Cupcakes, Curves and Don't Forget Demons

Chapter 1

"Red Velvet or Devil's Food cake?" I quietly asked myself, eyeing the stainless steel mixing bowls on the counter before me. It was exactly three a.m and here I was, standing in the middle of my kitchen, baking cupcakes. I had had the dream again and like it did every time, it had woken me up and I could not get back to sleep. So what else was there to do besides bake little delicious cup shaped cakes?

Deciding on red velvet, I opened up the cabinet in which I stocked the most of my baking goods and began to pull down what I'd need to make a batch. Flour...baking soda...chocolate...powdered sugar and vinegar. I grabbed the last few ingredients I needed from the refrigerator before measuring everything into the largest mixing bowl sitting on the counter and furiously mixing them into a smooth batter.

As I placed liners into the baking pan and preheated the oven, thoughts of the dream came over me, even though I was trying my hardest to keep them away. It was a dream that I had every other night for the last couple months. I would be lying in bed and a shadow would slide along the floor and up the bed post, closer and closer to me. Though I could not see what it was, it caused such an immense sense of fear that I jerked awake, shaking and drenched in sweat every time. The shadow never touched me and I was terrified of what would happen if it did.

Shaking my head of the thoughts, goose bumps rising on my skin, I poured the red colored batter evenly into the liners just as the oven beeped that it was ready. Sliding the pan onto the heated rack, I let the oven door shut a little too noisily, to break the uncomfortable silence of the rest of the house. Sometimes I really hated living alone. Luckily, my apartment was a small one bedroom, so it wasn't like I was alone in a vast house or something.

I walked through the small dining space and into my living room, where my favorite reading chair sat. It was a big, overstuffed thing but I loved it nonetheless. I was a big girl and it fit me just perfectly. Curling up on its cushions, I picked up the half read book from the side table and opened it to where my pink plastic I HEART CUPCAKES bookmark rested, the little beaded tassel hanging out. Erotic novels were my dirty little secret and this one was by far the naughtiest I had read. Since my sex life was obsolete, I needed some kind of stimulation, right? Sighing, I delved right in and began right where I had previously left off.

The timer went off signaling that the cupcakes were done, in what felt like only seconds later. Placing my bookmark on the page that I had been reading, I closed the book and set it back down on the side table. Swiftly removing them from the oven and switching it off, I set them on the baking rack to cool, though not before I snatched one up and began eating it, burning the roof of my mouth. Before I knew it, a little bit of light peaked through the window as the sun began to rise. From the look of the sky, it was going to be another really nice day. I needed coffee if I was going to stay awake at work all day, and not pass out in a bowl of batter. I didn't have time to make a pot, so I'd just have it to swing through Starbucks on the way.

Throwing on a pair of black skinny jeans, a dark green tank and my tan leather calf-high boots, I grabbed my keys off of their hook on my way out the door. My white mini coup was covered with a layer of morning dew and it wet my hand as I yanked open the door and jumped into the driver's seat. I hoped that my compact brush was in my purse because my curls were a mess and I'd need to tame them on the way.

Waiting for my coffee to be made as I sat in the drive-thru, I pulled out my cell phone and shot my best friend a text, letting her know that I was on my way. She was probably already there, whipping together a couple batches of muffins for our usual early customers that liked to stop in before work. I didn't know what I would have done without Lila; she had been my best friend since high school and the only constant in my life.

OKIE DOKIE BRAT! She texted back, ever playful.

I smiled at the text, reaching out to take my sugared coffee concoction before tossing my phone onto the passenger seat and pulling out of the drive-thru. Lila and I used to hang out every night, but lately, we'd barely seen each other outside of work. She'd begun dating around, never one to pin herself down to one person and I had just kind of slowly become a shut in, baking, eating and reading. That really needed change and soon, or else I'd end up a crazy book slash cupcake lady.