Unititled For Now

Chapter 14

I helped Liam put the rest of his belongings in his duffle bag. As I did this he crossed items off his mental checklist.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” He asked wearing a sad expression. I didn’t look up to answer. I had gotten tired of Liam constantly asking this question.

“Yes!” I snapped probably a bit too harsh. I dialed down my tone. “Jason is my brother. He’ll protect me just as you as you would.”  

Liam raised an eyebrow at me. “I thought he was a jerk you didn’t trust?” He stumped me.

I heard the DING of  my cellphone that let me know I had gotten a text. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and read it. Jason: I’m so sorry! Something came up and I have to deal with it right now! I’ll be able to eat with u in a couple days though.

“What does it say?” Liam wondered, leaning over my shoulder.

“It says that Jason can’t make it today.” I paraphrased. “I guess I don’t have any plans for the rest of the day.”

Liam tried to comfort me by resting his hand on my shoulder. “You can come over to my place. See my new and improved kitchen.” I smiled at him. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

***

When we went into Liam’s house, he ran into his kitchen to see what it looked like. I set my purse down on a table and joined him. I didn’t have the before-and-after feel Liam did. Since I’ve never seen his house before this. It was a very nice kitchen though; tile printed flooring, windows along the side with red curtains, granite top, and even rows of wooden cabinets.

I turned to Liam to see his face stunned. It must have been a marvelous improvement.

“It looks amazing!” He said to me.  I smiled.

“I’m so happy for you.” Liam couldn’t help it in all the excitement; he picked me up and twirled me around. After our giggles had died down my feet reconnected with the floor.

“I, um, don’t have anything planned for us to do.” He started to sheepishly walk toward a short hallway. He stopped then opened a closet. “I have chutes and ladders, a deck of cards, and chess.”

I walked into Liam’s new kitchen ignoring his other offers. “Well since you got a new kitchen...we could bake something.” I opened a drawer and pulled out a plastic spatula. Liam swiftly came to my side and took the utensil from my grasp.

“If only either of us knew how to cook.” Liam tapped the tip of my nose with the spatula.

“Who says we can’t learn?” I asked, regaining possession of the spatula.

Liam gave me a low chuckle. “My kitchen already burned down once. Let’s not make that twice.” I rolled my eyes.

“You know one thing this kitchen needs?” I asked.

“What?”

“A ‘kiss the cook’ apron.”

“I knew that thing was growing on you.” Liam teased, then gently kissed me on the cheek.

I reached up and searched through all the shelves for mixing bowls and other necessities. “How hard can cupcakes be?”

“Really hard when you don’t have the boxed version.” He answered, noticing how I grabbed the ingredients to make cupcakes from scratch. “Do you even know what you’re doing?”

I had gotten all I needed. “No idea. Now hand me that measuring cup.” I began to mix ingredients together in a bowl. First the eggs, butter, and vanilla. Then the flour and milk.