“Yeah,” Lucia agrees from the other side of the closet. “Nothing says romance like exacting revenge.”
“I’m confused,” Carly says, holding the pie with both hands. “What revenge?”
Jake and Lucia then explain to Carly the day Carson and I met and she chuckles in response. “That does not sound like Carson. I’m supposed to be the troubled twin.”
“Not troubled enough,” Jake mutters. Carly reaches over me to punch Jake’s arm with her free hand. “You know what? I’m going to leave you girls here and not earn any more bruises from Rocky Balboa here.”
Jake slides the closet door closed and the three of us sit alone in the dark. At least, until Lucia speaks up.
“Uh, Carly? Your arm is tangled in my braids.”
“Sorry! I’m trying not to get meringue all over them.”
I pull out my phone from my back pocket and turn on the flashlight, allowing the girls to see better. One of Lucia’s braids is wrapped partially around Carly’s elbow and the two girls untangle it the best they can. I jump in to help but I’m not sure that made the process any faster.
I grab the pie from Carly’s hand with my left hand and try to balance it with one hand while waiting for Carson to take the bait.
Almost instantly, I hear shuffling from the other side of the door and I shush Carly and Lucia.
“Jake, why did you leave Bailey’s gift in my room?” Carson took the bait.
“Because it was easier to hide in your closet! You have all those sweatshirts.”
“When was the last time you saw my closet? Because I haven’t seen half of those things in the past month.”
My cheeks heat up, knowing damn well that half of his hoodies have surprisingly ended up in my room. They’resupercomfortable, okay? Especially the red one I’m wearing.
“Fine,” Carson huffs as he slides the closet door open. I don’t give him enough time to react before…
Splat!
The pretty face is now covered in pie.Yes, I finally got him!I jump and laugh in joy and celebrate, while Carly’s head pops out of the closet, taking in the scene. She joins me in my laughter and Lucia follows shortly after.
Carson wipes the filling from his eyes and gives me a questioning look. It’s hard to take someone covered in pie from the neck up seriously. I’m holding back giggles to the best of my ability but—as handsome as he is—my boyfriend looks so fucking goofy with lemon meringue pie all over his face.
I’m still not used to calling him my boyfriend, by the way. I went from calling him an overgrown child back in July to calling him my boyfriend.
“I thought you were Jake right there,” I say. He can’t even get mad at me for this.
Thankfully, he doesn’t. Instead, he just shakes his head while licking some of the meringue from his mouth. My eyes dart to his mouth quickly before moving back up to his eyes.Keep your composure, D.
He chuckles. “Oh, I see how it is, D.”
“How what is?” I ask innocently.
“You can’t fool me.”
I shake my head. “I’m not fooling anyone.”
“Just gloating about your revenge.”
“What does gloating look like?” I question with my chin raised.
That smirk I’ve come to know so well appears. “Why don’t you step closer and find out?”
“Okay,” Lucia’s voice interjects. “I’m going to step outside right now because I refuse to get any pie filling on me with God knows what you’ll do next.”
“Same,” Carly agrees, following Lucia out of the bedroom. Jake is the last one to leave. While walking out, he mutters: “I can’t look at pie the same way sincethatmovie,” but I don’t ask what he’s talking about.
