Troubled

Chapter 6 - Reunited, and it feels good.

I glanced over at the recipe I'd written down. 

2 raw eggs, it read. A pinch of cinnamon, one half cup of chocolate chips, a stick of butter, a cup of flour. Baking soda, half cup.

I chucked the ingredients into my giant purple mixing bowl and plugged in the electric hand mixer.

I was making cinnamon chocolate chip cookies, which pretty much is my secret recipe. No-one else makes cookies like you do, my mom had said. At least baking's something I'm good at, and the cookies are super-yummy, a dash of spice in the sweetness of the chocolate and buttery cookie. The trick to do it is that you have to make them from scratch, not from a store-bought mix. That way it would taste much better.

Janet was lounging on the living room couch, texting, while waiting for the first batch of cookies to cool after she had taken them out of the oven.

It was already four o'clock, three hours after I had reached home, and the snow outside seemed as if it wasn't about to let up.

The whole house was quiet, since my brothers and my mom were still napping, so the whirr of the mixer was the only sound that could be heard, the sound pulsating through the kitchen.

But just then, the silence was broken when the back door opened and let a cold gush of air in.

"So yeah, she was like totally mad at me after that," the voice sounded like Taylor, my second best friend. Her voice bubbled through the house, and then the sound of a male laugh followed. 

"Tay-tay? Is that you? I'm in the kitchen," I called out

She appeared at the kitchen doorway with Justin, Janet's boyfriend. When she saw me, she gasped and ran toward me for a hug.

"Oh my God, I missed you!" she whisper-shouted.

She had a death grip around my waist as she hugged me. "Tay, you're choking me. I can't breathe," I said, breathless.

Justin gave me a high five even though my hands were sticky. "Hey, Nic. Long time no see," and I blew a cloud of flour from my hands toward his face, making him smile. 

 Out of nowhere, Janet appeared, hair messed up and she looked real tired.

"I'm sleepy," she pouted, and being the super-nice friend I am (sooo much sarcasm) I told her that she could take a nap in my room.

Justin reached over and held her wrist, whispering, "Hey. I missed you," and she smiled faintly and rested her head on his shoulder, eyes closing.He led her up the stairs and Taylor rolled her eyes, and then turned to me.

"So, where did you guys go? I mean, in London. You know what I mean." She flicked a stray strand of hair from her forehead, tone overly-casual yet she was whispering.

I raised a brow. "Why are you whispering? Also, you're so not one for easy conversation. What's up?"

"What'dya mean?" more whispering. 

"Seriously, quit whispering." 

"People are sleeping." 

"Whatever," I shrugged. "It's just my brothers. And Mom. Who cares?" 

Our conversation was interrupted when Cody leaped into the kitchen out of the blue, freshly awakened, with mussed up bed hair, wearing a t-shirt and his boxers.

"Hey, sis," he yawned. "Hi, Taylor." He flashed her a flirtatious grin. 

Taylor blushed.  

"You're such a flirt." I rolled my eyes and swatted his arm. He scoffed. "Me?"

We all knew that Taylor had recently developed a huge crush on my brother. We loved to tease her about it and she gets super- pissed.  

What about Jeremy? They're twins. Janet had asked. Nah, Taylor replied. They're different, you know. I need a guy with some edge. Jeremy pretended to be insulted. What edge? He had laughed. 

It was true that Cody was more rambunctious than Jeremy, actually. My dad had always said that Cody was "the uncontrollable one". Jeremy was calmer, the peacemaker. The one I go to for advice sometimes. But brothers were brothers, that didn't mean he was less annoying.

"Where's Jere?" Thwack! I was kneading the cookie dough 

"Still sleeping." 

I groaned at the sight of his boxers. "Ugh, ew. Go put on some pants or something, rascal."  

He ignored me, sidling toward Taylor and she flushed deeper, staring down at the marble tabletop of the kitchen island.  

"Hey, Tay. You've been quiet," I tossed in teasingly, and sobered up when she looked like she was about to bawl. "She's uncomfortable with you in here," I told Cody matter-of-factly. "Go away." 

"What can I say? Girls love me."

Taylor didn't take her eyes off the counter. 

He saw her face and smirked, knowing her weakness. He reached over sneakily and started tickling her on her waist. She immediately squealed, batting at him with a kitchen towel and squirming violently. Laughing uncontrollably, she fell into his arms as he played around with her, his fingers tickling the tan strip of skin on her waist that peeked out of her sweater.  

"Oh my God, you guys," now I had to roll my eyes. "I'm going to take a picture!" I whipped out my phone and started taking shots of them acting like a pair of idiots. 

"No- oh no- don't!" Taylor yipped at me, but that was all she could manage out as she was breathless with all the laughing. "Oh- you!" she started to turn away from him, sulking as she calmed down, but he grabbed her arm and spun her to face him again. I watched as Taylor glanced briefly at my brother and then ducked her head shyly. 

Seeing the distress on her face made him chuckle, a mischievous glint in his eyes, before holding up her face in his hands and he softly kissed the tip of her nose. Taylor gasped and I just kind of stood there with my mouth hanging open. Cody just gave me a smug smile and I swear I felt like punching him 'cause the what he did was so surreal. Taylor had a hard time registering the whole moment as she bit her bottom lip and the apples of her cheeks flushed a bright red.

I dropped my head into my hands. "I repeat: you are such a flirt." 

Cody just slid his arm on her waist and pulled her closer as he flashed me a smirk. 

I rolled my eyes. Still, it was so good to be home.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hiiiiii peeps x

i know i suck at my updates but i had my exams so im sorry! the moment i reached home i immediately started working on this chapter. i hope you like it. i do. its fun and flirty heehee :) niki is sucking a lil at co-owning haha jk ily niki. i didnt get the chance to talk to her about plot ideas since it was test season ugh :( but now we're done so you can expect more upcoming chapters.

im so sorry that i havent been updating. especially ivonne @ScortioHosea. we'll be faster next time yeah? im sooo glad exams are over. i have a bucket list that i'm hoping to complete :)

oh, and taylor looks like zendaya, picture on multimedia column right :)

warm hugs,

nata&niki (-writtenby:nata-) xxx:)