Jealousy So Early?

"Who's dish should we taste?" Ava asked, her lips pursed, looking around the kitchen. "I put some extra in there, just in case people wanted to taste ours." She bit her lip. "I really hope they like it. I have not made mac and cheese in a while. As for the milkshakes, they need to cool for some time prior to serving, so they will have to wait for dinner for those!"

~~~

Ezra startled and looked back at Ava, unaware that she had started talking until she said something about other people tasting their dish. He did not know why he was so hung up on this Justin character, maybe because he seemed to be the only real competition around here? Which was weird because he was such a pansy, not fit to be King at all...he inwardly rolled his eyes at his own thoughts and went back to the task at hand, finding a decent dish to taste. "I figured we would want to taste what looked the best, to have a feel for the competition..." He suggested.

~~~

"Do you want to walk around, then, while our food is... creaming up?" She giggled at her own little pun before looking at him, her eyes sparkling and her arms crossed. She tilted her head, a silent question, before peeking back at the machine. "Four minutes, we better make a quick lap."

~~~

Ezra raised an eyebrow when she laughed, at what he thought was maybe a food joke but did not quite get, but shrugged nonchalantly when she mentioned walking around. He could get a better feel for the competition if he was walking around and getting a better look at everything rather than just trying to catch a glimpse from one spot. He started off towards the smell of bacon that was coming from an oven nearest to them, his mouth-watering. He just realized he had not eaten anything since breakfast...not that it was unusual for him to go so long without eating, it was actually pretty natural for him to only have a small meal or two a day. Being an actor, you could not eat much as you wanted for they always needed you to stay in shape. Actually, it was contract binding. If he was to lose form, he would lose his job.

~~~

Ava caught up to him in a few seconds, before putting her arm through his. "Wait up!" She noticed the small pang of hunger in his eyes and grinned. She glanced at the chef, who was at the stove, frying something in the pan. "Hey, Ethan! What is up?" The tall boy with white hair looked up, grinning. His smile faltered a bit when he saw her arm in Ezra's, but he did not say anything. "Just cooking bacon," He said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Wanna try some?" He brought the pan off the stove waving the air enticingly towards them.

~~~

Ezra narrowed his eyes at Ethan, tempted to smack the pan away from his face, but knew that such a course of action would not go over too well in the queen's eyes. Instead, he smiled sardonically at the boy and casually looked over at another station, "No, I think we found something more edible elsewhere..." He replied sickeningly sweet. He then turned around to walk to a different station where there was grilled cheese...

~~~

Ava's eyes widened as she heard the taunt in Ezra's voice. She dropped his arm as he turned to go to another station, worried by Ethan's heartbroken face. "Hey... I am so sorry about that. He is nice sometimes, but then he acts like a douchebag other times." She patted his shoulder. "I am not trying anything now, we are just taking a survey lap. It sure looks and smells good!" She smiled at him gently, before turning around and stalking after Ezra. "What the hell was that for?" She said, stopping him before he got to the other station.

~~~

Ezra rolled his eyes at her, "He was annoying me." He stated simply before moving on to the next station, where again, he did not see Justin. Where the hell could that boy have run off to? He wondered to himself before walking up to the next 'chef' and assessing the situation.

~~~

Ava crossed her arms, sneering. "You do not have to be a jerk to everyone but me, you know." She said, before turning around. Her eyes lit up when she spotted a small corner of the kitchen. She walked up to it, leaving Ezra behind. "Justin!" she called out, eyes glittering. "What have you made?"

~~~

Ezra's eyes widened a little as she said that, he had thought he was a jerk to her as well? Well, he was going to have to remedy that real quickly, being too nice for too long just got boring. At least, that was what the girls told him back home as they were all fawning over him. He wondered what exactly it was that he had done to make her think differently...he did not have time to ponder that line of thought for long though before the queen inevitably found her favorite Mr. Pansy Ass. He groaned, out loud, before following her to a small crevice in the kitchen where the man child seemed to be hiding. He definitely did not miss the excitement and interest in her voice as she talked to him, and he surely did not miss the glitter in her eyes as she looked up at him. Ezra pressed his lips together to keep himself from saying anything more, though.

~~~

As Justin was walking back from the fridge, Ava approached him with a huge smile, causing him to take a step back. He glanced nervously at Ezra, who was his usual brooding self right alongside her and shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "My partner and I were just making some..uh punch and Fettuccini Alfredo. I do not know much about it, I just did what he told me...do you want me to go get him so you can talk shop?" Justin asked hopefully, trying to distance himself from Ezra as much as possible.

~~~

Ava beamed at him before sniffing the air. "It smells heavenly! We are making mac and cheese with breadcrumbs, along with three different kinds of smoothies!" She glanced at Ezra, before asking. "Do you wanna try their dish? Justin is paired with a real cook, so they will be one of our main contenders." She grinned at both of the boys.

~~~

Ezra narrowed his eyes at her, wondering if she was joking or not. Deciding that she was not, indeed joking, he pursed his lips at her. "I do not think I am in the mood for punch." He chuckled slightly at his own joke, he was definitely in the mood to punch someone. Speaking of which, he raised an eyebrow at Justin, who was cowering in the corner, chatting nervously with his partner.

~~~

Ava smiled at Justin apologetically, going up to him and resting her hand on his shoulder. "This is kind of a group decision... but I am excited to taste it during dinner! If you want to try our dish, just hop on over!" She winked at Justin and his partner, before turning back to their station. "The ice-cream must be done by now," she said, tossing an annoyed look at Ezra before leaving.

~~~

Ezra smiled sardonically at her annoyed expression before following her back to their own corner of the kitchen. He does not know what she expected of him, they were in a competition for crying out loud. For the highest honor and most privileged life one could achieve. Did she expect him to just be buddy-buddy with all of the other boys here? He cast a doubtful look back at the pansy and noticed he was back in the conversation with his partner, little boy must make a lot of friends...who walk all over him. He rolled his eyes on a huff and got back to work, trying to get the ice cream out of the machines and into bowls to put into the freezer to save for dinner. They still have not tried another team's item, and the time was almost up...

~~~

Ava worked beside Ezra but stopped him as he was going to put the ice cream in the freezer. "Should not we just make the milkshakes, put them into cups, and then put the cups in? We will not have time later to assemble it." She continued her task. "I still think we should have tried Justin's dish. What else would we even try?"

~~~

Ezra thinned his lips, wondering why Ava was so stuck on Justin, but he had to admit, he was thirsty and punch sounded like it would quench his thirst. He sighed and relented. "We can go back and try his dish. I am thirsty anyway..."

~~~

Ava bit her lip. "Do you want to go over and get the sample? I still need to put the ice cream into the blenders and finish assembling the milkshakes and then put them into the cups to put into the freezer." Ava continued her task, scraping the sides of the bowl. "Yeah, that punch sounds really good." She smiled at him, before motioning towards the corner area where Justin was. "Go ahead!"

~~~

Ezra narrowed his eyes at her and pressed his lips tightly together at her little play she was trying. He raised an eyebrow as she motioned him to go towards Justin, unamused by her obvious taunting. He left, though, in the direction of Justin's hideout corner, but when he got over there, he looked to see that Ava was busy mixing her milkshakes before making a left turn and going elsewhere. To hell with it. He was not about to grovel for a morsel of Justin's punch and Fettuccini. He had quite literally just turned down the offer mere minutes ago. He thought to himself while looking around to see what looks like an actual competition to their Mac n Cheese and Milkshakes.

~~~

Ava continued to scoop the ice cream into all of the blenders, making sure that each bowl was scraped clean. She was glad that there was still a jug and a half of milk left over because she would need more to actually make the milkshakes. She added the milk, a little at a time, before adding fresh strawberries to the strawberry blender, a little more vanilla extract to the vanilla, and a tiny bit of chocolate syrup to the chocolate one. She also needed to place some fresh ice into each blender as well to solidify the milkshakes into a more chewy consistency since the liquid milk would have to change the consistency of the ice cream. When she placed the lids on and started the shakes, she turned around looking for Ezra. He should be back by now. She glanced at Justin's corner but frowned as he was not there. Where was he? She hit her head. Of course. Why would he possibly listen to her?

~~~

Ezra looked around for a decent meal to nip on and found another boy from a six partnered with a clueless boy from a three. He chuckled, these high caste boys are so pampered, he thought to himself, knowing they had absolutely no idea how the lower castes lived and what they had to do to get by. He went over and asked to take a few samples of their Chocolate layered cake, called Death by Chocolate. He was given a plateful of scoops and he went back to Ava and smirked. "I found something that looked way more appetizing. Dessert as an appetizer."

~~~

Ava frowned. "We agreed on Justin's dish..." She glanced over at them, bent over their table. She sighed, before putting on potholders. "I am just going to get the mac and cheese out. Can you just..." She sighed again, making her displeasure abundantly obvious even for the most obtuse man, waving her hand at the blenders, which had just stopped. "Put those in cups?" She turned away from him, visibly disappointed.

~~~

"I agreed on both of us going over to try it, not me being sent over there to beg for his dish after I had already turned it down." Ezra countered, unfazed by her obvious disappointment. What did she expect when she sent him over by himself to face the boy who was obviously infatuated with her? For heaven's sake, all of these boys were, and he was not about to be begging from any one of them. He went to put the milkshakes into their prospective cups.

~~~

Ava did not respond. If he could not even put his pride aside, she shook her head, placing the steaming dish on the table. "Do you want me to help with some of the milkshakes, now?" She glanced at him, before looking at the plate. "Then I guess we can try the cake."

~~~

Ezra smiled sardonically when she did not respond to his quip, knowing he had made a damn fine point, she should not expect everyone to just go along with her or do what she says, especially if they were unreasonable requests. Just because she was the freaking queen did not mean that she could stop being human. He finished assembling the milkshakes before putting them in the freezer, not allowing her to help him if she was going to pout about not getting her way. Besides, he saw the glance she gave to that cake and knew it looked just as tantalizing, if not more than that silly punch that Justin was offering.

~~~

Ava bit her lip when Ezra finished the milkshakes by himself and waited for him to get back before taking a slice of the cake. "So, who made this?" She asked, when he returned, a cocky smile on his face. She glanced around the kitchen, scanning for a cake, but most of the tables were already cleared. "Oh shoot. We need to put our dish with the others." She grabbed the potholders and raced the dish to one of the carts near the doors, before covering it with a cloth she had draped around her arm. When she returned to their station, she brushed her hair out of her face before picking the piece up again.

~~~

Ezra went to pick up a slice of the cake when Ava rushed over to place their own dishes on the carts with the others. He shrugged and plopped a bite into his mouth, not waiting for her to get back. When she got back and picked up her piece, he graciously answered her question as it seemed she was in a better mood. "Jessie and Evian made this. It is rather good, is it not?" He asked her after having a few bites himself.

~~~

Ava sat on the counter, cross-legged. She was a little disappointed that no group came up to ask for a taste of their dish, but she shrugged. They were probably a little too intimidated to try the queen's dish, or they were scared away by her partner himself. Either way, they would get to taste it soon enough anyway. She took a bite of the cake before closing her eyes, savoring every second. It was heaven on a plate. She wondered who Jessie and Evian were, before searching her memories. When she could not remember, she asked, sullenly,  "Who are Jessie and Evian?"