and the stars will all come out

chapter thirty-nine! ☆

January 14th, 1999

THAT MORNING, TAYLOR CAME TRAMPLING DOWNSTAIRS TO THE BASEMENT, AND SEEING HIM, LANDRY IMMEDIATELY ASKED, "HE'S GONE?"

"All clear," he responded, flopping backwards onto the couch. "That should give us, like, at least a few hours of time, I think? Weenie Beenie's, like, an hour out from here, last I checked. I asked Nate if he could take him to a Guitar Center or something afterward to buy us more time. I'm sure Adam's gonna have no problem talking his ear off about guitar options or whatever."

"As long as we have the cake in the fridge by the time he gets back," Landry said decidedly, rising from her chair. "We still haven't decided on chocolate or vanilla, by the way."

"Uh, it's Dave's birthday, of course we have to have chocolate," Taylor shot back, grinning like always. "We're celebrating, Lani!"

"Well, vanilla's just as good of an option, so I wanted to make sure," she responded, laughing a little. "Should we get started?"

☆

THE FIRST ITERATION OF THE BIRTHDAY CAKE EXPLODED IN THE OVEN.

"Well...shit."

Turning the oven light on, Taylor squinted at the mess of chocolate cake batter inside.

"I'm gonna be real, I don't know why it did that."

Landry was already pulling on the oven mitts - truth be told, she'd been stressed since this operation started. It was Dave's birthday, so everything had to be perfect, and she'd never baked a cake before. "Just move out of the way, I got it."

She shut the oven off, and pried the half-collapsed attempt at a cake out. Sizzling in the tin, it looked simultaneously burnt and uncooked, somehow, it perplexed her.

"Either we didn't mix something properly or we set the temperature too high," she decided, after a minute of staring at it. "Whatever. Let's try again."

"Well, this is good practice for your birthday in a month's time," Taylor said cheerily, somehow optimistic even after the loud BANG! from the oven had scared the shit out of them. "You're so lucky that you get to have your birthday on Valentine's Day."

Landry rolled her eyes, but couldn't suppress a small smile. "Yeah, lucky me. Well, your birthday's just a few days after that, right?"

"Yeah, the seventeenth. I don't think it's as cool as the fourteenth though."

As they talked, they both turned back to the kitchen counter, where the array of ingredients sat waiting. Flour dusted the countertop, and a faint trace of chocolate was smeared across the mixer's base. The squabbling over the recipe earlier was still fresh in her mind - Taylor was, as always, very eager to help, but Landry had become a bit of a control freak in her anxiousness to get the cake just right.

"Okay, so let's go over the recipe again," Taylor said, grabbing the printed sheet from the other counter. Dave had taken it from Virginia's house at some point. "This time, no improvising."

"Agreed," she nodded, taking a deep breath. "One more try. This'll be the one, I can feel it."

He saluted to her cartoonishly. "This time, I'll follow your lead exactly, chief."

She laughed. "Let's just get started."

They worked in focused almost-silence, the kitchen quiet except for Taylor's cheerful humming, while they carefully measured out the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder. Landry was meticulous, double-checking each measurement and referring back to the recipe constantly. Behind her, Taylor handled the mixing, setting the speed to a gentle blend as the recipe called for rather than a frantic whirl.