Chapter 7
She is packing her bag for her weekend with Selena when Kitty walks in.
'What? You're going again?' she moans.
Lara Jean looks over at her surprised. 'Yeah, I'm spending the weekend with one of my college friends. She lives about an hour away.' She says.
She is pretty sure that she has everything. Enough clothes, pyjamas, toiletries, shoes and her cookies. She is trying to jump onto her suitcase in order to shut it.
'Oh ok…' Kitty says softly before leaving her room.
Lara Jean looks at the door as it closes. She can't understand why Kitty almost looked sad, she had been acting like she didn't even want Lara Jean here for some time.
Margot is going to visit some friends as well this weekend, so she wonders if Kitty is going to be ok without them again. Especially after last night when they had such a fun night together as a family again.
She goes downstairs with her bag and drops it at the door before going to the kitchen. Trina is in the kitchen measuring out what looks to be pieces of meat.
'Hey Trina, does Kitty have any plans this weekend?' Lara Jean asks, sitting down on one of the stools.
Trina is still fiddling with the numbers as she distractedly says, 'Uhhhh, I think so. Something about maybe a party this afternoon. Why?'
'I just feel bad that Margot and I are ditching her for the weekend.' Lara Jean whispers, trying to hide how guilty she feels.
'Oh I think she understands. She has the rest of the holidays to catch up with you two anyways.' Trina says casually, still focussing on the scales.
Lara Jean gets a text message from Selena that she is just outside and excitedly jumps off her stool and runs to the door.
'Bye Trina, Bye Kitty, Bye Margot!' she cries as she grabs her bag and races out the door.
She jumps into the passenger seat, meeting Selena's excited smile with her own.
'Who's ready to party?!' Selena screams out.
'I am!' Lara Jean screams back.
They both explode into laughter. Both of them are so alike and always plan on partying really hard but chicken out as soon as they get there. They had literally planned tonight so that they could both party as hard as they want and make sure that they have a place to sleep and will be looked after. Lara Jean is so pumped.
They are dancing and singing to party pop music until they get onto the highway.
Selena turns down the dial. 'So tell me, what have you been up to?' she asks excitedly.
'Wellllll, I went to New York!' Lara Jean answers.
'What? That's so awesome what did you do?' Selena says, trying to turn to her but also trying to watch the road.
'It was so amazing! We went to the bakery where they do all of the Cake Boss filming and we got to see some of their amazingly decorated cakes. Then we got to go behind a bunch of bakeries and got to see all of their massive mixing bowls, rotating ovens and we even got to watch someone decorate a wedding cake that is apparently for some big celebrities daughter's wedding. Then we got a class from a pastry chef where we learnt how to use temper chocolate and make sugar flowers.' Lara Jean recounts her day in New York with such a big smile on her face.
'Oh that's so good! How did you get along with the seniors and juniors? Because they were the only ones going, right?' Selena took a momen to think before asking.
Lara Jean's face warms as she hears how much Selena was paying attention to her complaining about not being able to go during the semester.
'Yeah it was really good. Everyone was super nice and Tayla made such a great effort to include me in everything. I got on really well with, I don't know if you know them, but Charlotte, Amber and I were in a room together so we got quite close.' Lara Jean tells her. The three of them even have a group chat which they exchanged all their photos from the trip together and have agreed they are all going to try to make sugar flowers again which they have to send to everyone as proof.
'Oh yeah, I think I've heard of Amber. She studies pre-med, right?'
Lara Jean thinks about this and nods as she remembers that Selena is right.
'Did you meet Polly at all? She's a junior that used to go to my high school.' Selena gives her a quick sideways look before changing lanes.
Lara Jean tries to hold a smile on her face as she thinks about Polly. She doesn't want to judge her because she is sure that she is a lovely girl, she just can't get the image of her and Peter flirting by the bus before they left out of her head.
'Yeah, I met her. She's really nice.' Lara Jean looks out the window as she answers so Selena can't see straight through her fake smile.
'Really? I mean, I don't doubt she is, but apparently she just had a really messy break up with her college boyfriend before the semester ended. They were together like all through high school and college, so I'm sure she is probably struggling.' Selena informs Lara Jean.
Usually she would be interested to hear this about one of Selena's friends, despite not knowing her well but this just puts a sick feeling in her stomach. Great, she thinks, now her and Peter can comfort each other through their break ups with their high school loves.
She starts to imagine their conversations together as they gossip about her and Polly's ex-boyfriend and how they both hurt them so much.
'Yeah I could tell.' Lara Jean said coldly. She tried to stop herself but Selena had started elaborating more about Polly and Lara Jean just didn't want to talk about her anymore.
'OOOOOOOOOO, icy! What did she do?' Selena leans over, interested.
Lara Jean always tries to give people the benefit of the doubt and rarely has anything bad to say about anyone, so as soon as it looks like she doesn't like someone, Selena and everyone else around her is always interested.
'Nothing.' Lara Jean tries to brush her off.
'Nah, that's not gonna work. Tell me!' Selena pushes back.
Lara Jean rolls her eyes. 'Fine, yeah she and I were waiting for the bus at UVA, then Peter came over to talk to us. She obviously fell for his charm and then they were flirting right in front of me.' She says, looking out at the road.
Her heart hurts as she says those words out loud. She knows that she isn't supposed to be mad, but Peter came over to talk to her and then to be flirting with another girl in front of her, was just purely mean.
'Wait like flirting, flirting or was he just being nice and she was laying it on thick?' Selena questions.
Lara Jean takes a moment to think about that. In the past, she probably would have just said that Peter was being nice and Polly was reading into it, but that was when they were together and she trusted him to never flirt with any other girl. Now, she wasn't sure. He was single and probably was trying to take advantage of that by flirting and being nice to whoever he could.
'I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it was flirting, flirting.' She answers.
'Damn, I tell you, Polly is a barracuda. Don't worry, I'm sure if Peter is as great as you made him out to be then he would never do anything to hurt you, and if he does, then you know that he isn't as great as you thought he was and so good riddance!' She dramatically yells the end of her sentence, flicking her arm as she does.
Lara Jean can't help but laugh. Selena turns up the music again to sing and dance to. Lara Jean occasionally joins in, she is upset at Peter for doing what he did but she also can't forget how upset he looked at himself as the bus went away. This weekend is shaping up to be exactly what she needs.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
She can't believe the amount of people who have come that night. So many people have driven for almost 4 hours to get to Selena's house and Lara Jean is loving it. Alex has even come all the way down from her home to be there tonight.
'Here Lara Jean, finish this.' Alex says, hanging her a red solo cup.
Lara Jean takes a sip. It's really strong and she grmiaces at the taste.
'Nah nah nah, you gotta finish it. Tonight we are letting the party girl out!' Alex says while pushing the cup towards Lara Jean's mouth again.
Lara Jean rolls her eyes.
'Yeah we have to figure out if our theory is true.' Jen pipes in standing next to her.
'What theory?' asks Lara Jean, before taking another sip. She takes a big mouthful and shivers as the bad taste of alcohol runs down her throat, she is already starting to feel a little light headed.
'See Bonnie and I think that you are a party girl in an innocent girl's body, ready to explode after being shaken up by people for so long but Alex and Selena don't think that's the case.' Jen explains to her.
'What?' Lara Jean is shocked at this.
'We aren't saying that you won't be a party girl, but we still reckon you'll be tame when drunk unlike the other two who are convinced you'll be a whole new woman.' Alex justifies, rolling her eyes at Jen.
Lara Jean shrugs and takes another drink. The only other time she has been really drunk was at Trina's Bachelorette Party but that night was in another league of its own given that it wasn't much of a party after she broke up with Peter, again.
She stays talking with Alex and Jen for a bit longer until she finishes her drink with a lot of encouragement from them. She is feeling a lot more lightheaded and getting a floating feeling which is familiar.
She goes to the bathroom and almost struggles to look at her reflection.
She comes back down and notices Selena playing Beer Pong.
'Lara Jean! Come be on my team!' Selena yells at her, dramatically gesturing at her to come over.
Lara Jean makes a pouty face. 'I don't like beer though!' she moans as Selena pulls her into a hug.
'How about vodka shots?' one of the guys on the other side of the table suggests.
Lara Jean's eyes go wide. That is a horrible idea, but she kinda wants to do it. She has never felt comfortable enough to get drunk at a party before. She has always been scared that she didn't know the person's who house it was very well and she wasn't sure if she had to look after people, but now she didn't feel that way. She was literally going to crash upstairs and Alex and Jen were both staying with them and were relatively sober to look after them. Other girls from their residence hall were also sleeping over as well so there were plenty of people to help out.
'No way!' Selena says.
Lara Jean looks at Alex and Jen who have just tuned into the conversation. 'Uh I guess if you guys are ok with that….?' She asks them.
They give her a bright smile. 'Lara Jean, do it! I need so way to redeem myself from ruining your uber rating by throwing up in one, three weekends in a row!' Alex jokes.
Jen joins in. 'Yeah, you once spent three hours with me trying to get me to put clothes on, so it's fair.'
Selena is watching their conversation and giving Lara Jean a shocked look.
Lara Jean smiles at the boys across from her. 'Ok, let's do it! But it's gotta by like 6 cups only for us and you get 10.' She says with a cheeky smile on her face.
One of the them flashes her a smile. 'Oh I like the way you play! We'll see who's left standing at the end.' He says with her, raising his eyebrows as he does.
Selena elbows her in the ribs with a smile as she feels a small blush come over her face.
They start playing. Her and Selena are much better than they thought, but with them having to make 10 and the boys only 6, it is an easy win for them. After the game her and Selena have done three shots each, which Alex and Jen tell her is enough for the moment.
She complains for a minute about how she doesn't feel anything yet, but they both nod unconvinced at her and tell her that it'll all hit at once very soon.
She grabs their hands and drags them to where Selena has a make shift dance floor outside. Usually she would be freezing in just her skirt and knit sweater, but for some odd reason she feels really warm.
They have so much fun dancing and jumping around to all the bangers that play. It is a playlist literally full of just hits from 2008-2013. They all go berserk when 'Teenage Dream', 'Dynamite' and 'Love Story' start playing. Lara Jean is almost sure that she isn't going to have a voice the next day. As they keep dancing, she feels the world start spinning faster and faster and decides she has to sit down otherwise she might fall down. She plops down on one of the couches, with her head back. Alex comes and sits next to her, she places a bucket filled with fluffed tissues in Lara Jean's lap.
'The tissues will stop it from going everywhere.' Alex says, softly to Lara Jean.
Lara Jean can't really understand what she is talking about but nods anyway.
'Alex the camel, has one hump! Alex the camel has two humps!...' Lara Jean starts singing joyfully counting as many number as she can.
She keeps laughing at herself thinking that this is the most hilarious thing she could be singing. Alex laughs a few times but then no longer finds it amusing to be called a camel after some time.
'Ok, sit here with your head near the bucket. I'm going to go get you some water.' Alex says as she stands up off the couch and walks towards the kitchen.
Lara Jean is looking around excitedly. She has to close one of her eyes, as her vision was getting very hazey. She feels someone come sit next to her.
'Hello!' she says cheerfully at them, still trying to recognise who they are.
'Hey Lara Jean, I'm Shawn, we met before playing beer pong.' He says with a bright smile.
She claps her hands in delight. 'Shawn! I'm so glad to see you again!' she squeals excitedly.
She doesn't know why she is doing this or even why she is glad but she just remembers that he was a really good time.
'Too bad you couldn't play as well as you said you could.' She teases him, gently nudging his shoulder.
'Not my fault, you and your friend have some ninja skills.' He quips back. He leans back on her which also tells her that he is on about the same level as her.
'By ninja you mean we don't suck.' She laughs hard at her own joke.
He laughs as well. Then he gives her a big pout. 'Hey that's not fair, maybe I secretly wanted you to win.'
She has no idea what she is doing but somehow she ends up with her hands on her face, trying to push his mouth back into a smile.
'And why would you want that?' she asks, her hands still on his face.
'Cause then I might still have a shot with you.' He flirts.
Lara Jean pulls her head away to see if he is serious. He is giving her a sly smile, looking hard at her.
For a moment, she can see what is about to happen and she wants the next moments to happen. She can see how easy it is for her, with her hands on his face to lean forward and kiss him. That's what he is waiting for her to do. He wants to see if he still has a shot with her, but she has to show him. Kissing someone else, maybe that's exactly what I need right now, she thinks to herself. The intoxicating feeling of having her lips on someone else's and their hands in her hair sounds so appealing right now, but she wants Peter's hair and lips. She tries to shake that thought quickly out of her head. No she doesn't, she tells herself firmly and she is about to prove it. She starts to lean in and sees Shawn close his eyes expectantly, she is just about to touch him….
Suddenly a wash of nausea comes over her and she quickly turns her head towards the bucket. Shawn yelps and jumps back from her in fright.
'Oh man, Lara Jean, you ok?' he says, as he promptly runs behind her and holds her hair.
Lara Jean feels comfort in having his hands in her hair and curses herself for not making her mind up sooner and kissing him faster, but these thoughts only last a moment as she hurls herself over the bucket again.
'Oh, it's ok, Lara Jean, I got you.' She hears Alex say to her and then she feels herself being carried away.
She isn't sure what happens for the rest of the night. She remembers throwing up a lot more, getting showered and then lying in bed, before throwing out again. She doesn't know what time it is when she finally gets to sleep.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
She wakes up and feels really hot. Like sweating hot. She looks around and sees Alex in the bed next to her. She stands up quickly and walks over to the thermostat on the wall. It is set to a much higher temperature then it should be. She turns the dial right off. She then stumbles back to bed as the blood reaches her head. Next to her bed is a bottle that says 'Read Me' in big writing. She takes the top off and starts gulping it down. It's water, thank goodness and she feels as if she has never been this thirsty in her life. She finishes the bottle and puts it back beside her, before lying back down with hopes that the world will stop spinning.
She doesn't know how much later it is when she feels someone nudging her.
'Lara Jean, wake up!' she hears a voice.
She tries to stay asleep.
'Lara Jean, don't make me douse you in water.' They threaten.
She opens her eyes and sees Alex in front of her.
'Come on, get up!' she says, grabbing Lara Jean by her two hands.
She eventually sits up and from there Alex leads her downstairs. She sees that is it already the later afternoon as she sits down in front of a plate of toast an a bottle of hydrolyte.
She takes big gulps of the hydrolyte and bites into her toast.
'How was last night?' Selena asks, as she sits down across from her with a smile.
'Actually really good!' Lara Jean pipes back.
'Man, you don't seem hungover at all.' Alex says looking taken aback.
Lara Jean smiles at her. 'Yeah I don't know. Maybe I just threw up or the alcohol I drank and then I drank heaps of water when I woke up so I feel fine.'
Selena nods her head. 'Yeah I think I'm the same. Cause I was throwing up so much last night but then I woke up feeling fine. But just don't tell Jen cause she is feeling awful.'
Lara Jean mouths thank you to her as Jen slumps down on the chair next to them.
'Why do we drink even though it hurts us?' Jen wails from her seat.
They all try not to laugh at how dramatic she is being. She is almost usually like this after a night out.
'What time is it anyway?' Lara Jean asks, curiously. She can't see any clocks in Selena's kitchen.
'It's about 3pm.' Alex says, getting up to get another piece of toast.
'What!?' Lara Jean reacts strongly.
Selena laughs at her panic. 'Lara Jean, don't worry I'll drive you back tomorrow after you have fully recovered.'
'But what about my dad? He is probably expecting me to be home soon.' She rambles still stressed about the time.
Alex places a strong hand on her arm when she tries to get up from the table and pushes her back down. 'Lara Jean, relax. Your dad rang this morning and I picked up and told him you weren't feeling well and you would be back tomorrow. He agreed that was all fine and just wants you to call him later.' Alex explains.
Lara Jean gives a sigh of relief. She is very glad that she doesn't have to face her dad about not coming home now because Selena and her are probably not in the best shape to be allowed to drive at the moment.
'Wait, I wasn't feeling well? What exactly did you say?' she asks Alex.
Alex gives her a shrug. 'Look I didn't say anything explicit, but let's just say I think he could read between the lines.'
Lara Jean groans. Great, another time that her dad finds out about her having too much alcohol. He has no idea at all about what Margot gets up to, but when it comes to Lara Jean, he seems to know everything. She just hopes that he won't try bring it up or chat to her about when she gets home, given that she rarely goes out and drinks.
That night all the girls decide to have a movie night sleep over just like they would have if they were 10. It is so much fun for them to have a whole bunch of mattresses in the living room in front of the tv, complete with bowls of food and they even bring out their hairbrushes to attempt to braid each other's hair. Lara Jean remembers the sleepovers that her, Allie and Gen used to have and how much she used to enjoy being with them and feeling like she belonged. She was always a little sad that by the time high school came, everyone had outgrown sleepovers because she always loved how close it brought everyone and how it felt like you could say anything and do anything. They even end up putting Bonnie on FaceTime as she wants to make sure that she isn't left out of any juicy secret spills. Lara Jean takes a moment and just looks between all of her newly-made friends, who even despite knowing each other for one semester have already proved that they are the real-deal and some of the most loyal people she will meet. She sends up a quick thank you to the universe for letting her be so lucky to have found such like-minded people in her first semester of college.
She goes to sleep feeling really grateful for where she is right now in life, because despite all the pain and loneliness, it has all brought her to this moment and she feels so complete right now.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
She gets home a bit later the next day and is greeted by Margot and her dad. She walks through the lounge room and sees Kitty busy in the kitchen. She goes and get an apron to try help her.
'No Lara Jean, I can do this myself. I don't want your help.' Kitty urges, pushing Lara Jean out of the kitchen.
'What Kitty! What are you even making?' she asks, as she accepts that Kitty doesn't want her help.
'I'm making fruitcake cookies.' Kitty answers, while pouring ingredients into a bowl.
'What? But you don't even like those?' Lara Jean asks, very confused.
'There not for me.' Kitty says rolling her eyes as if it should be obvious. 'They're for Peter.'
Lara Jean tries to stop her jaw dropping open in surprise at this. 'Why are you making cookies for Peter?' she asks, trying not to sound defensive but from the look that Margot is giving her, she fails massively.
'Because he has been driving me around and being nice to me for the past few days, so he deserves a Christmas present.' Kitty justifies. 'Now can you leave? I don't want you here judging my baking.'
She slowly walks out of the kitchen. She knows that Peter has been driving around Kitty a bit but she didn't know how much. She had to cover her smile when she realised that this was probably just another Song girl taking advantage of how well Peter responds to positive reinforcement. No doubt when Kitty would give him the cookies, she would be insuring that he would keeping driving her around at least for a bit.
Margot comes behind her and puts her hands on her shoulders. 'Ignore her, she is just trying to get a reaction out of you.'
Lara Jean nods in agreement. She decides to go up to her room as she can't stop wincing at all the strange sounds coming from the kitchen. She is under her covers reading a book, when Margot walks in.
'So, tell me about your weekend.' Margot asks with a cheeky smile.
'What? Why? Nothing happened.' Lara Jean splutters out defensively.
'Oh come on, Lara Jean! Give me the goss ! I want to hear about your party! Did you get wasted?' Margot inquires further, even going so far as to come under the covers with Lara Jean.
Lara Jean blushes and tries to hide her face in her pillow.
'You did! Lara Jean, I thought you were never going to drink again!' Margot teases her.
They both flashback to the day after Trina's bachelorette party when she was in so much pain and swore she would never drink again.
'I know, I know, but I swear it's the first time I've done this since starting college.' She excuses.
Margot rolls her eyes. 'For some reason I actually believe that's true. So did anything fun happen?' she asks again, moving closer under the covers waiting for Lara Jean to tell her a secret.
Lara Jean looks up at her ceiling. She can still see her glow-in-the-dark star stickers shining slightly. She doesn't really want to tell Margot about them playing beer pong with vodka shots knowing that she would definitely disapprove or about how Alex had to look after her, but there is something on her chest that she needs to get off.
'When did you feel that it was ok to kiss another guy after Josh?' she asks quietly.
She hears Margot sigh at the question and turn on her back to look up at the ceiling as well. She waits in silence as she can tell that Margot is thinking of how she should answer.
She feels a bit of relief when Margot lets out her third sigh. It tells her that she was right to be concerned that this was worrying her so much.
'I don't know. At first it just felt so wrong and weird. Like when I first went over to Scotland, there was one night where I kissed a guy and I just felt so guilty after it. I don't even know why and I kept telling myself that I had broken up with Josh and so I had no reason and rationale to be feeling like that.' Margot trails off.
'That's how I'm feeling right now.' Lara Jean pipes in, hoping that Margot will say more.
'Yeah I thought that it meant that I wasn't over him and I guess that was why I tried to get back together with him when I came home over Christmas despite knowing that it wasn't really what I wanted or the right thing to do, but I just I was just scared….' Margot pauses for a moment and lets out another sigh.
She turns over and looks Lara Jean in the eyes. 'I was scared that I would never be able to feel what I felt with Josh with anyone else again, so I tried to hold on to it.'
Lara Jean feels a shiver go up her spine as she finally feels understood and has had someone describe exactly how she was feeling.
'It was weird to be kissing someone who wasn't Josh. Even with Ravi, despite liking him a lot and he even asked if he could do it a few times, it felt a bit strange to kiss him. Though eventually those feelings disappeared and the feelings that I have for Ravi grew. I realised that I could feel the way I felt with Josh, in a different way but still the same…. It's hard to explain.' Margot says with honest eyes. A smile comes across her face as she talks about Ravi.
Lara Jean breaks eye contact with her and looks back up at her stickers. She hopes that it's true and what Margot says is possible, because right now, she just can't get Peter and the fear of never finding anyone like him again out of her head.
'Did something happen over the weekend?' Margot asks curiously.
It's now Lara Jean's turn to sigh. 'Yeah, I was pretty tipsy and I was talking to this guy and suddenly I just had this thought like "hey, I could kiss this guy" and I immediately just felt sick to my stomach and I just didn't know how without thinking about Peter.' Lara Jean speaks softly, as if afraid to admit these words to herself.
'Yeah that's how it starts, but don't worry that will past. That is one of the joys of love.' Margot says.
Lara Jean nods her head still gazing up at her stars.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It is about 10pm when Lara Jean goes downstairs to get a glass of water. Her and Margot kept talking about everything including their mother, Josh, Peter and Ravi. Then Kitty came up and announced she was going to bed and she didn't want to hear any voices talking. After relentlessly knocking telling her and Margot to be quiet, they eventually gave up and Margot went to her room to skype Ravi and she is here. Trina and her dad are already in bed as Trina dragged her dad to a SoulCycle class this morning which has absolutely destroyed him.
As she is filling up her glass, she sees the container of fruitcake cookies on the table with a plate next to them. She smiles at the thought that Kitty would still leave the leftovers out for everyone else. She picks up one and takes a big bite expecting a mouthful full of spices, fruits and deliciousness. Instead she is forced to run to the bin and immediately spit out what is in her mouth.
'What hell is this?' she says out loud as she skulls back glasses of water to get rid of the taste.
She isn't sure what Kitty must have been doing all these years of being in the kitchen with Lara Jean but it definitely hasn't been learning how to bake. The cookies taste awful. There is way too much cinnamon in them and even the ginger is overpowering every other taste.
Lara Jean takes a look in the cupboards and fridge. There is just enough left for another batch. Even though she is broken up with Peter, she still doesn't want to watch him suffer having to finish all of these awful cookies in front of Kitty. She then pulls out all of the ingredients and start making another batch.
She forgot how peaceful it was to do midnight baking. The aromas from the (now-balanced) cinnamon and ginger make her remember that Christmas is just a few days away. She snacks on some of the dried fruit as she bakes with the sweetness making her a little more alert and excited. It is almost 2am by the time the cookies are finished. They smell amazing and taste even better, if that's possible. She sneakily throws out Kitty's cookies, hiding them at the bottom of the bin and places hers almost identically in the container.
She eventually runs upstairs and falls into bed. She can still smell the fruitcake cookies on her. She tries not to think about the last time she felt this way, but maybe because of the conversation she just had with Margot or because of her tiredness, she soon surrenders herself to the memory which makes her smile as she falls asleep.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
'Come on, my cookies weren't THAT bad.' Peter teases her from the stool in the kitchen.
Lara Jean pretends to take a moment to think about that. 'Hmmmm, you're right. They weren't THAT bad, they were absolutely terrible.'
'That's it!' Peter declares, before he launches himself around the island and attacks Lara Jean with tickles.
She squeals as he goes straight for her stomach. If it wasn't for one of his arm securely around her waist, she would be on the ground for sure.
'Peter, it's not my fault you can't bake!' she squeezes out between giggles.
Eventually her legs give out from underneath her and Peter can't keep supporting her, she is leaning her full weight on him as he slowly kneels to the ground. Before she knows it, they are lying on the ground, she is trying to tickle him as much as she can though he still has her in a fit of laughter. They stay like that for a few minutes more, Lara Jean manages to get some very feminine squeals out of Peter when she gets a few attacks on his stomach, but not many as he immediately gets her back.
He finally stops and wraps his arms around her waist. She is panting from laughing so hard as she leans back against him.
She scowls up at him. 'That was mean.'
'Admit it, you threw me out of your house before you even got a chance to taste those cookies I made.' Peter tests her.
Her heart falls as she remembers how badly she treated him. She still can't believe that she would actually think that Peter could possibly tell everyone that they had sex in the hot tub or that it was ok for her to kick him out.
She intertwines his fingers in hers and snuggles closer to his neck. 'I'm sorry.' She says softly. She looks up at him through her eyelashes with her best puppy eyes, knowing that he can't resist.
He wraps his arms around her and kiss her head. 'Nah, I deserved it.' He whispers to her.
She shakes her head. They have argued about this so many times. She consistently denies that he deserved it and thinks she acted wrong but he thinks that he should have done more to shut down the rumours and stand up for her. They can't find a way to agree and she doesn't want to spoil their moment with an argument.
'Did they really taste that bad though?' she asks, looking up at him with the same expression.
He chuckles. 'Yeah not even the neighbor's dog wanted to eat them and I am pretty sure he has consumed his own poop.'
She laughs with him, then she springs to her feet. 'Come on!' she says excitedly, holding her hands out to help him stand up.
He jumps when she gets to her feet and still looks surprised as he looks up at her 'Where?' he asks immediately.
She feels her heart skip. He doesn't even hesitate to ask why or what they are doing, he just knows that she is driving the bus and he wants to be there.
'To the store. I'm going to teach you how to bake those cookies.'
'Really?' he asks excitiedly, jumping up to his feet as well.
'Yeah, there's gotta be another plus to having a baker girlfriend instead of you just getting fat.' She teases him.
He pretends to look hurt and even puts his hands to his heart. 'What? Are you calling this fat?' he asks shocked. He moves his hands down to the hem of his shirt and pulls it up to show off his gorgeous v-muscle and his abs.
Lara Jean shivers as she sees them. It's not like she hasn't seen them or even felt them before, but every time she does she is always in awe of how great he looks and how lucky she is.
She is speechless. He drops his shirt, smiles at her and gives her a quick peck on the cheek. 'Yeah I have that effect on women.' He smoulders at her.
She rolls her eyes, breaking out of her trance. 'Keep dreaming, dork.'
They have so much fun in the grocery store. They run around all the aisles seeing who can find which ingredient first. People are getting mad at them for disrupting their shopping but they don't care, they are having too much fun with each other to stop. Peter rarely buys any of the ingredients that they need, so he has no idea where they are. At first he tried to just run around the shops and find them, but now he waits for Lara Jean to get closer to them before he comes behind her and grabs her to get in front.
She is sneaking towards the flour. She is in the aisle that is across from it, but she can see it through the crack on the shelf. She doesn't know where Peter is, but she is sure that he is watching her. Her eyes dart back and forth as she quickly makes a sprint for the aisle with the flour.
She reaches out her hand and almost grabs it, when she is taken out by a massive weight.
'Peter!' she screams. He has lifted her off the ground and thrown her over his shoulder.
'Oh no you don't!' he threatens, running away from the flour with her still on his shoulder.
'You forgot the flour!'s she yells at him, gently hitting his back at the same time.
'Oh right.' He says ans swiftly spins them around.
'Peter!' As he spun, he almost put Lara Jean into the stack of cans at the end of the aisle. If she hadn't tucked her head in the last minute, she probably would be left with a very big bump on her head and a very guilty Peter.
'Oh sorry!.' He laughs. He runs back and gets the flour, before grabbing their basket and going to the checkout.
He puts the basket on the checkout and places Lara Jean on there as well.
'How much for this gorgeous thing?' he says to the cashier, winking at Lara Jean.
Lara Jean blushes as he gives her a peck on the lips. The cashier is laughing at them as she begins to scan the items. Of course, Peter wants an audience she thinks to herself but she also can't stop how ecstatic she feels.
She eventually gets to her feet as Peter slings her arm around her. 'I'm out of your price range.' She says to him.
'Right you are. How about a donation?' he quips back.
She shakes her head at him. He is so cheesy, she'll let him get away with it this time.
That night Lara Jean makes the biggest mess she has ever made in the kitchen. Peter kept trying to take things off her to do because he wanted to do them, but ended spilling things as they did. So here they are sitting on the kitchen floor, covered in flour, sugar and cinnamon waiting for their cookies to finish baking.
Peter shakes his head furiously and a cloud of flour falls out of it, not enough to make his hair go back to brown though.
Lara Jean laughs. 'Oh you are look like a grandpa!'
'At least I'm a sexy grandpa.' He flirts, flashing her a bright smile.
'Damn I better watch out for all those sexy sphinxes at Belleview trying to steal you away from me.' She jokes back.
He takes her hand and kisses it. 'Never. It'll only be you.'
'Even when I'm a grandma.' She quizzes.
'Lara Jean, you're already a grandma.' He says simply.
She pretends to look offended. 'That's way harsh.' She remarks, moving away from him.
'Wait!' he leans forward and grabs her around the waist bringing her onto his lap.
He holds her close and brushes some of the flour from her face. 'Nah I like that you're a grandma, it's how I know that I'll still love you when we're old.'
Then his mouth in on hers and there isn't a better combination than sugar and Peter.
A/N: Hello! Sorry I didn't update like I said I might a few days ago, but this chapter just kept getting longer and longer so I figured you guys would prefer to wait for a long one, then have a short one faster. I love all of your reviews so much! I love hearing your ideas about the story and won't deny that I might add some of them to the story as well. What do you guys think of the story so far? Are we enjoying it?
I am hoping to get another two chapters up soon then I might take a bit of a break depending on if people are really enjoying the story. Would honestly be amazing if we could finally break 10 reviews for a chapter (despite my sporadic updating!)
Which also if you wondering why my updating is all over the place, I'm on holidays at the moment so sometimes I have a lot of time and can update every day but then others I am very busy!
