The oven dings and Hunter takes out the chocolate-covered raisin cookies and places them on a plate.
Lexa looks at the cookies and then at the teal green-eyed boy. "What are we waiting for?"
"For it to cool a bit ..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Alright. Take a bite," he said offering a plate of cookies to the ginger-haired girl.
"This better be good," she said, lifting a cookie to her mouth and taking a bite from it. "HOLY MOTHER OF --" She looks up at Hunter to see a small smile on his face.
"Damn! You realize you just raised my standards for a good cookie, right?" Alexandra takes the plate of cookies and places it on her lap.
"That's me! Chef Heffernan, raising the standards of good cooking!" Hunter said.
"Seriously though, this is some good stuff," said Lexa.
"I know," Hunter takes a sip from his bottle of water before turning back to the yellow-eyed girl. "Are you a sprite or ...?"
Lexa swallowed the cookie she was chewing before answering. "I am. Why do you ask?" She picked up more of the snacks and stuffed her mouth with them.
"Never seen you at the Met school," Hunter said. "How come?"
"I attend a different school. It's a normal university in our hometown," she stated.
"Why? Excuse the nosiness," said Hunter.
"It's fine and Dad and I had had an agreement; I told him I didn't want to be part of the Guardians and I wanted to attend a non-mystics school. He agreed on the condition that I attend one of their missions once a year," she explained.
Hunter thought about what the yellow-eyed girl just said. He believed his sprite powers and abilities to be an integral part of who was and couldn't even imagine living without them. Alexandra, however, sounded like her powers were nothing but a burden to her.
"Why don't you want to attend a mystic school?" He asked.
"Why should I? Fun fact: for the past seven generations, everyone from our family has been a sprite. The first one started the Sprite Guardians several hundred years ago and since then, leadership has been transferred through the family. Dad says it's a blessing but I see it as a curse; a curse for us to keep giving our lives to an unending curse," she pauses for a beat setting the cookie in her hand back on the plate. "My mom died doing this, I'm not going to do that to my kids if or when I have mine. I want to attend a normal school, live a normal life, marry a normal guy, and die at ninety with hopefully my grandkids around me," she said.
Hunter smiles. "What about you? Wouldn't you give anything to go back to the time when you were attending a normal school?"
The dark-haired boy shakes his head. "So you're saying normal is the absence of the supernatural? Wouldn't someone who's spent their entire life with strictly mystical beings see the opposite as normal? Doesn't that invalidate your definition of the word?" He queried.
"What?"
"Forget it. The Met School of Mysticism was my first school ..." he stated.
"So you've never experienced normalcy," she said.
"Hm." Hunter raises to his feet and dusts his hands.
"Where are you going?" Lexa asked.
"Thought I saw a broom around here somewhere," he said walking towards one corner of the room and grabbing the utensil.
"What are you going to do with that?"
"What else? Hop on it and show you what you're missing by refusing to accept your sprite side," he stated.
"I don't know, the room is a little tight," she said.
"Oh we can do it outside," he countered.
There was a loud crunching sound and the two turned to see its source. "I'm not even going to ask what the hell you two are talking about," Alexander said licking the chocolate bits from his hand.
Hunter frowns while Lexa rolls her eyes. Alex takes another cookie and throws it in his mouth.
"This is some fantastic cookies ... Really good stuff, and the raisins just go well with it. When did you guys grab this from the store that I didn't notice?"
"We didn't grab anything; Hunter made them," said Lexa.
"Really?" Alex questioned in disbelief. "How cooler can you get?"
"I'm not cool at all! Just this morning, I chew some cherry seeds and cried," Hunter said.
"Still cool in my book," Alex shrugged.
"Can you move your legs? There are crumbs everywhere," Hunter said.
"There -- there's nothing," Alex said looking at the ground.
Hunter frowns. "Move."
After Hunter was done cleaning the room, he resigned to his room which was relatively large with a huge couch in the middle with a television in front, and a huge bed behind. Hunter took off his hoodie and folded it neatly into his box. The sprite ran his hand through his dark hair and loose the bun at the back of his head.
'Everyone here seems fun.'
[Yes, and the deputy seems to have taken an interest in you]
'She's married?!'
[When has that ever stopped someone? The heart wants what the heart wants.]
'Of course, I forgot you're an expert in all things extramarital.'
[What's that supposed to mean?]
'Exactly what you think it means.'
[I w--]
The door handle clicks and the door swings open as Lexa walks into the room. "Hi. Turns out we're sharing this room," she said.
Hunter turned and took a good look at the bed on the other side of the room. "Well looks like there's only one bed," Hunter said.
"Oh, the horror!"
"Lucky for you, I'm a gentleman; you can sleep on the couch if you want, I won't stop you," he said pointing at the couch.
"Hardy har har."
Hunter walked forward and lie on the right side of the bed while Lexa took off some of her clothes before joining him on the bed, lying on the opposite side.
"Goodnight. Can you turn off the lights?"
"Sure."
...
"Hunter? Are you awake?" Lexa whispered.
"No."
"I can't fall asleep; help a girl out," she said.
"It's normal that you can't; there's a stranger next to you," he stated.
"No, this has nothing to do with you. The thing is I slept during the flight and again on the train ride from the airport," she explained.
"Aha, well; there's a very simple solution," said the teal green-eyed boy. "You can just walk around the villa until you get tired," he suggested.
"Hmm ... I can think of something else," said the yellow-eyed girl.
"And what would that be?"
"We talk until I eventually get bored and fall asleep," she said.
"Why would I agree to do that? Your inability to fall asleep has nothing to do with me, you said so yourself."
"Yes I did, but help me out here."
Hunter sighs before turning on the lights and turning to face ginger haired girl. "So What's your school like?"
"Fun ... I want to major in business," she said.
"Ah, so you just stick maths and ... stuff."
Lexa laughs. "I see you've never done this before. Yes, I love maths and if it were up to me I'll spend a quarter of my life in a library studying it but I try to participate in some physical activities," Lexa said.
"Really? Lemme guess, uh ... Cheerleader?"
"It wasn't that hard," Lexa said shaking her head, feigning disappointment.
"It most certainly was! Did you not notice how long my 'uh' was? I thought cheerleading or wrestling but something was wrong with the latter, it's probably the uniform; it's so ugly, it wouldn't suit you," Hunter said.
"Yeah, that's the only thing wrong with that."
"What are your plans after graduation? Any dream job or something like that?" He queried.
"I don't know but after tasting those cookies you made, maybe I'd start a restaurant. I'd handle the business aspects of it while you'll be in charge of the kitchen," she said.
"I don't know. I kinda enjoy being a sprite, and this Guardian thing seems like fun," said Hunter.
"You'll be paid in real cash; I'm talking 20 percent ownership," said Lexa.
"That's tempting but what's to stop me from opening my own food stall? It would be like a pop-up stall in whatever place the Guardians are at and I'd sell food in my free time," he countered.
"What about your consumers? You won't have any loyal ones because you have no permanent site and it's possible that the place the Guardians move to already has popular restaurants or low demand for whatever reason. Not as profitable as my proposal," she pointed out.
"I feel like the first problem can be solved by a good social media manager. As for the high competition or low demand issue, it doesn't matter whether someone has a favorite restaurant or has already eaten or whatever, once I start cooking, the aroma would draw you in," the dark-haired boy stated.
"Wow, you're pretty full of yourself," Lexa noted.
"I know my strengths. If there are three things about myself I'm proud of, top of the list would be my cooking skills," Hunter stated
"I don't know about your cooking but I do know your baking is extraordinary," Lexa said.
"Hm. I'd have to cook for you soon," Hunter said.
"I can't wait."
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