Miss. Matchmaker |✓

Chapter 20

The boiling water splashes onto my wrist as I drop the spaghetti out from it's box, this causes me to inhale a sharp breath.

"Maybe you should try dropping it a little lower," Harper suggest, walking out of the bathroom while simultaneously attempting to apply mascara. My head whips over to my arm and I notice I'm holding it about a foot over the pot on the stove. "Ow ow ow." I turn to see Harper running back into the bathroom to remove mascara from what I presume to be her eyeball.

"And maybe you shouldn't apply make-up without a mirror!" I yell to her to which I'm met with a high-pitched mock of my voice. "Say, why are you getting all dolled up for my man anyway?" The words 'my man' naturally flowed out of my mouth and I hadn't been embarrassed by them.

"Well, if you must know, my plan is to make him fall head over heels in love with me." She answers with a voice oozing sarcasm, I can't help but let out a gag as I stir the tomato sauce. Harper finally emerges from the bathroom, her green-brown eyes now tinged red due to the earlier incident. Her crimson red hair reaching new heights as it falls in curly waves to the small of her back, a new record for Harper. A knock on the door interrupts our conversation and I consciously tug at the hem of my skirt as I race to the door. "Put on some shoes, weirdo." Harper's heels clack against the wood floor as I nearly fall on my face in my polka-dot socks.

Before tugging open the door, I wipe off the stray hairs that managed to glue themselves to my lip gloss. I reveal a smiling Dustin as well as Mabel who stands with her arms folded over her chest. "Hey, beautiful," He thrust a bouquet of purple dahlias into my face, awkwardly before reeling back his hand and sheepishly smiling at me. "Sorry."

"It's okay," my voice is barely a whisper as a I take them from his grip and place a short kiss on his stubbly cheek. "Hi Mabel." I peer over at her and she can't even make eye contact with me, I look to Dustin with a confused look and he replies with a shrug. I can't help but get a bit upset with her quietness but I decide to shake it off. I make room to allow them to walk in, Dustin shoves his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans; I appreciate his broad shoulders in the dark green dress shirt he's sporting.

"Hi, I'm Harper, I'm sure you've heard tons about me." I squint my eyes at Harper's appearance, suddenly her black dress seems too short and her heels too tall.

Dustin smiles and immediately puts his hand out for a shake, "Dustin." He simply says as Harper slowly places her hand in his, her red nails standing broadly out against her pale skin.

Mabel peeks out from her curtain of dark blonde hair, and offers a smile to Harper to which Harper politely returns one. I feel a tinge of jealousy as Harper was able to gain such a reaction but, once again, push it away.

"Well, I'll go get dinner," I walk into the kitchen and hear Harper walk them over to the dining table where I've already set the salad and bread, I pull out a bowl from my cupboard and begin to layer the spaghetti with sauce before plating some meatballs on a separate plate. Cooking was never my forte but with Harper her everything was smooth sailing. "I hope you're all hungry." I manage to balance the pasta bowl on one hand and the meatballs on the other. Dustin jumps from his seat and takes the pasta from my hands, like a gentleman; I mouth a thank you to him.

"Starved, this looks great, darlin'." I can't help the blush the climbs it's way from my neck to my cheeks. I give him a shave with my shoulders as I sit next to him and he flashes me a grin, the blush makes my cheeks red-hot at this point.

"Well, dig in." Dustin and Mabel are holding hands from across the table and he's extended his other one towards me, I cock my head to the side before it washes over me that they're about to say grace. I take his hand and reach for Harper's, she's holding the tongs to the salad bowl and allbut rolls her eyes at me as she grabs my hand nonetheless.