Chapter Seven: Cake
Something was tickling my nose.
It felt almost like a feather, but heavier. Vanilla and butterscotch engulfed my senses, and a smile spread across my face as I realized who was napping with me.
Gabe's chest was solid against my back, one arm wrapped underneath my head as a pillow while the other lay haphazardly on my side. Luke's butt was pushed snuggly against my front as I spooned him.
My eyes grudgingly fluttered open to see his bare back blocking my vision, the ends of his blonde mane teasing my nose as his head was thrown back with his face aimed towards the headboard. I could guarantee his mouth was wide open as soft snores escaped him.
I huffed, the blonde strands billowing out for a moment before coming straight back to attack my face.
A sneeze escaped me, taking all of us by surprise as Gabriel grabbed my side.
"Wuzzat?" Luke mumbled sleepily, stretching his body against me with a yawn. His butt pushed deeper against me, and I understood why the boys told me to stop teasing when I stretched in the mornings. It may not have the same affect on women, but geez he was pushing pretty hard.
"Shit, Luke, watch it," Gabriel grumbled, and I realized Luke's actions had been pushing me harder against Gabriel. I let out a soft snort at Gabriel basically telling Luke to stop pushing against his groin.
"Bumble-zoomy-zoo," Luke mumbled what might've been an apology, ending his stretch and snuggling back against me. My arms were wrapped around his waist, and the right one had definitely gone to sleep awhile ago.
"Luke, why are you never the big spoon?" I whined, blowing his hair away from my face again, only to glare when it came right back.
"Spoon-wumble-woo," Luke answered groggily, and my eyes narrowed at his hair.
"You know your hair always tickles me," I reminded him, burrowing my head against his back to avoid said hair.
"You know I like to be held, Cupcake," Luke explained sleepily, finally managing to find words. "It makes me feel like a cuddly teddy bear."
"Or a girl," Gabriel snorted into my hair.
"Plus, we all know Gabe's morning wood is smaller and less of an annoyance to you in the mornings. I'm just being considerate," Luke responded solemnly. "Mine would be harder to ignore, and probably inside of you by now."
"Hey, watch it," Gabriel exclaimed, throwing a hand out to chop Luke on the head. Unfortunately he didn't reach far enough, and his hand bounced off my eye.
"Ow!" I yelped in surprise, blinking both eyes as Gabriel shifted to sit up.
"Oh shit! Sorry, Sang," he apologized, leaning forward and placing a soft kiss beside my eye. "I was aiming for that bastard. I'm so sorry, Trouble."
"What happened?" Luke asked quickly, finally turning around and getting his hair far away from my face.
"I accidentally chopped her in the eye," Gabriel explained, leaning closer as he examined it. "No idea how I missed your big head. I don't think it was that hard, but we should get some ice on it just in case. Stop any swelling."
"Let's go find an empty kitchen, so nobody asks questions," Luke nodded, bending his head to kiss my nose before slipping off the side of the bed. "Looks like we missed dinner, anyways."
"Like North would let Sang skip a meal," Gabriel snorted as I followed Luke off the bed. "I'm surprised he didn't have something ready on the nightstand for her."
"Maybe he already had me sleep-eat something while we were napping?" I pondered, knowing I wouldn't put that past him.
"You can sleep-eat?" Luke asked, intrigued as we headed towards the door. "I used to try and train myself to do that, but it just ended with cake smushed between my face and the pillow. Icing is harder than you'd think to get out of hair."
I giggled in amusement as he grabbed my hand, pulling me down the stairs. My eye already felt better, and my body was refreshed with new energy.
"Nah, North wouldn't do that," Gabriel shook his head as he followed us. "But check your hands and wrists for any puncture marks. He might've slipped an IV in while you were asleep."
I rolled my eyes as we made it down to the foyer, but the house was surprisingly quiet as we entered the living room. It was deserted.
"How long were we asleep for?" I asked, trying to remember how long we stayed at the hospital.
"About three hours," Gabriel answered, grabbing my other hand and pulling me towards the kitchen.
"Oh look, someone finished baking the cake layers for me!" Luke exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as he let go of my hand and jogged around the counter. "They're still a little warm, but cooled enough for decorating. You guys want to?"
"Let's get some ice on Trouble first," Gabriel decided, walking towards the freezer.
"I'm really fine, Gabriel," I shook my head. "It was just a surprise; I don't need ice."
He turned around, studying me closely for a moment before closing the freezer door with a sigh.
"You already kissed it better, anyways," I added with a smile, kissing his cheek before reaching around him to open a cabinet door. I grabbed three cans of icing and set them on the counter. "Ready to decorate!"
"I already brought all the supplies over from our kitchen earlier today," Luke grinned, pointing towards a big box on the counter as he cut around the edges of the first cake pan. "Grab a spatula, Cupcake."
"You're trusting me to do the base icing?" I grinned, rushing over to the box and grabbing a spatula at random. Luke had a collection of over twenty, and if I looked too long I wouldn't know which one to choose. Besides, this one as pink.
"I'm trusting you to do the fluffy inside," Luke answered, pulling the cake base out of a cabinet and setting it on the counter. He gently took the first circular cake pan and placed it upside down on the base. Luke lifted the pan, and a fluffy, yellow cake sat in it's place.
My mouth watered.
"So what exactly is a 'Pregnancy Celebration Cake'?" Gabriel asked curiously, grabbing a can of white icing and popping it open.
"An excuse to bake a cake," Luke smile turned cheeky as he winked at me. I rolled my eyes, dipping the spatula into Gabriel's icing and plopping it on the center of the cake.
"What are we going to draw on it?" I asked curiously, picturing a cute yellow duck or a stork on the cake.
"We could shape it to look like a tummy, and have a "coming soon" sign on it?" Luke suggested, eyeing the cake inquisitively.
"Nah, that sign would look better on a dick cake," Gabriel dismissed easily, making me choke on air.
"Gabriel!" I admonished, chopping his arm lightly.
"What? It's true!" Gabriel defended with a slight pout. "Why are all the pregnancy cakes about moms and babies? Nobody makes a cake shaped like balls with a 'congratulations' or 'good job' sign on them."
"Maybe because the baby is actually inside the belly," I reasoned with an eye-roll.
"Besides, there's enough dick cakes at bachelorette parties," Luke added helpfully.
My face flushed with heat, recalling my own bachelorette party before our first ceremony.
"Cupcake?" Luke asked, eyeing my cheeks suspiciously. "Talking about penises doesn't usually make you blush this badly anymore, what the heck are you thinking about?"
"Um, nothing. Just, uh," I stammered, scooping another glob of icing out the can and adding it to our pile. My cheeks burned hot. "I was just picturing cakes with, uh, male genitalia on them."
"When have you seen one?" Gabriel asked in confusion before his eyes narrowed. "Trouble, I swear to God if you googled that shit-"
"No!" I interrupted, annoyed that he brought that back up again. It was years ago, and I paid dearly for it. I googled "anal" one time to figure out what it was, and years later the boys still won't let me live it down. I know my accompanying scream of horror and the laptop being tossed out a window hadn't helped, but how was I supposed to know that Uncle was outside my window helping the boys do yard work?
He couldn't look me in the eye for a month after he saw what was on the screen. That and the guilt of hitting him over the head with a laptop was enough to make me never google anything sexual again.
"Then where've you seen one? Kayli didn't have any ceremonies with her boys, and Karen's bachelorette party wouldn't have dicks at it," Luke broke through my thoughts, sounding confused.
"Well, I had a bachelorette party, too," I managed to get out through my embarrassment, looking up from the cake to see their eyes widen.
"Holy shit! Kayli got you a dick cake?" Gabriel asked in disbelief.
"Um, well, she actually got me nine," I answered, patting my cheeks lightly. My brain was obviously elsewhere, because I was still holding the spatula and icing flew off, landing on my forehead and nose. A little glob dropped down and landed on my cheek.
Luke and Gabriel erupted with laughter, and I huffed a giggle.
"She got you nine?" Luke spluttered out through his laughter. "Holy cow, please tell me there's a picture of this."
"No!" I cried in alarm. I had one rule for that night: No pictures after the first shot of alcohol. I brought a hand up to wipe the icing off my face, but Gabriel put a hand up to stop me.
"Allow me, Trouble," Gabriel said when he got his laughter under control, shooing my hand away. He was on me in a flash, arms wrapped around me as he licked from my chin to my temple. Once he was was satisfied it was clean enough, his tongue moved to my nose with a quick lick before he sucked the last bit off my forehead.
"Mine," he whispered cheekily against my forehead as I gripped his shirt in both hands, unable to stop the giggles. After a quick kiss, he backed up with a satisfied grin.
"I know that girl is fearless, but I could've sworn we got our point across about nothing inappropriate going on at your party," Luke frowned thoughtfully, seeming to think back to a few years ago when this happened. "We wanted you to have fun without worrying about being uncomfortable. What was the list, Gabe?"
"Nothing dick related," Gabriel said quickly with a frown. "No strippers, no tequila, no blow job shots, nothing dangerous, no hopping on a plane to Vegas, no skinny dipping, and no breaking the law. And that was just the list of 'no's,' not the rules."
"Oh my god," I blushed, internally cursing Kayli for never telling me about the boys' stipulations.
"Damn, if the cakes happened, then what if she ignored our other rules, too?" Gabriel's frown deepened before his crystal eyes zoned in on me. "Did any of those other things happen, Trouble?"
I fidgeted under his intent gaze, not wanting to disappoint the boys but unable to lie.
"Well, we didn't go to Vegas?" I offered lamely, turning back towards the cake and gently spreading the icing out with my spatula. "Not for Kayli's lack of trying, though."
"Damn that woman!" Luke burst out, but it was accompanied by a laugh.
"It's pretty fitting, when you think about it," Gabriel let out with a chuckle, and my shoulders sagged slightly when I realized they weren't actually angry. "We probably had the tamest bachelor party in existence. It consisted of some beers, a Red Sox game, and laser tag, while little Sang over here was the posterchild for a Vodka commercial."
"Honestly, I resembled a fire hydrant the entire night," I shook my head with a giggle. "I would've much rather been playing laser tag with all of you."
"Sang, stop being so fucking sweet. You're making it harder for us to be mad at Kayli," Gabriel chided good-naturedly as Luke placed the next layer atop our cake. "At least we have an actual excuse to prank her now, man."
"Yeah, I've got a few things in mind already," Luke nodded excitedly, before his playful eyes turned to me and he leaned back against the counter. "But first, I'd like to hear more about this skinny dipping story."
Maybe I should've accepted the ice pack from Gabriel earlier. It would've been perfect to help quell my blush or shove down Luke's pants.
A/N: Short chapter, but it was a good stopping point. :) Thank you for reading!
