Cecelia looked at the organized line of cooking materials in front of her, expression twisted into something close to perplexion.

Even though she had everything to make a cake in front of her, it seemed as if something critical was missing. She began looking through everything again, checking for both presence and quantity.

Upon looking into the suspiciously small bag of flour, her suspicions were confirmed. She cursed under her breath, facepalming at the nearly empty bag.

She was preparing food for a family event, meaning that there was a lot more to make than just the cake. She didn't have time to go to the store, nor did she have the bandwidth. Her mom was out with some of her friends for the afternoon, leaving Cecelia to be a responsible almost-adult.

She looked over to the breadsticks in the oven, regretting her choice to volunteer to make so much of the food. Maybe if she hadn't, she wouldn't have gotten into such a flour-centric crisis. Picking up her phone, she dialed her go-to-guy for all things random.

The ringer went off at least seven times before Ruben finally picked up. Cecelia recalled quite vividly in that time that his ringtone for her was from Spongebob The Musical, and that he was probably making her wait just so that he could listen to it.

"It's ya bo-" Ruben began before Cecelia cut him off suddenly.

"No." She deadpanned, hoping Ruben couldn't sense the laughter bubbling in her chest at his antics. "Can you run to the store and buy me some flour? I need to finish this cake, and I've got stuff in the oven." She explained.

"Oh man, I wish I could help Cece. But if you didn't remember, I've got a killer sunburn." Ruben answered apologetically. Cecelia didn't think he'd even told her about his sunburn, but she supposed she might not have been paying attention. "Plus, I'm in Florida for two more days."

Cecelia laughed awkwardly, making a mental note to make Ruben an 'I Hope Your Sunburn Fades Into A Tan' present. "Right, I forgot that some people actually go places during breaks. Well, I guess I'll have to figure something out, then." She answered, attempting to smooth over the remark.

"I guess you will." Ruben agreed, not sounding particularly amicable. "I'll talk to you soon?" He asked.

"Yeah." Cecelia nodded before feeling a little silly; Ruben couldn't see her. "Get better soon!"

"Thanks! Good luck, Cece." He replied.

"Thanks." She said, unsure of what to say next. A moment passed before they both started laughing, filling the awkward silence. "Later, Ruben." She said, hanging up immediately after to avoid any more awkwardness.

After figuring out the cake deal, she would need to improve her phone communication skills.

Without thinking, she called the next person on her Recent Calls list, realizing it was Xerxes's much too late.
He answered almost immediately, though. "Smell The Roses, this is Xerxes, how can I help you?"

Cecelia fumbled for words. "Um- Hi-"
"Oh, hi, Cece." Xerxes laughed, and the sound didn't help Cecelia collect herself.

"I need some flou-" She began, before a sudden crashing sound from Xerxes' end nearly caused her to drop her phone. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think someone knocked over a rack of peonies." He explained, clearly distracted. "I've gotta clean this up, but I'll get it to you as soon as possible, okay?"

Cecelia nodded before remembering that gestures were an ineffective method of communication when using a phone. "Yeah, okay, sounds good," She rushed, pausing for a moment before continuing, "How soon will that be?"
Xerxes laughed. "Not long at all."

A voice said something on Xerxes' end, and he hung up a moment later with a mumbled goodbye that Cecelia was only barely able to understand.

"Right." She looked back at the breadsticks, walking over to a chair and promptly flopping into it. She supposed she could start with the other ingredients, or at least put the butter away, but she sincerely doubted that it would take Xerxes more than half an hour to figure everything out. And the chair was notably comfortable, especially after standing for so long.

She couldn't ignore the responsible part of her forever, though, and eventually did put away some of the ingredients.

The breadsticks finished baking a few moments before the doorbell rang.
"Coming!" She shouted, setting the hot tray of breadsticks on the counter before going to answer the door.

"Um... What are those?" Cecelia asked, not referring to Xerxes' shoes but rather what he held in his hands.

"Uh," Xerxes began, looking down as if to make sure. "Sunflowers."

Cecelia snorted. "I said some flour, Xerxes. For a cake."

Xerxes' face colored significantly, awkwardly hiding the flowers behind his back. "Well, this is awkward. Any chance you also needed some bright yellow to bring some light into your house?"

Cecelia considered it, nodding. "Come inside; you can help me set up. And you can stay and watch the rest of the food while I  go buy the flour."

After giving Xerxes copious instructions on what not to do while making soup- which he really didn't need- Cecelia went out to buy the flour.

It took her a bit longer than she wanted, but in the end, nothing burned down, and the soup Xerxes helped to make wasn't burned.

It was delicious.

"Oh wow, what did you put in this?" Cecelia asked, taking a spoonful.

"Just some salt and chili powder." Xerxes laughed. "If you had a larger spice cabinet, I might have even been able to make it edible. " He teased.

"Yeah, yeah." Cecelia grinned, looking over at the sunflowers arranged delicately on the kitchen counter. "As long as you don't try to put any petals on my cake."