Elodie and Heloise (4 page)

As the two of them entered the house after giving her a quick wave, Heloise got a closer look at the other two people behind Renata and Antonio. She hadn’t seen them before, but figured that they were probably other friends of Elodie’s. They were two very handsome boys with raven black hair, light green eyes and similar facial expressions with a very reserved demeanor, standing about five foot seven. Next to all the extroverts at the party so far, these two boys looked a little out of place.

“Andrew Cayce,” one of the boys nodded as he went inside. “And this is my brother Kyle.”

Kyle held up his hand in an informal wave, his other hand tucked in the front pocket of his jeans and his eyes darting all around him before falling on Heloise. From the awkward way he stood in the entryway looking out of place among the partygoers, he reminded Heloise of a male version of herself. She hadn’t seen him before, so she figured he must be a new kid in town. He smiled awkwardly at Heloise before heading inside behind his brother.

Heloise watched him as he slipped past her. Once inside the house, Kyle looked back behind him to see Heloise looking at him. Instead of an awkward smile, there came a small grin across his lips. It was as if he acknowledged that she felt just as awkward as he did at this party.

The only person notably absent from the party was their hostess, which no one really seemed to mind. There was enough entertainment going on in the house that everyone was occupied with something. Heloise watched Noah, Renata, and Cecilia dancing wildly to the music, while Nina and Clara helped themselves to the refreshments on the kitchen counter, and Kyle, Antonio, and Andrew were sitting on the couch watching television. It wasn’t the wild free-for-all that Heloise had imagined it would be. Her anxiety about the party started to dissipate and she went over to help herself to some leftover pasta salad on the counter.

As the party got underway inside the house, Elodie and Quentin were still watching the stars outside. She heard loud laughter and music coming from inside the house, but she didn’t really notice it very much. She was focused on Quentin, mostly on how close they were sitting to one another and every nuance in his voice as he spoke about the stars and constellations that were so easily visible that night. He pointed out the constellation of Pegasus the winged horse as well as a few shooting stars far off in the distance. Elodie was surprised at Quentin’s astronomy knowledge. She wasn’t one who was interested in anything to do with science; that was more Heloise’s strength.

As Quentin pointed out the stars and constellations, she watched how his cool and calm face became animated and his voice had an eagerness to it that she hadn’t heard from him before. He spoke like a child showing off his knowledge to family members at a gathering, and it made Elodie smile to see him so happy. She liked to think that over the last six weeks since the Rice family had moved in, she had gotten to know Quentin well enough to call him a friend from the time they spent together during lunch and in between classes, even though they didn’t share any of the same classes. Yes, she could consider him a friend, even if she wanted something a little more than just friendship.

“So how do you know about all these stars?” Elodie asked during a lull in the conversation. Quentin had done most of the talking, which hadn’t bothered Elodie one bit.

Quentin chuckled and responded, “When I was a kid, my dad would take us all camping and he’d point out the stars to me and Robert. And I was fascinated by seeing all these beautiful pictures in the night sky and the stories behind them. I checked out every book I could on stars from the library one summer and my mom couldn’t even tear me away from my books for a few minutes to help her with household chores.” He looked over at Elodie with a slightly nervous look. 

Elodie’s whole body went soft to see Quentin giving her such a vulnerable look, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest like a drum. He usually looked so collected that it was touching for her to see him like this. She also felt a rush of emotions coming at her head all at once, everything that she had been feeling about Quentin ever since she first saw him, everything she had been holding back for fear of rejection. Maybe there was a chance that he felt something too....

Before she could stop herself, she began, “Quentin, there’s something I want to tell you-”

“And there’s something I want to tell you too,” he breathed, his eyes focused on Elodie’s. “I-I really like you. I truly do.”

Elodie blushed and decided to let loose with her feelings. “I do too, Quentin. I’ll admit it. I-”

“But I’m interested in someone else.”

The grin on Elodie’s face immediately fell. She yanked her hand away from Quentin’s, to his surprise. “What?”

Quentin closed his eyes and turned away from Elodie. “I’ve started seeing someone at school and, well, we’re not too serious yet, but I really like her. I’m really sorry, Elodie.”

Elodie shook her head slowly, almost not believing what she was hearing. How could he act so interested in her and then not act on it? How could he lead her on like he did?

“I don’t believe this. How could you do this to me? I thought..... I thought you liked me! So what was all of that?

“All of what?”

“You coming on to me. We were holding hands, you wanted to come outside and watch the stars with me, and you always sit so close to me. I thought that....”

”But I do like you, Elodie, if that’s what you were thinking. And it’s nothing serious with her. And I thought we were friends now that I could tell you these things.” Quentin tried reaching for her hand but she stood up instead. 

“Don’t you dare try and touch me, Quentin. You lead me on, you jerk! How dare you? HOW DARE YOU!” Elodie leapt to her feet and backed away from Quentin like she had just seen something repulsive. “Do you really think I’m that stupid?”

“No!” Quentin yelped, leaping to his feet as well and approaching Elodie. But the closer he got to Elodie, the more she backed away. “I told you, it’s nothing serious. And I didn’t mean to hurt you, really.”

Elodie scoffed. “Yeah right, you knew what you were doing. I can’t....” Elodie’s voice began to crack. “I actually really liked you. I can’t even BELIEVE I actually liked you.”

On that note, Elodie stormed inside, unsure of exactly where she was going or what she was going to do now. All she wanted was to just get away from Quentin.

“Elodie-”

SLAM. 

“I have some great news!”

Noah had eagerly taken Heloise’s arm and led her away from the rest of the party to a much quieter corner of the dining room where they didn’t have to shout continuously over the music. His brown eyes grew in excitement and Heloise couldn’t help but giggle.

Even though Noah and Heloise were first cousins, they really didn’t look that much alike. They both inherited the Tyler cheekbones (her mother Shannon was a Tyler before she married) and big smile, but other than those small traits, they looked very different. For one thing, Noah was much taller than Heloise, which lent itself well to his basketball exploits at school as part of the basketball team. His hair was a dirty blond shade like his dad, her Uncle Lawrence, and his eyes were a much lighter brown shade than Heloise’s. It didn’t matter to Heloise that they didn’t look much alike. She considered him one of her best friends.

“I’ve known you for years, Noah, and I don’t think I’ve seen you this excited about something since March Madness two years ago,” Heloise chuckled as she took a sip of punch from her plastic cup. Noah was more likely to keep his feelings inside than blurt them out from the rooftops of the world. Only his close friends and family like Heloise ever got to see the more excitable side of him.

“Well this is even better than that!” he practically squealed. 

“So what is it then? Stop the suspense!” Heloise replied with a playful punch to his shoulder.

“I got in! To the Culinary Institute of America!” 

“Oh that’s wonderful! Oh I’m so proud of you!” She jumped up and down and Heloise proceeded to throw her arms around her cousin, enveloping him in a huge hug. Tears even came to her eyes. If there was anything that Noah wanted more than anything since they were children, it was to be a chef. He often joked to Heloise and their friends that he could peel carrots and potatoes before he could even write his own name. Heloise and Noah spent many hours together at each other’s houses watching cooking shows on TV and trying to recreate those dishes for their families, with Noah usually leading the way. 

On remembering a particularly adventurous experiment in the kitchen, Heloise laughed out loud. It took place on a typically humid summer day a few weeks before Heloise’s thirteenth birthday, the kind of summer day where Heloise didn’t feel like doing much of anything productive. However, that was going to change, as it usually did when she and Noah were together. 

Her Aunt Chelsea’s house was located across town about three miles from their home, situated in a cul-de-sac that was so close to the lake that you could smell it every time you breathed. Their home was a one-level home like Heloise’s, but much smaller and without a pool in the backyard. Though Heloise liked being with Noah, she never found her aunt’s house to be particularly friendly. Heloise tried not to mind the sometimes stuffy feeling she got while at her aunt’s house. There was nothing out of place in that house, from the neatly organized bookshelves in the living room to the perfectly placed pillows on all the chairs and sofas. The lawn was always neatly manicured, never growing high enough to even reach Heloise’s little ankles. What struck Heloise the most were the family portraits that hung on the wall in the front entryway. While Noah and his dad always smiled brightly at the camera, Chelsea’s cold eyes always stared into the camera, never flinching in their stoniness. That was her aunt’s usual manner toward Heloise, aloof and rather taciturn in her conversations with her. Fortunately, Heloise didn’t encounter her aunt too often since Chelsea was usually caught up in work in her study. 

On that particular afternoon, Heloise and Noah were watching Everyday Italian on TV at her Aunt Chelsea’s house when Noah suddenly stood up as the ending credits rolled and left the room. Heloise gave him a quizzical look as Noah shuffled into the hallway, but stayed put nonetheless.

“Mom, what are we doing for dinner?” Heloise heard him called to his mother, who was upstairs working on a data entry project for work.

“I thought we could all get some take-out. Nothing planned. Why?” Chelsea’s voice wasn’t nearly as loud as Noah’s, but Heloise could still hear her through the air vents in the living room.

“Just thought I’d ask,” Noah asked. Of course, Heloise knew that there was a better reason for Noah asking his mom what they were planning for dinner. She knew him all too well, and she was frankly surprised his mother didn’t realize he was up to something. Then again, Chelsea wasn’t really the most observant person Heloise had ever known.

About thirty seconds later, she heard Noah’s footsteps approaching the living room. His lips were pursed and he was panting like he was going to be running out of breath any moment. Heloise couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Did you just run a marathon?” Heloise inquired.

Noah smirked. “No but I’m about to do something even better.” He ran over to the family computer in the corner of the living room and shook the mouse to wake up the computer. She knew exactly what he was doing.

“I see what this is. Let me guess. Right now, I bet you’re going online to look for those recipes we just watched, aren’t you?” Heloise got up from the couch and walked over to Noah sitting at the desk. She felt a flutter of excitement. The recipes that they’d just watched were for making a chicken dish with various Italian spices and capers and some wonderfully tasty-looking potatoes. It was all she could do to not salivate throughout the entire episode. Giada had a habit of making any food she made look absolutely beautiful and delicious.

“Of course. Am I really that predictable?” Noah winked.

Heloise giggled. “No, I just know you too well, that’s all. Here, I’ll go see what ingredients you have in the fridge while you print out the recipes.” She left the room and sauntered toward the kitchen, racking her brain as to which ingredients she would need to look for in the refrigerator for the recipe.

Chicken in the adjoining freezer? Check. She grabbed the large bag of chicken cutlets and tossed them onto the counter, where the bag landed with a loud thud. 

Salt, pepper and thyme? Right there in the spice cabinet, check. She placed them on the counter, taking care to be a little more careful with those glass bottles of spices than she was with the bag of frozen chicken.

Noah came running into the kitchen, carrying three sheets of printed paper in his hand. He set the pages out on the counter and dragged his finger down the ingredient list as he read through each one out loud. “Olive oil, bell pepper, garlic, tomatoes, white wine.....”

“We could just use extra water or chicken stock for that,” Heloise proposed. She was allowed to try some dishes cooked in wine at home, thanks to her Papa’s French cooking, but she knew her Aunt Chelsea might not go for that kind of thing. “And I got out the chicken and spices, as you can see.”

Noah nodded in acknowledgement, continuing to look over the ingredients list again. “Capers, parsley, all right, let’s start getting everything else out then!”

The kitchen soon became a buzz of activity, with Noah and Heloise looking for ingredients all over the kitchen as well as pulling out different pots and pans from the kitchen cabinets and placing them on the counter. In the end, they realized they didn’t have the necessary prosciutto for the chicken dish or even the very specific cippolini onions for their potatoes and onion recipe, but they had everything else they needed.

“I’ll start the potatoes, those are going to take the longest,” Heloise announced as she got out a cutting board and began peeling the potatoes.

“And I’ll do the chicken.”

With the two of them working together in the kitchen, Noah and Heloise often bumped elbows with one another. Aunt Chelsea’s kitchen wasn’t the most spacious of kitchens, so Heloise often felt a little bit crowded for space, especially with all of the ingredients on the counter and the cooking utensils everywhere, but Noah didn’t seem to mind. He was as happy as a fish in water as he peeled the onions and garlic cloves and browned the chicken in the pan while Heloise halved the potatoes and tossed all the ingredients for the potato dish together in a bowl before setting them out to bake. Though she loved these culinary activities and was very much at ease in the kitchen working, Noah was even more delighted. Heloise would look over at him stirring the chicken and tomato mixture, waiting for it to boil per the recipe instructions, and he looked so much at peace, a huge smile coming across his face as he quickly dipped his finger into the mixture and tasted it.