"why'd you say happy birthday to dixie damelio and not me?" clay asks, making sure that there's no possible way his face could be seen by the camera.
he's nervous, truthfully. he's not sure why he agreed to it. there's so many things that could happen. but riley was really excited for it, and clay couldn't say no to her, and... well it was too late to back out now.
"its her birthday." riley grabs two wine glasses from his cupboard.
"but..." clay rolls his eyes, "i hate you."
"that's mean," she says, handing him a glass of red wine, "now drink up, babe."
"riley!"
clay hadn't baked a cake since fourth grade, and that was over at his best friend, riley leishmans, house.
and that... well it had gone horrible.
it turns out riley's mom had used all the sugar the day before (because she was making treats for a bake sale) so they substituted brown sugar and cinnamon. yeah, you can imagine how it turned out.
and now they were standing in clays kitchen, about to do the exact same thing. except this time with sugar. hopefully.
riley was getting progressively more tipsy (lightweight lol) and clay was being conservative with his wine. the first glass she had poured was barely touched.
it's not that he'd didn't want to drink, i mean he was twenty one, he legally could, it was that he didn't want to drink around riley. not on camera, especially.
he figured she'd be staying the night, and his thoughts were confirmed when she appeared in the kitchen wearing a pair of his plaid pajama pants and his florida gators shirt.
if he wasn't already in love, that surely did it.
"oven is on, let's get this bitch made!" riley yells, pouring the entire bag of flour into the green mixing bowl before clay can protest.
he just sighs, leaning against the counter as she erupts into a fit of giggles.
"we only need three cups, ri."
she glances up at him, shrugging.
"threes a party."
clay shakes his head, pushing himself off the counter and moving towards her, "that is definitely not the saying."
as soon as his hands come into frame, the chat erupts. he watches it briefly from his phone, trying and failing to read it as it zooms by.
"my grandma always said when you're baking you gotta feel the right amount of shit in your heart."
clay smiles at her. she's really something when she's drunk, isn't she?
"are you feeling the right amount of shit in your heart?"
riley nods, tossing a handful of baking soda into it.
"hell yeah i am, baby boy."
clays cheeks turn pink and riley erupts into laughter as he looks away. she gasps for air and points at him, trying to slip out a 'he's so red, chat!' but being unable to. chat flies by, caught off guard by the nickname.
clay rolls his eyes, muttering something under his breathe before heading into the pantry to grab something else.
as it would turn out, they're out of salt. according to riley 'salt doesn't do shit in cakes, we don't need it' so they skip it.
every time clays hands come into camera or he talks softly to riley, chat erupts.
he finds it funny, he really does. they're so obsessed with his relationship with riley. a relationship that isn't even a relationship.
he likes her, and that's the end of that.
there's no way in hell that riley likes him back.
and even if they were in a relationship, which will never happen, why would clay publicly admit that to millions of people he doesn't know? it just seems stupid, it seems like he's setting himself up for failure.
kinda like what's happening with the cake.
they're out of milk too.
riley realizes that anything can substitute as milk as long as it's liquid, so she dumps some wine in the bowl.
clay mentally gags at the thought of eating the cake.
while it's cooking, they just sit and talk.
they read chat when they can, but it goes by so fast that they can barely make out the words.
"your mom gave me one of your baby albums." riley tells him, swinging her feet against the cupboards.
"did she now?" he asks, his own glass of wine in his hand.
for once she's actually taller than him.
"i'll reveal them all. every single one. you were a cute baby, you know? chat, he was a really cute baby."
clay just laughs, his cheeks turning pink.
she's gotten better at being on stream and talking to chat, which is to be expected considering how often she's appearing on somebody's streams.
"still are," she reaches out and brushes his hair out of his face. god he needs a hair cut, "you're cute lol."
clay wheezes, unable to stop himself. riley follows suit, dropping her head down into her hands.
"did you just-" he cuts himself, "did you just fucking-" he wheezes again, "you just fucking 'your cute lol' me?" he cackles violently, causing riley to laugh even harder.
so hard that she almost slips off the counter.
clay catches her at the last moment, pulling her up and into his chest as his laughs soften.
they end up in a. compromising position, with clay leaned back against his sink and riley pressed against his chest.
he can feel her hot breath against his lips. it smells of red wine and chocolate chips.
"hey lol." she says softly, tilting her head to look at him.
she runs her thumb gently over his cheek, the skin going red underneath her.
she smiles softly. he's a simp, through and through. and maybe she is too, but she doesn't really want to think about that right now. or ever.
"h-hey lol." he replies back, voice cracking.
yeah, real cool clay. nice going.
riley leans forward and his breath bitches in his throat. she places a gently kiss on his cheek before the loud beeping of the oven suddenly interrupts them, causing them both to jump and seperate from each other.
clay tries to get back into steamer mode and riley tries not to puke. she's not entirely sure if it's the nerves or the wine.
the cake is fucking disgusting.
like, terribly disgusting.
if gordon ramsey tasted it, he'd probably write a 10 page essay on why it sucked, then quit his job and burn his money.
riley almost puked, clay almost puked, and most of chat probably did too.
"wait, clay, before you end stream!" by this point, her words are slurred completely together. he probably should've watched how much she was drinking, but honestly he started drinking more too and just completely forgot. he wonders how long it's gonna be until people remember that she's only twenty, and technically this was illegal.
"me and your sister made this last night." she hands him a plain white box, nudging his arms onto the counter.
he lifts open the top to reveal a... green dream cake?
"ri-" he says softly, taking the cake out of the box and setting it in the counter.
it's him. his little smiley face, his little green color, all on the cake.
he doesn't even say anything, instead turning and pulling riley into the tightest hug of her life.
once she hears sniffles from him, she takes it as her cue to shut the stream off and comfort him. she does just that, saying a very fast goodbye before abruptly ending the stream.
and then it's just them, hugging alone in his kitchen, the soft sound of his sniffles being the only noise. and the cats occasionally purrs from the living room.
"it's okay, babe, it's okay," she mutters softly into him, holding him as tight as she can, "it's gonna be okay."
she's not sure why he's crying, or what she did wrong, but she feels sorry for it.
his sudden crying puts her in a weird state of feeling sober while still being completely drunk. it's almost an out of body experience, and she can barely feel her hands.
clay finally pulls away from her, his eyes puffy, his cheeks tinted red. her hands stay on him, holding both his hands, rubbing his knuckles gently.
"thank you." he mutters softly, unsure of what exactly to say.
he's not sure why he cried. maybe he's just an emotional drunk. a sentimental drunk. is that even a thing? clay doesn't exactly know every type of drunk there is, but he imagines that's the type of drunk he is.
suddenly, riley leans forward.
she's not entirely sure what got into her. maybe it's the wine, or maybe it's a sudden burst of stupid, drunk confidence. maybe both, but she's leaning forward and forgetting about the consequences.
clay wants this, he so desperately wants it. his body aches at the thought of finally getting to kiss her. he knows that when he wakes in the morning his head will spin with the ache of too much wine and the thoughts of 'what if'.
but he knows it's wrong, and he's a much better person than that, no matter how much he wants it and how drunk he is.
so he stops her before she can kiss him, ignoring the smell of red wine and chocolate that echoes on his lips.
"not like this," he says softly, "i want you to remember our first kiss, ok?"
riley just nods, a sick feeling in her stomach.
she really fucked things up, didn't she?
---- -- - -- ----
hey lol
miss me?
not really happy with this one but i need to get back in my zone so here it is. wasn't entirely sure how to write the stream so hopefully i did a good job
don't you guys love me teasing you with a kiss... god can they just fuck already?
i'm kidding