Best of Me

Chapter Fourteen

Hi hello! I have the next chapter for you lovely people. I'm starting my LAST FIRST DAY OF UNDERGRAD TODAY AND I'M FREAKING OUT. but it's fine. I'm an adult. I can handle this. Maybe. Probably not. So, I'll instead distract myself with writing this book for all yous peoples.

Anywayyyy, we left off somewhere with the family after the snowball fight I believe. We're diving into a drunk chapter later on. So, get ready for drunk Theo...

Enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen:

Quinn had convinced my family to leave one cookie recipe for me to help with while I was hiding out yesterday morning. My mom had attempted to tell her that I wasn't the most skilled in the kitchen, especially when it came to baking. Quinn was insistent that I would want to make some. She wasn't wrong, entirely. I do love making cookies, but I really am accident prone when I'm in the kitchen.

Quinn measured out all the ingredients and we are ready to mix them together. She pulls out the mixer and hands me a rubber spatula to help her scrap the bowl as she goes through it with the mixer. My brothers are quick to snatch the spatula from my hand. We're all standing around the kitchen island; my mom, my baby brothers, Quinn, and I. CoCo and Izzy are at the round table coloring. CoCo is quick to gaze warily in our direction when she notices what's going on.

"What?" Quinn looks around the apprehensive room. Asa and Christopher look to me to explain, but my mom jumps in before I can.

"A few Christmas's ago, Theo here got her finger caught in the mixer," my mom turns to me, mouth stuck in a straight line, and her brows furrowed. Asa and Christopher chuckle.

"Okay, listen, it wasn't my fault," I hold my hands up in defense.

"I highly doubt that," Quinn smirks.

"Riley, you know your girlfriend is prone to accidents, yeah?" Asa asks and identical smirk on his face.

"Absolutely, one of our first dates she managed to get hot coffee spilled all over her." My siblings laugh at my expense. My mom hides her laugh behind her hand.

"Again, that was not my fault!" No one listens.

"Sure, sure, honey," Quinn coos sarcastically and kisses my quick. My face is quick to turn red. "What do you say happened, then?"

"Mae and I were tasked with making the chocolate chip cookies like we always were," I start. I can sense my family holding their breaths, waiting to see how this will go. Christopher smiles at me softly; I power on. "Mae's chocolate cookies were to die for."

"They were," Christopher adds in. "Perfectly soft and gooey, just like I like'em." Asa smacks his arm. "What?"

"Let sis finish, dude." Christopher rolls his eyes, Asa gestures to me.

"Anyway, Mae handed me the spatula to help push the dough into the mixer as she went through with it. But just as we were starting to mix the dough, dad came down making a commotion and she got distracted." My mom's eyes widen.

"Oh, my, how did I forget that..."

"Mae and Theo had a knack for pranking dad," CoCo adds from the table. "I mean, he usually started it, but Mae was the mastermind behind ending it."

"Wait, was that the year..." Asa starts.

"That Mae put green hair dye in his shampoo? Yes, it was." I grin from ear to ear. "She started cackling like a mad women and dad was threatening to get her back just as bad. She was still mixing, but it was erratic, and I was trying to keep up. And then my hand got in the way and my thumb was sucked right between the mixing blades."