UNSPOKEN

21

The following week went by as if nothing had happened between Jackson and I. I had decided to let the kiss go. I couldn't forget it because for me it meant a lot but I decided that it was just some stupid impulsive thing we did and we could go on without dwelling much on it. Of course Alexa had to ruin my logic because she said that there was nothing impulsive about that kiss, it was totally planned because Jackson had taken the apologetic smoothie knowing what he wanted to do. I stuck to my theory that it was on pure impulse. 

Leonard called me every day from Switzerland, where he was, around the time I was baking for the day's menu and he was having lunch so we had the chance to talk a lot. I found myself missing him and I loved that. I told him that and he said that he couldn't stop thinking about me. We were cheesy, corny and adorable.

"It looks amazing," I heard Alexa said.

"It does," said Jackson.

We were in the bakery finally trying to upload my cupcake process to the site where the first contest was going to be.

"you think?" I said staring at the screen.

"Yes," they both said at the same time.

I had finally come up with a cool design of a coffee cup cupcake. It was quite amazing if you asked me. It was a vanilla cupcake surrounded by a cup made of white fondant. The cupcake was covered in chocolate ganache and placed on real coffee cup plates. In the end you could actually eat the whole thing, minus the plates. It looked amazing and Jackson had documented the whole process for the contest.

"Well, there it goes," I said pressing the enter contest button and letting the world see what I did. Well, not the whole world but people I didn't know.

"Yay!!" said Alexa clapping while jumping up and down.

"When will we know the results?" asked Jackson looking at me.

"At the end of the week," I shrugged.

"Ok," said Jackson and grabbed the cupcake tour notebook and marked off the first contest. "one down, a lot to go," he grinned back at me.

"It's nerve wrecking," I said looking at him, he smiled What?

"Waiting for people to judge on my work..." I shook my head.

"then get on preparing the next contest and you won't have to dwell too much on what they say or not say," he shrugged and I smiled, Thank you.

"Thank you for letting me be part of this," he said placing a lose tendril of red hair behind my ear.

"So,"I said trying to pretend that the gesture was nothing else but two friends talking "what's next on the cupcake tour agenda?" Our conversation was interrupted by my cell phone ring tone. "My Mother," I said and Jackson, of course, went to sit behind the counter where Alexa was. Just the mention of my mother gave him the creeps.

"Yes, Mother," I said rolling my eyes.

"So you went to New York..." I heard her voice.

"Mother, I told you last time we talked that I was not going to talk about Leonard and me with you,"

"I know but did I have to hear from Julia that you went away for a night with her son? I felt quite stupid not knowing..." I could clearly hear the fake embarrassment on her voice.

"Ok, if you insist on talking about Leonard and me...."I said

"I'd love to,Marion," she sounded so happy

"Ok, did you and dad know that Leonard is older than me?" I really wanted to know if they knew they'd set up her daughter with someone way older than her.

"Of course we knew, Marion, he looks older than you," she said giving a tiny stupid laugh. I could clearly picture her playing with her pearls necklace.

"13 years older, mother," I said. I heard Alexa gasp and Jackson coughed.

"Oh, my!" That's all she said.

"Yeah, he's 38, mom! Does dad know?" He was going to flip when he heard.

"No, he doesn't but I won't tell him if you don't want me to."Oh now she wanted to play accomplice!

"I don't really care if he knows," I said shrugging.

"Good," I heard a smile, " So everything is going great then?" she asked.

"Yes mom, everything is going great," I couldn't help it. I could lie and say that it was horrible just for the sake of making my mom angry but the truth was that Leonard was great and I wasn't about to lie about us.

"Good. You think you'd be able to come to a formal ball the club is arranging?" I knew my mother wanted to show that her daughter was dating an eligible bachelor; her dreams were coming true.

"I don't know mother, Leonard is really busy, he is always traveling because of work. If he happens to be around then sure, we'll come."

"Perfect," I bet she was on the edge of the chair wanting to clap like a damn seal.

"I got to go, mom, see you around," I said.

"Look who's got herself a sugar daddy," Said Alexa.

"Shut up, Alexa," I said blushing and going to the kitchen.

"13 years uh?" I heard Jackson's voice and I didn't even turn to look at him. I kept on scrubbing some pots so I could get on with my unnecessary baking since everything was covered for the day.

"He is 10 years older than me," I heard him coming closer and I tensed afraid of whatever he was going to say "And still he can't compare to me," Oh hell no!

"Stop!" I said turning around with my hands covered in soap "I am sick and tired of listening you brag about what we had and still not acting on it! What I have with Leonard is real, he is not going to leave me one day and never come back! So, please, Jackson, let us be!" There was soap everywhere because I had been using my hands too much and much to my displeasure Jackson was not hurt or angry he seemed amused!

"You like him," he said with a horrible little smirk that made me want to wash it away with the soap that I had left on my hands.

"I do, very much," I said looking at him straight in the eye.

"That's ok, I like Sally as well, that doesn't mean she is the one I want to be with," he came closer to me

"And still," I said putting one hand on his chest to stop him from getting closer, "she is the one you are with."

"You are with Leonard," he shrugged.

"I hate you," I said turning around and resumed my pot cleaning and I heard him laugh as he walked back to the front.

"Let her be, Jackson," I heard Alexa say and I immediately looked for my earphones and plugged them into my iPod so I could tune out whatever they would talk about. It seemed that I was forced into a cupcake session.