Chapter 3

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"Oh...... hi dad," I said before turning my head to cover my embarrassment.

"Evening, Mr. Covey" Peter says, trying to pretend the kiss didn't happen.

"Hey Peter," my dad says, "What are you doing here?"

Peter replies, "Oh, Lara Jean invited me to come over to try some cookies she made." As he talks to my dad, Peter lets go of me and tries to act cool and confident.

"Ooh, well I want to try some to," my dad says, he then talks to me, "Hey sweetheart, how long until those cookies are done?" 

I turn my head to face my dad, "Uh... they should be done in another ten minutes.Right now, I'm just making the icing. Peter's helping me."

"Oh I can see that," my dad says as he wipes the snow off his shoulders and takes off his coat.

There is this awkward silence in the room. Peter is staring down on the floor, my dad is turning his head, scanning the kitchen, and I'm looking down at the table, where all the ingredients lay out.

The awkward quietness ends when Kitty enters the room, full of excitement, and does not know what has happened while she was sitting in the next room.

"Hi dad! How was your date with Ms. Rothschild?" she says

"Oh it was good, honey, we had to end it early because the snow was getting too heavy." My dad says. "Hey Peter," Peter's head looks up, "Why don't you head home after trying one of Lara Jean's cookies. Before the weather gets too extreme."

"Yes sir." Peter replies,while he looks down on the floor again. "I'm gonna hang out with Kitty for a while." He then quickly leaves the kitchen, along with Kitty, who seems curious about what just happened.

They both leave me and dad alone in the kitchen, but Peter comes back and mouths an "I love you" to me, and gives me a thumbs up, trying to uplift my spirits when I have to talk to my dad, which is not helping, and he leaves to go to the other room.

I start opening the ingredients to the icing and I'm measuring the powdered sugar when I finally found the courage to speak to my dad. "Dad, before you get upset, I just want you to know that me and Peter only kissed for like 20 seconds before you came into the room--"

My dad cuts me off "I'm not upset." I look up, in a surprised way.

"Wait, what?" I asked, and I stopped what I was doing.

"I'm not upset, I understand you and Peter. You two want to be with each other every moment possible. It's your senior year. You want to make each minute count. When I met your mom, I couldn't resist her. And when I met her family, I was caught making out with her by your grandma, and she started beating me." I tried not to laugh.

 "Your mother was so embarrassed, but she still stayed with me. And I hope you two will stay together."

I smile but my dad continues, "I mean, I didn't know you two were so close, you guys decided to start kissing in my kitchen while your little sister was in the living room."

I said, "I'm very sorry dad. It's not going to happen again."

My dad replies, "Yeah, it better not. Not in front of my two eyes." He smiles, which leads to me smiling back.

"But you are getting punished you know." My dad says, and my smile disappears. "You have to do the dishes for two weeks. And I'm gonna have a talk with Peter before he leaves."

I imagine what my dad is going to do with Peter, thinking about the worst things he could possible. But then, I realize my dad isn't going to do anything horrible to Peter. My dad isn't a bad person, but I know he has something planned, which still makes me worried.

"Okay, I'm gonna go change while you finish your cookies," my dad says, and walks he upstairs. But before he leaves, he turns around and says, "You know, this isn't the time I've caught one of my girls kissing a boy." 

I then realize it must've been Margot, and most likely with Josh, when they were still together. I imagine how embarrassed Margot must've been when she was caught, and how Josh felt when he was exposed by my dad. Yet they stayed together after that. Until Margot ended it.

Even though graduation is months away, I think about me and Peter and the obstacles we will have to take when we're together. I don't know if I'm going to be accepted into UVA with Peter, but that's what I'm hoping. And that's what I'm determined to do.

But then I think about what my dad said, the time I have left with Peter in my senior year, and every memory I make with him will stay with me forever. 

The thoughts about the future leave my head when I realize the cookies are almost done, and I still have to make the icing. I quickly whip up a batch of the glaze, I took out the cookies out of the oven once the timer went off, and I let them cool on the cooling rack. 

Once I added the icing on my cinnamon roll sugar cookies, I went into the living room to let Peter and Kitty know that the cookies were done. I asked Kitty to let dad know, and she started yelling at the bottom of the stairs.

When my dad camedown, we were all enjoying the cookies in the kitchen. I received some positive reviews from my dad and Peter, but Kitty ran back into the living room once she poured herself some milk and grabbed at least two or three cookies.

"Don't make a mess!" I yelled. Kitty yelled back "I won't!!" Peter and dad start laughing.

Time has gone by and we're just enjoying ourselves, until we hear Kitty's voice say, "Guys!! You better come see this!!" 



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