Baked Love

Chapter 17

A/N: Sorry for the wait my dears <3 There is a certain word repeated many times, but I dunno why o.o Can you find it?

Chapter 17: Love is Strange

[Chip]

I grabbed at a face towel beside the basin, failing as I dropped the towel two times.

My hands were trembling so badly.

"Chip! Xander! Why are you taking so long?" I heard Coco's voice complain. "Is the shower turned off yet? Every minute you spend in there its 9 liters of water!"

Xander rolled his eyes.

"Yeap it's off. Give us some time to put on clothes would you?" He rebutted.

Coco's concerns were none of mine as I knelt down in front of Xander, trying very hard not to look at anything below his waist level.

Quickly soaking the towel, I gently washed away the embarrassing substance on Xander's thighs. "I-I'm really sorry..." I repeated once again, trying to hold back the lump in my throat.

I heard him chuckle. "Stop apologizing."

My face heated up a notch, and my gaze landed anywhere but Xander. "O-Okay...sorry..." I choked. The strange constriction of the back of my throat twisted painfully.

I took quick steps out of the glassed shower, and turned to the basin to wash the small towel as fast as possible.

Sensing movement behind me, I guessed that Xander was drying himself. There was this strange picking up of my heartbeat, and I suddenly felt really aware, and conscious of my surroundings—especially Xander's gaze.

Daring a glance in the mirror, my first focus wasn't Xander (surprisingly), but it was, in fact, me.

My face was a mess—wide, almost-frightened eyes, knitted eyebrows, and very, very flushed cheeks. I didn't even realize that I was biting my lip.

I looked exhausted.

And then my gaze flickered to the other face in the mirror.

Xander's eyes were staring directly at mine in the glass, with a strange emotion in his eyes that I did not quite comprehend.

"You okay?" He asked in one of the gentlest tones that I've ever heard.

The lump in my throat rose dangerously close to its vertex, and my teeth sunk harder into my lips.

I took another look at the horrible mess in the mirror, and my vision blurred.

"Chip? Chip—oh shit—I mean," Xander breathed, "Oh God I'm so sorry, please don't cry."

I felt a warm material on my back and realized that Xander had wrapped a towel around me.

"I-I'm so—rry..." I choked miserably, my heart racing at an abnormal speed. "I look h-horrible...I'm so embarrassed..."

Gaze landing on my trembling hands, I couldn't help but feel the shake in my thighs—as if they were on the brink of collapsing.

It was rather hard to stand.

"Shh don't say that, you don't look horrible at all," Xander's hands rested on my shoulders as he slowly turned me around.

He brought me into his arms gently, caressing my head.