Poison

Chapter 2

The sunlight hurt my head. I groaned and sat up. How did I end up in my bed? Last night was a blur to me. I remembered dancing and seeing Liam and leaving the club and snippets of us walking down the street, but after that, I had nothing. I threw the covers off and realized that I was still in my dress.

I looked at the clock.

It was 8:30am. I needed to be at the bakery in half an hour, and it was rush hour! I didn't think I'd be able to do it. I quickly showered and took Tylenol to ease my headache, then rushed out onto the street and hailed a cab. I jumped in and told the driver where to go. The traffic was thick but I got to the bakery just in time.

I began frantically running around the kitchen, turning on the ovens and mixing muffin batter, pound cake batter, and cookie batter. I really needed to get some extra help around here, but to be honest I didn't trust anyone other than Sophie. After the timers finally went off, I took everything out of the ovens and set them all up around the display cases. I then unlocked the door, and in a few minutes the place was crowded. Sundays were another one of our busiest days. Sophie hurried in again a few minutes before she was supposed to start her shift. I suspected something was going on with her, but we remained silent as I hurriedly began mixing more batter and baking as Sophie took orders.

It finally slowed down and Sophie and I cleaned up the kitchen in a hurry, expecting another rush.

"I'm gonna use the bathroom." Sophie informed me, then took her apron off and headed to the bathroom. I wiped my hands off and went up to the front of the store just as Liam walked in the door. He shot me a dazzling smile and walked up to the counter, looking very amused.

"Hello, Liam." I said, wondering why he looked so smug.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked, a laugh in his voice. I realized now. I blushed and remembered last night.

"I'm okay. Thank you for taking care of me. I hope I didn't say anything too weird." I said, making a face. He grinned.

"Nothing I can't handle." He said, half-smiling. My heart began to pound. What had I said? I heard the door open and I looked up. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was angry, scared, and nervous all at the same time. It was Dylan. My ex-boyfriend. Liam must have seen the shock on my face because he looked over his shoulder at Dylan, then looked back to me and raised an eyebrow. I ignored him as Dylan began talking to me.

"Jessie! Hi, how are you?" He asked, pretending that Liam wasn't even there. He reached out to take my hand, but I pulled away just in time.

"What are you doing here?" I hoped my voice sounded as strong as I wanted it to. He shrugged and played with a sign on one of the display cases.

"I just wanted to see you." He said sweetly. It may have sounded sweet, but I knew that he was no good.

"Why?" I asked, being as cold as I could. Liam just stood by quietly.

"Jessie, come on. I miss you. I'm not allowed to see you?" He asked, his voice becoming whiny. Why did he think that was attractive?

"No, actually, you're not. Not after everything. It's been a year. I think you'll survive without me. Could you please leave?" I asked, trying not to yell or get upset. I was becoming more anxious by the second. I knew that Dylan had a temper. He just stared at me.

"Jessie, can we please just talk?" He asked smoothly. My heart was racing and my palms were sweating.

"I said no, Dylan!" I said quietly, but firmly. "You need to leave, now!" I said a little louder. He held his hands up in defeat and turned around, walking out the door. I let out a sigh of relief and buried my face in my hands. I forgot all about Liam until he spoke up.