The Heart System

Chapter 871: Chapter 871

I opened my eyes, groaning as I woke up. Nala and Jasmine were still sleeping beside me, so I tried not to move too much as I slowly reached under my pillow for my phone. Eight in the morning. Apparently, I had woken up before the alarm went off.

Knowing how shaken up Minne had been after everything that happened yesterday, I decided to prepare breakfast for once. Though, calling myself capable of preparing breakfast was probably giving me too much credit. Back in my old apartment, breakfast usually consisted of beer and pizza, assuming I was lucky enough to have either one. I had no idea how to make even the simplest scrambled eggs without somehow messing them up.

I quietly climbed out of bed, careful not to wake either of the girls, and slipped out of the master bedroom. Once I was in the hallway, I gently closed the door behind me and looked down at my right hand. It was still bandaged from the glass cuts, but thankfully, the pain had gone down quite a bit. Compared to yesterday, it was barely bothering me anymore.

”Oh.”

I looked to my left and found Tessa already in the kitchen, moving around while preparing breakfast. She glanced back when she heard me and gave me a small nod.

This was strange.

Tessa was usually the person who woke up last because she absolutely loved sleeping. If given the opportunity, I was pretty sure she could sleep through an earthquake, a fire alarm, and possibly the end of the world. And I thought I was a heavy sleeper. Tessa was worse than me by a mile, or better, depending on how you looked at it. After all, not waking up in the middle of the night because of a noise or something else could either be a good thing or a bad thing.

”You’re up,” I said as I walked toward her. ”That’s very weird.”

”I turned Minne’s alarm off just now. Sneak master here, baby.” She grinned proudly before turning back toward the counter. ”Thought I could prepare breakfast for once.”

”Wow.” I looked over the ingredients she had laid out. ”So, what do you want me to do?”

”Mix these eggs for me. We’re making pancakes.”

I picked up the bowl she pointed at and grabbed the whisk. ”Do I just mix them?”

”Yeah. Just beat them until they’re smooth.”

”That’s something I can handle.”

I started whisking the eggs while Tessa measured flour into another bowl. She added milk, sugar, baking powder, and a little salt before cracking another couple of eggs into the mixture.

”Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” I asked.

”Of course.”

”You said that way too confidently.”

”I watched someone make pancakes once.” She scoffed. ”I can fucking handle this much at least.”

I stopped whisking for a second and looked at her. ”Riiight.”

Tessa glanced back at me. ”What?”

”Nothing. Keep going.”

She narrowed her eyes at me before returning to the batter. I continued mixing the eggs, occasionally glancing over to see what she was doing. She poured the dry ingredients into the wet ones and started mixing everything together. It... yeah. No. It really didn’t look that good. Delilah used to make pancakes for me whenever I’d visit them. And whatever we were cooking up looked worse than that.

”Is it supposed to look like that?” I asked.

”Yes.”

”It looks like glue.”

”Then it’s probably working.” She nodded. ”Trust me. I know what I’m doing, cowboy.”

I couldn’t argue with that logic.

Once the batter was mixed, Tessa placed a pan on the stove and turned the heat on. She added a little butter and waited for it to melt, spreading it around the surface with a spatula.

”Okay,” she said, grabbing the bowl. ”Now we make the pancakes.”

She poured a small amount of batter into the center of the pan. It spread into a round shape, and within a few seconds, tiny bubbles started appearing across the surface.

”See?” Tessa pointed at it proudly. ”Perfect.”

”You’ve made one pancake.”

”And it’s perfect.”

I shook my head while she carefully slid the spatula underneath it and flipped it. The pancake landed neatly on the other side without making a mess.

”Okay, I’ll admit it. That was pretty good.”

”I told you.”

She waited another minute before lifting it from the pan and placing it onto a plate. Then she poured another scoop of batter into the pan.

While the second pancake cooked, I leaned against the counter and looked toward her. ”Yesterday was almost a disaster because of that idiot.”

”Yeah.” Tessa sighed as she watched the pancake. ”I was having a good time until that asshole decided to open his mouth.”

”He nearly ruined the whole night.”

”He definitely ruined Minne’s night.” Her expression softened a little. ”She looked terrified.”

”Yeah. I felt bad for bringing her there.”

”You couldn’t have known some drunk idiot was going to start screaming about Penelope’s boobs.”

”That’s true.”

We continued making pancakes while talking about the previous night. The conversation moved between the fight, Penelope, Sophia, and the ridiculous way the whole thing had started. Every now and then, Tessa would flip a pancake while I helped keep the batter ready, and somehow, despite my complete lack of cooking experience, nothing caught fire.

That alone felt like an accomplishment.

Eventually, we had a decent stack of pancakes sitting on two plates. They weren’t perfectly shaped, and some were a little darker around the edges than others, but they looked edible.

Tessa carried one plate toward the table while I picked up the other.

”I have to say,” Tessa said, nodding as she looked at the pancakes, ”I liked that girl. Penelope.”

”Oh, yeah. She’s solid.” I carried the other plate over and set it down beside hers.

”And her tits, man. Damn, damn, damn.” Tessa whistled. ”She is... something else.”

”Yeah.” I nodded. ”I know.”

I put the plate on the table and followed Tessa back toward the kitchen.

”I’ll make some tea,” she said, grabbing the kettle. ”You go wake Minne up. The others should wake up soon, too.”

”Yep.”