I'm A Mess || l.c

13- Bake It Off

The cooking competition was today and I didn't know whether to feel anxious or excited. As much as I enjoyed winning, I knew that two people who were hopeless at cooking would not make a good team. It was only logical to think that.

I retrieved my phone from the bedside table and began scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all of the other unnecessary social media accounts I had. Just as I was about to turn off my phone, a text message popped up from Jayde.

J: my mum is actinq soooo weird i dont qet ittt! she said she wants to qo home and lately it seems as if she's qettinq back into her... habit, i quess that's wat you'd call it. im super worried

By "habit", Jayde meant drinking habit. Her mum had quite a few issues with alcohol and by what Jayde had just told me, it seemed as if Jayde's trip to Florida was going to end up disastrous. I prayed that my friends and Jayde's mum were going to be okay. Even though I was jealous, I still cared.

Me: sad to hear :( i hope u guys are all okay and that things head towards the bright side very soon. keep your chin up lovelyy x

J: you're an amazing friend, darling x

This was most likely the first time Jayde had decided to not substitute the letter 'g' for 'q'. I was proud of this small achievement even though it shouldn't have mattered so much to me.

"Lauren! Didn't you say you were going to a cooking comp?" Dani called out from her room next door. I sighed and wondered what I was going to wear. It didn't matter as much since I was going to be wearing an apron over the top of my clothes anyway. I liked not having to stress so much about my outfit.

"Yeah, I am!" I replied, shouting equally as loud as Dani. I skipped over to my closet and picked out the first thing I saw, which happened to be a simple white top. Looking through my bottoms drawer, I picked out my high-waisted denim jeans. Sweet and simple. I decided to top off the outfit with an owl necklace; my favourite animal. Maybe it could count as my lucky charm for the day.

The thought of seeing James today after such a long time got me giddy with uncontrollable excitement. Today was going to be a blast; I could already feel it in my veins.

After downing a quick breakfast of fruit salad and orange juice, I waited patiently for time to pass by. It wasn't yet time to go as I had about one more hour of chilling around. The boredom hit me hard and I mentally hit myself for choosing to get ready so early. Late last night, James had told me to meet up with him at the park at around ten a.m. so that we could walk together to the cooking competition place. It wasn't so far from here and I thought it was a good idea because then I could just say that I was going to meet up with Elli and go to a cooking competition. Only the second half of that was true but no one needed to know that except for me and maybe Dani. Katherine wouldn't be suspicious because I had already told her yesterday that I was going to enter a cooking competition with a friend. Perfect. I never noticed how easy it was to just escape from home and hang out with a guy. What made it even easier was the fact that everyone thought I had heaps of friends and a busy schedule, so it wasn't really a surprise if I just left the house saying that I was going to meet up with a friend.

After what seemed like a long time after swimming in my own thoughts, I heard the faint sound of a new text message. I snapped out of my thoughts instantly and checked my phone, only to see a new text message from James and the time written in a huge font over the top of my screen: 10:08

I gasped when I saw the numbers on my screen and, without reading James's text message, I threw my phone in my bag and dashed out of the house, not forgetting to mutter a quick "bye" to anyone who was in earshot of my words. With my bag on my back, I ran as fast as I could to the park, dodging the few joggers and bikers along my way. Without stopping to catch my breath, I made it to the park to see James holding his hands up in a way that said "Where were you?!"