by gabycabezut
My usual cheerful morning ends the moment I see Joshua Lee wearing our uniform polo shirt. It's not because it's pink or has a large sparkly cupcake on the upper side of his sleeve, it's more because I'm used to seeing him wearing the black and white t-shirt of his parent's bakery. Why on earth is our competition's son here?
Frowning, I turn back to my mother's office. "Mom?" I ask as she pushes a strand of brown hair behind her ear, as curly and untamable as mine, before she looks up.
"Yes, honey?"
"Why is Lee's son here?" I move inside the office, not without surreptitiously glancing behind me, hoping that he already left the hall. Thankfully, he's gone.
Mom smiles. "He got the job today! Remember that I told you we needed more help for the holidays? Well, yesterday I placed the sign outside and he applied twenty minutes later." She shakes her head grinning. "What a perfect timing."
No shit. He probably wants to steal grandma's recipes, and so close to Christmas, too!
"Yes, maybe too perfect?" I ask carefully before taking a seat in front of Mom's desk. She's a bit hopeless, to be honest. She sees good in everyone and refuses to acknowledge that there might be evil in the world. Sometimes I wish I could be as sweet and innocent as her, but then I remember that people take advantage of her, like my father. I know better now. You can't trust people just because. Not even the people you love.
Mom continues to type on her laptop before she gazes at me. Her eyes are soft and warm like honey and I know that she's going to ignore my suspicions. Like she usually does.
"He's a good kid, and he obviously knows how to bake. We just need him to follow our recipes and it's all good. I'll say it again, he's perfect for the job."
Mom's kindness will get us nowhere. "Of course, he knows about baking!" I retort. "He works down the street with his father, you know, our one and only competition?" Mom disregards me as she goes back to her computer.
Their bakery opened two months after us. If we lived in a large city, I don't think we would mind having competition, but our town was small and to be honest, we couldn't afford it. To make things worse, their cakes looked incredible. Joshua's Mom took a cake decoration course in the city, so she uses all these fancy techniques to make gorgeous cakes. My only consolation is that our baking tastes better. Which is why Joshua Lee is probably after our recipes.
"Mom, what if he's here to steal our recipes!" I lower my tone of voice, still paranoid that he might be lurking around.
"Josh was lovely during the interview, I'm sure you two will get along." She tilts her head as she looks up. "He's your classmate, and you never complain about him, so that means he's a good student too."
Yeah, okay. She's got a point. Despite him being popular, he is a good student. A bit quiet, like me. And I know he has good taste in music too. I may or not have stalked his Facebook account a few weeks back when I thought I had a slight crush on him. Thankfully, the crush disappeared after I saw him making out with Lisa, the school's bitch. I thought they were meant for each other.
I can feel Mom's eyes on me and suddenly the room feels too hot. She frowns before her lips quirk up. "Is there anything else going on with him that I don't know about?"
"No!" I shake my head with wide eyes.
Her smile widens. "Right. Either way, we need his help right now." Her eyes light up as she leaves the mug on the desk. "You know what? You two are like the baker's version of Romeo and Juliet!" Oh hell no! I want to protest but my mom is on a roll. "I mean, we don't have a feud against his family, but it does remind me of this dramatic fairy tale about a couple in love," she adds as I try not to panic at her implications.
"Mom, Romeo and Juliet is far from a fairytale. It's a tragedy and they all die in the end."
Her smile widens. "Yet, their love prevails on forever."
Shaking my head, I exhale. "This is not funny, Mom."
She giggles. "It is. A little. Anyway, please make it work, Emma."
Sighing, I stand up. This is a lost cause. I walk out of her office sulking. The first thing that comes to mind is to protect my Nana's recipes, so I make my way to the kitchen to grab them before Josh can get his hands on them.
When I reach the kitchen, my steps falter as I see Josh frowning at the pile of ingredients in front of him on the counter. He looks kind of lost and it's kind of endearing. He looks up and my chest flutters immediately. Crap. I thought my crush was over.
"Hi... Emma," he says before his cheeks flush for a second and a smile draws on his face.
"Hey. Do you need any help?" The words leave my mouth before I think about them. Gosh. I might as well copy all the recipes for him.
He scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah... Mario told me to make gingerbread cookies, but he didn't give me a recipe."
I smile. Looks like I'm not the only one protecting my Nana's secrets. Mario knew her when she was alive and he's our star baker.
"This might be like a test for you," I add as I make my way closer to him.
Josh laughs. "I'm pretty sure it is. Now I just need to make sure I don't flunk before he fires me on my first day." He shakes his head. "It's like he thought I wanted to steal the recipes or something."
A pang of guilt makes its way through my chest. "Oh," I say, trying not to gaze at him. I'm sure I have guilty written all over my forehead. While averting my eyes, I notice the gingerbread cookies recipe on the screen of his phone.
"I don't intend to..." he adds quietly. "I suppose it's what everyone thought when I came here, right?"
"Not at all!" My tone is a bit higher than normal so I clear my throat. "I mean, why would they think that?"
His soft caramel eyes sparkle as his lips curve up. This close I can see little freckles on his nose. I don't know what's making me dizzy. The eyes, the freckles or the spicy cologne. Probably all three.
"So, you didn't think that?"
Deny, Emma. Deny.
"I mean, it is weird that you applied for a job here. I guess you have your reasons though."
He stays quiet for a moment before he grabs his phone and shows it to me. "Would you like to help me, Emma?" There are stars dancing inside my stomach as I nod. "Awesome. Thank you."
I don't try to grab my Nana's recipe and Josh doesn't ask either. The recipe he chose seems simple enough, so we follow it to the letter. Right until the end.
"Are you feeling adventurous?" Josh asks with a mischievous smile on his face, and of course I can't say no to him.
"Maybe?" I pull a strand of hair behind my ear. He follows the movement of my hand and the room feels much warmer once more.
"Why don't we add something different to the dough? I mean, I have to impress Mario somehow."
A chuckle escapes my lips. "What do you have in mind?"
He walks to the pantry where we keep all the spices and starts reading through the labels. "Do you have chili or something like that?"
"Chili?" I ask as I make my way over to where he stands. "We do, and I have to say I'm curious to see how the cookies taste with it." I rummage through the bottles until I find it on the corner.
Josh is all smiles as he measures it into a teaspoon and pours it over the dough. "This will be an unexpected kick."
When the batter has mixed, we roll it out and cut out the shapes. We add sugar on the top and place them in the oven. We repeat the process several times while we talk about Imagine Dragons and Ed Sheeran. The first batch of cookies is out, and I can't wait to taste them, so I grab one with a spoon and take it out of the tray for it to cool down.
"Aren't you going to ask me why I'm here?"
I tilt my head. "I have a feeling you're going to tell me either way."
Josh laughs and his cackles reverberate through the kitchen. It's the best sound, ever.
"I got this job because of you."
It takes me a moment to process what he said. When I do, I frown. "Why?"
"Because I wanted to hang out with you."
"Why?" I ask again, and I so want to slap my head against the counter.
"Isn't it obvious?" He shrugs. "I kind of like you."
My mouth feels dry as I blink a few times. I open my mouth to say why but I shut it before any sound escapes my lips.
"I've wanted to talk to you since last year, but I never had the chance, or the courage to approach you."
"I'm very approachable..."
He smiles. "Not really. You never talk to someone unless you must. So, I figured that by coming here, you'd have to. Even my father thought it was a brilliant plan."
"Your father knows about this?" I asked baffled.
"Of course, he does! He told me we were like the bakery version of Romeo and Juliet!"
"I swear our parents could be best friends," I say shaking my head.
"They should be. I can only imagine the stories they would tell each other."
My smile fades as I remember Lisa and that gross making out session. Maybe this is just a game after all, maybe he just wants to swoon me so he can get his hands on whatever he's after.
"Hey," Josh comes closer. He pulls his brows together as he stares at me. "What happened?"
I stand up to check the cookies on the oven. "Nothing."
Josh's hand encases mine before I can walk away. "Emma, talk to me."
I sigh as I try to ignore the sparkles that radiate from his touch. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I don't want to be part of it."
"Game? What are you talking about?"
"I saw you with Lisa, Josh. Stop pretending."
He tilts his head. "Are you jealous?"
"Of course not!" I pull my hand away from him. The nerve of this guy!
"Because there's nothing going on between Lisa and me."
"It didn't look like that a couple of weeks ago."
Josh presses his lips. They're twitching. I know he's suppressing a smile.
"Well, I'm not trying to do anything to guilt her into going out with me." He grabs my hand again before taking a step closer to me. "Because we both know you thought I was here after your recipes."
I don't say anything. I can't. My heart is hammering inside my chest and my knees seemed made of jelly or something. I'm about to open my mouth when I notice the smoke coming out of the oven.
"The cookies!" I blurt out.
"Crap!" Josh says before letting me go. He grabs the pair of gloves and takes out the tray from the oven.
The cookies look like charcoal and we start coughing with all the smoke.
"I am losing my job on the first day! My dad will never let me forget about it!" He says after fanning himself through the smoke. "The only thing that would make it worth it is if you accept to go out with me tomorrow."
Despite everything, I chuckle. "Are you trying to make me feel guilty?"
"Is it working?"
"No!"
"Damn," he murmurs with a wide smile on his face.
"But if your cookies taste as good as I imagined them, you got yourself a deal."
A smirk plays on his face. I raise and eyebrow. "You're quite confident."
"I am, because that chili idea is my grandmother's secret, and I know it makes gingerbread much better."
My lips part as I think it through. He is sharing his family recipes with me. That's when I know he means business, and gosh, as I take the cookie in my hands, I pray for it to taste good. A smile draws in my face after the first bite.
It's delicious.
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Gaby Cabezut is sappy and sweet as a box of chocolates. She believes that we could all do with a bit of romance and magic in our lives. She loves to write romantic, emotional stories that will make you laugh and sometimes cry. She's Mexican and always dreamed to write in English, and found the chance to do so on Wattpad, where her stories have gathered over 120 million reads online. Her published books are sweet and contemporary romances that will sweeten your life like a batch of brownies. She spends her days between her family, her words and a batch of whatever dessert she decided to create for that evening. She has been published by Pop Fiction Books in the Philippines and HachetteAudio. Prince with Benefits has also been adapted into a game in Chapters: Interactive Stories!