terre's mom came into the kitchen.
"Jeepers, you were having fun making pretzels weren't you?"
Terre snapped up from grabbing the knife he dropped on the floor, "Hey, mom... I'll clean it up."
"I know you will, I'm not worried about that. I'm worried if we have too many pretzels!" She laughed and patted Terre's shoulder. She whispered something into his ear, and a huge grin appeared on his face. As she left the kitchen, she gave me a wave.
"Well, I'm guessing it's getting late since my mom came in to check on us." Terre chuckled as he put the knife back on the table.
"I'm sure you have a lot of prep to do for the weekend, huh?"
"A little bit," his smile faltered, "But you don't have to leave. If you want to, you could stay and help me? Only if you want to, I don't want to make you feel like you have to stay-"
"I'll check with my mom and ask her if I can stay for a while longer since she's my ride home," his face lit up like a kid on Christmas. A giggle escaped my lips as I walked out of the kitchen.
"Hey, ma!"
"Hey, kid!"
"I'm going to stay a little while longer to help Terre if that's okay with you?"
"Sure, I'm going to run home until you're done then. I still have things to finish to be ready for book club tomorrow."
"I'm sure Terre wouldn't mind bringing her home, Ruby," Marguerite stated and put her hand on my shoulder. My mom shrugged and nodded. I hugged her and made my way back to the kitchen.
I stopped at the door and just watched Terre twist the last few pretzels. He captivated my attention; his side profile is extremely hot. I could feel the love for what he does radiating through the room. I slowly and quietly tip-toed closer to him. It was slightly louder in the kitchen than last time since Terre had donuts in the fryer. As I was tip-toeing to him, I tripped over a bucket. I hit my head on a cabinet on my way down.
"Oh my God, Mina! Are you okay?!" Terre crouched down to help me up. He placed his hand where I hit my head, and I hissed from a sting, "You must have cut yourself on the corner."
He helped me stand up and brought me to the bathroom. I sat on the toilet as Terre grabbed the First-Aid kit and dabbed a gauze pad doused in hydrogen peroxide on the cut on my head. I hissed and squirmed on the seat.
"Luna, please sit still."
"Luna?" I asked confused and scrunching my eyebrows together.
"Your name means moon in Hawaiian. Moon isn't much of a nickname, so I used the Spanish version instead which is Luna." Terre put a band-aid on my cut and gently kissed it though he immediately regretted it, "Oh God, I'm sorry. I'm so used to doing that with my siblings and nieces, it was a force of habit. I'm so sorry-"
"Terre, it's fine. It makes it heal faster with less pain. I get it, it's fine. I do the same thing to my little brother." I really didn't, but I didn't want Terre to feel bad about kissing my cut.
"Oh okay," he let out a sigh of relief, "Alrighty then Luna. Let's go get that bread."
***
"How the heck are you able to do this every single day? I'm ready to rip my hair out," I stated frustratedly as I sat in a nearby chair after messing up the third donut in a row.
"Practice. And I grew up in this kitchen," Terre bopped my nose and turned back to fryer of new donuts, "The only thing we haven't made yet is a cake. You want to make one?"
I glanced at the clock on my phone and saw that it was almost eleven at night. There was also a notification reminding me about an interview tomorrow at noon. "Ah, sugar honey iced tea. Terre, I'd love to, but I have to go home. I forgot I had something planned for noon tomorrow and it's really important. I also have to get my dog from my mom's house."
"Oh," he had a dejected tone to his voice but quickly covered it up, "Do you want me to drive you home?"
"That would be amazing if you could."
"Just let me finish this batch then we can go, okay?"
"Coolio."
I gathered my whole two things and hung up the apron I borrowed. I took off my hair net and sat out in the cafe area to wait for Terre. I checked the notifications on my phone. A few Youtubers I follow went live, and I had a few direct messages on my Twitter and Instagram.
hailey_xox: I love you and your music!!! Would you mind sending my friend Megan a message to say happy birthday??? It's tomorrow!
kaylamayla: when is another album/song coming out and what happened to kennedy???
That one caught my eye, so I replied.
minamoon: We broke up a long time ago. He was sometimes verbally abusive.
"Who was verbally abusive?" I jumped hearing Terre's voice, not realizing that he had entered the room yet.
"My ex-fiance, Kennedy. We broke up over a year ago."
He nodded and started walking to the door swinging his keys around his finger. I watched him for a minute before he turned around and got my attention. "Are you coming or are you going to stare at my back forever?" His tone was playful and kind of flirty. I rolled my eyes and followed him out to his car. I got in the passenger seat and felt my phone buzz once again.
Reminder: Lunch with Winter at 2
I huge grin spread across my face as we pulled up to a red light.
"Excited about something?"
"Yes, actually," I looked over to see his face be illuminated by a red than green light, "I'm having lunch with my best friend at two tomorrow. I haven't seen her in so long because she'd had finals the last couple weeks."
We drove in silence for a few minutes.
"Do you believe in love at first sight? It's a weird question I know, but I was just thinking about it." Terre broke the silence.
I thought for a second before replying, "Maybe not love, but a faster than normal attraction, yes."
"Why not love?" He had a genuine curiosity as we turned the corner to my mom's house.
"Love is something that is built up over a long period of time. People are always saying things like "oh I love you" after someone gets them coffee and stuff, but they don't really love them you know?" Terre turned into the driveway, "Do you want to meet my dog?"
"Does a chicken lay eggs? Yes!" Terre excitedly got out of his car, and we walked up to the door. I pulled out my key and opened it seeing the TV on. I put my finger to my lips as I looked at Terre. I quietly walked over to the couch and saw that August was asleep and Daisy had her head resting on his lap. I quickly pulled out my phone and took a picture before Daisy woke up. I put my hand on Daisy's head, and her eyes snapped open, and she lifted her head as she recognized me.
She hopped off the couch and swiftly walked to the door where Terre was standing. He held out his hand for her to sniff but she just rubbed her head against his hand. She doesn't care who he is, she just wants attention. Terre looked at me with a five-year-old-on-Christmas look.
"I take it you're a dog person?" I whispered amused and gestured for him to go outside.
I closed the front door behind me as we walked to my car. I opened the door for Daisy and rolled down the window for her.
"Well, I had a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know you." I looked at the ground, not knowing what else to do.
"I did too. Maybe we can do it again sometime?"
"Hmm, I don't know... If I got your number, then maybe I could make it work."
"Smooth, Luna. Smooth." Terre laughed and handed me his phone.