Cheat Sheets

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Waking to see Braeden’s face hovering directly above mine, I let out a groan and turn away, burrowing deeper beneath my duvet as I mumble. “Great way to start the morning; with your stupid ass face breathing all over me. Way to not be creepy, Braeden.”

He chuckles and I feel the bed shift beside me, causing my mattress to dip and me to go sliding up unconsciously next to Braeden as he positions himself so he’s lying down next to me. How on earth did he get in here anyways? I hope to god he didn’t break a window or something, or pick the locks; my dad is already tight enough with security measures and I do not need another set of alarms to keep me locked in, thank you very much. Anyway, back to my original question.

“Your dad let me in.” Braeden answers my unspoken question and I hum in understanding.

Wait… What? Seriously, dad, what the hell… “I’m sorry, I think I missed that.” Turning over in bed to stare at Braeden, I let him feel the full force of my incredulity. “Did you just say my dad let you in?”

“Yup.” He replies, popping the p whilst grinning at me from ear to ear. “And you’ve got morning breath by the way; I’d get that sorted if I were you.”

Ignoring that snide comment about my breath – okay, I really badly want to do the back of the hand breath test right now to see how bad it is –  because it can’t be too toxic if he’s still sitting this close, I roll my eyes and try to rub sleep out of my sockets. “Remind me again why my dad let you into our house, whilst I’m sleeping might I add.”

“He left for work. I was just going to sit on the porch and wait for you to wake up, but he insisted I come in. Your dad is awesome!” He beams, smiling like a giddy child. “You know you dribble when you sleep, like, a lot!” That explains why he’s smiling. “Oh, and he said something about banana cream pie in the fridge-”

My dad left me banana cream pie? He knows that’s my favourite food. Oh dad you really shouldn’t-

“-But I ate it all.”

All of my morning happiness suddenly bottoms out, and I let out a huff before flopping back against my mattress and glowering in Braeden’s direction. “You know I hate you, right?”

Braeden laughs at my misery and drapes an arm over my waist, pulling me into his side to give me a quick squeeze. “Relax, Kee, I’ll take you out for breakfast ice cream. I swear I was only going to have a slice; but your dad bakes the best pie I’ve ever tasted and I sort of didn’t realise I ate it all until it was gone.”

My stomach growls in agreement. Dad really does make the best banana cream pie.

“This better be the most fantastic breakfast ice-cream I’ve ever tasted or I swear to god-”

Braeden’s scolding laughter cuts me off, and he rolls his eyes before taking my hand and lowering my spoon into the small carton of ice cream. “Just try it already. You won’t regret it!”

Oh, I will, I’ll definitely regret it the moment it all goes straight to my thighs and I won’t be able to get into my prom dress. Not that I’ll be going to prom anymore anyways. I’ve too much pride to taint my prom memories with hideous images of my first ever boyfriend dancing in the arms of another girl. So, ek, I think I’ll pass the particular occasion. Maybe I’ll just go to the ten year reunion instead when I’m a successful designer with a sexy husband on my arm. Then I’ll flaunt it all in their sorry little faces.

“Whoa” Braeden’s tense breath robs me back to reality “those are some pretty dark thoughts there, Kee. Lighten up, yeah?”

My cheeks turn red in embarrassment. I always accidentally talk my mind when I think too much; I swear I’d make the worst undercover agent in history. Holding my cheeks and rubbing them to rid them of the flush, I throw my forehead into the table top separating us. “Ugh, how much did you hear?”