Starshine and Sunshine

“I SWEAR TO THE MOTHER OF ALL THINGS GREEN PUT THE SNAIL DOWN OR I WILL BURN YOUR HAND OFF!” Zoe yelled as she slammed a cauldron of murky water down on the burner. The contents sloshed over her hands, but Zoe was too busy glaring at Ejax to care. 

Ejax grinned sheepishly and put the glossy shelled snail down on the counter, which started to inch away. 

Zoe gave her a look. “Out of the kitchen, no more animal spells. I don’t want another giant badger.” 

“But the badger was cool!”

“No,” Zoe cut her off. “Not cool, it took us weeks to get rid of and kept ripping up all of my plants." She gave Ejax a pleading look. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to grow that sage?" 

Ejax shook her head and sighed but wriggled her finger under the snail, opened the window, and gently settled the snail down where it continued to squirm along aimlessly. She inhaled the night air and propped the window open before walking back over to her fiance who had pulled herself into a sitting position on the counter, one leg bent inward and the other dangling down. 

“Whatcha got there“ Ejax raised her eyebrows and gestured to the cardboard cup with a green mermaid logo printed on the front in Zoe's hand which she was clutching like her life depended on it. 

Zoe took a giant gulp of whatever it was and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Nothing.“ 

Ejax tugged the cup containing the cold dregs of coffee from Zoe and dropped it in the trash can. “No more. You’ve had enough caffeine. When's the last time you slept?” 

Zoe wrinkled her nose and muttered something before going back to rummaging through the cupboard. 

Ejax leaned on the counter. “You're so annoying sometimes." 

Zoe was skimming a leather-bound book which was way too close to the flames licking the sides of the stove. She started rapidly pulling out tinted glass jars of herbs from a cupboard, balancing them precariously on the edge of the marble surface. Zoe snorted and raised her eyebrows at Ejax. "What's your point?" 

“Because when you wrinkle your nose you look so cute, and it's not fair because then I want to let you continue with your awful habits.“ 

Zoe froze and flushed bright red while Ejax had to force herself to not laugh at Zoe's indignance.  

"I- YOU'RE annoying-" Zoe sputtered and tried to kick Ejax from where she was but ended up almost falling. 

"Mh-hm," Ejax helped her balance again and kissed her cheek. "What are you making?" 

Zoe blushed and tried to cover her face with her hand. "Just- an enlargement spell. We have that potluck with your parents this week and I don't want to cook a whole vat of something." 

"Can I help?" 

"Sure, get me that syrup jar."

Ejax made a face but went and got the jar and handed it to Zoe. "Is it syrup?" 

"No, you just broke all our other containers." Zoe narrowed her eyes and took the jar before pouring it into a spoon with the design of a star with ten points. 

. . . 

Ejax studied her for a moment. "Can I call you a grumpy muffin?" 

"What the hell-?" Zoe turned her head and shot Ejax a dirty look. "No." 

"I've been calling Tala that because she's grumpy, and muffin is a funny word." 

"Okay, first of all, what makes muffin a funny word? Second of all, I'm not letting you call me a nickname that you also use for your cousin, that's weird." 

"Can I call you a grumpy cupcake? You're prettier than Tala so the name makes sense." 

"Please just shut up. Forever." Zoe glanced away and whisked a saucepan with bubbling yellow liquid in it. 

"What do you mean," Ejax smirked. "You love the sound of my voice." 

Zoe sniffed. She looked down at her watch and scrambled off the counter. “I have to go, I’ll be right back.” She dashed out of the kitchen. As she left she yelled over her shoulder, “Don’t touch ANYTHING.” 

Ejax put her hands up as if she had been caught. “Yeah, love, I know.” 

She was a liar. 

Ejax walked over to the open spellbook and flipped through the pages to see the spell Zoe had been following. She traced the title and muttered. “Enlargement spell.” Ejax laughed, Zoe hated cooking so much. The only thing she liked to make was fried eggs with lentil rice so that’s what they ate most of the time. At least it was healthy. And obviously, Ejax couldn't make anything without melting at least two pots, so that was out of the question. 

Ejax dipped a finger in the mixture and lit up. It was sugary and tasted like a slightly off creamy caramel. She leaned back and after a moment of thought, she crouched down, slid open a drawer, and pulled out a container of pride Oreos she and Zoe had found at Safeway in celebration of pride month. 

Ejax pulled one out, shook it to get the crumbs off- which fell onto her shirt- and cautiously dipped it in the caramel thingy which had begun to bubble. Ejax glimpsed at the door to make sure Zoe wasn't coming towards the kitchen and when she glanced back at her oreo, the substance was dripping off a much larger oreo that was STILL growing bigger by the second. 

She hurriedly wiped the caramel off with a paper towel and the Oreo grew a couple more inches before stopping. Right on cue, Zoe strode back in to see Ejax standing awkwardly with something behind her back. 

Zoe's eyes narrowed and she pulled on one of Ejax's arms. "What are you hiding?" Ejax sighed and held out the dinner plate sized cookie. Zoe gasped. 

"WE TALKED ABOUT THIS. STOP SAMPLING MY POTIONS." 

Ejax snapped off a chunk and handed it to a very unamused Zoe who waved it away.  

"C'mon, just try a little. It's good," Ejax bit off even more and said with a full mouth, "It's realllllly good." 

She sniffed and turned her head. Ejax broke off the edge and poked it into Zoe's mouth. 

Zoe's facial features screwed up and she spat it out in the kitchen and wiped her mouth. "That's disgusting, way too sweet." Zoe watched Ejax scarf down another broken-off piece of giant oreo. "How are you eating so much?!" 

"I was raised on sugar cereal, you were probably raised on brownies with avocado in them." 

"Zucchini, actually. It's not bad." 

"Your childhood makes me sad." 

"You really should eat more vegetables. Maybe I'll make you zucchini cake," Zoe said thoughtfully. 

"That's gross, why would you ruin cake?! Do you even love me?" 

"Yes I do," Zoe rolled her eyes. "Just stop eating things every time I leave." 

"Hm, I dunno." Ejax glanced at the cauldron again and looked at Zoe with an innocent smile. She leaned to dip the cookie back in but Zoe shrieked and slapped her hand away. Ejax laughed and kissed the top of her head. 

Author's Note: It goes without saying, I don't own the company Oreo. Happy Pride month everyone. 🏳‍🌈