[ON HOLD]
Leah Graham, a twenty year old college student and owner of a small bakery shop in the boring town of Wellspring. Being young and chasing her dreams was not as easy as she thought - tripping between her emotional, financial and relationshi...
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I PICKED UP the packet of dough and poured it into the mixing bowl, it flew like dust around me before I started whisking the stiff mixture with a wooden sp, clockwise. It was seven in the morning - one hour before the opening of the shop.
The double doors to the kitchen opened, followed by the familiar noise of boots - I smiled knowing who it was.
"Strawberry, You're so hardworking." she clicked her tongue, yawning and gazing at the counter occupied with all the baking equipment.
"That what pays off, cupcake," I smirked proudly, still stirring the chocolate mix. This was the third batch of cupcakes for today, the vanilla and strawberry ones are already in the oven and will be ready in five minutes.
From the corner of my eye I stole a few glances of her, she wore a pretty beige-colored sweater - too thin for the cold of Wellsbeing, along with black pants and leather boots. Her hair was messily tucked with some pins - avoiding them to hover over her eyes.
"Hey, look here!" out of nowhere she squealed - being startled by the voice I abruptly turned my head towards her just to have the flash of her phone blind my vision.
"What are you-" before I could complete, the flash was gone and I felt a soft and warm touch of her fingers on my cheeks, slowly stroking it - sending a shiver down my spine. My legs started to tremble under her touch as my brain took a minute to register what's happening.
"You had dough on your cheeks," she chuckled, and lifted her phone in the air, "took a cute snap of it,"
I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. I could feel my cheeks turning into a shade of pink as I concentrated on whipping the batter to distract my thoughts.
She saw my fiddling as a smug grin covered her face, keeping both hands on the counter and slightly leaning towards it she asked, "What's wrong, strawberry?"
"Nothing, stop pestering me." I shushed her away. Not making eye contact once, I transferred the mix into the cupcake mold after greasing. A small smile played on her lips, as her eyes watched my every move carefully - making me nervous and clumsy.
"Babe," I heard the deep, calm voice of Elijah coming from the shop, I peeked at the double door connecting the kitchen and the shop as I waited for him to emerge - and he did. He had many books in his hand and a sling bag over his shoulder indicating he's off to college.
He walked straight towards me, passing Arryn a muddled look. He took me into a small hug and planted a kiss on my cheek. I took in a deep breath and smiled at him - feeling Arryn's eyes drilling into me this whole time.
Elijah's raised an eyebrow at me as he looked between me and her, seeing his expression Arryn smiled widely - which seemed too fake, stretching her hand outwards to him.
"Arryn. Leah must've told you about me."
"Uhm..." Elijah clicked his tongue, nodding his head sideways.
Unable to bear this awkward encounter, I cleared my throat and intervened, " Eli, This is my best friend, Arryn and Arryn, this is Elijah - my boyfriend."
She took in a sharp breath and smiled widely at him, nodding her head along. This tension came to an end when Elijah turned towards me and took out a huge black binder from his bag, resting it on the space on the counter. Realizing what is in the binder, I immediately clenched my jaw and glared at him.
"You don't need to do anything right now, just read it okay? I'm leaving, see you in the evening." he raised his hand in surrender and left biding goodbye.
"So you don't tell your boyfriends about your friends or are you specifically ashamed of me?" she asked as soon as he left. I was speechless to her question as I could sense a tone of hurt in her words.
"Wha- you came back yesterday after ghosting me for three years and you want me to"
Before I could complete, she let out a small scoff and nodded, "Yeah, I understand...Leah."
Without waiting for my reply, she picked up the finished cupcake tray and left the kitchen. She said my real name, so it affected her and she didn't understand. I let out a deep breath and shut my eyes in annoyance - kind of regretting saying that.
The truth is, I decided to tell my partners about her after I fully trusted them about my past - because Arryn is very important to me. But, none of my relationships - men or woman lasted long enough to let me share anything about her.
