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Life Skills. They referred to it as Home Economics back when his parents were in school. Ben called it a waste of a semester.
Nonetheless, the course was required to graduate high school. Ben had managed to avoid it until the first half of senior year, when he opened his schedule to find Life Skills as his sixth period and not the extended study hall he wanted.
“Why do they make us take this course?” he wailed.
“So you can fend for yourself when your parents kick you out,” his cousin Rey teased. “How do you expect to eat when Aunt Leia stops cooking for you?”
“Uh, Doordash?”
“You were only going to goof off that hour anyway,” Rey said. “Might as well goof off and learn a few things at the same time.”
Life Skills was a multi-grade elective, taken by honors and standard students alike. Rey, a sophomore, shared his class along with other students who rarely or never crossed Ben’s path elsewhere. Ben loped into the split classroom/lab on the first day and surveyed his fellow inmates for the next eighteen weeks.
His heart palpitated on finding Armitage Hux selecting a desk in the front row. Straight-A Hux. Student body president. Captain of the academic team. On track to valedictorian and his pick of the top universities in the country. Complete opposite of the star quarterback, would-be Homecoming King, pray he gets a full ride to play football ‘cause he’s no scholar Ben Solo.
Ben crushed on Hux, hard. Finally, they shared a class, their first since the fourth grade. Ben grabbed the desk behind Hux, intent to savor the delicious view of the nape of the young man’s neck.
“There are twenty-four students in this class,” announced their teacher, Ms. Kanata, “and for the duration you will work with a partner on all lab assignments. Your partner’s grade is your grade, therefore it’s in your best interest to cooperate and collaborate.”
Ms. Kanata stepped forward and touched each desk on the front row. “You six, look behind you to meet your partner for the next eighteen weeks.”
Hux turned in his seat. Ben flashed him a smile and masked his heartache when it wasn’t returned.
“Let’s make one thing clear, Solo,” Hux’s voice was cold, “you will take our every assignment seriously and you will not fuck up my GPA. If I have to carry you through this class then so be it.”
Hux then faced forward without giving Ben the opportunity to acknowledge his orders.
***
For the first time in forever, Ben took the academic side of school seriously. Partly to finish big in his last year, but mostly to show Straight-A Hux he was capable of more than carrying a football to the end zone.
If ever Ben cracked open a book, it likely contained nothing but illustrated pages. However, these first months of senior year found him in the media center, reading. School librarians doubletaked at the sight of the young man poring over Tolkien. They didn’t know Hux arrived daily at Life Skills class with a copy of Lord of the Rings tucked with his textbooks.
Teachers tended to give Ben a pass when homework didn’t make it to their desks. He practiced long hours after school, and he stood to lead Chandrila High to state championship glory. What was a missed worksheet or twelve? Ben’s parents hoped for an all-around student at home, but contented themselves with a well-adjusted son who prioritized other things.
Therefore it surprised them, and the extended family, when Ben spent late nights at his mother’s sewing machine or at the kitchen table drawing up household budgets.
“Imagine if you applied this much energy to your other subjects,” said his father.
Ben responded with a shrug. He had just enough energy for it.
“You should be doing these things with your partner,” Rey told him on a different night. She and her partner, Rose Tico, were killing it in Life Skills.
“I will,” said Ben, “soon as I get it right on my own first.” Crush or no, he was determined to show Hux he was no fuck-up.
The persistence, like his practice drills with the team, paid off in the end. At the conclusion of the home sewing unit Hux examined the stitching on the jacket they made together and nodded. “Good job, Solo,” he said.
“It wasn’t just me. We’re a team.” Ben pointed out Hux’s design and impeccable scissor work.
Hux nodded. “Nonetheless, I apologize for underestimating you. This bodes well for the next unit,” he said. He glanced at the kitchen stations, their next stop. Ms. Kanata expected her students to bake perfect holiday cookies as part of their end of quarter exams.
This worried Ben. He managed the other units fine, and he was going into the winter break with an A. First one that wasn’t PE. He sucked at cooking, hard as he tried, and admitted as much to Hux while avoiding his eyes.
“I’d suggest we work on it after hours,” Hux said, gathering his books, “but as you’re so busy with football…”
“Not right now,” Ben cut in. The regular season had ended, with Chandrila topping the leaderboard. Coach had given them a week off to rest before prepping for the state tournament. “Come over one night? We have a huge kitchen, plenty of room.”
Hux clutched his books to his chest. The bell rang. “Sure. Text me when,” he said, and left. Ben stayed put for a moment, discerning whether or not he’d actually seen a booklet called The Rules of Football among the texts Hux carried.
***
In Ms. Kanata’s class, ready-made mixes were verboten . You wanted an A, you baked from scratch. The teacher assigned the baking part of the kitchen unit over two classes – one for dough preparation, one for baking and decorating.
Rey and Rose had chosen “kitchen sink” cookies as their project. “They’re like chocolate chip, upgraded,” she said. Walnuts, butterscotch chips, and coconut. A simple mix and drop, but they needed to look and taste good to Ms. Kanata and her cookie-loving gentleman friend for the two girls to pass.
Hux suggested gingerbread cookies to Ben. “I happen to know they’re Ms. Kanata’s favorite. We do this right, it’s a surefire A.”
It struck Ben as ambitious, but Hux’s confidence convinced him to agree. He liked, too, that the cookie dough required time to chill before cutting, presenting the opportunity for Hux to hang out at the Solos for a few hours. He Venmo’d Hux his share of the grocery money and prepped the kitchen while waiting for his partner to arrive.
Hux sat a bulging paper sack on the butcher block and lined up all the dry ingredients. Ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves. “My grandmother uses brown sugar instead of white in her recipe,” he said, holding up a yellow box with dark lettering. “Says it tastes better, and she’s not wrong.”
Ben took Hux’s word for it. He handed Hux a spare apron and said, “Let’s get to work.”
Twenty minutes in, having blended all the wet and dry components, Ben forgot the cookies were a school assignment. The two young men made small talk over their work, sharing post-school ambitions and gossiping about teachers they favored and abhorred. In this relaxed environment, with the digital home assistant playing soft holiday music, Hux shed his academic aloofness while Ben gained a semi-serious air. Anybody walking into the kitchen for a drink might have remarked on how Hux and Ben rubbed off on each other.
Ben shaped the dark brown dough into a boule -shaped loaf and wrapped it in plastic. “Time?”
“Thirty-five minutes,” Hux said. “Gives us fifteen to clean up. I think we can handle it in class.”
“Question is, can we roll out the dough, cut and bake, and decorate within a class period?” Ben understood why everybody picked drop cookies now.
“We only have to bake a dozen for the grade, Solo. We’ll be fine.”
Hux’s answer gave Ben pause. A dozen cookies was the grade minimum, and Straight-A Hux always shot above and beyond for personal glory. “You feeling okay, Hux?”
Hux shrugged. “I was thinking I ought to show some school spirit, you know? I spent enough years buried in books that I didn’t pay attention to all the activities happening around me. The dances, the fundraisers…”
“The football games?” Ben teased.
“No, I attended some.”
Ben held his breath. Hux focused on the dirty bowls, stacking them for the dishwasher.
“You play well… Ben,” he said. “By the rules. I’ll be surprised if a school with a top football program doesn’t court you.”
Hux crouched down to load the dishwasher. When he straightened he turned right into Ben. The brightness in his eyes softened as his pupils dilated. The two young men practically touched noses.
“So you know how to play football,” Ben said.
Hux gave a shy smile. “Helps to know the fundamentals when you’re watching a game,” he said. “Plus it’s nice to be knowledgeable when you talk about football.”
“I know what you mean. Rey wants the family to do a Lord of the Rings binge watch this Christmas break–”
“I like the movies, but I love the books.”
Ben nodded. He knew that already. “I figured if I read them, I’d follow the movies better.” He tilted his head toward the door. “I have them upstairs in my room if you want to talk about them.”
Hux followed Ben into his room, where they didn’t talk about Tolkien for the next two hours.
***
On the second day of the cookie test, Ben and Hux produced two dozen uniform gingerbread men. Ben mixed confectioner’s sugar with vanilla and corn syrup. Hux poured the mixture into a pastry bag and piped faces, cuffs, and buttons on twenty-two of the men.
“Why are these two different?” asked Ms. Kanata, gazing down at the cooling rack. No answer required, however. It was plain to see Hux had dressed one gingerbread man in a football helmet and jersey, and the other in a tweed-like vest, similar to what he wore to school.
Ms. Kanata tried a cookie and graded them on the spot, an A for both, and moved to the next station. They got most of the cookies plated before the bell rang, then left together with the ones done in their likeness.
They paused in an alcove housing a bank of vending machines, where Ben pulled Hux in close. Trading cookies, Ben held up his little academic gingerbread. “He looks too cute to eat,” he said.
“Oh, really?” Hux bit the head off the football player, smiling as he chewed. “Mine tastes good.”
Ben laughed, and decided to find out for himself. He lurched forward and kissed Hux, picking out all the flavors combined to give them a passing grade.
Cinnamon. Cloves. Ginger.
Last but not least, brown sugar. It definitely made a difference.