PROMISE - S. CLEARWATER

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄: 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘!

𝘈𝘓𝘓 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘍𝘌𝘈𝘙 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘍𝘐𝘙𝘌
𝘖𝘍 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘌𝘕𝘋 𝘖𝘍 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘓𝘋
𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘗𝘌𝘕𝘚 𝘌𝘈𝘊𝘏 𝘛𝘐𝘔𝘌 𝘈 𝘉𝘖𝘠
𝘍𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘚 𝘐𝘕 𝘓𝘖𝘝𝘌 𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘏 𝘈 𝘎𝘐𝘙𝘓.

- 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘!, 𝐇𝐎𝐙𝐈𝐄𝐑

━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━

"Hey Emily, can I ask you a favor?"

    Emily looks up from her book and smiles at me. "Sure, Willow."

    "Can Seth and I make cookies here? I want to try to teach him how to bake, and I think it could be fun. We would clean up after ourselves and everything, and you get first dibs," I explain quickly. She sighs and shakes her head, but her smile never leaves her face. "...Is that a yes?"

    "Sure. But if you guys make a huge mess, I will not be helping you in the slightest."

    "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I yell as I run over and press a kiss to her cheek. She grins at me and goes back to her book while I run out of the house and all the way to the Clearwater's in one breath. One very very long breath, which I'm still trying to make up for as I knock on their door. Sue opens it and smiles at me when she sees how I'm bent over and panting with my hands on my knees. "One...second..."

"Seth!" she yells. "Come inside, Willow. He should be down in a second."

    I smile and take the arm she holds out as I step into their house. As always, it has that distinct smell I can't even really describe. Just Clearwater. The way Seth and Leah always smelled, and how I smelled going back to Emily's after being there all day.

    Seth comes bounding down the stairs and picks me up in a hug as soon as he sees me, sending both Sue and I into fits of laughter. He doesn't let me go once I'm back on the ground, just kisses my cheek and leaves an arm around my waist. "What's up?"

    "Do you want to come make cookies at Emily's?"

"Does Emily still want a kitchen?" Leah asks dryly as she passes us. I giggle as Seth rolls his eyes and sticks his tongue out at her. "I have no doubt Willow can bake, but my brother...not so much."

    "Emily already said yes, and that's what I'll be there for!"

    Leah smiles a tiny bit before leaving. Where she's going, I don't know, but I'm too surprised that she smiled at me to care. Seth watches me watch the front door close with a bemused expression.

    "What?" I ask as he looks at me. He shakes his head and kisses my temple in response. "You're so weird."

    "Thanks, Will."

    Sue shoos us out of her house soon after, with her blessing to hit Seth as often as I need to get him to listen and do things correctly. He's not thrilled with this blessing, to say the least. He even makes me promise not to hit him with Emily's spatula, because apparently someone's attacked him with that before and left a bruise on his left butt cheek for weeks. I can't help the laughter that follows that statement, and I'm red in the face and crying by the time we get back to Emily's house. She doesn't even try to question why, just sighs and takes her book upstairs. I suppose living in a house where loud boys come in and out when they please has her accustomed to situations like this. Though, not ones where they're using her kitchen. Hopefully she's not a high-anxiety person.

    I already know where all the pans and bowls are from helping her cook for the boys, so I set Seth with the task of locating the ingredients. All I ask for him to find is the milk and eggs out of the fridge, and somehow he ends up with a plate full of food and a glass of orange juice. I have to remind him of the permission his mother gave me to get him to put it down and help.