Twenty Dollars-Worth of Love

Chapter 10

Twenty Dollars-Worth of Love

Chapter 10

Seeing the pancake with the chocolate syrup used to create a smiley face on it, the thirteen-year-old Alex fan girl in me was squealing. It was such a sweet gesture, in fact it's one of the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me. I don't care if he did that because he knows that I can't cook my own breakfast or because he really cared for me, but I was intent on savoring every bite of this pancake. I sat down and stared at it, it was so cute I felt like I'll ruin it once I take a bite.

 Am I supposed to eat this or what? I asked myself as I continued to melt the pancake by staring at it. It looks too precious to eat! Okay, maybe I'm overreacting, but it's just so nice of him to do that. Trying to compose myself I cleared my throat and thought-- what do you do with a pancake?

 You eat it, dimwit.

 But what do you do with a heart-melting, skin-tingling, eye-bulging, breathtaking pancake?

 You still eat it.

 Feeling defeated, I went to the kitchen counter and got a fork, then sat down on the table and started on my pancake. Each bite was really, really good. Boy, if Alex would join a cooking contest he'll win for sure. This was even better than the pancake I used to eat at Bluebird Café.

 After a couple of minutes of struggling to eat the pancake I finally finished it. I lifted the plate and went to the sink to wash it. As I scrubbed the plate I tried to recall what just happened in the past two days. So many things happened, so many feelings flooded in me. Most of those feelings are new to me, like I never felt them before. It was a mixture of happiness and being confused at the same time, it was like I didn't have a clue about anything, and Alex... Well he was gorgeous, and hot, and amazing, and he was a great cook. I smiled remembering how we both "got to know" each other yesterday by asking stupid questions. I also remembered how he opened up to me about his family life. I mean, not everyone would want to open up their personal life to someone who they met merely two days ago. Why was he doing that? Why would he open up to me like that like I've known him since forever?

 These past two days were the most disturbing—not to mention heart pounding—days of my life. I was bombarding myself with questions when I don't even know the answer. One moment I was feeling awful, I miss Trent a lot. The next thing I knew, Alex comes in the picture and everything felt entirely different. He made me feel happy again, I was even dancing again.

 I stared out the window near the sink and I stared absent-mindedly stared at the old oak tree in our backyard. That tree was a big part of my life, that was where Dad and I used to bond when I was a kid. That was where Dane and I used to play Barbie dolls when we were kids. That was where I used to hang out with Trent when we were still us.

 I shook my head, I felt kind of weird today. I had so many things to figure out, including what would Trent talk about later.

"Are you planning on over-cleaning that plate?" I heard someone said from behind. I jumped in shock, and quickly turned around to find Dane standing behind the kitchen table. She was wearing her usual tank top and jeans, and her chocolate brown hair was in a messy bun.

 "Don't do that!" I scowled at her. I almost died of a heart attack because of her.

 "Thinking of knight in shining armor, eh?" she said wiggling her eyebrows at me.

 "Huh?" I said feeling pretty much stupid.

 "Alex," she said rolling her eyes as she sat down on the table.