Silver Cross

The house that he lived in was owned by his family, the Villiers. They had owned it for many years and it had been the home of many of his family members during their studies. Now and then, it had gotten a complete renovation to make sure that it was still inhabitable. But Oliver was pretty sure that the last time they had done anything close to modernizing or redecoration was in another decade.  Yet, it was still a nice place to live in.

Amelia stepped inside and Oliver followed her. For a second, she stayed silent before she asked him which one was his. ”It is upstairs,” he told her. By now Oliver had managed to get the biggest room of the house. It was a rule that the newcomer would get the smallest room that was located just next to the stairs and the entrance. From there, the longer you lived here, the bigger and more comfortable the rooms would become. ”If you want you can sit down there,” he said, pointing towards one of the couches in the common room. They were fortunate, his roommates were either in bed or not at home. ”Shall I get us something to drink?” he suggested. Already slightly regretting that he had lured her in with the promise of a homemade cocktail.

This girl was far too exciting for this cocktail that he had promised her. Oliver was sure that she would regret coming here as soon as she would get to take the first sip. But how hard could it be to create something like a cocktail? He could just mix a few types of strong liquor with some soft drink and throw some ice cubes in it. Perhaps he would manage to find a slice of lemon that had not started getting moldy yet so it would all be more appealing to the eye.

Already before he had headed home, he had decided that he would make something with rum. From his experience, you could not do much wrong when adding this liquor made from sugar cane. ”Anything with rum, he answered when she asked for his favourite. ”Do you like rum too?” He hoped so since if she didn’t they might have a little problem.

The fact that he had been drinking a considerate amount already, didn’t make things any easier. He wasn’t as drunk as he was when he had stood there in that miserable place, however, he still felt a bit tipsy from all the drinks that he had to make it more bearable. Something that would clearly not work in his favour if he wanted to impress her with his mixology skills.

Fortunately, the girl mentioned that she liked rum too. At least that was one less worry about. As he walked to the kitchen that was located next to the living room, he heard how the girl asked him whether he could make them a mojito. ”Of course,” he said as if it was no big deal. Mojito sounded like something that was relatively simple. Oliver reached down for his phone to look up a recipe that would help him create the cocktail. Reading through the ingredients, he realized that it was pretty feasible. The only issue was that there was no fresh mint or any other spice that he could add, but perhaps he could add some dried ones.

Oliver had no idea how long it had taken him to create something that could be considered a cocktail. In the end, he managed to fill up two long drink glasses with rum, soda, sugar, lemon, ice, and some dried parsley as a replacement for the fresh mint. Since both were green, he didn’t expect them to taste significantly different. Proudly, he walked back to the girl, two mojitos in his hands. ”Look what I got you,” he said, handing her one of the two drinks. Hopefully, the taste was to her liking.  

Despite his skill in drinking cocktails in bulk, he lacked the competence of making them so that the person that would have to consume them would actually find any enjoyment in drinking them. He doubted this time it would be any different, however, perhaps he was able to mask his ineptitude by adding as much liquor as possible but thereby ignoring the latest instruction that he had gotten.

After spending some time in the kitchen, mixing and adding several ingredients, he came back to the living room, proudly presenting his mojitos. After handing one of the glasses to Amelia, he carefully watched her as she inspected the drink. She appeared to be somewhat surprised by it and asked about the ingredients, especially the herbs that were used. ”That’s my little secret,” he simply answered, raising his hand for a toast. ”I’m sure you will like it,” he said, refusing to admit that it might not be as good as promised. Fake it till you make it, right? Oliver brought the glass close to his lips and waited for Amelia to follow his example.

One of the main ingredients of a classic mojito were leaves of mint, but in the absence of any in this house, Oliver had chosen to go for parsley. The herb might not be similar in flavour, but its colour matched that of mint. Hopefully, Amelia would either forgive him for using something else or might be too drunk to notice the difference.  

Oliver eyed the girl cautiously as she sipped the drink. She seemed to be taking her time to perceive the drink’s taste. But eventually, she looked up to him and stated her opinion on the cocktail. Oliver was rather surprised to hear that she actually liked the mojito. ”That’s good to hear,” he stated, seating himself next to her on the couch. While seated, he took a mouthful of the drink himself and concluded that this one was indeed not bad at all. Maybe this should become his go-to drink if he had to make drinks in the future. ”The secret ingredient is parsley,” he admitted, throwing her a quick side glance. ”So how come I’ve never noticed a girl as lovely looking as you before?” he said, his mouth twisting in a smile. His eyes shifted back to hers but now he kept them fixed.