Chapter 306: Espers go first, Guides clean up
"I swear it wasn’t intentional." Taylor started, her expression full of fear. Combined with her dark bags, pale and sunken skin, and the contrast of her blue eyes, she looked almost comically upset.
Kellen, who was still being carried by Rhys, snorted. They were a few steps away from reaching the main floor, and Kellen looked over the crowd of people in his house. They had shifted their arrangements slightly since he’d been upstairs for the second time. Gwen had left the couch and had moved to sit at the island with Hill, both overlooking Taylor as she had worked. Pamela was nearby them as well, but had tucked herself against the corner.
Everyone else had gravitated towards the couch, with Kellen’s parents having remained near the base of the stairs. Rhys carried Kellen over towards the kitchen, and Kellen wasn’t exactly surprised when the man didn’t place him on the ground right away. Kellen looked over the few trays of cookies that had made it into the oven while he had been gone and sighed.
Several were fine. They had even been transferred to a large platter. It was just the most recent batch that had been damaged.
"Dinner’s ready." Casper added softly. Casper, who had dutifully taken on the mantle of making food in his and his Dad’s place. Taylor cast him a glare, before turning back to Kellen. Kellen looked over everything before him, the mess, the platter, the fact that Casper had made sure everything was warm and steaming, before he met her gaze.
"You were doing so well on your own. What was different about this batch?" Gwen snorted, rolling her eyes with a gleam in them.
"She forgot to set the timer." Like the little sister she was, she ratted Taylor out. Taylor was clearly panicking, trying to salvage the cookies. She was scraping them up, placing them on a different plate and had Hill trying to pick off the pieces of burnt dough.
Kellen felt a little conflicted. On one hand, a large part of himself was pissed that she’d burnt a batch of cookies. Kellen had wanted to feed everyone he’d invited over. He had wanted them to eat what he’d made, and in a way, Taylor had ruined that.
He was angry about that. He wouldn’t lie to himself. He wasn’t in the best state and he’d taken time to make cookies for everyone. That was a big deal to him, even if he had done it with her assistance.
But, she clearly felt bad about it as well, and she was one of the people he wanted to feed the cookies to. He shouldn’t freak out. He shouldn’t get mad.
"Kellen?" Rhys asked after Kellen held his tongue for a moment too long.