Holly

Chapter 9

I laugh as Marcus tells his story. "And then he spilled his drink everywhere. I am never taking him with me anywhere ever again," He says. Marcus and I have been chatting since breakfast. It's almost noon meaning lunch is suppose to arrive soon.

"That's funny. I would really like to meet this Miles character soon," I say. 

Miles is Marcus' younger brother. The story he just told me was of him basically embarrassing himself for about 15 minutes straight.

"I would like that. I think you and him would get along great," Marcus says. I definitely like this Marcus a lot better than the one I saw at the formal. He just seems more carefree and I love this side of him. "Well, I should get going but I was wondering if you would like to join me for dinner?" He asks.

I nod my head with a smile on my face as I watch him walk away. 

"So, you and Marcus huh?" A voice says. I turn to see Connor plopping down on the couch beside me. 

I turn my body so that I'm facing him. "Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. What's up?" I ask. Come to think of it, I don't think Connor and I have talked at all this past week. 

"The sky," He answers cockily.

I nudge his shoulder. "Haha. Very funny," I respond. "And Marcus and I are not a thing. We're just very good friends. I like Marcus but I'm not sure if I'm ready to take that step yet," I add.

"But, you already have your bakery."

"That's true. I mean I guess it won't hurt finding a relationship right now. But we have to take things slow or else I'm out," I say. 

Connor opens his arms wide, gesturing to the building swarming of guys my age and older. "You have an army to choose from."

"Whatever. Come on, I heard they're having a buffet for lunch. Let's go sneak some of the food," I say pulling him along.

We sneak into the kitchen to see trays of food being lined out. All of them steaming meaning they are freshly cooked. I lick my lips as the thought of nice warm food filling my mouth. Then I spot it, chicken tenders. "There," I say pointing to the tenders.

We make our way to the tray of foods as we try to act like we're doing something useful in here. "Come to papa," Connor says rubbing his hands together.

"We have to be discreet about it," I whisper. Carefully looking around and checking our surroundings, I stuff 3 tenders in my bra. Nobody's going to question as to why my boobs look bigger, if so, I'm just going to say it's a period thing.

Connor quickly stuffs loaves of garlic bread in the pockets of his pants. As I reach for a loaf of bread, someone clears their throat behind us.

We suck in our breaths as we turn around to come face to face with father dearest. "Dad. Hi," I say nervously.

He crosses his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow. "What are you two doing?" He asks.

"Cooking."

"Cleaning."

We both say at the exact same time and glance at each other nervously. "Cooking and cleaning?" My dad asks.

"Yeah, you know cleaning our mess right after we cook. It's logical," I reason. 

My dad just nods his head before looking around us at the chefs. "Could you sneak in one of those doughnuts in there too?" He whispers towards us before walking away. We both look at each other and breathe out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness my dad is a cool one. 

As Connor stuffs a doughnut in his pocket, students start to file into the cafeteria, making that our cue to leave. "See ya," I say. We head outside and I spot the guys getting in line for the buffet.