A Fall To Remember

LITTLE WHITE LIES [] CHAPTER 4

Jake looked from Lauren to me, trying not to wince.

I licked the cake batter off my knuckle. "What are you staring at?"

Lauren started running her hand through my hair lovingly and I gave Jake a pointed look. "How many margaritas did you give her?"

"None, this is all her."

Lauren's hand came away with cake batter and she started giggling . Oh. I touched my hair and immediately wished I hadn't.

"I think we should make some of your famous brownies too," she said, plopping down on a barstool. I looked around her kitchen and tried not to cringe. Every counter top was covered with trays of cupcakes and cookies.

Jake looked at her like she was crazy. "Babe, are you trying to open up a bakery? Do we even have actual food for tonight?"

She shrugged and grabbed a cookie off the tray. "She'll do that next, you can't rush the artist Jake."

Lauren had invited me to come early and help her cook for the dinner they were hosting. It started off innocent, just us going through new recipe books. And then Lauren told me that we should start off with the dessert first so we could get the temptation out of the way.

"Do you guys even know what time it is? Everyone's gonna be here in like an hour -

Is that my protein powder!?"

Lauren looked up guiltily. "I ran out of cocoa powder. In my defence, it is chocolate flavoured."

"That's gonna be disgusting."

The oven timer dinged and I took out the batch of peanut butter cookies, quickly realizing I had nowhere to put it down.

Jake shook his head. "I leave you guys alone for an hour. One hour."

Lauren smiled brightly. "I know. Isn't she freaking amazing?"

I looked down at the tray of cookies and pursed my lips. I wanted to eat the entire thing. "I am starving, I'm keeping two trays just for myself."

Lauren started to argue and Jake interrupted. "Jules, you do realize we have like ten trays."

His cellphone started to ring and he excused himself. I stuck my tongue out at his retreating back.

"What a grump," Lauren said, picking up another cookie. "He's lucky I love him."

I laughed. "Is it bad I want to keep baking?" A mess in the kitchen was the only mess I liked.

"If you keep feeding me like this, I'm never going to be ready for Turks," she whined.

"Says the woman who just got back from the gym."

She snorted. "I don't even know why I try when I know I'm going to see you."

I started cleaning up and Lauren joined me. It was a comfortable routine. "This totally got out of hand. You have got to keep me in check Laur. This is a dangerous game."

"Oh, but you know I love living on the edge," she said, giving me a smack on the ass.

I yelped and tried to jab her, but she saw it coming. "Damn you and your quick reflexes."

She laughed and we continued cleaning in a comfortable silence.

A few minutes later, Lauren spoke up. "I wanted to tell you something."

"What's up?"

A crease formed on her forehead. "Before I tell you...I want you to know that I've given this a lot of thought. I know you love me and you want the best for me but I don't want you to worry, ok?"