Man of the House (18)

                                    

                                          
It was another day after school and Maebel was, yet again, exhausted from it. Henry asked her to go over to his house so him, her, Charlotte, and Jasper could work on a science project together. Piper was on a video call with her dad, who was out of town for a while. She kept whining about how she didn't want to talk to him and how she instead wanted to play on her phone, per usual. Maebel sat next to Henry at the bar, reading through their science textbook. She was chomping on some Skeez-itz that she found on the counter.
                          
"Oh, wow, hang on," Piper grumbled, "I got to pause for a sec," she clicked the mute button on her laptop and turned to her older brother, "Henry, please come video chat with Dad,"
                          
Henry looked up at her, "No, we're doing a science project for school,"
                          
"But I'm trying to text Marla and dad keeps talking about his dumb hotel," Piper pleaded.
                          
"Sorry," Henry shook his head.
                          
Maebel chuckled at him. Piper clicked the mute button on her laptop again and allowed her father to ramble on about random things.
                          
"This lotion smells like summer squash," Mr. Hart sniffed a bottle, "And this lotion smells like coconut,"
                          
Piper sighed and shook her head, irritated that she had to listen to the dumb observances. Henry kissed Maebel's temple before standing, pulling her up to listen to Jasper, who was talking to them.
                          
"Okay, now we take the egg and shake it thusly," Jasper began to rapidly shake the egg.
                          
Charlotte, Henry, and Maebel cheered him on, "Yeah, shake that egg! Shake that egg. Shake it, baby, scramble that unborn chicken, woo, yeah!"
                          
Maebel stared in awe as she watched Jasper become anomalously sweaty.
                          
"Man," Charlotte stared in shock, "I've never seen anyone sweat so much,"
                          
"It runs in my family," Jasper panted, "My mom sweats in her sleep,"
                          
"You should probably get that checked out," Maebel mumbled.
                          
Henry's phone chimed, "Okay, times up," 
                          
Charlotte handed Jasper a towel to wipe his face off.
                          
Henry sat back in the bar-stool and read from the book, "Now, it says to turn on the power and then put the egg on the electrometer," he stood again.
                          
Jasper put on goggles, "Okay," he clicked the machine on and placed the egg where it was supposed to go.
                          
"Now what?" Maebel asked inching closer, intrigued by the device.
                          
"See?" Jasper leaned down to the egg, "The egg is already starting to smell kind of-"
                          
A loud popping noise sounded and the egg exploded, sending the insides all over Jasper and Maebel. Charlotte and Henry began snickering at the two. Maebel flicked the yolk from her eyes to the ground with her hand and groaned.
                          
"Was it supposed to do that?" Charlotte giggled.
                          
"No, it was not supposed to do that!" Jasper snapped.
                          
Charlotte and Henry laughed again. The door opened to a frustrated Mrs. Hart.
                          
"I'm alright! It's okay, I'm fine. Nobody freak out," Mrs. Hart rambled.
                          
Everyone shrugged and went back to what they were doing. Henry grabbed a towel and began wiping the egg away from Maebel's face. Mr. Hart spoke over the computer, but it was inaudible to Maebel with egg white's in her ears.
                          
"You guys," Mrs. Hart began walking to the kitchen, "I was attacked!"
                          
Maebel pushed her boyfriend's hand away, "What?"