1. CASPIAN
Nothing could go wrong today.
It was my birthday. It was practically illegal to have a bad day.
Right?
And yet, I was standing in the middle of the bakery kitchen with a face full of pink frosting. But nothing else could go wr—the fire alarm rang out.
Oh god. It was my birthday, and I was about to cry.
Not only was I about to receive a lecture from the local heartthrob fireman, but my cheek blush was ruined. He was going to see howuglyI was.
My two best friends, Keaton and Tobias, wrapped in bathrobes and with bed heads, stomped from the apartment above to the kitchen. Keaton fanned the fire alarm with one of the plastic cutting boards, and Toby pulled the burned cupcakes from the oven.
I should’ve stayed in bed.
“What’s going on?” Keaton asked as he managed to push the button on the alarm.
Toby stood beside me, wiping pink frosting from my face with a fingertip and licking it. “Not bad,” he said.
“I woke up early,” I said, pouting. “I wanted to get a start on the day, maybe have one of thoseperfect days, you know?”
“Why?” Keaton asked with a wide grin. “We told you to have a lie-in.”
They both stared. They knew I couldn’t sit on my hands. If I wasn’t whipping batter up in the kitchen, I was playing with my play kitchen and teddies upstairs. I just wanted to regress and be a little right now, but all the sticky frosting and the idea that a fireman was about to burst through the doors had me staying adult... and I hated it. Even if there was one particular fireman I liked the attention of.
“We had a plan,” Toby said. “And—” He looked to Keaon as I wiped the frosting from my face with a cloth. “We can still do the plan. You’ve just got to get your ass back in bed. And stay there. Or, well, take a shower first. You’ve got frosting in your hair.”
I reached up to my hair, thinking I’d just wipe it out... and all I did was add another pink streak of frosting to it. “I wanna cry.”
Keaton hugged me from behind, apprehensive about getting the mess on him too. “You can cry, but—”
And before he could finish, Toby gasped. “They’re at thedoor.”
I stood and sawhim. “Oh no, he saw me.” I dropped to my knees again, this time with a tear appearing. “How does my face look?” I whimpered.
A knock came at the glass door. “Is everyone okay in there?” Rick Morrison,thefireman of my dreams, dressed in rescue attire.
Toby swatted a hand at Keaton. “Go answer,” he said
“Why me?” he grumbled.
Even crying was sticky.
“Maybe because you don’t think he’s attractive,” Toby said. “We can’t go. Look at us. I’m a mess, and Cas is covered in frosting.”
Keaton laughed. “Bet you wish you were covered in Rick’s frosting.”
“I do,” I said, breaking from my tears to laugh. “Go get the door before they break in.”
Rick had been a long-time crush of mine. He exuded everything I wanted. He was a total Daddy. He was kind and patient, especially when it came to dealing with us. I’m not saying we burned a lot of cupcakes, but on occasion, a couple burned and Rick was always there, broad-shouldered and with a chin that could cut diamonds. He was also totally straight.
As Keaton dealt with that situation, my situation was being dealt with as well. All the frosting had left my skin all sticky, and now we couldn’t use either the cupcakes or thefrosting.
“At least this wasn’t for your birthday cake,” Toby said.
“We’ve got two hours before opening,” Keaton said on his return. “I’m going back upstairs. We should all get ready. Cas, you should’ve stayed in bed, but we can do our thing down here.”
