Favourable Tragedy

04 | PANCAKES

CHAPTER FOUR

JESSICA

"Happy Birthday you bitch!!! I love you so much!!!" I exclaimed when the clock struck 12, I literally jumped on Anna giving her a tight bone-crushing hug.

It was Anna's birthday, for which I decided to take a day off because I wanted to spend the entire day with her plus, I really needed this one work-free day after last few hectic days, these few days literally drained all my energy. Thank god Aunt Jenny was now completely fine otherwise it was impossible to take a day off.

Every year I wish her through phone, I usually make a video and write a big ass paragraph and send it to her on a text, but this year as she was with me here I decided to give her handwritten letter with a short poem written in it. I got off from her and sat beside her to give her the letter.

"Here, I wrote this for you and I am expecting that you will cry while reading this otherwise I will hit you which I am sure as hell will make you cry" I laughed while handing her the letter

"Aww, thank you so much, let me read it" She started reading the letter and by the time she was done reading it her eyes were already filled with tears, her cheeks and nose were now red. "Oh my god Jess, this is so overwhelming I love you so much, bitch! She sobbed while giving me a hug.

After some emotional talks and hilarious gossiping, we both fell asleep. I woke up early in the morning because today I was going to cook breakfast and also bake a cake for Anna. I quickly got up and went to my bathroom to freshen up and then headed right towards the kitchen and started preparing for pancakes with the help of my mom. By the time I was done making pancakes Anna was already awakened and she came directly to the dining room.

"Good Morning birthday girl," I said while serving her the pancakes "I cooked this for you, not everyone is lucky enough to eat something which I've cooked"

"Yes, we get to see this cooking side of Jess on very rare occasions" My mom joked while coming out of the kitchen "Happy Birthday sweetie, love you" My mom wished Anna while kissing her on a forehead

"Thanks, Mimi, Love you too" Anna giggled. She calls my mom Mimi because my mom doesn't like when someone calls her Aunt. Ha-ha

"Mom, we need permission," I asked innocently

"For?"

"For Anna's birthday party, can we invite a few friends tonight and throw a small birthday party for Anna?

"Sure honey, me and your dad are anyway going out for a dinner with dad's friend." Mom replied "enjoy your evening but make sure you clean up all the mess and don't cross your boundaries" by which she meant alcohol is not allowed and people can enjoy only in the hall area, no entry in the kitchen nor in any bedrooms.

"Thanks, Mom you are the best, and don't worry we will take care of everything," I replied giving my mom a hug "Okay, now I got to go, I am going to the grocery store to buy a few things, I will be back in an hour"

"What things?" Anna asked

"That you will know later birthday girl" I winked and headed towards the main door "now go and take a shower at least on your birthday"

I left the house and reached the grocery store, I took a quick look at the products list which I wanted to buy and one by one started putting all the products in my basket, I was so busy in shopping all those products I didn't notice people around me but when I was about to take a turn to my left, I saw someone with a familiar face, I saw him. Oh fuck, what should I do? Should I go and talk with him or should I just ignore him and pretend that I never saw him in the first place, to say that I was nervous would be an understatement, because I didn't expect to see him today, not here at least. I didn't know why this guy made me so nervous, I got butterflies, no wait, in fact, the whole zoo was dancing in my stomach. If I would have gone and talked with him in this condition, I would have ended up making fool of myself so I decided to go in the opposite direction and instead of left, I turned to my right.

"Ouch!!" I cried a little loudly, just as my pinkie toe made contact with the edge of the table which was enough to grab the attention of people near me. That hurt

"Hey, are you alright?" I heard a male voice from behind which sounded familiar. oh god no! It's Ethan! "Are you hurt?" and now that guy was standing in front of me. 

"I am fine, thanks though" I tried to avoid eye contact with him by looking at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Here, your basket" he handed me my basket which fell down when I hurt my pinkie toe.

"Thanks" I replied hesitantly giving him a smile because now I was left with no option but to face him

"Hey, Hazelnut!" he said with little excitement in his voice.

"huh? What?" I narrowed my eyes in confusion

"that's what written on your t-shirt," he said while pointing at my t-shirt "you are that girl from the coffee shop right? sorry, I mean that's your only identity I know since I don't know your name yet"

"Yeah, it's okay you don't need to be sorry, it's not like we ever got a real chance to introduce ourselves" I replied with a genuine smile on my face, he recognised me, I mean of course he saw me almost every day since the last few days but still it made me feel good and I found myself kind of blushing with the thought of this. "I am Jessica by the way"

"Ethan Williams, nice to meet you Jessica" He grinned. Damn why the hell this boy is so cute.

"Nice to meet you too Ethan, Are you here with your mom?" I asked him. I don't know why I was trying to continue this conversation instead of just getting out of this place as soon as possible

"No, why?"

"It's kind of rare to see boys doing grocery shopping that's why"

"I can't disagree but even if I am not here with my mother, I am here because of her though," he said, "she asked me to bring some stuff when I was on my way to the home"

"Oh, I see." I replied

"Seems like you are going to bake a cake today," He said while glancing at my basket "and by the way, did you take a day off today? I didn't see you at the coffee shop in the morning"

"Yeah, actually it's my cousin's birthday so I wanted to spend entire with her and do something special for her "I replied. Should I invite him to the party? But I don't even know him that much, it's better to drop this idea for now

"That's great, do you need any help?" he asked. Which was actually unexpected but now it was just getting too much of interaction with him for one day. My knees started feeling weak. His presence around me made me feel something unusual and I didn't want him to see how nervous I was getting with each passing minute even though I tried my best to act cool.

"Thanks, but actually I almost done," I said politely. "I am getting late, I should probably just go, Goodbye Ethan, it was nice to meet you"

"It's okay, it was nice to meet you too. Jessica, see you again" He smiled

I nodded giving him a faint smile and left the store as fast as I can.

***

Hello guys,  what do you think of this unexpected meeting of Ethan and Jessica? please vote and comment if you liked this chapter. thanks for reading, have a great day/ night! ❤

- Pallavi