third floor ➳ post malone

five

"So how did the cupcakes go?" Arizona asks as we sit on my couch watching Moana. Stephen is in the kitchen making us dinner while Carly "helps" him.

"Good," I nod to her. "It was a really sweet lady, at least she loved them."

"That's good," Arizona smiles at me as she eats the popcorn Stephen made us while we wait for dinner. "Anything up with dude next door?"

"Turns out he has a heart," I shrug as I grab a handful of popcorn. "He brought the lady food and from what I gathered, he does it a lot."

"Well, that's... nice," Arizona says, slowly nodding at me. "Maybe you should like.. be his friend?"

"I know exactly what you mean by being his friend," I laugh at her. "And just because he's secretly nice doesn't mean he's getting in my pants."

"Come on, now," she nudges me, readjusting how she is sitting. "How long has it been since you've had sex, huh? Since Michael?"

"I've had.. a couple of one night stands," I tell her, defending myself. That is a complete lie. I have not had sex with anyone since my ex Michael.

"Okay, G, look," she says, turning to me. "He's right next door and you said he's nice."

"Ari, he told me he has a lot of sex," I chuckle at her, shaking my head. Who even says that? "Why would I want to be one of those girls?"

"Oh, yikes," she says, gritting her teeth. "Okay, so maybe don't listen to me."

"I never do," I smile at her and she rolls her eyes.

"Dinner's ready, guys!" Stephen yells from the kitchen. Arizona and I stand up, pushing each other out of the way to get to the food first. Needless to say, I won.

After we all eat dinner together, Arizona decides that her and Stephen should go home and have some alone time since Carly wants to spend the night with me. I agree and tell them I'll clean up everything.

"So Carly, what do you want to do?" I ask my six year old niece as we sit on my bed. "I have some board games and tons of movies in those boxes."

"GiGi, can we maybe bake something?" She smiles at me sweetly. "I know you bake all day but I haven't gotten to help you."

"Sure, if that's what you want to do," I say to her as I get off of my bed. "What do you want to make?"

"What do you have the ingredients to make?" She asks me, following me into the kitchen where I open the pantry and let her step inside.

"One thing you'll learn about me, Car, is that I have the ingredients to bake pretty much anything," I say to her as she looks around at everything on the shelves.

"Pumpkin cupcakes?" She turns around and looks up at me. "Mama says that's the best thing you make."

"She does love them," I chuckle, nodding at her. "Sure, we can pull that off."

I grab the things I need from the pantry and sit them on the counter. I walk over to the refrigerator and get what I need out of there as well.

I grab the apron that was sitting on a barstool, tying it around my back and look at Carly who is staring at me.

"GiGi, do you have another apron for me?" She asks me, hoping with her whole heart that I do.

"You're in luck," I smile at her as I walk over to the small closet in the living room, taking out a smaller one. "Here you go."

She smiles and lets me put it over her, tying it around her as well.

"When I bake, I like to listen to music," I look down at Carly and walk over to the Bluetooth speaker I have sitting in my kitchen. I connect my phone to it and play my baking song. "But this one is an essential."