A Tale of Wild Roses [ROUGH DRAFT]

Chapter 21

Angel Romero felt like everything would be okay for the first time in a long time. He wasn't hanging out with his old friends anymore, he had gotten used to being in a relationship with Oliver, and Millie wasn't giving him the cold shoulder anymore. When she followed Angel on Instagram, they started talking again.

It was relieving to know that it wasn't awkward anymore, especially since Angel was around her more often than not. It was the weekend, and Millie was coming over to Angel's house to bake Christmas cookies for their friends. Angel never thought that Millie would ever take up his offer to bake all those months ago, but to his surprise it worked out in the end. He felt a rush of excitement when he opened the front door to find her standing on the other side.

Millie was wearing a fuzzy black sweater with jeans and a pair of Vans. "Hey," she said. "Hi, come in." Angel smiled at her. "I have all our supplies out on my kitchen counter so we just gotta pull up the recipes." Millie walked towards the kitchen on her own, knowing where everything was already. She used to be in the same friend group as Angel was. Except she knew better than Angel to give up on them early on. Millie was the only person of the past that didn't make Angel feel uneasy.

Millie placed a plastic grocery bag on the little open space on the counters. Angel's eyes lit up in recognition when she pulled the contents out of the bag. "You remembered." Millie motioned for Angel to take a cherry soda.

It may seem insignificant to the untrained eye, but cherry soda was their favorite drink growing up. Angel had asked Millie to a school dance by writing the question down on a cherry soda can once. They constantly bought each other the sweet drink when they hung out. It was a symbol of their friendship. Their regretful relationship. Their connection to one another, that wasn't untethered anymore.

"Of course. This was like a staple of our childhood. It's still my favorite drink. To be honest." Angel laughed. "Yeah, that's true. I haven't had one of these ever since..." They looked at each other knowingly. Millie handed him a soda.

When their relationship wasn't working out, Angel had walked up to her during recess with a can of cherry soda to make her feel better. Except it didn't go to plan. Millie broke up with him, and he was taken aback. He was the one to drink the soda. He never touched that drink again. It reminded him of a relationship that he assumed could never be fixed. Pretty ironic looking at it now.

"Anyways! Are you ready to start?" Millie nodded her head. They set their drinks down and worked on the first cookie recipe. Plain chocolate chip. Once those were in the oven they worked on their second type of cookie. Sugar cookies. Millie started on the icing once the sugar cookies went in the oven and the gooey chocolate chip cookies were done.

Angel started cleaning up the kitchen. He gathered all their materials and stashed them in the pantry. Before closing it, he noticed the cinnamon in the midst of all the other spices. It reminded him of the time he made gingerbread cookies with Andrew and Oliver. Everything went great, until his old friends showed up. Angel fucked things up with Oliver. They almost kissed that night. Guilt bubbled up in the back of his mind, and he slammed the pantry shut, trying to push it out of his thoughts.

Millie noticed the sudden change in his demeanor. "What's up? You okay?" Angel turned to his friend. Her eyebrows were scrunched up in worry. Angel took a deep breath. "Yeah, sorry. It's nothing." She gave him a skeptical look before taking the cookies out of the oven. When Millie went to close the oven her arm touched the hot pan and she jumped back in surprise. Pain washed over her features. "Oh god. Are you okay? What just happened?"

"Burnt my arm a bit. It's okay." Angel went towards one of the cabinets to get aloe vera, but he stopped in his tracks. Millie looked genuinely upset, like she was on the brink of a mental breakdown. "Woah, woah. It's okay. I'm sure it's not too bad?"