𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 ( 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙡 )

𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮-𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

senseless

i shut the bathroom door, still uncomfortably covered in flour. one of my hands was gripping the towel and hoodie that walker gave me, and the other was over my face in self-pitiful disbelief. i stared at my pathetic reflection in the bathroom mirror. someone who didn't know i was attacked with a pastry's sneeze would think i had horrible dandruff.

i locked the door, removing my jeans and shaking the stubborn flour out over the sink. i got most out, but i would have to wash them at home either way. my turtleneck sweater proved to be a different beast altogether. its velour material clung to the flour as if fused by some unseen force, so i gave up. i got in my birthday suit and twisted the shower handle.

it felt so strange to be in someone else's shower, especially his. he was casually in the other room and i was naked in this one. i knew the door was locked, but the fact that my crush was on the other side of it... i tried to push aside the feeling that i was in a foreign country and imagined i was somewhere else. perhaps in a hotel, where boundaries were clear and where each suite is indistinguishable.

the water poured down on me like heavy rain and efficiently rinsed the flour out of my hair and face. once it was enough, i rushed to turn off the water and wrap the towel around me, but carefully so as to not slip and fall. my hair, stuck to my skin, was saturated to black instead of the natural brown. shivering outside the shower, my toes sunk into the cottony mat below them. i felt much more refreshed and much less like a walking powdered doughnut.

i put my dusty jeans back on once dry, then walker's hoodie. it was plain red, worn and had a few loose threads, but at least it wasn't covered in flour. it was also oddly comfortable. the softest interior i had ever felt covered my arms. and it felt normal wearing it, too, even though it was far too big for me. i never wanted to take it off.

i brought my dirty sweater outside and onto the dining table. then i returned to the kitchen, where walker was on his phone at the counter and the floor was spotless again. "i feel much better, thanks," i said.

"great." he gave me a thumbs up as always. i noticed the frosting was gone off his nose, thank goodness. "do you like the hoodie, or...? i can get another--"

"no! i love it! it's really comfy."

"wanna keep it?"

i tried not to express my alarming amount of excitement about this question. i wasn't an expert in boyfriend-girlfriend activities, but exchanging clothing was one of them, right? "really? only if you want to give it away."

"i want to see your smile more," he said. "this seems to help." just him talking to me like that seemed to help.

the twenty minute timer on his phone chimed. walker opened the oven door and heat scorched the air. from my safe distance, i saw the batch was fully risen and had turned golden brown. and after doing the toothpick test successfully, we set yet another timer, this one for an hour, for them to cool.

"what do you want to do in the meantime?" i asked. "i wish we could just go over to my aunt's now with a bald cupcake."

"bald cupcake!" he repeated with a laugh. "mr fennel lookin' ass."

"you're so right! ugh, i wish he would go to aruba with mrs fennel."

"i can't wait for the chaos that'll ensue in first period next week," he said. "that is if people even show up."

"they better, or they're gonna miss out on the greatest bake sale of their lives!"

out of nowhere, i heard a loud crash outside. then the jazz instrumentals turned off. and so did the lights. and with the new silence, i could now hear the aggressive wind and rain slamming against the walls. "oh shit," said walker, trying to reconnect the bluetooth speaker and failing. "did the power go out?"

i went over to the window. from what i could see past the persistent raindrops, dark clouds shrouded the sun, its light just a faint orange burst along the horizon. "did you know there was gonna be a storm?"

"no. and your parents didn't either, i guess."

crap. my parents. i didn't have my phone, so they were probably wondering where i was. i'd been at walker's for around an hour, and if i left now, my hair would get soaked all over again. i couldn't go to my aunt's and i couldn't go back home. staying here would be the most rational thing to do, but also the most dreadful.

if i lied again and say i went to maeve's, they'd be furious and suspicious why i had a men's sweatshirt on and a shirt that might as well be covered in cocaine rather than flour. and if i told the truth that i was at walker's, they'd be furious and dad would kill me for hanging out with a boy. in all potential outcomes, i was dead.

after that long moment of consideration, i spoke softly, "what should i do?" i spun back around laboriously.

i could barely see walker it was so dim in the room and it was difficult to hear him with the storm. i gestured for him to come closer, and once he was, he said, "i couldn't hear you. what'd you say?"

"what should i do?" i said, quite loud and desperate this time.

he gazed out the window and pondered. the little light emitted from the outside shone on his face. he appeared contrasting to me, collected. i was playing with my fingernails for much too long before he finally said, "you were walking down the block to jordyn's when you had the amazing idea of ​​going to the bakery, you know, but the way there was super long! so it took a while to get it, and by the time you were on your way back to jordyn's, it started storming. which is why your clothes are all wet."

"what do you mean 'my clothes are wet?'"

"we're walking in the rain."

"no we're not."

"yes we are."

"no we're not!"

"there won't be any flour on your shirt if its rained on."

i tilted my head, considering the risky nature of the proposition. "i can't think of anything worse than that idea. but i also can't think of anything better," i said. "so, sure. under one condition." i poked my finger into his chest. "you have to walk me home."

"i thought that was a given."

"and what about the cupcakes," i realized. "are we leaving now?"

"the gaslighting that's about to go down won't make much sense if we wait any longer," he said. we both started to gather our jackets and such. "and i'm just gonna have to finish these myself."

"okay... what about the hoodie?" i held the sweater in front of me, now in the dining room.

"i'll give it back to you on monday." 

that sounded like he was borrowing it from me. i giggled as i entered the bathroom again, where i changed again, and where i heard a loud crash again. it didn't sound like thunder, luckily, but like something heavy was pushed over. the winds were high and strong. and we were just two stupid kids going out into it.

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

thank you for reading chapter 28!