The Cookie Girl

Chapter 1: Grand Opening

Spencer Matthews yawned, his mouth stretching amazingly. It was a rather hot September day, with not a cloud in the sky to protect the busy people of Briardale from the sun's harsh rays. The weather was pretty unusual, given that September was usually cool in that town. And heat made Spencer sleepy.

He sat inside an air conditioned diner, patiently eating his order of French fries and watching people walk by. He passed his hand through his slightly shaggy black hair and picked up the salt shaker and adding more salt to his fries.

"You're bound to get sick, all that salt," said a familiar nasal voice. The voice belonged to Mandy, one of the two waitresses at Chuck's Fine Dine.

"I'll be fine, I like it that way." To prove it, he shook the shaker a bit more.

"Hm, right." She ruffled his hair more than it was already. "You'd look pretty handsome if you used a comb once in a while."

Spencer frowned and pouted, but let her. The woman was a bit motherly sometimes, but that was okay with Spencer, he liked her attention.

"Refill?"

He looked at his half drunk sweaty glass of Coke and shook his head. "No, I'm good. How's Jamie?"

Mandy rolled her eyes. "This week the girl thinks she's the president. Even made me vote, and colored the walls in red and blue, them walls were already white."

Spencer smiled a bit. "Kids."

"Just wait until you have one. It'll be a blast." And with that she left to wipe off the counter.

Twenty minutes later he paid his bill and left, not without saying goodbye to Mandy. It was a Saturday afternoon, and there wasn't anyone waiting for him at home, so he took his time walking along the crowded sidewalk. He let his thoughts wander, and they wandered to Amy Fields.

In Spencer's eyes, she was an angel. Golden blond, with deep blue eyes and a seductive smile. A perfect body. Nice sense of humor. But she was way out of his league. All he had to his name was good grades and a perfect attendance record. And Amy liked blonde athletic boys with flashy cars. His Civic was put to shame.

His thoughts were interrupted abruptly by a colorful flyer thrust in his face.

"Hi and welcome to Bitter Sweet Café's grand opening!"

Spencer blinked a few times. He took the flyer and stared at the girl in front of him. Short, thin, chocolate brown hair and eyes, a cheery smile that screamed sugar rush.

"Grand what?" he asked, confused.

"Grand opening," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Bitter Sweet Café is opening it's doors today for the very first time, and for a limited time you get a discount on all pastries, this does not include beverages and candies, and a special Grand Donut will be given to every costumer. Sweet satisfaction guaranteed. Free sample?" She held out a tray with an assortment of cookies.

"Um, I don't really like cookies that much..." Spencer was wondering how she could say all that so fast in one breath. What kind of lungs did she have?

"You don't?" She looked disappointed. "Well, you can at least taste it? Yes?"

"I really don't want to..." He was starting to feel uncomfortable.

The girl frowned and thought a second. "A challenge then."

"A what?"

"A challenge," she replied, not giving away that she was starting to think he was hard of hearing. "Bitter Sweet Café will be hosting challenges on a daily basis, so I'm challenging you. I win, you taste a cookie."

"So, what if I win?"

"You get a kiss." He started to blush. "On the cheek of course."

"But-"

"First to blink loses, starting NOW!" She leaned towards him, eyes a bit wider, staring intently.

Surprised and off guard, Spencer had no choice but to stare back. If he got that kiss he'd die of embarrassment.

Three seconds went by.

Six seconds...

Ten seconds... Her eyes were twitching.

Twelve... Without warning, she blew air into his eyes and made him blink.

"I win!" She beamed.

Spencer frowned. "You cheated!"

"We didn't put in any rules, did we?" She had a mischievous smile plastered on her face. "No Game No Life!"

He kept frowning at her and reluctantly took a cookie from the tray. "Can I go now?"

"I'd rather watch you taste it to make sure, but I have flyers to give out so you may go." She gave him a small wave and kept the smile. Immediately after she went around him and started her rapid fire promotion speech on another unsuspecting victim.

Sighing, he quickly started walking again and didn't stop until he was home safe from any more fast talking living dolls.

He unlocked the door and entered the dark house. Throwing himself onto the deep red loveseat, he held up the cookie he still hadn't eaten. He'd taken a peanut butter cookie with a yellow smiley face made with icing. After some thought, he bit into it. Soft, sweet, delightfully peanut butter. Despite his dislike for sweets, it tasted okay.

That cheater... His black eyes narrowed thoughtfully. It was pretty clever how she won... He thought she was probably twelve or thirteen, so for her to work at that café it had to be her family's business and she pitches in. She was kind of cute really.

Tossing the unfinished cookie onto the coffee table, he turned on the TV to the Sci-Fi channel and half an hour later fell asleep in the middle of an apocalyptic Artificial Intelligence war.