Different recipes that I have tried

Chocolate cookies with icing and chocolate drizzle.



English Muffins. I know that they don't exactly look like English Muffins, but they tasted fantastic.



Cinnamon Rolls.



Roti: South American flat bread.



Banana Bread.



 Jalapeno Poppers.



Cheese and Mustard scones.



Lime Cookies. I know, it's weird that they're shaped like S's, but that's just what the recipe told me to do. Now I'm sort of wondering if that was a good decision.



Honey Sandwiches.



Chocolate Fudge with walnuts and almonds.



Chocolate Chip Cookies.



Dutch Almond Cookies.



Povitica: Polish Sweet Filled Bread.



Rosemary Bread with olive oil seasoned with pepper.



Chocolate-dipped Viennese fingers. Mine didn't really turn out looking as good as the picture in the cook book, but they still tasted good.



 Chocolate and Almond Biscotti.

Paying Attention

CHAPTER THIRTY



"You look beautiful." Elijah say's as I step out of my bedroom and into the hall. He changed into the guest room just across the hall. Standing in front of me I see that he is wearing a suit, his shoulder's looking broad as ever giving him a mature sophisticated look.

"Thank you." I say. "You look-" What do I say? Hot? Sexy? Beautiful? "You look nice." Wow, seriously? You look nice? He's told me twice this evening that I am beautiful and that is all that I can come up with? I couldn't even say handsome? Jeez.

"Thanks." He walks over to me and takes my hand in his and starts leading me down the stairs. Mom and dad are staring up at us. Mom has a camera in hand, dad's hand around her shoulder's. Uh-oh, I think that I know where this might be headed.

"Samantha, you look beautiful." Mom say's. "Now smile." She raises the camera.

"Ugh, mom, this isn't like prom or anything." I say as she snaps a picture that I was not expecting, and I'm pretty sure Eli wasn't either.

"Maybe not, but you both look very nice, so I am going to take pictures."

I sigh, and dad is just chuckling behind mom as she snaps away incessantly, causing little colored stars to appear in my vision.

"Okay Cary, I think that that is enough pictures."

"Oh, but Dave-" Mom starts to whine.

His only reply is to reach down and gently release the camera from my mothers fingers.

"Sam!" I hear my sister's voice coming from the kitchen, and she is staring at me open mouthed. "You look freaking gorgeous!"

"Thanks." I smile, then look at the door.

"Oh yes, you guy's probably want to leave, right?" Dad say's. "Well have fun you two. But not too much fun."

I roll my eyes at this comment and he laugh's. Just when I am about to close the door, Eli already walking ahead of me to my car, dad stops me, holding the door open. He look's down at me and smiles again. "You really do look beautiful Sam."

"Thank's dad." I smile up at him, then walk away leaving him to be my father and stare out after us.

***

I don't know what to say to Elijah as we drive to the high school. I mean my head is still wrapping around the fact that we were making out in the back of this car not very long ago for about twenty minutes. My stomach does a flip just thinking about it. 

"This has been really fun." Elijah say's. His left hand reaches over and grabs my right hand off the wheel, holding it. 

"Yeah, it really has been fun, hasn't it?" I say back to him and look over briefly at him as I flash him a smile. 

He squeezes my hand slightly as we pull into the school parking lot. It's nearly full, so I find a spot near the back, that isn't that great, but hey, at least it's a spot.

We get out and begin walking toward the school. Eli grabs my hand as we do so, his seeming to wrap around mine completely for how small mine are compared to his.

When  we walk in, I hand the money to the two teachers sitting there. Mr. Rice and Miss. Tyler. Miss Tyler smiles up as me as she stamps my hand, and then turns to Mr. Rice, both of them looking totally happy as they talk. It's nice to see her like this.

"Hey, let's go dance." Eli grabs my hand and leads me to the dance floor (which is really just the floor of the gymnasium). A disco ball is hanging by the DJ, and there are strobe lights that are really messing with my eyes. Ugh, those things are annoying. There is a crowd of couples by the DJ, all squished together to form a little mosh pit. Eli pulls me through the mass of people until we are in the middle of them, the disco ball right above us.

The heavy beat of the song slows down so that it is now a slow song. I'm not paying attention to the lyrics, just the way that Eli's hands feel on my waist. I lift my arms up so that they are around his neck. We just sway around a little bit. He is looking down at me, smiling slightly. He dips his head down until his mouth is right by my ear, his breath hot as he speaks to me.

"Thank you for the date, Sam. I have had a wonderful time."

I can't do anything but reply, "Yes, me too."

I feel so small next to him. I never thought I would for all of this weight that I've had to lose, but I do feel small. His arms circle my waist perfectly. He is so big compared to me. Not a gross big, but just a big. He is tall, as I have already said, and he has muscles that go along with that, nice and toned, and not bulky. Mmm, he's hot.

The song ends and I feel his hands leave my waist. Another song starts, this one a loud up-beat one. Macklemoore I think. He grabs my hand and leads me away before the crowd closes in on us again, and takes me to one of the tables and sits me down.

"I'm going to grab us some waters." He say's.

"Okay." I reply with a smile.

He walks away, and now I have a chance to check out how the student council decorated it.

The round tables all have white table cloths over them, with a small lantern in the center of each. Simple white lights wrap around the entrance to the doors, and the stone pillars. White lace lay's over the lights to give it a soft glow. It is simply elegant. I don't see any other girls dressed like me though, just dresses that they tried to make look like thy came from the twenties, but I believe that I am the only girl with a flapper dress.

In the corner of my eye I see a figure sit down next to me. I turn, and it's Daniel.

I smile a little. "Hi Daniel."

"Hi." He's alone. What's going on?

"Um, so where's your date?" And why is my date taking so long with the water?

"She's talking to her friends." He say's seriously. "Can we talk?"

"Um, sure." I say, uncertain of where this is going to go next.

"Why did you break up with me?"

Wow, that was unexpected. "Daniel." I sigh.

"No, I want a real answer." He responds gruffly.

"Daniel, we already talked about it."

"Talked about what? How you weren't ready for a relationship? Or was it that you just didn't want one with me?"

"Daniel, what are you talking about?"

"Well it just seems that after you wanted to 'take things slower' with me, you asked him," he gestures out with his right hand widely, pointing at everyone, "to the dance, and I see that you two are awfully close. What am I supposed to think about that?"

"What-" I start.

"Just forget it." He say's, he puts his hand behind my neck and pulls me in to press his lips against mine. I have absolutely no time to process what's happening before he try's to slide his tongue into my mouth. I have enough sense to clamp my mouth shut to make sure that his offending tongue doesn't dart through my lips. I am pushing my hands against his chest to try to get away, but the hand at my neck is firm and keeping me in place. He keeps kissing me until I hear (and see, because my eyes are open) Eli.

"What the hell is this?" He say's angrily. I see the water cups in his hands, and he slowly sets them down on the table. Daniel pulls away slightly and smiles, and he is about to kiss me again when I feel him ripped from me. Eli is holding the collar of Daniel's shirt, holding him back. My red lip stick is smeared all over his mouth. Stunned, I can't do anything but stare wide eyed at the both of them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, kissing her like that?" Eli yells at Daniel over the music. A few people near by turn to us, but other wise no one else has noticed.

 "What, do I need to do it differently?" Daniel glares at Eli.

"I think you need to leave."

"Listen, I was just talking to her, okay? There's no need to tie your panties in a knot."

"That looked a lot more that talking to me." Eli say's. He's now standing directly in front of Daniel, one hand still holding his collar, the other curled into a fist, clearly trying keep his calm so he doesn't through a punch at him.

I slowly get up and press a hand on Elijah's shoulder. He looks at me, his face calming a little, but rage still present.

"Eli, it's okay." I say. "It's over."

He calms down a little more, then pushes Daniel away, causing his chair to wobble a little, and then Daniel get's up.

"Leave. Go back to your date, and just leave her alone." To signify that he's serious he steps in front of me.

"Fine, I don't need her anyway's. She was never good at the relationship stuff anyway's. She's just a useless-"

Out of nowhere I see Eli's arm swing and make contact with Daniel's face. He shakes his left hand and stares down at Daniel who is bent over, holding his nose.

"Eli!" I yell.

"Dammit! What the hell was that for?" Daniel shouts.

"You know exactly what that was for!" A small crowd has started to face in our direction to see what the commotion is.

"Don't you dare insult her again!" Elijah continues. "If so, I'll make sure to give you more than a bloody nose!" He then reaches back and grabs my hand a takes me away, the crowd growing steadily bigger and eyeing us, making a path when Eli and I walk back onto the dance floor. I look back and a girl is now kneeling next to Daniel, I'm assuming his date, with toilet paper stuffed into her hands, gently dabbing at his nose. He ignores her sweet attempts, grabs the toilet paper, stands up, and presses it to his nose, walking away as he does so.

The loud music is still playing, but I can tell that Eli isn't really in the mood to dance. He stands there, rocking back and forth on his heels, taking an interest in everything but me. I stand on my tip-toes so that my mouth is level with his ear.

"Lets go out side where its a little more quiet." I offer.

All he does is nod in reply.

***

We are sitting on the floor in the hall, our backs against the wall and out feet stretched out in front of us. We are both silent, the sound of the music echoing through.

"I'm sorry." I finally manage.

He doesn't say anything.

"But I want you to know," I continue. "That I didn't want that. He was asking me why I broke up with him, and then he all of the sudden kissed me. I don't like him. I actually think that he's a jerk now...." I trail off. What else can I say?

"It's not your fault." He say's quietly.

"What?" 

"It's not your fault." He repeats. "I'm just angry that that douche thinks that he can lay hands on my girl. Especially when he has a girl that brought him here. It pisses me off." His right hand falls on top of my left knee, and he lets it sit there. "I'm just glad that I got there in time. It looked like he had you in a lip lock that you literally couldn't escape from."

Okay, let's back up here. Did he just say, 'my girl?' He did! Oh my gosh! I am his girl! Ahh!

I laugh a little. "Yep." I lean my head on his shoulder and he reciprocates, laying his head on my head. I look up at him after a minute and kiss his lips gently. "Should we go back in?"

"Yeah." He say's and gets up, helping me to my feet.