Ch. 15: A Piece Of Cake

I hate Austin right now. I hate him with a burning passion. I even think I can write a book on a thousand reasons on why to hate Austin Moon. I can write a paper that is a million pages long that only talks about how annoying he is.

It's six o'clock in the morning. I should be sleeping. I should be under the covers and have a pillow covering my ear as I attempt to muffle Patricia's snores.

I shouldn't be in my pajamas with my hair sticking out ten different places from my already messy bun. I shouldn't have black bags under my eyes and be drinking black coffee this early. In fact, I should not have been the first person to show up at the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Not even the staff members are here yet.

I couldn't get a wink of sleep last night. I stayed up the entire time for many reasons. I was wide awake when Patricia came into our room and was as noisy as a train stop when she got ready to sleep. And then just when I was about to fall asleep, she started to snore.

But to be honest, the reason why I am caught in this situation is the same as it has been for this past month. It's all because of Austin Flipping Moon!

If he hadn't made my mind start to wonder of our past relationship, I might have gotten the best sleep. I might have been able to sleep during Patricia's snores. But I couldn't because last night he was all I could think of. He was all that my mind could do.

The emotions he brought with those five words made me restless. It made me frustrated and annoyed and I just want to slap him across the face for making me feel like this. TO make me feel so confused about everything that I wanted. I was sure that I could handle being his friend. But when he tells me something like last night, I can't help but feel like I used to. I can't help but feel jealous of Halley.

I never thought he could still influence me this much. He took me to the point where I need to drink black coffee just to get myself together.

I am mindlessly playing with a packet of sugar when I hear someone pull back the chair across from me. I don't need to even look up to know who it is. I know his sent too well to confuse him for anyone else. And when I see a stack of pancakes from the corner of my eyes, I can't help but smile.

I giggle quietly at his actions and this catches his attention. With a mouth full of pancakes, he tries his best to say, "What's so funny?"

I giggle a little bit more. And for the first time I feel empty yet whole. It's like, having him near me makes everything better but the fact that I can't be with him like I used to be, the fact that Halley has taken him away from him, makes this so bittersweet.

Taking a sip from my coffee, I look up at him with a small smile and say, "You."

I laugh a little more as he pretends to be hurt from my words. He even gasps to prove his point.

"Well someone woke up in the wrong side of the bed today."

I just roll my eyes at him and continue shaking my head when all of a sudden I see his hand reaching over for my coffee. I try to ask him what he is doing but my words only come out in fragments as I try to organize my thoughts in my head.

I see his every movement and am slightly confused as I see him staring at me with that childish grin. His eyes stay on mine as he gets my cup closer to his mouth and when I see him take a sip of my coffee, I almost die laughing.

His face turns from being all secretive and enchanting to a sour face. His eyes are squinting. His nose is crinkling and his mouth keeps opening and closing in discomfort. He almost spits out the coffee but somehow manages to swallow it down his throat.

When he finally gets his taste buds to calm down, he shouts out at me in a whisper, "Ugh! Now I know why you're so grumpy! Who wouldn't be after drinking black coffee?"

I make myself calm down before saying, "Well that's what you get for stealing my drink."

He looks at me in disbelief. Then he rolls his eyes at me before saying, "So what are we doing today Maid of Honor?"

I try my best to not cringe. I really don't like being called the Maid of Honor. Forcing a smile on my face I say, "Well we are actually going to try out cakes."

I keep outlining the rim of my cup when Austin says, "That sounds nice."

We both stay quiet for a quick second when a staff member comes by and says, "Hey, I thought since you woke early that you have a long day ahead of you. And I don't think you should start it with an empty stomach."

It obvious that he's flirting with me, as he places the plate of waffles in front of me; he takes a second longer than he should as he lingers in my personal bubble. Being the polite person that I am, I tell him thanks and accept the waffles from him.

I am grabbing my fork and am about to take a bit out of my breakfast when Austin says, "Are you sure you want to eat those waffles Ally?"

He sounds perfectly fine. His face doesn't look tense. But I know that look in his eyes; it's the same look he would give me after finding out that I hanged out with Zayn when we were dating. It screams jealousy as I try my best to ignore it as I say, "Yea. It can't hurt."

I take the first bite and I feel his eyes on me. Automatically, Austin takes his fork and invites himself to eat a bit of my waffles. I am chewing on my piece of food when Austin says with a mouth full of waffles, "Hey I don't think these waffles taste right. I will throw these away and get you something else to eat."

I am going to tell him it's alright but he's gone before I can. Then I am quietly smiling to myself as I see him at the buffet getting me blueberry pancakes. I can't deny the fact that he's jealous. He would always do this when we were together. And somehow I find this cute. I find it cute how after all this time, some habits are hard to quit. It's hard for him to stop eating food off my plate, and it's hard for me to tell him not to. It's just something that seems so natural.

I am looking at him decorate my pancakes when I feel someone taking a seat next to me. When I turn around I see Halley smiling brightly, looking perfect as always. Seriously, some people wake up all nice and cute while I wake up as a mess.

"Hey Ally, I didn't know you were here. You should have woken me up!"

She keeps on going on how next time I shouldn't mind waking her up when she says, "So who's here with you? Let me guess Patricia?"

She seems to be peppy and happy as she reaches out to fill some coffee in her cup when I struggle with my words to tell her I am with Austin. I am opening my mouth to speak but I don't have to. Because in good timing, Austin comes by and says in an overexcited tone, "Hey Alls, look what I got! Blueberry pancakes just like how you used to have when we used to eat breakfast together."

He doesn't even notices Halley but the moment he lifts his head up, he looks like he's just been caught doing something bad.

And then our table goes silent. It's too silent for my liking and for the first time, Halley has nothing to say. And this cannot be good. She keeps staring at Austin to the pancakes to me. And then with a silent, deadly voice she questions, "Alls?"

She looks annoyed but she is hiding it very well. In fact I don't think I've ever seen her annoyed until now. Seeing nobody saying anything I say, "Yea. Me and Austin started talking a little bit more this morning and thought that if we are going to make this friendship work we are going to need to get close. You know? Like get comfortable with each other or at least act like it."

I chuckle nervously as I hope that Halley buys my stupid excuse. But when I see her relax and continue filling her cup, I see Austin letting out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"That's so amazing. I am so happy that you guys are trying to be friends for my sake. It really means a lot to me."

I can't help but feel guilty as Austin places the plate of pancakes in front of me. She is so sweet that she can't even think of anything bad. She can't see how Austin and I tend to flirt unconsciously.

The rest of the morning goes awkward for me and Austin. We would just keep stealing glances at each other and if our hands touched we would mumble quick, quiet apologies that would make me feel guilty that I was planning Halley's wedding when I still had feelings for him.

When we finally left to go try out cakes, things seemed to be a little bit better. Austin and I were speaking more and the awkward air slowly disappeared as the other bride maids came along.

We went up and down Buena Vista as we visited different shops and ate different cake. By the end of the day, Austin wasn't even trying anything out. He was too busy trying to entertain himself.

The last place to try out was Baby Cake. Apparently they are the best bakery around here but as I have come to know, Halley is very picky. Seeing her as a sweet girl who is up for anything, I never really noticed how materialistic she is. So far she's been telling all of us how this wedding needs to be on all the magazines as wedding of the year. She's complained about every shop and cake except for one flavor.

We all take our seat around the small table and soon the baker is coming out as she says, "Hello and welcome to Baby Cake!"

Automatically Alice sticks her nose in the air. In my opinion, the reason why Halley wants to invite all the press to the wedding is because of Alice. Alice is one of the most superficial persons that I have ever met. She's only had negative things to say about the cakes.

Cristina on the other hand is very helpful though. She has been taking notes of every single cake we've eaten with details. From the color to how good they are, she is my right man. Patricia on the other hand, loves food too much to choose a favorite cake.

The baker gives us about ten different cakes to try and then we finally get to the last one, a red velvet cake. The entire time Austin was busy playing with his phone but when everyone at the table starts gasping about how good this cake is, it captures his attention.

"What's so good about it? How does it taste!"

He looks like a little kid who is about to go on a surge rush. His eyes are big and shiny. And before I can stop him, he's grabbing my fork and taking a bit of my piece of cake.

He's oblivious to the stares. He doesn't notice how Alice is glaring at him and the look of surprise from Halley. He closes his eyes as he gets lost in the taste and then things take a whole new turn when the baker comes in and says, "Awe that is so cute. The groom eating off the bride's plate."

Austin starts to choke on the cake as my mouth drops wide open. Even Patricia who was going to get a second piece of cake dropped her plate. And for the first time, I can hear my heart beat. I think I can see my tomb stone from the way that Alice is staring at us. If looks could kill, Austin and I would be in heaven.

And the Halley is getting up as she says in the coldest tone I have ever heard, "I think we should leave. I don't want to skip out on what the other great bakeries have to offer for MY wedding."

And as we are walking out, all the bride maids do nothing as we walk in silence to our car. Even Austin who usually has something to say in these certain types of situations has nothing to say.

When Austin, Halley and I get into the car to drive back to the hotel I feel horrible. Taking a deep gulp of air, in a shaking voice I say, "Halley I am so sorry. I swear that there is nothing-"

But Halley just lets out a chuckle. And in a sweet voice, she genuinely tells me, "Ally it's ok. I know this has nothing to do with you. Some people are just too stupid to see when to people are in love."

I nod my head as I try to still calm my heart beat but I don't notice when she says, "Austin was just being Austin, and the baker was just being annoying. Either way I think the cake from the third store was good. Right Austin?"

Austin nods his head uneasily. And all I am thinking is that when we get back to the hotel. Austin and I need to set ground rules on how to act because I just noticed that bad habits are hard to quite on… especially when you remember them so well. And to think that this all happened for a stupid piece of of cake.

A/N: hey there. So i know i haven't uploaded in a long time, but that is because I decided to spend my summer volunteering at this program my community offers. It's called Breakthrough and it helps underprivileged kids who want to go to college to get basic education that their parents may not be able to provide. These kids are pretty amazing and they work so hard to get good grades. Most of them dream to become the first person in their family to graduate from college and some of them are going to be the first to graduate from high school. So i am an English teacher there, ironically now thinking about it, and i have a lot of lesson plans that i have to do so my hands are pretty much tied. But i promise i will upload because i love writing too much to let go. But it'll be like before. Please be patient. This program means so much to me. And helping these kids makes all of this worth it. So i hope you understand and I have to say thank you so much for all the support. Seriously the amount of support i get means so much and encourages me to keep writing. So sadly it's too late to do shout outs but I will get to them They are some of the fun things i get to do from writing here. So thanks for every Favorite, Follow and review. And I can;t believe this but i just seriously noticed that I have over 200 reviews! Omg guys thank you super duper much!

So on to the story, what do you think of this little mix up? Halley's reaction? How about the little rant of Ally at the beginning? Is it just me or are feelings coming back? ;)

Either way, please review, comments, thoughts, favorite parts, encouragement! Thanks for sticking with me and I hope your pumped for the next chapter!

Have a rossome day or dreams! :)