Not So Bad After All (BWWM)(EDITING)

Chapter Twenty One, Thanksgiving Part Two

"Why don't you just buy the crust already made? They have Oreo ones now ya know..." He gave me a flat look.

"Cause this is how we do it. You gonna do it or are you afraid to get your hands dirty princess?" I teased.

"Give me that," He took the bowl of butter out of my hand and popped it in the microwave.

So all I have to do is challenge his masculinity and he'll do what I say? If only Jason were that simple...

"So what are you doing?" He asked.

"Making the actual cheesecake filling. Fetch me the eggs?"

"Fetch?" He smirked as he got the eggs out of the refrigerator for me.

I smiled shyly, "It's something my Mom says sometimes. It just slips out."

"Right," He nodded. "She's from where again?"

"The UK."

"Must be pretty cool. You ever go there?"

"Yeah, all the time. It's very cool. My gram is actually coming here today from there. I think dad is going to fetch her in a few minutes."

"Very cool. Gonna have a full house huh?"

"Yeah," I smiled, thinking about my family. "We have a lot of fun on the holidays."

I wanted to ask him why his family left him behind. Why did they treat him so cruelly? What kind of parents wouldn't want to spend the holidays with their son? But that would be very rude of me. Plus, he seems okay right now and I don't want to ruin that by asking him personal questions. I'm glad Mom invited him because I was going to too. No matter what he and I have been through, no one deserves to be left alone like that.

I leaned against the the island, watching him for a while as he molded the crust into the bottom of the pan.

I could tell that he has never done anything like this before but he was doing a good job considering.

"How's this?" He showed me the pan.

"Perfect. Good job, Jay," I smiled.

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Jayden's Pov

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The cheese cake was finally done and I was currently trying to get the can of strawberry glaze from Rose, who was trying her best to keep it away from me buy pretending to dribble the can between her legs as if it were a basketball. She's goofy and the only person that can make me laugh until my stomach hurts.

"I wanna do it!" I told her trying to snatch the can out of her hands but the girl is fast.

I wanted to put the glaze topping on the cheesecake instead of the strawberries but she obviously wanted to do it too, thus causing this predicament we're in now.

"No, I'm doing it!" She argued.

"Rose, I wanna do it. Now give it to me!"

She just kept snatching it away every time I'd reached for it. At one point I grabbed her arm and pulled her into me but she somehow quickly twisted her way out of my grip and laughed.

"Haha! Too quick for you huh?" She laughed loudly.

Even though I was annoyed because she wouldn't give me the damn can, it was fun. Just watching her jumping, dodging, and running around the kitchen was actually funny. Instead of getting upset like I usually would've, I found myself genuinely laughing and having a good time with her. Her silliness was endearing. This was a different side of her compared to what I'm used to seeing.

I think I like her better this way. Carefree, happy, and having fun.

"Give it to me Rose, or else."

Her eyebrow arched at me. "Give it to you huh? And if I don't? You gonna tackle me QB?"

"Or else I'll have to be rough with you, and I don't think you'll like that very much," I smirked at her mischievously. "But I might."

"All that talk..." She rolled her eyes while smirking. "You basically have all that muscle for nothing."

"Last chance," I warned.

"You want It that bad?" She teased waving the can at me. "Come and get it."

I took that as an invitation and a challenge.

When I began to stalk towards her she backed away until she hit the counter. I gripped her by her waist to hold her in place against the counter. She was trapped. Sandwiched between me and the counter. My six foot three towered over her five foot four frame. I stared down at the bright brown eyes that were already staring up into my green gray ones. Her face grew serious and I could swear I heard her heart beating for a moment. Or was that mine? I was incredibly close to her, our bodies touching. I think the only other time we've been this close was when I tripped and fell on top of her and at the beach when we shared our first hug.

Staring down at her while we were like this made lose all train of thought. It was her eyes. Those eyes have looked at me with so many different emotions, but this one was new and it almost looked like... desire. I've seen it enough from women to recognize it, but from Rose? I needed to be sure. I could get lost in those muddy pools of amber. For some reason, that was easy to do that with her.

I was studying her face without really realizing it. Her eyes were shaped like an oval and her medial canthus, which is her inner eye corner, came to the finest point, giving her eyes a cat-like feature. Her bottom lids seemed to cover some of her eyeballs as if she was constantly squinting at me. I learned from all of our study sessions that her eyes got like that when she was focused.

Her lips were amazingly plumed to perfection. Her cupid's bow wasn't deeply curved. In fact, it was barely existent. It was rounded, giving her lips the right amount of pouty. The corners of her mouth came to a point while her pearly whites slightly bit her bottom lip.

She had light freckles on her cheeks. If you didn't look close enough you'd completely miss them, and what a shame that would be.

Her smooth brown skin of her cheeks were subtly tinted a deep pink, which I wasn't familiar with when it came to her. That just made me wonder why, why is she blushing?

Maybe it's because I have her pinned against the counter with my hands on her waist.

For anyone else, this wouldn't have been a big deal to me. But this is Rose! My mortal enemy! The one person that's supposed to hate me as equally and consistently as I do her. The one person that's supposed to pick arguments with me! What the hell has changed...? When did it change? I knew she was growing on me but I didn't realize it was to this extent.

I completely lost track of what I was supposed to be doing here. I was supposed to be getting that can of strawberry glaze, not thinking about whatever it is I'm thinking about. I usually have more self-control than this...

As I reached behind her, I heard the moment that her breathing hitched. She was hiding the can behind her back so I took it out of her hand and just waited for her to make a move. She didn't resist or fight back. She never once took her eyes off of me.

Suddenly we heard the front door open and slam shut. Then we heard a loud, "We're home!"

I knew we'd have to break this... whatever this is up... But I wasn't sure if I wanted to... I hesitantly backed away from Rose just in time. I heard her exhale heavily and I could relate to that. A female entered the kitchen and then her clone. Obviously Rose's twin sisters.

"Oh hey. Your cute, who are you?" One asked me.