The Garden of What Once Was

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

At the dark hour of midnight, most teenagers are either lounging in their beds with a screen before their face or out with friends. Some would assume the select few teens that aren't doing either of those things are sleeping. While that is right for some, it isn't right for all, especially not for Ember. 

She was a far distance from her dorm, quietly sneaking across campus. Eventually, after narrowly avoiding getting caught by a guard, she reached her desired destination, yanking open the door with a sigh of relief. A mellow light poured onto her, causing her to squint her eyes momentarily to get used to the change in the atmosphere. Once she could see again, the sight of a grinning Reed, who was sitting on a table, greeted her.

"I thought you said you would 'beat my slow ass' here?" Reed mimicked her cocky words from the day before when they were with Casper. "It seems to me like you did the exact opposite of that."

"No shit sherlock," Ember huffed out, annoyed that her words were coming back to bite her in the ass. "Let's just get these cupcakes done and over with."

"Cupcakes? I told Casper we were going to celebrate his return with cake," Reed told her, "Besides, no one even likes cupcakes. And if anyone says they do, they're just lying."

"I guess I'm a liar then."

She folded her arms across her chest, just as he did a moment ago. They silently stared at each other, wondering who would fold first. Unfortunately, neither of them seemed like they wanted to yield.

After another minute of silence passed between them, Ember finally moved from her spot near the doors and approached Reed. She placed both her hands on his knees, slightly leaning in to him. All the while, Reed simply looked down at her, eyes wandering over her face and body. If she intended to try to win him over by flustering him, then she had another thing coming. The only person's face that was getting even redder by the second was hers.

Realizing that she was making a fool of herself, she went to back off, only to have Reed snag a hold of her. Before she could even hope to have a chance to break away, he hopped off the table and switched their positions so that he was the one in front of her. The cold metal of the table pressed into her lower back as Reed towered over her, relishing in his clear superiority.

Scowling, she placed her hands onto his shoulders, unsuccessfully trying to push him back. "We're doing cupcakes."

"Nope," He said, popping the 'p' as he leaned in so close to her that their noses were almost touching. "You better give up before your face gets even redder."

"Never going to happen, Princess," She smiled sweetly, eyes were full of a challenge.

No human ever dared to challenge Reed like this. What he said was always final, even when it came to trivial matters like making cupcakes or cake. The fact that Ember was refusing to concede to him should have angered him. It should have made him want to put her in her place. But it did not, as this was exactly what drew Reed to her. She treated him normally, like he was a human. Most vampires would find this insulting, and depending on the person, Reed did as well. With her, though, he didn't. In fact, he found it quite attractive that she kept fighting against him. So much so that he went to kiss her, though he was swiftly rejected with a knee to the stomach. 

As he rubbed his assaulted stomach, she briskly walked away from him and into the pantry. It took everything in her power to force herself to gather all the ingredients for her cupcakes rather than going back to Reed, grabbing him, and kissing him. Holy thoughts, Ember, holy thoughts! She refused to lose to him which was why she made it a point to begin making her cupcakes all the way at the other end of the kitchen from him.