Baking Bread

     Baking bread.

     That was Cheri’s task at hand; to bake a delicious loaf of bread for tomorrow’s breakfast. It was late at night, 10 o’clock to be exact, and she had to complete this one task before retiring for the night.

     Cheri set out all the necessary materials and ingredients. She didn’t need a recipe; she had already made this bread dozens of times before.

     Flour. The most important aspect and ingredient of baking bread. It was the backbone of the delicious food. A bread without flour was incomplete, in Cheri’s opinion.

     Trust. The strong bond of trust was something every friendship required. If you couldn’t trust your friends, then what could you do with them? They were as good as strangers to you. Trust was…a risk. But a risk that came with every friendship.

     Yeast. The bacteria that allowed the dough to rise. Essential for making a soft, fluffy loaf of bread. Not completely required, but it made for a better tasting bread that way.

     Time. Spending time with friends allowed friendships to develop even further. It helped to create a stronger bond between friends, putting more trust in one another. If you didn’t spend enough time with your friends, even the closest of friends would grow apart.

     Sugar. A sweetener added in to give the bread a more complex and delicate taste. Added in when dissolving yeast. Found in almost every pastry Cheri knew of.

     Kindness. Treating your friends with kindness, respect, and love would bring joy to their hearts. They would return the sweetness, bringing joy to your heart as well. These positive emotions were commonly found during the developing stages of a friendship.

     Salt. To add a complex, savory taste to the bread. On its own, it brings a grimace, but with other ingredients, it helps accelerate the flavor of the bread.

     Anger. Hurtful words, jealousy, bitter emotions. They were also naturally a part of a friendship. When caught up in the moment, friends could say hurtful things to one another. I don’t like you, you’re the worst friend ever, things like that. But given a wide berth, being away from your friends for a long period of time, the ephemeral pain fades away and it really makes you realize just how lonely you are without them. And you’ll come back together, stronger and closer than ever before.

     Water. The liquid that holds the bread together. Without it, the so-called ‘bread’ would only be a messy pile of dry ingredients, scattered by a single sneeze. The water created the dough, and without it, bread would not be possible.

     Happiness. Being with friends always brings a smile to your face. If you know that you’ll be joyful around your closest friends, you’ll naturally want to be with them more often. You’ll spend more time with them, which will in turn harden your relationship with them.

     After mixing all the ingredients together, Cheri put the bread into a mold and put it inside the oven. She then set the timer, closed the oven door, and sat down to relax.

     Happiness. Love. Kindness. Anger. Trust. Time. Those ingredients created the perfect consistency for a wonderful friendship. But to take a friendship from being good friends to best friends still required something else.

     The world.

     Without the world being there to bring the things that could create wonderful experiences and unprecedented happiness, there would be no friendships at all. Friends can’t bond over their shared interests at the beach if there is no beach to begin with. They can’t participate in fun community events if the events weren’t hosted in the first place. The world is a natural system, and every part of it boosts your life experience. Just like how you’re part of that system to others as well. Everyone relies on one another. If even one thing was removed from the system, an entire branch could come crashing down.

     After fifteen minutes of being in the oven, the timer rang and Cheri went to retrieve her bread. Setting the cooling bread down on the counter, Cheri took off her oven mitts and admired her masterpiece. The perfect loaf of bread, made from all the necessary and essential ingredients. 

     “What are you doing up so late, Cheri?” Cheri jumped at the new voice, turning around to see her best friend Avelyn standing at the bottom of the staircase, in her adorable bunny onesie. 

     “Oh! I was just prepping for tomorrow’s breakfast!” Cheri replied cheerfully. “I think I finally perfected the bread recipe. It looks just right to me this time!”

     “Cheri, I told you a hundred times before, you don’t have to feel like all the chores around the house has to fall on your shoulders.” Avelyn chuckled, stepping forward and putting a hand on Cheri’s shoulder. “We’re all living in this house. You, me, Teri, and Amethyst. We all have our fair share of work, but nobody has to be so overbearing and feel that it’s all their responsibility.” She gave Cheri a small smile. “That’s how friendships work.”

     Cheri touched Avelyn’s hand on her shoulder. “Thanks, Av,” she responded gratefully. “You know, I really didn’t understand how friendships worked in the past. I’ve always been alone. Everything that concerned me was my responsibility. I had to cook my meals, clean my room, take out the trash, etc. So it’s a bit of a culture shock to live like how everyone else usually lives.”

     “I would give your parents a piece of my mind for raising you like that if they weren’t already gone.” Avelyn laughed. “Now come on. Let’s go upstairs. It’s late, and tomorrow we have something great planned. We should get some rest.”

     Cheri followed Avelyn upstairs, completely forgetting about the still cooling bread sitting on the island counter. It sat there, a perfect reminder of the lesson Cheri still needed to fully understand, for hours. Upstairs, Cheri was comprehending Avelyn’s words, trying to understand. It was hard to do so, but she didn’t stop thinking. Not until she truly understood the concept of friendship. And when Cheri finally did so, falling asleep, the forgotten light shining down on the loaf of bread clicked off on its own.