Jar or peanut butter already under her arm, Brooke made her way down to the kitchens. She wasn't overly hungry, though she did need something to go with her peanut butter. But, she wasn't entirely sure what she's pair it with this time. Merlin, so many choices, really. Between cookies, apples, crackers and pretty much everything else, she wasn't sure what she wanted to combine it with. Most times she ate it by itself, but seeing as she was already supposed to meet Charlie here, she figured she'd just put it on something.

As she entered the kitchen, she grinned seeing Charlie sitting up on the counter. And for some strange reason, maybe the fact that she might drop her peanut butter, she decided against scaring him. "Hi," she said softly, leaning against the doorway.

Charlie looked up, half a cookie in his hand, the other half in his mouth. "Hi," he said, mouth full and voice muffled. He'd already eaten half the box of cookies. He finished chewing and swallowed before smiling at Brooke. Even just seeing her made him feel a little better.

The blond grinned, tossing her long hair over her shoulder before straightening up and walking toward him, gripping her peanut butter a bit tighter. "Someone's hungry, I see." she commented, hopping up and taking the seat beside him.

Her eyes drifted down from his eyes stopping for a millisecond on his mouth before dropping down to the box of cookies he seemed to have devoured. Very hungry, it seemed. She placed the jar of peanut butter in between them before unscrewing the top, sticking her hand into the box and stealing one for herself. They'd be gone soon enough.

Charlie smiled a little and shrugged. "It's been a long day, I deserve to eat." He tilted the box toward her to me her take one, and he helped himself to some of her peanut butter while he was at it. "So how're you today, Miss Brooklyn?"

Brookie tilted her head. "Tell me about it then." she took the cookie and dipped it into the peanut butter, not really caring about the crumbs that were contaminating her precious creamy peanut butter at the moment. She just wanted to know what had been bothering the boy. She was positive that he didn't get upset over nothing, and she just wanted to make him feel better.

She nibbled on the cookie before swallowing and opening her mouth back up to answer him. "I'm alright." Same old, same old. Life was boring in the mind of Brookie. There was nothing special about her life, or anything really. So, she found herself listening to other people's lives.

Charlie sighed and leaned back. "I don't know where to start. I, uh, got a letter from my brother this morning." He said, frowning and biting into another cookie. Things had been going so well lately and then Cyril had to go and ruin it. He sighed again and looked at her. "That's good." He said, nodding a little. At least things were well for Brooke. He wouldn't want to worry about her as well.

The blond leaned forward slightly, hands gripping the edge of the counter to keep from falling. She nodded at his words, a sympathetic smile appearing on her lips. "That's not good." Hearing from Cyril never seemed good in her eyes. She'd ever met him and in all honestly never really wanted to. Though, she was pretty sure Charlie wouldn't want her to meet him either. At least.. that's how it had always seemed to her.

She nodded her head, hair falling over her eyes momentarily before she released her grip on the counter to tuck it behind her ear. "I guess so." It was boring. Boring was boring and she wanted something to happen. Anything that would make her less bored, really.

"Yeah, he's all in a tiff because Mara and I found our parents and moved out behind his back. I mean, I guess you can't blame him really, but considering all he's done to us, I think getting out of that house was the smartest thing I've ever done." He paused and took another bite of his cookie. "And we have our parents back. And Marms can walk again, for Merlin's sake! It's like, everything that was ever wrong with my life was his fault, and I was still willing to forgive him. I mean, I wasn't but I pretended I was, my parents made me write to him, but then he just writes back and yells at me, like it's my fault. All this time we thought our parents hated us, and they thought we hated them, and it's his fault, and my parents were still willing to include him in our family. But he's being a complete tosser about it all, as usual, and now I could honestly care less if I never see him again." He let out a deep, frustrated breath. "I hate him."

Even after a week's time, it was still incredible and surreal to be holding Lewis' hand like she was as she lead the two of them towards the kitchen. After tickling the pear with her free hand, Kurumi looked over her shoulder shyly at Lewis and tucked some of her long black hair behind her ear. Taking a small step forward, Kurumi gently tugged on his hand, almost as if she needed to remind herself that she was holding it, and entered the kitchen where she immediately removed her bag from over her shoulder and set it on one of the counters. She still didn't let go of his hand, enjoying the feeling of their fingers laced together too much to even think about letting go, as she rummaged though her bag for something.

"Where...did I put it..." she blushed with embarrassment. Had she forgotten to pack it? That would be rather embarrassing now, wouldn't it? The very thing she had invited Lewis to come do and she had forgotten her recipe notebook. Lifting a book she had checked out from the library on dragons, Kurumi's shy smile widened when she found what she was looking for. "Here it is," she chirped, turning around a little so she was leaning against the counter only now dropping her hold on his hand so she could clutch her notebook with both of hers. "Here, Lewis, pick one," she instructed as she handed the notebook with all sorts of colorful sticky notes sticking out of it.

Brooke finished off her cookie, silently taking in everything Charlie was telling her. Just because she always listened to other people's problems didn't mean that she was any good at making them better. Though, she always did her best to nod in the right places and just generally be a good listener and occasionally offer up her own opinion. It was just hard for her to come up with a sufficient response. "I'm sorry," She whispered, scooting closer to him. "Its good though, you know. Getting out and away from him. That's probably what you needed all along. Just space from him." She slipped her arm through his, gently rubbing the back of his hand. It had been something her mother had always done when she was upset, so she figured it might be soothing for him as well.

"It's okay to hate your family sometimes, i think." she murmured. "Everyone makes mistakes and stuff. Sometimes people just need time to figure things out. And in this case, it seems like Cyril has to realize that he was wrong, and he wasn't really helping you and Mara." She shrugged. Some people needed to be a bit open-minded. Like, Cyril for instance. He need to figure things out, apparently and stop blaming Charlie for things that clearly weren't his fault or intention.

Charlie paused and looked at her hand on his. For a moment he paused, and then he flipped his hand over, taking hers, and squeezed it appreciatively. There was something nerve-wracking about holding onto it though, so he released it after a few moments and placed his hands on his knees awkwardly. "I'm not sure if he ever wanted to help us. He was only helping himself. Keeping us like trophies. Something he could have, and mum and dad couldn't." He frowned and looked down, and then up again and turned his head towards her. He hadn't noticed how close she really had gotten to him until just now. It was weird seeing her so close up. She was so pretty, and he felt the need to tell her that, but he knew she would only deny it. And there was something else, this feeling in his gut, stopping him from saying it, but he tried to ignore that. He grinned and said, "Thank you, though. You're better at this than I expected, Brookers."

Somehow Lewis couldn't stop smiling today. And not only because it was his birthday. No, but because he was being dragged along a dimly lit corridor by Kurumi on his birthday. And that corridor could only lead to one place. The kitchen. Unless they would stop before arriving there to...stand in the corridor? So, there, that was very unlikely which was why his smile had grown even brighter the moment he'd figured out where they were going. Even brighter than it had already been the last few days. Since the day in that empty classroom actually. Since what had happened that day. Which was also why he was very much aware of how tightly their fingers were laced together. Of how connected they now were.

As if to remind them both of that fact, Lewis squeezed Kurumi's hand when they stopped so she could tickle the pear on the painting. And he had been right with assumption. The kitchen it was. While he wouldn't have needed to feel the tug on his hand to follow her inside, it made him grin a little nonetheless. His eyes darted around the kitchen they'd just entered, being awestruck by its sheer size and splendor all over again. Until his gaze fell on a quite familiar corner of the kitchen which made him blush a little and start chewing on his lower lip again. Memories from the last time they'd been here washed over him, and he was glad when Kurumi started muttering something, drawing his attention back to her instead.

Talking a step towards her so he was standing right behind her, Lewis looked over her shoulder while running his thumb over her hand in his softly. What was she looking...dragons? Oh but she put that one aside. He almost reached out to take her hand again when she let go of his but was distracted by her turning around and holding out that a notebook to him. Well, he was mainly distracted by her turning around really. After a short moment of silence in which he just looked at her with a smile playing around his lips, he finally took the book and moved to lean against the counter next to her. "I...I don't know, Kurumi." They all looked really really good. "Help me choose...?" He finally said with an almost sheepish smile for her, holding the book in a way that she would also be able to look at it as he started to turn the pages.

It was her present to him, so she would have to choose.

Kurumi leaned a little more against the counter while Lewis flipped through the book, scooting just a little closer when he joined her and her arm brushing up against his for just a little contact. Lewis really hadn't made it that far through her notes before he was back to looking at her and showing her the book. Kurumi blushed and slightly wrinkled her nose when he asked her to help him choose. These weren't supposed to be cookies that she wanted to eat....they were what he wanted. It wasn't her birthday after all. "Well, that depends on what you want," she laughed softly, her own lips curling into a sheepish smile as well. "You need to at least give me a flavor...chocolate...vanilla...fruity...nuts..."

Kurumi scooted a little closed and wrapped her one arm around his, pulling herself a little closer to his so she could take a closer look at the notebook and flipped through one of the pages using her index finger. Each sticky note indicated one of her friend's or family member's favorite recipe, the sort of fail safe that she could go to whenever she needed to bake something for them or make a new recipe for them. Selina had her red velvet recipes. Her father had honey based cookies. Jonathan had his chocolate.... Kurumi paused for a moment, looking at the green sticky note on the chocolate recipe, tightening her grip on his arm slightly before suddenly moving on to the next recipe which was something with a lemon zest base.

"Hmmm..." she murmured as she turned her gaze away from the notebook and to Lewis' face. She studied him for several moments, looking into his eyes and searching for an answer there. Kurumi was usually very good at flavor profiles when it came to her friends, but she felt nervous doing so for Lewis for some reason. Maybe she was putting too much pressure on herself to get this right? Would it really be so terrible if she suggested a recipe and Lewis said he wasn't interested? It wasn't like that would be the first time, she had baked several dozen times for Evelyn before figuring out what cookies the former Head Girl liked. Suddenly a light bulb went on in her head and her violet eyes widened. "Oh! How about...." Kurumi leaned a little more against his side as she flipped through the pages as though she had the entire recipe book memorized by heart. "These! Strawberry-Nut Pinwheel Cookies."

Lewis stopped turning the pages for a moment to just smile at her when she inched a little close so that their arms were touching. It already was the best birthday ever just because of this. Just because they could touch each other whenever they wanted to. Which was pretty much all the time in Lewis' case. But back to the book in his hands. What he wanted? He assumed she was referring to the cookies but blushed a little nonetheless as he looked back down at the recipes without actually seeing them. "Hmm..." Which flavor? "I...err...I like nuts." It was the last one she had suggested so it had kind of stuck with him. He wasn't that picky really. And he really did like nuts.

Though, for him the present wasn't the actual cookies but rather that he got to bake them with Kurumi.

There were a lot of colorful sticky notes in the notebook which made absolutely no sense to Lewis, but probably did to Kurumi. He might have even come up with an explanation for what the colors meant, had he not been so distracted by having Kurumi attach herself to his arm. His heart skipped a beat and he turned his head again to look at her head, at the way her hair was- His attention was suddenly diverted however when he felt her tighten her grip on his arm which caused him to frown a little and glance back and forth between the page she was still staring at and her face a couple of times until finally resting on her face. "Kurumi...?" Was something wrong?

When she looked up at him, Lewis couldn't help but blush a little and quickly glance back down at what he was probably supposed to be looking at. And it was not her face. Or her hair. No, it was the recipes in her notebook. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes after a moment and found her still looking at his face. Holding her gaze he started chewing on his lip a little anxiously, not quite sure why she was looking at him like that. Did she still expect him to pick one of the recipes? But then she spoke up again and flipped through the pages obviously in search for something. "Yes, sounds great." And this time he had even paid attention to what she was pointing at!

Kurumi was, unfortunately, too engrossed in her recipe book to really notice the blush that was crawling across Lewis' cheeks. Kurumi hadn't actually been in the kitchens properly the entire term, minus the one time she had come here to finish her Ancient Runes' assignment. Kurumi hardly counted that though. That had been for school work and not as something she wanted to do. Something she loved. Now was a little lot different. Now Kurumi was flipping through recipes and baking something for someone she cared very much about. It was a sign that Kurumi was slowly making her way back towards her happy place and the smile that graced her features when Lewis mentioned nuts.

Her hand still on the page with his recipe, Kurumi only slightly registered Lewis whispering her name and it was enough for her to turn the page and try to ignore the tug she still felt in her chest. Kurumi loosened her grip on his arm, but still didn't remove it. It felt right there, especially since it brought her body closer to his. It felt right and she even leaned her head against his shoulder for a moment before the light bulb went off in her head.

Kurumi had gone into full pastry chef mode now and was, again, oblivious to Lewis blushing - although her own cheeks were blushing as well when his gaze captured hers for several moments as she continued to study him. A simply cookie, like a sugar cookie or chocolate chip, just wouldn't do. Not that Kurumi thought that Lewis was an overly complicated person or someone that didn't like the simple things in life, but Lewis was so much more than just a sugar cookie. Which was something that only Kurumi could really understand.

Kurumi's cheeks flushed noticeably this time and she took the book from his hands with one hand while her other, the one that had been around his arm, slid down and took his hand again. "Brilliant," she smiled. Kurumi loved strawberries and everything with strawberry flavor, so if he ended up liking these cookies then they could be the sort of thing that they could both enjoy. Together. Kurumi set the recipe book on the counter and tried to reach up on her tip toes to open the cabinet above the two of them to grab a large bowl...but Kurumi's lack of height made this a little difficult. "Um....Lewis...do you....do you mind grabbing a bowl?"

Her hand? Yeah, it was still holding his.

Lewis looked at her face a little while longer after she'd turned the page, trying to figure out what had just happened. Was it the recipe? Did she just remember something? Now he regretted not taking a closer look at what recipe she'd been looking at. Though, that would mean that he wouldn't have got to look at her so maybe he'd made the right decision. So when she didn't reply or react in any way to him saying her name, Lewis just shrugged it off for now. Literally. He didn't want to ruin the moment by making her share something she didn't want to share.

Even though, he WAS kind of curious now.

Lewis sighed contently before he could stop himself when she leaned her head against his shoulder for a moment. But unfortunately it was gone way too quickly again for his liking. Oh well, there would be other times. Now they were here because she wanted to bake him something for his birthday after all. Brilliant. Yes, it was, wasn't it? Especially when she ran her hand down his arm to lace her fingers through his again. His heart still skipped a beat whenever she touched him and a part of him hoped that that would never change. That he would always feel a wave of happiness wash over him every time she touched him or even just looked at him. Hopefully that would never change. Because frankly every second they spent together just made him want to be with her even more.

If that was even possible.

Smiling at her when she put the recipe book down and turned around to get something from the cabinet above them, Lewis just watched her for a moment without actually seeing what she was doing. Or struggling to do rather. Which was why he blushed a little for not realizing that she needed his help sooner when she asked him. "S-sure." He took a small step forward, incidentally bringing their bodies even closer together while reaching up for the bowl she was unable to reach. And yes, maybe letting go of her hand would have made things easier but he just really, really, REALLY didn't want to do that. So he didn't.

He held out the bowl for her for a while before realizing that she would probably not need it in her hands right now. What was his brain doing today? It was definitely not doing what it was supposed to, which was think like a rational human being. At least it had decided to work momentarily again which was why Lewis quickly set the bowl on the counter, blushing a little before looking back up at Kurumi expectantly. What now? "D'you need anything else?" His eyes briefly darted around the kitchen as if he was looking for something specific, something which she would obviously need but in the end they just returned to her face. Which was a lot more interesting to look at than the kitchen...

Kurumi continued to bounce a little on her tip toes, trying to reach the bowl on her own and was blushing rather furiously over the whole ordeal. She could have simply removed her wand from her pocket and used a Summoning Charm to get the bowl, but Kurumi had always reserved baking as to be a nonmagic zone for her. Something that reminded her who she was and not what she was.

She ceased her bouncing when Lewis said he would help, and her feet planted themselves flat on the ground. "Than---" Kurumi began, but found her breath momentarily taken away from her when she felt Lewis get close to her again as he literally reached over her for the bowl while still holding on to her hand. The blush on Kurumi's cheeks changed hues and she couldn't help but look up just to confirm how close he was to her. If she stood up on her tip toes now.... But then Lewis had retrieved the bowl and had set it down on the counter. She almost didn't register his next question, her eyes obviously elsewhere, so when it did click what he had asked she had to bite her tongue from saying the first thing that came to her mind that she needed a kiss.

"Uuuum..." she replied, chewing on her lip for a moment as the color continued to rise in her cheeks. "A spoon...or two..." But that was easily retrieved from the drawer in front of her and she quickly set those next to the bowl. "Then...ingredients..." Kurumi knew the kitchen like the back of her hand, so she began to walk over to various cabinets and cupboards, grabbing everything they needed while handing some of the things - like flour and butter - to Lewis as she did. Once they both were holding everything, which was rather difficult considering they only had one arm to use since their fingers were still laced tightly together, Kurumi lead them back to the counter and set the things in her arms down.

Kurumi leaned her recipe book up against the wall so that it would be easier for them both to reference, and she looked up shyly at him while giving his hand a small squeeze. "I'm....going to need my hand back," she giggled, lacing her fingers just a little more with his while her thumb began to trace random patterns over his hand.

Victoria was hungry. And she needed food, yummy food from the Hogwarts kitchen. She doesn't go to the basement often, but is fortunate to find it without getting lost. She blames her hunger on the last night's dinner that made her lost her appetite. Grrrr...that way-too-sweet-Titanic-sized cream puff....

The She-Snake wishes to find a more meaty item for a light snack, but finds a delicious-looking peanut butter fudgie...yum. Victoria's longing for a meaty snack quickly vanishes when she reaches for a peanut butter fudgie. But another, smaller hand reaches it first and quickly popped it in to its owner's mouth. Grrr....

Victoria glares angrily at the Lioness.

Kurumi's 'Uuuum' caused his eyes to focus on her face again, his eyes widening a little upon seeing the blush on her cheeks. Feeling his own cheeks flushing with color, Lewis reached out with his free hand before he could stop himself and ran it across her cheek. "You're blushing." In case she hadn' been unaware of that and all. His gaze wasn't on her cheeks however but a little bit lower, on her lips. The fact that they were so close all of a sudden AND she was chewing on them was making it a little hard to think straight.

But he had to. They had cookies to finish. Or...well, start, really.

Sooo, ingredients, obviously. Dropping his hand from her face again, it was now Lewis' turn to chew on his lip as she waited for her to tell him what they needed. Actually, he could have probably looked that up himself since the recipe was right there on the counter but he had left Kurumi in charge somehow so he was just going to do what she told him to do. Which was follow her around the kitchen, picking up ingredients apparently. For now anyway. Which was totally fine with him. While, again, it would have been A LOT easier for both of them to carry the ingredients if they let go of each other's hand, neither of them did. For Lewis it was proof that this was actually happening. That it was real.

It was a slightly wobbly and slow way back to the counter but somehow they managed to take everything back without dropping anything. So far so good. His gaze moved from her to the book when she leaned it against the wall and then back to her when he felt her hand give his a squeeze. "Oh, yeah, right." She would need her hand back so they could finally start. Only why was it that it felt like she was only holding on even more now? Lewis glanced down at their hands for a moment, not showing any signs that he was about to let go of her hand. It didn't represent the same thing as it had before anymore. Well, it did but it was the different at the same time.

Now he could just take her hand whenever he felt like it.

As if to prove that theory, Lewis - without looking back up - pulled his hand out of her grasp, slowly, very slowly as if he expected something to happen when he stopped touching her. But nothing happened. Nothing bad anyway. The only thing that happened was the way the skin on his hand started to tingle a little where Kurumi had just recently touched it. Tingle in longing really. So after a few seconds, he just reached out and took her hand again, just like that. Because they could do that now. Heh. Smiling to himself, he finally glanced back up at her face, a look of somebody who'd just achieved something really great on his face. Did you see that?!

Oh, hang on, he was supposed to let go of her hand, that's what they'd been talking about. "Uhm, sure." And with that Lewis finally did let go of her hand for real this time, blushing furiously as he averted his gaze to the recipe book as if it was the most interesting thing in the whole wide world. There was something seriously wrong with him sometimes. "Right...err...w-we should start." Yes. He reached for some of the ingredients and set them up side by side so that they could be more easily spotted when needed.

Kurumi squeaked with surprise when Lewis' hand traced her cheek, causing her to lift her gaze and meet his while a few shaky breaths escaped her slightly parted lips. He didn't really need to tell her that she was blushing, because she could feel the heat herself. "You...you are too..." she whispered in reply, noticing just exactly where Lewis was looking on her features and she shyly licked her lips. It would be very easy, just a small push up on her toes...

But Kurumi's self restraint and desire to finally bake was enough to somehow keep her focused on the task at hand: baking for Lewis. Or, maybe it was the for Lewis bit that was what really helped her keep focus. Kurumi did really love baking and being back in the kitchen without a heavy heart was a feeling that she had missed.

Kurumi giggled a bit more when Lewis responded to her request for her hand back, but she didn't stop tracing circles on his hand with her thumb just yet and even followed his gaze down to their hands. They just seemed to fit together perfectly, just like that, and it was hard to pull away from him now. Not that it hadn't ever been easy, but now it was a completely different feeling. She did loosen her grip on his finger when she felt his finally moving and she giggled again at the slowness of his touch because it tickled a little. Once his hand had completely left hers, his touch still somewhat lingering on her fingers, Kurumi turned her attention towards the recipe book when another small gasp escaped her lips as Lewis suddenly took her hand again. "Lewis..." she said softly, her violet gaze lingering on their once again interlaced fingers before lifting to meet his own. "W-What are you doing?"

Not that she minded that he was holding her hand again, she was just a little confused and her heart was pounding in her chest as to why he had taken a hold of it so soon. She wasn't going anywhere, if he was worried about that for whatever reason.

When he did let go of her hand, Kurumi didn't move right away as if she were waiting to see if he would take it again. When he didn't and instead suggest that they actually get started, she nodded and chewed on her lip a little bit before turning her gaze back to the recipe book. With a fluidity of a true pastry chef, Kurumi added the sugar and butter into the bowl and then passed it to him with a spatula. "Um....can you...cream this?" she asked. "I mean, mix it until there are no lumps?"

Lewis froze with his hand on her cheek when she squeaked in surprise, blinking at her a couple of times. Oops. Now that he actually thought about what he'd just said, he blushed even more than before. Why on Earth had he thought that saying this was a good idea? It was bound to make her uncomfortable. Oh, right, it was because he hadn't thought at all before opening his mouth. He really should start using his brain again. Seriously, though, who pointed out that the other person was blushing?!

Oh, Kurumi too apparently.

His eyes not moving away from her lips, Lewis swallowed when she licked her lips. "I know..." There was probably no need to actually reply to her statement but somehow he was once again back to not thinking about what he said. Right. He should probably stop looking at her lips. Or else she was going to think he was weird. Even though it was his birthday...which meant it was his day. Which meant that all he had to do was...

But they were here for cookies. So this was what they were going to do. Bake cookies. Together. For him. Only he had to let go of her hand first. Though, he was going to miss her touch for sure, even if it was only for a while. On the other hand, he had just made sure that he was in fact able - and allowed - to take her hand again whenever he wanted to so it was going to be fine. "Hmm?" Lewis looked back up at her when she said his name, blinking at her as if he had just gotten out of some kind of trance.

What was he...? "Oh...I...err..." He blushed furiously at her question, dropping her hand quite suddenly and went back to chewing on his lip. Now, how to explain this..."I was just...trying something." He looked back at the recipe, with a rather sheepish yet equally embarrassed smile on his lips. There was no need to go into too much detail here, right? It was just that really, plus it would make him sound quite weird. And desperate. Mostly weird though probably. Actually he just still felt a little like this was all a dream so he had to try things to make sure that it wasn't. It was still a little unreal.

Okay, now that the ingredients were all in a row, Lewis was looking for something else to keep his hands busy. Which was why he took the bowl and spatula from Kurumi right away when she held it out to him. "Of course!" Cream it? He stopped for a moment to smile at Kurumi before quickly going back to doing what she had told him to do. "I know what that means, Kurumi." He wasn't a complete newbie in the kitchen after all, he knew the basic kitchen-related terminology.

At least now he had something to do and wouldn't get any ideas.

Kurumi sort of leaned into his touch for a moment and closed her eyes just long enough for her senses to take over and a wave of warmth to wrap around her like. While his small pause now was just out of surprise, it didn't take away from the feeling of joy Kurumi felt to have his hand on her cheek. Her eyes opened again when he spoke and she was back to chewing on her lip softly, her eyes still focused on his.

Subconsciously, she pushed up just a little on her toes, bringing their faces closer and her breathing became a little uneven again. Her eyes glanced up at his for a moment before dropping back down to his lips, but she didn't close the gap any further even though she wanted to. Instead she reached up with her other hand and brushed a few strands of his hair out of his face, her hand lingering there for just a moment. "...okay..."

Okay? What kind of a comment was that?

Mentally slapping herself, Kurumi lowered herself back down to her feet and tried to ignore just how awkward that comment had been...only to find that more awkward was waiting when Lewis suddenly dropped her hand. Her skin tingled all over and seeing how Lewis was blushing furiously only made her own cheeks rise in color...again. "Y-You're blushing...again," she whispered. Since, you know, they both seemed to be in the mood to tell each other when they were blushing. "What were you trying to do?" Because, honestly, the Gryffindor was curious. "I-Is there something wrong with my hand?"

Kurumi laughed softly when Lewis began to mix things, stepping a little closer to him so she could peer a little easier into the bowl - which also required her to stand on her tip toes just a little. "S-Sorry," she giggled. "Most people I come to the kitchens with to bake don't know the first thing about baking." They knew more about the eating aspect of it though. It was kind of nice, knowing that they could bake together and Lewis understood some of her language and it brought a smile to her lips as she watched his hands stir the mixture.

She had probably been looking at his hands for a little too long, but she eventually came out of her trance and cracked an egg on the counter and added it to the bowl along with some vanilla extract. "Just keep stirring," she instructed as she turned around and opened the cupboard again to grab another bowl. Oh, right...the bowls were WAY up there. Looking over her shoulder sheepishly, Kurumi didn't ask Lewis for help this time and instead pushed herself up onto the counter and grabbed a bowl herself before sliding off it and back onto the floor where she attempted to avoid eye contact for the time being as she mixed flour and baking soda in the bowl she had just retrieved. "How does it look?" she asked, still a little too embarrassed to look at him and instead kept her violet eyes on the bowl in front of her. If his was ready...they just needed to added it to the flour mixture and then they were almost ready to bake.

While he'd just told himself that he should probably stop looking at her lips, this was becoming rather difficult when she actually brought their faces even closer together. And then her hand was on his face, tugging some of his hair back, making him swallow again. Why was he hesitating actually? Before he got to dwell on this question - or what it implied - any longer however, Kurumi replied to his statement. Okay? He cocked his head to the side a little, a small confused smile playing around his lips. "Yes..." And that was the third time in the last few seconds that either of them had replied to a comment which didn't need any reaction.

Lewis didn't avert his gaze from the recipe book but instead just stared at it even more intently than before. Hopefully she would just let it go and now ask him what exactly he'd been trying to do. He really needed to start thinking about what he did and not just act out of pure instinct. Although, trusting his instincts had worked out pretty well the last time. Or times really. And that thought only made him blush some more even though there was probably no need to. Or maybe there was. It was still a little embarrassing, now that he got to think of it, that they apparently just hadn't been able to stay away from each other. And had acted upon that urge too. On two occasions.

He turned his head at her next comment, however, biting his lip but smiling a little sheepishly nonetheless. "You are too...again." They could play that game all day probably. Since somehow he always ended up blushing one way or another when Kurumi was around. Even more so when she asked him uncomfortable questions like this one. Though, it was his fault really. "I..." Wasn't he supposed to be less awkward and nervous around Kurumi now that they were, well, together? Right now it seemed that she was making him even more nervous than before. Not necessarily in a bad way though. Which didn't make answering her question any easier.

His eyes widened a little and he blinked at Kurumi a couple of times. "W-what? No!" There was nothing wrong with her hand. Okay, he should probably just outright say what he'd been doing since otherwise she was going to come up with her own assumptions. And it was very unlikely that she would guess his true reason. "I was just...I'm just happy we can do that whenever we like now." Lewis wasn't even sure why he felt the need to whisper the last part. Maybe it was due to embarrassment. Only why would he be embarrassed? It was just true. He was still looking at her but had gone back to chewing on his lower lip, bowing his head slightly like a little embarrassed child.

Lewis just continued with his stirring of the mixture, not even stopping when Kurumi stepped closer to him. No if anything his stirring got even more determined. The only reaction to her next words were him smiling down at the bowl, clearly happy to hear her giggle. That still didn't mean that it would be wise to look away from the bowl, though. He missed her touch already and being this close to her without at least touching some part of her was driving him insane. So when she finally moved to crack an egg - yes, he WAS watching her out of the corner of his eyes - on the counter, the Hufflepuff shook his head a little to get his emotions under control.

This was crazy.

Nodding when she instructed him to just keep on stirring, Lewis raised his head a little to watch her first struggle to get one of the bowls down and then...got onto the counter for a moment. Okay, why was this making him blush? Well, he kind of knew why but it was still slightly surprising what kind of effect those little things had on him. He had actually STOPPED stirring, too engrossed in looking at her on that counter to think of anything else. Only her getting down again, quickly followed by a question sort of got him out of his trance-like state again. "Good." Oh, she was talking about the mixture! "I mean...yes, good, looks good." He glanced down into his bowl and stirred a couple of times more before holding out the bowl for her to see.

Kurumi couldn't help but giggle nervously when Lewis' lips curled into a confused smile and he cocked his head to the side. She couldn't help but wonder if that was one of her mannerisms rubbing off on him, the cocking that is. She always did that when she was confused and, although Lewis had done it a little before, this particular instance reminded her more of how she did it and that only made her smile a little more. Her hand rested on his cheek for a brief moment, but she didn't respond to his yes.

She didn't know how to and her heart was beating far too fast for her to be able to speak properly anyway.

Her eyes were back on the recipe book for a moment, making a mental list of what all needed to be done so she wouldn't have to reference it again for a little while, but were soon back on him when she felt his eyes on her. Her hands went to her cheeks for a moment, sort of trying to hide her blush but more to feel the heat that was resonating from her cheeks. Kurumi blushed a lot, Paulie had even pointed it out to her and said he would give her a nickname using this, but she only blushed like this around Lewis. It was sort of frightening the effect he had on her.

Kurumi's hands lowered and she gasped softly when he began and didn't finish yet another sentence with 'I' and she chewed on her lip shyly wondering how he was going to finish it. Only her question had thrown him a curve ball, apparently, and Kurumi was back to giggling softly. She hadn't been entirely serious with the hand comment, but it was still nice to know that there wasn't anything wrong with it. When he did finish his sentence and explained why he had taken her hand again so quickly, the color in her cheeks rose and her hair's color shifted a little towards a pink hue. As if to prove his statement, Kurumi reached out with her own hands and took a hold of both of his and laced her fingers together with his. "Me too." Kurumi whispered in reply, noticing the color change in her hair, but not paying too much attention to it.

Again, Kurumi untangled her fingers from his and return to baking cookies.

Kurumi couldn't help but think that his first good hadn't been in reference to the contents of the bowl in his hand because, well, he wasn't actually looking AT the bowl but at her. Her hair didn't rise in color anymore since she was a little more in control now because of the task at hand, but she smiled sheepishly in return. "I'll...just add this to that bowl then," she giggled, taking his bowl out of his hands, her fingers brushing against his purposely as she did and then she turned towards the counter and combined both bowls and mixed them together. Having already prepared the counter while he had been stirring, Kurumi rolled the dough on the lightly floured surface flat and spread some strawberry jam and crushed walnuts over it before rolling it up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side, until it was done. She then quickly sliced it up and set it on a cookie sheet and set the tray in the oven and closed it, making sure to set the timer this time. No burnt cookies please. She glanced at Lewis over her shoulder again, brushing a few locks of her long black hair and realized that she had just finished...everything. "Oh, I-I-I'm sorry!" she squeaked. She hadn't meant to just take control of the kitchen like that. "I...I get a little carried away when I am baking..."

Alice was happily snacking on her peanut butter fudge when someone had to ruin her attitude caught her eye. A person. Who's hand was in the very spot the tin of fudge had been. A Slytherin, judging by the evil glint in their eye as the girl glared at the lioness. Oh. OHH. Did she want the fudge? Hehe. Too bad for slowpoke Slytherin. This was ALICE'S fudge. Nom.

The third year glared back at the she-snake as she finished off another piece of fudge. Noticing the longing in the girl's eyes, Alice grudgingly tore a piece of fudge from the tin and held it out for the older girl to take. She hoped that this would satisfy her— or at least shoo her away for the time being.