starstruck - lrh

twenty-four.

Luke's POV:

I don't know whose idea it was to crack open the one-hundred dollar bottle of tequila, but nonetheless, here we are, already halfway done with it, and trying to bake a batch of cookies.

The problem is, Haven bought the ingredients to make them from scratch. It's not like she took the easy route where we have the ability to stick them in the oven, instead, we have to somehow put all this together as we're too many drinks deep for our own good at this point.

I stare at the brown sugar in front of me and can't remember for the life of me if it was half a cup or quarter of a cup. I don't bother checking as I fill the measuring glass and Haven sits across from me at the counter.

I told her I would measure out all the ingredients because I can see the alcohol is having more of an effect on her as it is me. I don't doubt that her measuring skills will be affected accordingly.

I'm determined to make sure these are the best cookies she's ever had in her life.

"Luke, that's too much!" she calls out, grabbing my attention as I look to her with raised eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" I ask, bringing the cup up to my eyes to get a better view of it. "It's perfectly aligned with the line."

"Yeah, at half a cup. The directions say a quarter of a cup," she says pressing her finger to the book where the directions are and I resist the urge to groan in annoyance.

Of course it was only a quarter of a cup.

"Whatever," I say, waving her off. "The more the merrier."

Haven gasps and is about to say something but I pour it in regardless. I don't have the energy to remeasure and I feel like it's better to have more than less.

Right?

"Luke!" she shrieks. "You're going to mess up the cookies."

"Yeah, in a good way," I say confidently as I go to turn towards the bottle of tequila and refill my glass.

The bottle she has is incredible and I've never tasted anything like this brand. It's incredibly smooth and I can't believe I've gone this long in life without it.

"You're fired," she says, taking the opportunity to take over my spot. "I'm the head baker now."

"Hold on, wait a damn minute," I say turning around to her, not filling up my glass as I don't want to be replaced.

I want to make these so I can get the credit for them when Haven's devouring them and loving every bite of it. I want the ability of being able to be proud of them and having my name tied to them.

"Nope, I am not waiting any damn minutes," Haven says, her back to me as she faces the bowl. "You lost your chance."

I grip onto both sides of her waist in order to move her from the spot as she shrieks instantly and I place her away from the bowl. Taking control of my grounds once more, I grab the next ingredient.

"That's not how it works, sweetheart," the pet name rolling off my tongue a lot quicker than I had planned.

I would've at least liked to think it over but the alcohol begs otherwise as it makes its own choices and says things sober Luke would never. After all, sober Luke would never have the nerve to use a nickname for Haven. Sober Luke would convince himself that he doesn't have the right to use a nickname for a girl like Haven Morano.

However, right now I can't even process the feeling of regret as the tequila is making me feel too many other positive things.

"Oh yeah?" she asks. "We'll see about that."