Melanie Stevens is many things at once. A nerd. A high school student. A hard-worker. And the lead singer of a rock band. But there is one thing she is not.
She is not a happy person
Eric Jefferson helps look after his dad's company. He holds spotle...
My mom slaps away my hand as I reach out to grab a muffin from the baking tray.
"Mom! The warm muffins smell sooooo good. Let me have one. just one. pleeaasee"
"Stop behaving like a child, Melanie Stevens"
Uh. she is addressing me by my full name, which meant she was just a tiny winy space away from becoming what's called 'super-pissed Nicole'.
"All right, Madame Nicole, at least give me the icing tube. I'll help you. You poor thing, how much will you manage alone?"
I put on my best puppy dog eyes and looked up at her, my mental image of myself like an anime character with a star going 'twingg!' at the corner of my black pupils, and with hearts flying upwards from behind me. But even that, apparently wasn't enough for my mom. She places the tube away from me and says,
"Go see if the rolls are ready."
"Right-O" I saluted her and checked the nicely browning rolls in the oven.
My mom knows I won't eat those because I had spent a good part of the afternoon making them. How can moms read our minds?
This was one of the rare occasions when my mom was sober and I knew I had to make the most of it. So I helped her throughout the afternoon and we were actually able to catch some mom-daughter time while the baked goods cooled away in the ginormous fridge that we own.
My mom and I bake and cook stuff in big batches during the weekends and in a small batch in the middle of the week. I then drop off the goodies in some top restaurants, cafes and if time permitted, we took up some catering orders for rich families throwing parties for their spoiled children.
We made good business, especially because our speciality was in vegetarian dishes, what with most of the population having weird allergies and the rest of the population concerned about their diet and spirituality. Duh.
We were soon done and the treats were packed off in cute cardboard boxes. I got in my Nissan Versa. Cheap, I know but it's just enough for what I need and we couldn't afford a pricey car.
I wave to my mom and put the car in reverse, hoping she stays like this till I come back. I should get my beauty sleep. I'll need all the energy for tonight's show.
Eric's POV
"Eric, what do you think dude? That girl looking good for you?"
My asshole of a brother was pointing to a girl who looked more like a walking make-up store. I made a gagging action and turned away, focusing on my drink.
"Come-on it's my birthday. Entertain me a little and make this man's day, Eric"
He is starting to sound more and more like a girl. Considering the amount of alcohol that had hit his system this evening, it is just the beginning. Soon he would bring some random girl over to me, whispering to her about how good I was with women.
I will go on with the act and once out of his sight, I'll send the girl running, not caring if I hurt her. It's all just an act. To show the world I was as much a bad boy as my brother.
Ya, I agree, It didn't hurt to be cocky sometimes, especially to cute girls. But that was all it was. I couldn't bring myself up for more than that. Can't open up a little to even enjoy one evening, can't afford it.
I feel a hand on my shoulder. I slap it away, with more force than necessary.
"Stop it Derek", I muttered.
"Ooh someone's acting like an angry girlfriend."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I was surprised at the voice. It wasn't Derek. I turn around to look at a girl's face. Ordinary looking in a very ordinary dress. A yellow sundress. I look into the one feature that was absolutely breathtaking. Her eyes. So darkly brown that they may actually be black.
"What? Searching for your boyfriend Derek?" she wiggles her eyebrows and smirks, rubbing at her wrist.
"By the way, you were pretty rude, smacking my hand like that. Hurts, you know."
Wait. She had first seen me two minutes ago and she had commented on my sexuality twice and had called me rude?
I run my hand through my hair and look down at those eyes, exasperated as to how to deal with this 140 pound mystery.
"What do you want missy?"
"Do you know anyone from the Jefferson family? I have to deliver these to them"
I look at the boxes in her other hand. Woah! she was carrying all that by herself? I took them from her.
"I am the younger son of the family." As an afterthought, I add, "thank you".
That is a first. Me, Eric Jefferson, saying thank you. But something about this girl made me want to respect her.
Her eyes widen. "Am so sorry Mr. Jefferson. I spoke without thinking."
"Mmm." I say looking at the boxes of sweet goodies in my hand. I opened one and took a bite of what looked like a stuffed roll. "Hey this is really good", I say, looking at her, my eyes bright and my mouth full of powdered sugar.
"I made it. Thank you" she replies, smiling warmly at me, before seeing my mom alone in the party and excusing herself to run away from me, pulling a bill from her bag.
I forgot all about her as I watched our butler take the bag from me and arrange the food on platters.
