Fixing Her

Chapter X

I return back to the house in complete shock, fear, and a little bit of pain. I still haven't completely taken in that Landon really doesn't want anything to do with me. I shouldn't care, because it's not like he stands out from the other boys to me, but I do and that's because I want to like all of the boys, not all of them except one. However, I can't show my true feelings when I open the door, because inside, Emma, Iona and the boys (all except Landon who hasn't shown up yet, and Dylan who just arrived) are putting up decorations, cooking, or just running around with no clue about what to do. In this case, the last task is being done by Thomas.

When they notice me and Dylan in the middle of the hubbub, they take a second from their work to say hi to us.

"Dylan!" Emma yells from inside the kitchen. I follow him and see Emma standing on the other side of the counter with a pink apron, one reminding me of Linda's and making my heart ache. She's filling cupcake forms and from the flour stains that have dotted her and the kitchen, I can tell she's in a hurry. "Thank God you're back. I need you to pick up the cake from Linda's, can you do that for me? Or get someone from the outside to do it?"

"Sure," he says and then turns to me. "Which reminds me, we never talked about why you quit. You seemed to like it."

Oh God.

I swallow and switch into lie mode. I'm getting very good at it. I don't even need to think twice before switching.

"I did, it was great," I say and swallow again. "I just couldn't balance it very well, school and work. I loved it there, they were so nice to me and I had much fun, but... it was a bit more than I could handle."

He nods.

"Yeah I get that. They're not many, so they've got pretty much to do."

I smile and he turns to the clock on the wall. "Well, I better get that cake. They're here in half an hour."

He then leaves. I look at Emma, who at Dylan's mention of the time got even more to do.

"Is there something I can do?" I ask her.

"I though you'd never ask," she says and laughs. "Can you clean up maybe? I know what a bad task that is, but I could really use the save of time."

"No, I'll do it. Don't worry."

I put plates, bowls, cups, wooden spoons and icing cornets in the sink, place the ingredientes that she's used in their right places after spending a couple of minutes to search for the right cabinets, throw plastic bags away and when everything is done I start washing the things I threw inside the sink, and everything while talking to her. It went a lot faster than I was expecting, and I guess that's because of my short time at the café. I'm much more flexible and much faster now. I really miss them, but I can't go back. I can't have the image of everything being replayed in my head more than it already is.