For Everything I Am | KTH 18+ ✔

Chapter Sixteen

Christmas music played through the speaker in the kitchen while Aunt Gigi and I baked cookies for Isabelle to put out for Santa tomorrow night. Well, more so I baked the cookies while she licked the cookie dough off of the spoon, trying to get as much information from me as possible as if she was a teenage girl instead of my mother's sister.

I do have to admit how cute it is seeing her so fascinated by my love life. It wasn't a common thing with her honestly. Most of the guys I have dated over the years she always seemed less than intrigued by.

"But you said that you two almost kissed last night." Aunt Gigi whispers while hopping onto the counter.

"No, I said it felt like he was thinking about kissing me." I correct her, "There's a difference."

"Did he lean in?" Her eyes grow wide at the thought, "Or did he cup your face? It's sexy when they do that."

Laughing as I start another row of the small cookie dough balls, I pause to look at her with amusement, "No to both."

Staring at me for a moment as she contemplates the story I told her about our encounter last night before bed, she sighs out in bewilderment. It was obvious she had been rooting for us at least since his seventeenth birthday. That's really when her constant hints about how handsome he's becoming and how good he and I would be together started.

Although I never paid too much attention to it in the past, I start to wonder if she had been subtly trying to play a matchmaker all of this time.

"I'm confused. Why do you think he was thinking about kissing you then?"

Stopping in the middle of scooping up another chunk of the sweet gooey mixture, I tilt my head as I begin to swoon over the feeling it bestowed onto me last night. It may not have been much at all, but now knowing that I'm for sure seeing him in another light, the tiny actions he had made were still somewhat riveting.

"The look in his eyes and that surge between us. The way he ever so sweetly tucked my hair behind my ear and took a lingering look at my lips." My skin prickles at the thought of him even considering kissing me for the first time. Not like the cheek, forehead, and hand kisses he's given me in the past as a show of friendly affection.

"Oh, he was most definitely thinking about it. You need to get him drunk." Aunt Gigi giggles while swinging her legs, now with way more elation, and offering me the last bite from the spoon.

"Um, that's a little creepy, don't you think?" I shake my head while grinning like a fool as I slide the baking sheet onto the middle oven rack. Knowing Aunt Gigi was dead set on believing the thought of kissing me certainly crossed his mind made my heart sputter and my belly fill with a thousand glittering monarchs.

Kissing her lips with a bit of spunk, she slides off of the counter to wash the couple of dishes I had used, "Just to get some liquid courage in his system, that's all I'm saying. Maybe he'll tell you how he really feels."

My hand rests on my hip as I turn to face her, "I think I'd rather him tell me when he's sober so that I don't question the veracity of it all."

"They say the truth comes out when you're drunk."

"Who's they?" I amuse.

"You know... people. Everyone." She giggles as she puts the clean dishes in their rightful spot to avoid my mother's fussing, "Any plans for after your vacation?"

My lips form a thin line as I shake my head, making sure I didn't have anything scheduled until my eyes grow wide, "I have a date with my neighbor!"

"Cancel it, Victoria!"

"I can't do that." I whine, slumping my shoulders, "He's a nice guy and the date was okay."