The True Purpose of Cookie Dough

“Merry Christmas! Bye, bye!” Amber waved into the camera of her laptop and disconnected from Skype then. The happy smile on her lips faded slowly as she closed her laptop and realized that she was alone. While she was skyping with her families, she didn’t feel alone at all, even though she could only see and hear them through her laptop. But now it was all quite – no one talking to her, no one smiling at her. The girls were with their family, obviously – but Amber’s parents were far away in the USA, and she just couldn’t hop into the next airplane to pay them a visit because her schedule for the next days was pretty full.

Letting out a long sigh, the girl leant back into the couch and stared at the ceiling. Normally she just would call one of her friends and ask them to hang out, but everyone was with their families, so … Of course some of her friends offered her to join them, but Amber would just feel like out of place. So she told everyone she already had plans, which was a lie but at least no one would worry about her being alone on Christmas.

“And now?”, she mumbled to herself and sat up slowly. She was hungry. Maybe she could just order food and watch a DVD or something? Or play some games? Or try to cook? Actually there were many things she could do, but nothing of these things seemed to be fun doing them alone. But she had to do anything, no? Doing nothing at all would bore her even more.

Actually … it wasn’t just that she was bored. No, she just felt kind of sad about the fact she was alone on Christmas … Maybe she should have taken the offer of one of her friends and joined them with their family after all?

Before she could feel bad about rejecting all these offers, it suddenly knocked on the dorm’s door. Amber widened her eyes in surprise and jumped on her feet. Maybe one of the girls was back earlier than planned for some reason? … But they would use their key, unless they didn’t forget it again. Amber had no idea who it could be, but whoever it was – maybe that someone could distract her, at least for a moment.

When she opened the door, she widened her eyes once more.

“Merry Christmas!”, Henry said happily and walked through the door, carrying a bag over his shoulder. He looked around. “All alone, huh?”

“W-What …” Amber blinked in confusion and looked at him before shaking her head a bit. “Uh, yeah. I’m alone”, she answered then and closed the door, smiling finally at one of her closest friends. “What are you doing here?!”

“Changing the fact that you’re spending Christmas all alone”, the taller one said and widened his arms. “Merry Christmas!” He looked at her, waiting.

Amber chuckled and stepped closer to him, just before he pulled her in a tight hug. “Merry Christmas, Henry. – What’s in that bag?”, she asked and looked to the bag in his hand when she pulled back from his hug.

“Oh, just a few DVDs. You know, what’s Christmas without Home Alone?” Henry put the bag onto the couch and took off his coat before throwing it over a close-by chair.

The girl grinned a little and ruffled her hair. “Yah, that’ll make me homesick. Even more than I already am”, she added with a lowered voice and peeked into the bag.

Henry turned around to her and bit his lips. “Yeah … That’s what I thought.”

Amber looked up at him and tilted her head. “Mhm?”

“And that’s why I’m here.” He put his arm around the girl’s shoulders and dragged her to the kitchen. “First of all, I’m damn hungry.” He laughed lightly and rubbed his stomach. “Anything we could eat?”

The shorthaired girl stumbled a bit as she suddenly got dragged through the dorm. “Actually I was about to order something”, she answered and reached for Henry’s hand on her shoulder, so she could intertwine their fingers. Sometimes, they acted like a couple – when in truth they were actually just very close friends. Maybe even something like brother and sister. With Henry around, Amber felt all safe and protected, no matter what was going on around them. He really meant a lot to her, and she wished she could show him more how thankful she was about his presence in this very moment – he just saved Christmas for her.

“How boring”, he mumbled and lifted an eyebrow, looking down at her while he started playing with her fingers.

“Oh come on, isn’t it you who always orders food wherever you are?”

“Well, that’s why it’s getting boring.” Henry grinned at her and looked around then. “Mhm … How about we bake some cookies for Christmas? I’m sure you didn’t do that yet and isn’t it a part of it all?”

“Are you kidding me?” Amber frowned lightly, but Henry seemed so excited that he apparently was serious about his suggestion. The girl sighed lightly. Well, as long as he would help her cleaning the mess afterwards … “Alright, why not.”

“Good girl”, he chuckled, ruffled her hair and walked over to the cupboards. “Cookies are so easy anyway. We can watch one of the DVDs while they’re in the oven.”

Just around half an hour later the kitchen looked as if a bomb had exploded in it.

“Cookies are so easy anyway …” Amber cleared after imitating her best friend and started laughing at the angry look he gave her. Her laughter broke off though when she suddenly felt something cold and wet on her cheek – dough. “Did you just –“

“Shush, let me concentrate now.” Henry crossed his arms and looked at the bowl with dough in front of him. It took way longer than needed to create this, and it still was too liquid for making any cookies. Something was missing, but he really didn’t know what it was … And he didn’t find an answer either when he suddenly found himself in a cloud of flour. He gasped and coughed, waggling his arms to get out of this flour fog – and to see how Amber was laughing at him. Again. Until Henry decided to use the dough for something else than baking cookies, and the food fight began. The small kitchen of the girl’s dorm was filled with squeals and laughter while it became an even worse mess than before. In that moment though Henry and Amber felt like some little kids, not thinking about who had to clean up afterwards – and that felt pretty good. Kinda relieving, too. They had fun with their job in the music business, but it felt good to work off some stress by fooling around with failed cookie dough on Christmas.

“I am not gonna clean this up alone”, Amber stated, gasping slightly after the little run around the table, as she leant against the cupboard. She chuckled lightly and wiped off some dough off her cheeks, by which she accidentally replaced it with the flour she still had on her fingers.

Henry noticed it and laughed lightly, leaning against the table in front of her. “Yeah … Well … I guess I’m responsible for that”, he mumbled then and grinned at her. “But … Since we don’t have any cookies now, can we maybe order food now?”

Amber lifted an eyebrow and imitated him once more. “How boring. – Yeah, we should though. I’m starving now.”

A little while later, the two of them sat on the couch and watched one of the DVDs Henry brought. They shared a big blanket and ate the pizza that had been delivered a few moments before – maybe not the classical Christmas dinner, but the important thing is that it tastes good, right? Even though they washed their face and changed their shirts – Amber borrowed Henry one of hers since she often wore ones that were way too big for her anyways – there were still some visible little marks of flour and dough. But they still had to clean the kitchen anyway, so …

“When are the girls coming back though?”, Henry asked before biting into a slice of pizza.

The girl shrugged lightly, looking at the TV in front of them. “No idea, not before afternoon I think. Tomorrow, obviously.”

Henry nodded slowly and finished eating before he continued speaking. “Can’t we clean the kitchen tomorrow then …?”

Amber blinked and turned her head to face him. “Can I trust you then?”, she asked, lifting her eyebrow in disbelief. “I won’t clean it up without you, and I won’t let anyone else do it either. So who assures me that you’ll come tomorrow for sure?”

“Come?” He looked at her for a few moments and tilted his head to the side. “Who said I was leaving tonight?”

“W-What …?”

The young man shrugged lightly and grabbed his last piece of pizza before he threw the empty carton onto the table and leant back into the couch. “It’s Christmas, Ambie. You’re not gonna spend any more moment of it alone.”

“But …” Amber blinked in confusion before nodding slowly. Actually that didn’t sound too bad. No, it sounded perfect to be honest. That also explained why Henry brought more than just one or two DVDs. Somehow, this was exactly what Amber needed after the disappointment of spending Christmas alone – even if it was her own choice. She gave her friend a thankful smile before leaning against him, snuggling slightly and mumbling a “Thank you” before she concentrated on the movie.

Henry shook his head lightly, smiling down at her and her hair. “Nah. Merry Christmas, Ambie.”

A/N: Since I'm not sure if there will be another one-shot for Christmas, I'll complete the "story" now. If I will get to write more one-shots I'll just post them normally :D Thank you for all your lovely comments, they motivate me to keep writing for y'all! Although I still write for one special person only, but why not share it with all of you? I'm glad you enjoy my little work. See ya!