⤷ 🧁 ----- CH. SIX
THE CUPCAKE BASH
I DON'T THINK I'M OVER HIM. The words replayed in her head like an endless loop as her hands steadied in concentration to ice this last batch of cupcakes. The piping bag circled, leaving a beautiful swirl of blue cardamom cream, and Kate thought she might explode if she thought anymore about what happened last week.
The Cupcake Bash was finally upon them, and she'd spent all day prepping, baking, and decorating. All the while, she couldn't get Jamie fucking Tartt out of her head.
"What color's your dress?" was how he greeted her when he called soon after she had left that fateful day. He sounded nervous, sort of fidgety, like he was trying and failing to cover it up.
She was confused. "Wh—are we not going to talk about—"
He interrupted hurriedly. "If I'm your plus on, we got to match, don't we? So what color's your dress?"
"Blue."
They didn't speak about . . . the happening—the almost kiss and the flirting and the jealousy. And she was grateful that they could afford to act like nothing had happened (despite how a small part of her ached at the idea of their something being nothing).
I don't think I'm over him . . . there was that too. The brief but ground-shattering confession she'd made to Darcy. Looking back on it now, her heart blossomed with embarrassment, but she hated that it was true.
She hated that she wasn't over him. She never was. Everyone always told her, 'you never forget your first love' and that 'there's a part of that person that will always stay with you.' But Darcy was fine after Calum and Evan was fine after Yvonne. So what was it about her and Jamie that made this so difficult?
Why was it that she felt so pathetically for him?
Kate gripped her piping bag a little tighter and huffed when the swirl became an ugly splotch. She felt a lot like the glob staring back at her, but she didn't have any time to dwell on her wallowing as the doors to the venue's kitchen swung open revealing a properly pampered Darcy.
She wore a floor length black dress that hugged her in all the right places, paired nicely with a pair of pumps that gave her an extra three inches.
Darcy plucked the cupcake with botched frosting, taking a much needed bite. "Did Jamie say when he's coming?"
She shrugged. "He's got a match today, so he said he might be running a bit behind."
"Fashionably late is so him."
Right.
Kate adjusted her piping bag, fingers twitching as she decorated the next cupcake. Jamie sure was fashionable, but being late was another thing . . . not that she was waiting on him or anything. She wasn't so pathetic that she was just . . . expecting him, sort of.
"He'll be here," Darcy said, eyeing the cookies laid out on a separate tray. Raspberry and chocolate chip.
Kate didn't look up from her cupcake. Sticky blue frosting spilled over the edges, but she was quick to fix it.
Kate straightened out the barely there wrinkles on her dress. The event had finally begun, and after a brief introduction by Evan, she was free to roam the gala. She'd settled in a quaint corner overlooking the guests. She'd handed out as many business cards as she could without feeling like she was pandering.
"I heard some rich prick complaining about your cupcakes," Darcy appeared with two flutes of champagne in hand. "Said he's a food critic."
"Is that so?" Kate eyed the glass Darcy handed her, bubbles floating to the top before settling with a pop.
"Yeah, which is why I didn't tell him he hasn't properly zipped his trousers." Darcy pointed past the main hall towards the door and sure enough she spotted the man with his shirt tail stuck between his zipper.
Kate let out a half-snort, laughing, before stifling her amusement with a long sip of her drink. Her eyes drifted across the growing mass of pearly smiles and luxury clothing. Evan sure did know a lot of people. Speaking of . . .
"Where's Evan?"
Darcy downed the rest of her champagne. "Trying and probably failing to court the at girl I shot with. Loren or Lorraine or something."
"The one who goes to the same salon as you?"
Just as Darcy nodded, Kate spotted the faux strawberry blonde laughing stiffly to something Evan said. "How long should we give him before we go and save him from embarrassing himself?"
"Eh . . . Two minutes."
With a nod, Kate plucked two more flutes of champagne off a waiter's passing tray. As the two girls indulged in their drinks, it wasn't long before she noticed two familiar faces making their way over to them. Pink tulle and gemstones adorned Keeley's body in a glimmering look that fit the shorter girl perfectly. Meanwhile, Rebecca had donned a deep blue evening dress, pumps proudly showing off her height.
"You look gorgeous, babes, and I love your dress. Blue! Like Jamie's tux," Keeley said, bringing both girls into a quick hug. "He showed me a picture, and it's stunning."
Kate still felt her heart tug but pushed down the eagerly rising feeling because she was above it. Keeley was a wonderful person, and she refused to start disliking her just because she also happened to date Jamie in the past. She didn't want to be that girl.
But that nagging voice, the one that always popped up around her grew stronger today. The same one that whispered as tendrils of insecurity wrapped their slimy selves around her.
"I haven't talked to him, but I'm sure he's just running late," she said at last, sipping at her champagne. "He said he'd come tonight after all."
"Oh, did he?"
And it was that nasty sort of pity blending with the crushing weight of realization despite fleeting hope. Oh, did he? As in, that's not likely.
Cracks bloomed in her glass heart, and Kate ignored the rising heat of disappointment.
She gave Keeley and Rebecca one last week smile before exiting herself to whisk Evan away from Loren-Lorraine-something.
He'll come. He promised he would, she thought, sitting on what little hope she had he'd keep his word.
The night had come to a beautiful end. All the business cards she had on hand had been taken, and the leftover desserts were only enough to fill one take home box maybe two. The Cupcake Bash had been a smashing hit, but for some reason, amidst bubbly champagne and relief that it was over, Kate didn't feel all too happy.
Jamie didn't show up, and now after a long night, heels in hand, everyone was packed up and ready to go.
Evan took to behind the wheel while Darcy booked it to the back, leaving Kate in the passenger seat. She looked out the window, letting her eyes follow after each building they passed until they couldn't anymore.
It was a dull stinging that sat in her chest. She wasn't mad. Rebecca and Keeley eventually explained to her that their West Ham match today had gone poorly, something about Nate (who the fuck was Nate?) and a sign they used to have up in the locker room.
Kate would have been dim to think that he'd put her before his passion, and she'd never ask him to, but it hurt anyway.
"He probably just needed some time to cool off," Keeley had said while Rebecca nodded in agreement. "You know how he gets."
Right, she did know how he gets.
She knew how anger and grief drowned him in waves, clouded his sight till all he knew were murky waters. But Kate didn't take a chance on him just because she needed his help with recipes. Instead, that teeny tiny part of her, the young madly in love foolish girl in her thought things would be different this time even if it wasn't his intention to start over. They'd almost kissed for God's sake! Things should be different. The least he could do was show up when he said he would and send a message if he couldn't.
"You know if you think any harder, you'll burn a hole right through that thick skull of yours," Evan said, glancing at her from the side of his vision.
"If I think any harder, a holey skull will be the least of our problems," Kate retorted. Her eyes traced the passerbys and stores inching past them.
Darcy sat up suddenly, leaning between the shoulders of their seats. "We need a drink."
"You cleared a bottle of champagne by yourself before we left," Evan said incredulously. "What you need is a water and a damn mint."
"Didn't realize we were your kids, Evan," Darcy said, rolling her eyes before mumbling, "buzzkill."
"You know what!"
Well at least one thing she knew she could always depend on was Evan and Darcy fighting it out.
Kate smiled softly to herself as the car came to an abrupt stop and the two began to nitpick at each other.
🧁 ━━━━ END OF CHAPTER NOTE
SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT (and mid-tier filler chapter) Y'ALL. I got distracted by the real world . . . But I'm back now! Things have finally calmed down in my life, which means I've a bit of time to get into writing again. I feel like I played up the Cupcake Bash to be a bigger event in the plot than it is, but next chapter will definitely be more 'action-packed' haha . . . Anyway, hope I haven't lost y'all yet. ALSO, I'll be publishing a Ron Weasley fanfiction for those of y'all that are interested! So keep an eye out for that. Lots of love, always and forever ❦
XOXO,
LONDON