Holly

Chapter 11

✬ H O L L Y ✬

I don't know why I agreed to bake the entire staff some desserts. There are at least over 30 teachers and my dad told me to make each of them a gift basket. Thank you, dad, note the sarcasm.

The bell to the door rings and a little girl with her mother comes walking in. She has these adorable little pigtails and her eyes get bigger when she approaches the glass display. "Hi there," I say with a smile. "What can I get for you?" The little girl points to the bunny-shaped cookies. "Oh, they are delicious. How much do you want?" She holds up 2 fingers.

I grab the cookies from the display and pack them into a paper bag. Her mother pays for the cookies and off they go. 

"She's so cute," Charlotte says wiping down the counter.

"Yeah," I say. The bell to the door rings again and this time Marcus enters the bakery. "Hi Marcus," I greet him. He comes up to the counter.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to go out somewhere tonight?" He asks getting straight to the point.

A smile lights up my face. "I would love to. Where?" 

"There's this cute playpen center nearby. There's gonna be loads of puppies that we can play with," He says. I jump up and down in excitement and run out to give him a huge hug.

"I would like that. What time?"

"Get ready at around 7," He says and kisses my cheek before leaving the bakery. 

We close the bakery at 6 on weekdays and at 8 on weekends. So I should have time to get ready for my little date with Marcus. I can't wait, Marcus hasn't been really making much time for us but I'm really glad that he asked me to go out with him today.

"Well, we should start cleaning up. It's getting around closing time and I wouldn't want you to be late for your date with Marcus," Charlotte says.

I nod my head as I clean down all the tables and flip the sign to close. Charlotte takes the leftover treats and puts them in small bags to take home. "Okay, see you tomorrow," I say as I watch her leave the bakery. I close off the lights and lock the door as I leave and make my way back to the building. As I enter the main floor, I see the guys standing and coming my way as they spot me. "Hey guys," I greet them.

"So, I heard you and Marcus are going out?" Rowan asks. 

"Yeah," I nod my head as I head up to my room with the guys following. I allow them in for them to help me decide which outfit looks best.

I put a top to my chest to see if I would look good in it. "Yeah," I say looking at the mirror. "We're going to play with puppies. It's going to be amazing." I put the top away as I thought it looked a bit too revealing. "What do you think about this one?" I ask as I face the guys while holding a long-sleeve blouse to my chest.

"I think it looks good," Rowan says. 

I decided to go with the cropped green sweater and checkered leggings. I wore my white converses and straightened my hair out. I want to look good for the puppies.

"It's 7:15, he should be here by now," I say confused. I mean he did tell me to get ready around 7 so maybe he's running a little late? I send a text to Marcus telling him that I'm ready and asking where he is.

"Well, I think that's our cue to leave. Tell us how your date goes," Oliver says as he and the guys exit my room. I sit down on my bed and scroll through Instagram to kill some time. 

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It's been 45 minutes and still no sign of Marcus. I have called him at least 2 times and sent him a couple of text messages. It's getting pretty late too and I'm not sure if the playpen center is still open. I decided to head out and search for Marcus myself.