Where It All Started

Lie

****

~.: De's POV :.~

As soon as Batman and Dick, dressed in his Robin uniform, left the Manor, Aria grabs my phone out of my pocket and speed dials Ryan who instantly picks up. I give her an embarrassed expression as Ryan's voice comes through the phone.
"Hey, De! Everything okay?" Aria giggles conspiratorially as she holds my phone out of reach when I tried to snag it out of her hands.
"Oh, everything's fine, Ryan-bear!~ De and I were wondering if you and Lukas could come over? My brother and Bruce just left the manor so we'll have the place to ourselves for a few lonesome hours~"
I buried my face in my hands as a fiery blush spreads across my face while Aria twirls her hair around her fingertips.
"Uh- sure, I guess. But I'll have to bring my sister with me. My mom wanted me to babysit her while she went on date night with my dad," Aria grinned excitedly and clapped before throwing my phone to me.
"Awesome! See ya then!~" Aria cheered, then her face turns cold as a text from Wally chimes on her own phone. I lifted my phone to my ear while Aria tosses hers to the ground and stomps up the stairs to her bedroom while growling angrily.
"What was that all about?" Ryan evidently had heard her temper tantrum and I face palmed myself, leaning down and picking her phone off the ground before setting it on the kitchen counter in the dining room, "Did she break a nail or something? She sounds pretty angry," A scuffling noise followed by the jingling of a catbell fills the phone speaker as I slide into a chair and lean over the kitchen island to snag a cookie from the cookie jar.
"Nah, just boy problems," I huffed, straining my arm as I managed to lift the lid off the jar, "No big deal, she'll get over it-" As I'm trying to adjust my phone between my shoulder and my cheek, my hand slips and knocks the jar off the counter, a shattering sound coming from the jar as it clatters to the ground, "Oh, crap! I broke the cookie jar," Ryan laughs from the other side of the phone as I hopped down from the kitchen chair and rushed toward the broken jar, carefully picking up the shards.
"You must be pretty clumsy," I blushed profusely, puffing out a breath to get my hair out of my face while I grab the shattered pieces and shuffle toward the garbage can, "Was it on a tall shelf or something?" I scowled at his remark, unamused by his attempt to make fun of my small size.
"Haha, that was so funny I forgot to laugh," I drily replied, dusting off my hands before heading back to the dirtied cookies on the floor. I pouted at them, my bottom lip quivering while Ryan chuckles through the speaker, "I killed innocent cookies while trying to reach across the kitchen counter to get the cookie jar," My voice comes out in a whine as I scoop the cookies into my hands and trudge reluctantly back over to the garbage can to throw the ruined snack food away, "I'm a monster!" I wailed playfully, dumping the cookies into the garbage before getting out the broom and dustpan.
"Awww, you're not a monster," Ryan hums soothingly as I place the phone on the counter and turn up the volume of the call so I can hear him while I'm sweeping up my mess, "Mittens and I don't think so anyway, isn't that right, cutie?" I giggled as a meow sounds from the speaker while I sweep the crumbs into the dustpan.
"Well, I guess I'm not that bad if a cute boy and his cat don't think I'm a monster for ruining perfectly good cookies," I chirped, blushing profusely as I shyly chew my lip while emptying the dustpan into the garbage can. Ryan stops chuckling and another shuffle sounds from the speaker before a door closes.
"Did you just call me cute?" Ryan shyly laughs and I switch the voice call to a FaceTime call swiftly to reveal his blushing face as he readjusts his glasses on the ridge of his nose. I blush profusely in return, pretending to focus on cleaning as Aria comes into the room and gets something to drink from the fridge.
"Of course she called you cute, Ryan!" Aria interrupts, giving me a mischievous smile as she nudges me with an arm while passing by me to try and get some ingredients together to make a new batch of cookies so Dick won't notice when he comes back from whatever he and Bruce are doing, "Deanne thinks you're dreamy, by the way~" Ryan covers his face in embarrassment and suddenly a little girl's voice sounds from the phone, catching us off guard.
"Lexieeeee, I told you I'm on the phone right nowwww," Ryan groans and a little brown haired girl's face pops up beside his.
"I'm sorry, RyRy," the little girl named 'Lexie' replied in a cute voice while giving him an adorable pout, "I just wanted to spend time with you," Aria and I give each other amused glances before looking back at the phone as the girl peers into the camera, "Ohmygosh, they're so pretty," Lexie gasps, pulling the phone out of Ryan's hands so she can get a better look at us while Ryan groans and hugs Mittens close, "Which one is your girlfriend? Wait! Are they both you're girlfriends?" I clapped a hand over my mouth, stifling a snort while Aria bursts into a fit of giggles at Lexie's question. Her brother choked in response, his face bright red as he snagged the phone away from Lexie.
"Gotta go, I'll be there soon, heh!" Ryan hurriedly coughed, then the phone goes blank as he hangs up the FaceTime call. Aria looks mischievously at me while I lean against the broom quietly.
"You really like him, don't you~" she teased, reaching out to boop my nose with one of her fingers. I playfully lift my head and try to bite her finger but she takes it away, holding it close to her chest as she squeals in laughter, "Come on, De!! Just ask him out tonight! You blocked Seth and you're done with him, so you're a free girl now! Live a little, stretch your legs, and smell the roses~"
I scowled unamused at her before raising the broom and swatting her butt as she attempts to twerk against the kitchen counter, "Stop. No twerking on the counter," I giggled, then went back to finishing up sweeping while she gets things ready to bake with.
"I don't know how good these are gonna turn out," Aria murmured, pursing her lips as I put the broom and dustpan away before joining her at the oven, "I've only cooked with Alfred and Dick once- if you can count me holding the cookie plate in place while they poured in the cookie dough-" I rolled my eyes at her, taking charge of the cookies.
"You just sit back and watch the timer," I sighed, rubbing my hands together, "I've got this."

****

Smoke filled the house within the next 45 minutes and before we knew it, the smoke alarm is screeching in the hallway. Aria gives me a glare as I pull out the cookie tray to reveal 25 cookies, all thoroughly burnt to a crisp.
"I thought you said 'I got this'!!" Aria grumbled, facepalming as I nervously rubbed the back of my neck while peering pitifully at the burned remains, "THAT doesn't look like cookies at all-"
I gave her a helpless look, pouting a little, "I didn't say that they would turn out good, okay?" I whined softly, hiding my face in my hands while Aria bangs her head on the kitchen counter repetitively.
"De, you're lucky you're my best friend," she groaned, getting out of her chair and crossing the kitchen floor toward me, "Maybe we have enough time to try aga-" Suddenly the doorbell rings and we both yelp in surprise at the sound, "ACK, why did they get here so fast!!" Aria tugs at her hair frustratedly, then nudges me down the hall and up the stairs.
"Wait! Aren't you gonna let them in?" I called out as she shooed me into her bedroom.
"DUH!" Aria laughed, pushing past me and grabbing a cute outfit for me to change into, "But right now you're covered in flour and cookie dough, so change before Ryan sees you!!" Without another word, she rushes down the stairs, leaving me in her bedroom as she races to the front door to answer it. Chewing my bottom lip, I huffed and stripped out of my cookie-covered clothes, hurriedly slipping into the outfit that Aria had shoved at me. I was just finishing with maneuvering the tank top around my body when suddenly a knock sounds at the slightly cracked door.
"H-hey, Aria told me you were- oh Jesus..." My face flushed bright red as Ryan hurriedly closed the door so he didn't have to see anything, "IM SO SORRY, I DIDNT MEAN TO PEEK IN- I SWEAR!" Hurriedly, I pull the tank top even further down to cover the rest of my tummy before I open the door to show that Ryan has his back turned and is hiding his face in his hoodie.
"It's okay, Ryan," I shyly laughed, tapping him on the shoulder tentatively. He reluctantly turns toward me and I can't help but blush profusely at seeing the small trickle of blood coming from his nose, "Y-you've got a nosebleed-" I stuttered nervously and Ryan's eyes widen before he pulls out his phone and checks his reflection in the camera.
"Aw, seriously!!" He groans, lowering his cellphone, "Do you know where a bathroom is?" He awkwardly coughed, pulling the neck of his hoodie up to cover his lower face while Lukas comes jogging up the stairs with Lexie in tow. I nodded and gestured down the hall before he rushed toward the restroom to fix his nosebleed.
"Big dork must've forgot to take his medicine before he left the house to pick me up," Lukas sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before walking into the bathroom to check on Ryan while Lexie peers curiously at me.
"You're just as pretty in person," She smiled politely, hugging me. I blushed and patted her head as she pulled away when Aria comes up the stairs, tying her hair into a messy bun.
"Where'd the guys go?" She asked confusedly, raising an eyebrow as she comes up to us.
"Ryan had a nosebleed when he almost walked in on me changing clothes," I explained, flashing her a knowing look, "I don't suppose you had anything to do with that, hmm?" Aria looks sheepish as she waved a hand dismissively at me.
"Ahaha, that's ridiculous!" She giggles then coughed in a soft voice under her breath, "I thought you'd get dressed quicker than that," My eyes widened and I swatted her in the shoulder, causing her to yelp in protest.
"You dummy!" I wailed, facepalming myself, "He could've seen me naked and we're not even dating yet!" Lexie wanders toward the bathroom as the door opens to reveal Lukas and Ryan stepping out of the room.
"But he didn't! So everything's okay!" Aria laughed, hugging me in apology as I grumbled under my breath and hid my face in her shoulder.
"Ryan's okay now," Lukas announced, smiling kindly at us before walking over to Aria and taking her hand while I slip out of the hug.

~.: TO BE CONTINUED :.~