She pulls back from me, eyeing me with confusion. “You don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
She shakes her head slightly, wrapping her arms around her torso and I expect her to not tell me, but she surprises me by meeting my eyes. “You gave me jelly beans on my fifth birthday and then on my sixth birthday I begged to have a jelly bean theme. They became my comfort food, because they remind me of you.” Her eyes widen. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’ve said way too many things to you tonight. I must be drunk.”
She’s not. I’m not either.
But that doesn’t stop me from running my hand across her cheek, or from tilting her face up towards mine and leaning forward.
Except when I feel her breath against my mouth, bright headlights shine in our direction and I pull back.
“What are you thinking about?” Audrey giggles with a knowing smile.
“I may shoot myself in the foot for saying this, but I think that night was one of my favorite teenage memories with you,” I tell her, before pouring us both a glass.
“Do you remember how you wiped a drop of wine from the corner of my mouth?” Audrey gives a bashful smile. “I went into the bathroom and did a happy dance.”
“I should’ve kissed you. I should have ignored your parents’ car pulling into the driveway.”
“Probably would’ve had my way with you that night,” she teases. Her eyes twinkle, the candles on the table illuminating her face.
“I love you, but I don’t think you would have. I would’ve never let our first time be so sudden. Or let it happen with Connor passed out on the couch.”
Audrey laughs, nodding in agreement. “You’re right, and I would’ve been too nervous and freaked out if you tried anything.”
We share a long smile before she looks around the table as if she’s deep in thought about something. “I love you so much, Noah.” Gulping down more wine, she whispers, “This is the life I always dreamed of for myself: white picket fence, you, baseball, crafting up a storm. My seventeenth birthday was my last truly enjoyable birthday. Until now.”
I reach for her hand. “And the rest of them will be great too. I promise you that.”
We talk about various birthday memories over the years as we eat dinner and when I pull a cake mix out of the cupboard, Audrey keels over with laughter.
“Food poisoning?”
“I’m not dumb enough to forget to stir the cake mix this time. I’ll try not to be distracted by your beauty again.”
She crosses her arms with a smirk. “Oh, you will? Implying I’m uglier than last time, huh?”
“Not at all. I saidtry, baby. Doesn’t mean I’ll succeed,” I reply, slapping her ass.
And damn do I fail.
Epilogue
The Alchemy - Taylor Swift
Three months later
Audrey
When Noah gets through the front door, I smile as I hold up a box of cake mix in my hands. “I was thinking we could bake tonight.”
He chuckles, before kissing my forehead. “Baby, are you sure you want to trust me with a cakeagain?”
“Well we’ve crossed food poisoning and burning the cake off our list, so it’s time to find out how else we can destroy a simple cake mix.” I smirk.
We had a great time baking the cake on my birthday butsomebodyforgot to set a timer. He got a bit carried away banging my brains out on the kitchen table and almost set the house on fire.
Noah felt so bad that he went and got a store-bought cake the next day.
