just for a bloody contract | Roman Godfrey au

ch. 21 • baking thoughts and cookies

"Liana, it's so good to see you again!" Letha said as she embraced me into a hug. "How have you been? And hello, Roman. It's nice to see you too."

"Hi, cuz. How's it going with your little boyfriend?" Roman pursed his lips and looked at Letha. I gave him a nudge.

"You aren't even going to ask how I am?" Letha's smile faded. "Anyway, come on in."

"I- uh actually have to leave. Something came up. You guys carry along," Roman said. He then turned around and gave Letha a side squeeze. "Okay I didn't mean it."

Letha accepted his half-apology. "Bring me a batch of cupcakes with strawberry frosting next time."

"Fine," Roman rolled his eyes playfully and smiled. Then he left.

"I'm sure he's a challenge to live with," Letha shook her head as we went inside.

"Don't even get me started."

Inside, Shelley was pulling out hot cookies from the oven. Letha's kitchen smelled like gingerbread. Warm and welcoming. Just like her.

"We've been baking a lot, as you can see. Shelley made sugar cookies all by herself but then Peter came and ate most of it, so sorry we don't have any," Letha explained.

"Liana! You came! I know we're supposed to go home, but can we just stay? You can help Letha and me to decorate the cookies."

"Of course I will," I laughed. "I've been craving cookies for a while actually."

This was perfect. Some time with Shelley and Letha, two of the sweetest girls to exist and a way to get my mind off Pryce and all that was wrong right now. I washed my hands and began helping the girls with making frosting and putting it in a bag to pipe.

Shelley was pretty distracted with what she was doing and focused, so she didn't talk a lot. Letha wanted to catch up, however.

"Hey, if you don't mind, may I ask how things are going with you and Roman?" she started.

"Of course. If I'm honest, it's not even half as bad as it first was. He doesn't hate the sight of me anymore."

"Well, that's good. I know Peter told me about how he came here and was all furious. I'm sorry you need to deal with his anger. He can be difficult."

"It's alright. I know how he functions right now. And I mean, we don't really interact that much, so it's fine. How are things going on with you and Peter? And I mean that in a nice way," I clarified.

"Of course," Letha gave a nod as she started decorating her tray of gingerbread cookies. "Things are going pretty well, actually. Peter can be eccentric of sorts, but he really has the biggest heart. I want to marry him some day. Hopefully in the near future. I don't know how Roman would feel about that," she nervously chuckled.

"He'll just have to deal with it. You two seem perfect for one another. That's rare. I'm really glad you are together," I said as I decorated my tray. "Where'd you meet?"

"High school," Letha said. She lowered her voice. "Shelley used to get bullied a lot but Peter didn't pay attention to any of that. He was the first stranger who was sweet to her and looked past her unusual height, her face, and recognized her heart. I just thought that was the sweetest. Of course Roman got all defensive at first, but they became friends. He just picks on me for it. For who knows what reason."

"Sounds like he's prince charming," I said.

"I know right?" Letha looked at me. "It's surreal. I never thought I'd find someone I'd like right here in Hemlock Grove."

"How'd you know you liked him?" I asked. "Like, when'd you even realize?"

"Um, I'm not sure. I mean I obviously had a crush on him as soon as I saw his behavior toward Shelley. But then, I think I just spent time with him, got to know him better, and started standing up for him. Against Aunt Olivia. Against Roman sometimes. Against my 'friends'. I thought I was doing it just because that's what people do. But I realized I cared much more than I initially thought. I guess my admiration and basic teenage crush developed into love sometime into our friendship. And I'm so glad he reciprocated it. Imagine if that hadn't happened," Letha laughed.

"Yeah," I nodded and smiled. I then thought of Roman and me. Did I- no, no, no. That couldn't be possible. Yes, I had a crush on him because he was too handsome for his own good. But it couldn't be love. Not after I had seen him murder someone. After he hurt me, yelled at me, and made me feel awful. It wasn't possible. What I was doing was an act of basic human decency. Returning the favor since he was helping me get through PA school. Nothing other than that.

"Uh, Liana, are you okay?" Letha asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. I clicked out of it and saw I was icing the counter instead of the cookies.

"Oh! I'm so sorry," I said, facepalming myself. "That was stupid of me."

"No worries. Nothing a little rag can't clean up," Letha smiled.

Letha, Shelley, and I spent the afternoon decorating cookies. After that, Letha packed the cookies up and gave Shelley and me a big batch. "Can't possibly eat them myself. And no way I'm letting Peter eat all of that," she laughed. After that, she dropped Shelley and me off.

Shelley took the cookies and dropped them off at our kitchen using the backdoor. Comway was out in the yard, raking leaves. Shelley decided she wanted to too, so I let her do her thing. I went inside the house, planning to chill in my room when I got a text from Roman asking me to come to his room. Whatever happened to him? 

►▸note: I got 'replay' by iyaz stuck like a melody in my head, so now you should go listen to it too. xoxo