Only in My Dreams

Chapter 7

Saturday came and went and finally, it was time to leave. I baked the strawberry cupcakes and frosted them with strawberry buttercream. The frosting was stacked nicely on top of each cupcake and then I put half a strawberry on top. It took some serious strength to not each of them.

Before I got out the door, I put the cupcakes in the fancy cupcake container that I got for my birthday. I also made sure to finish the bracelet that I made for her the night before so I had that on my wrist so I wouldn't leave it somewhere like I normally do.

I said goodbye to my parents and drove off. Laura's house was only a few minutes' drive. She only lived down the road from me. In the summertime, I would always bike to her house to hang out.

When I got there, I knocked on the door and I heard her mom shout from the kitchen to come in. I did so and took off my shoes in the mudroom. Walking to the kitchen, I started smelling delicious foods like cookies and chocolate. When I rounded the corner to the kitchen I noticed she was boiling water on the stove and was currently sifting through her pots and pans until she found a casserole dish.

"Hi!" I said. "What can I help with? What are you doing with that casserole dish?"

"Hey Melony! I'm just making oven-baked Mac-and-Cheese. You can start putting streamers up, particularly where the garage door is because that's where they're going to enter from. Thank you so much for helping out!" Laura's mom exclaimed.

"It's my pleasure! Thank you for letting this idea happen," I said as I picked up the streamers from the counter and pulled out scissors and tape from the drawer. To reach the ceiling, I carried a chair to the spot I want to put up streamers and got to work.

Mrs. Lightwood was in the next room over singing softly to the music blaring and occasionally I saw her standing over the stove or hear the oven beeping and her taking out the pan of cookies.

After half an hour, people started showing up with their food all organized in a container or plate. Mrs. Lightwood and I put all of the food on the peninsula countertop and organized them by salty to sweet.

Mrs. Lightwood went through the plan and where she wanted us to hide. After that, we all just hung out around the couches in the living room, which connected to the kitchen. I stayed quiet for the most part while everyone joked with an occasional laugh or a "yeah" or "no".

"I think one person should just scare the shit out of Laura when she comes through the door. Costume and all," Corbin joked.

"What were you thinking? Like just a bedsheet? I didn't bring any costume, but if someone was strangely prepared to dress up, have at it," I responded, chuckling. Everyone joined in and added their agreement.

"Fair point fair point," Corbin nodded. "I'll be happy to go under a bedsheet to scare Laura."

"Nah, that's a waste of a bedsheet," Nolan chimed in. I agreed with him a hundred percent. I'm the type of person who doesn't like to waste anything, whether that's water or food, it doesn't matter.

"I agree. And besides, I've known her for a long time so I've come to realize that she is super jumpy and gets scared at the smallest things," I added.

All of a sudden, Laura's mom walks towards us from the kitchen where she was baking and politely ushered us to our places. Since there was a small hallway from where Laura was supposed to appear and where the main area was, it wasn't that hard to stay invisible from the doorway.

Everyone got their poppers, blowouts, and party hats and we all presumed our position not visible to the door. Laura would be expecting her mom to make dinner so we didn't turn off the lights and only her mom could be visible. Mrs. Lightwood stayed around the corner even though she could be seen.