Baking With Boys |✔

39. Sweet Bun

"Tyler?" A hand shook my shoulder. The taste of sleep pulled me in deeper and the voice faded away. I swallowed, giving in to the sweet feeling of closing my eyes and resting. My head rested on a soft and warm pillow, yet my back was twisted in a particularly uncomfortable way.

Not a minute later, a more insistent and hurried whisper reached my ears. "Tyler! Wake up." I felt a hand on my face, peeling the thick mess of my hair away from my face. The strands tickled my nose, and I wiggled. The orangish light behind my eyelids made me frown, and I tried to turn away from the bright source. I wiggled some more, irritating the pillow below my head. The pillow seemed to give up after my much tossing around, and hissed, "Stop dancing, and wake up!"

A shot of panic went through my stomach as consciousness returned. Another retrospect made me realize that the pillow wasn't actually a pillow. More like a lap. A certain someone's lap.

The force with which I hauled myself up from the lap would have broken my neck or back, hadn't it been for the hand that grabbed me at the last moment. The momentum broke, and I didn't fall back or knock myself out. It took me a moment before it dawned upon me that I had fallen asleep. In the middle of the competition. The fact didn't sit well, and another wave of panic engulfed me. The sound of my heartbeat was loud in my ears, and I blinked to adjust to the bright lights. Bella sat in front of me, straightening her crumpled skirt.

My body was twisted towards her direction, and heat rose up my ears when I realized that I had been sleeping on her lap. "Sorry!"

I tried to help her with her skirt, but only made it awkward for both of us. Withdrawing my hands from her lap, I tucked a chunk of hair behind my ear.

"How long was I asleep?" I cleared my throat, and then in a panicked hurry asked, "Did the competition end?"

She chuckled, shaking her head. "About fifteen minutes? There are another five before the round ends." She brought up her hand, and I frowned. Placing a finger on my chin, she turned my head towards the other direction.

My stomach did a free fall when I saw the TV, and I sagged against the couch in relief. Glimpses of the ongoing competition flitted through the screen. Good thing they hadn't thought of filming us in here. Had I been caught sleeping on TV...

'What the hell were you doing last night that you fell asleep on set? Lol!' Rebecca's voice in my head confirmed just what others would have assumed.

The thought was enough to make me shudder.

Yet another yawn assaulted me, and I covered my mouth just in time. This time I accepted the water Bella offered me. I took a sip, focusing on the live show. Brandon came on and I leaned forward, feeling guilty yet relieved to see him calm and collected. They focused on the dish he was decorating and I sputtered out the water in my mouth.

Cupcakes?!

He was taking out the cupcakes from the tray and adding them to the pile of already baked ones. Before I could see what else he did with them, the camera shifted the focus away from him, and to another participant.

But why did he bake cupcakes?

Bella must have sensed my stress, which was astonishing considering I never saw her as the type to be perceptive or caring enough to help out others. She patted my back, and I had to agree that my opinion about her was changing moment after another. "Don't worry, he didn't mess up."

"He really didn't," I whispered to myself. A surge of emotion, which I later realized was pride, bloomed in my stomach. From the glimpses I caught on TV screen, the cupcakes were mouth-watering. Which had to be good for us, right?