messy // george weasley

ch26: Peonies and Polaroids

cw: sexually explicit content

☆☆☆

    The small bell above the front door twinkled as Willow shut the door behind her last interview of the day. Once she had flipped the deadbolt and ensured the young girl had made it to the end of the street, she turned on her heel to make her way back to the kitchen.

Since she had officially agreed to cater Madame Duval's event, the bakery needed an extra set of hands. Willow had spent the last several hours meeting with nearly every witch and wizard who had answered the ad that Elizabeth had helped them secure in the latest issue of The Quibbler.

She had always planned on expanding her catering staff before they officially opened. People from all walks of life had traveled to her bakery for an interview, so, even though she only had plans to hire one person, for the time being, it was still nice to experience such a large turnout. It also meant she had a long list of people that she could hire for the future staff one day.

Stopping before she reached the kitchen door, Willow leaned over the counter to grab the small journal she'd written notes about the interviewees in. And just as she was finally pushing through the white swing door and into the kitchen, she overheard Seth and Everly bickering about the cupcake in Everly's hands.

"You shouldn't eat that, those are for practice only."

"Seth, it's still edible," Everly sighed, beginning to peel back the paper lining. "Plus, this one looks fucked so it's a good excuse to just go ahead and put it out of its misery."

He opened his mouth to argue further but was interrupted as they both turned at the sound of Willow's footsteps. Everly's tongue was frozen on the bright blue icing as Seth straightened his posture against the central counter.

"How did the interviews go?" Seth questioned as Willow hopped onto the counter along the wall. She flipped open the notebook in her hand, tucking her legs underneath her.

"Everly, you can eat the cupcake—how else will we know they're any good?" she winked. Everly shot her tongue out at Seth, who ignored her, as she continued to lick the frosting off the top of the cupcake.

Willow turned to Seth. "Do I really need to answer how the interviews went? I'm sure you both had your ears pressed against the wall to hear every word they said."

"Mine weren't," he responded, his eyes shifting to Everly. "But not everyone had the same idea."

"Personally," Everly spoke in between bites of the cupcake, "I wanted to use this product I st—bought from that joke shop across the way. But Seth told me it was rude to eavesdrop." She reached into the front pocket of her overalls before placing what looked to be a plastic ear attached to the end of a string on the counter. Willow leaned forward to pick it up.

"Did you say you stole this?" she questioned, turning the ear over to read the inscription along the back.

Everly scoffed. "N-No—of course not. Why would I do that?"

"Willow probably could have gotten you a discount on that thing if you had just asked," Seth pointed out, picking the piping bag off the counter to continue frosting the rest of the chocolate cupcakes. Willow felt her cheeks go warm at Seth's comment, she picked her head up to argue, but his attention was already shifted.

"How would she have gotten me a discount?" Everly replied. Willow opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off by Seth.

"Have you already forgotten that she's working on a mystery product with the owners of that shop?" Seth answered, his eyes darting to Willow. "She's mentioned before that they've become good friends."