The perfect woman - My best friend's mom (GirlxGirl)

Thirteen - The Baker's

The days following my lunch with April were uneventful and slow. I stayed home because of my cold but managed to do some school work between naps and sneeze attacks. I spent the weekend cuddled up with blankets in front of the tv binging Netflix, and had my dad bring me food and snacks. Jasmine called every day to check in on me and it was nice to talk with her, but it brought the face of her mom into my conscious and I was still sensitive to the memory of our lunch. By Tuesday, I felt considerably better from my cold, not so much about the April situation, but I decided it was time to get back to school. I met up with Jasmine at the train station and she hugged me as tightly as if it had been a year since we last saw each other, not a week.

"Don't squeeze so tight, you know I'm made of glass," I joked.

"I've missed you," she answered against my shoulder, still hugging me. 

She finally let go as we heard the train approach.

"And that's not only for this past week," Jasmine continued. "I've been spending a lot of time with Marcus lately and not so much with you. I guess that's on me, so I'm sorry for that. Should we do something tonight? Maybe cook dinner or watch a movie? Or we could bake something, I am a Baker."

The train slowed down and stopped at the station, doors opening and people moving forward. I took this opportunity to think about Jasmine's suggestion. We hadn't spent much time together lately and I too missed hanging out, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to face April. Sure, we didn't have to be at their house, but for some reason, we almost always were, and it didn't feel the same whenever we hung out at my dad's house. And besides, if we were to bake, the Baker's kitchen was much bigger than my dad's and was more suitable for the messy and space up-taking kind of baking that Jasmine and I liked to do. I'd be lying if I said that we'd never gotten into a food fight over the years we had known each other, it was actually more of a routine than an exception. 

"Okay, sure, I'd love to bake something tonight," I decided and Jasmine lit up in excitement.

She went on to chatter about what we could bake, if they had enough ingredients or if we had to go shopping, and if we would have time to do that compared to the time it would take to bake the thing we needed the ingredients for. I smiled and nodded, only listening with half an ear. I had other things to worry about than what sweets could be baked in the oven simultaneously to save time. I worried about April, my usual anxiety subject, how I would feel when I saw her, how she would feel, if she had changed her mind since last week (most likely not) etc. I wondered if April would be okay with me baking cookies with Jasmine at their house or if she would be uncomfortable. I tried to brush it off but by lunchtime, the worry of possibly making her uncomfortable got the best of me and I sent her a text. As my thumb was about to hit the send button, a thought stopped me. Was I actually going to ask for her permission to hang out with my best friend of 15 years? I hadn't thought about how complicated things would get after our kiss, but I now saw a glimpse of that. I decided to send it, hoping that she would respond well. Three minutes later, my screen lit up with a text back. 

April: "Of course it's okay. Nothing happened, remember."

Right, right, I thought to myself, that's what we decided. Thirty seconds later, another text came in. 

April: "Do you need anything from the store? I'll go grocery shopping after work."

I picked up my phone and typed back.

Liv: "Good, just wanted to make sure. You should probably ask Jasmine about that, it'd be weird otherwise. And besides, I don't even know what we're making yet, so I wouldn't know anyway."

Another minute passed before I got another text.

April: "That's right, I'll ask her. What a fun surprise then ;)"

A winky emoji... I decided to not put much thought into analyzing what it could mean and simply locked my phone and put it away in my pocket.

* * *

"Sorry I'm late, the teacher didn't let us go until he finished his presentation," I apologized through heavy breaths from having run from the classroom to the train station. I had arrived just in time to slip through the doors before they closed, and found Jasmine sitting at our usual seats in the back. If I hadn't caught this train, I would've had to wait forty-five minutes for the next one. 

"Would you like to tell me what we're baking?" I asked once my breathing had gone back to normal.

"Strawberry and lemon pie and chocolate chip cookies," Jasmine answered in triumph.

"Nice," I said and felt myself get hungry already.

"We have most ingredients at home and mom will buy strawberries and lemons at the store after she's done with work. She texted me after lunch, weird coincidence."

"Mmhm," I hummed, pretending as though I didn't already know that.

I hated lying to Jasmine but I had no choice. I looked out the window to distract from the knot in my stomach and tried to appreciate the scenery. It had already gotten dark, however, so only the nearest branches of the trees could be seen in the light from the train.

When we had finally gotten to the Baker's house, we opened the front door and were met by the smiling faces of Peter and Stewert, Jasmine's brothers, playing with lego in the hall. We took off our shoes and headed into the kitchen. The clock on the wall read quarter past four and we agreed that we would have time to make the pie crust and the cookie dough before dinner. Jasmine pulled out the recipes on her phone and I pulled the ingredients out from the pantry and fridge.

"What's the first step?" I asked.

"Flour," Jasmine said.

We followed the instructions, measured out ingredients and eventually put the pie crust in the oven. 

"I'm home!" The front door closed, followed by footsteps and April's figure appearing in the doorway to the kitchen, holding grocery bags in each hand. "Hello, girls!" 

"Hi mom, let me help you with those," Jasmine said and took the bags from April's hands. 

"Thank you." April went back into the hall to take off her shoes and jacket and soon appeared back in the kitchen. 

I stood frozen on the spot. It was the first time I saw April since she had broken my heart, and seeing her ripped my heart open once again. She was so beautiful in her black pants and light blue top. Every cell in my body hurt from the memory of her words and my feelings were in conflict, anger on one side, affection on the other. 

"Um, excuse me," April said softly as she reached across me to put something in the cabinet above my head. Her body touched my side and her hair fell awfully close to my face, making the smell of her shampoo fill my nostrils. I couldn't move and every muscle in my body tensed. My eyes moved along with April's motions and before I knew it, she was gone. 

"Okay, let's get back to baking," Jasmine announced and moved away from the groceries. "We need chocolate," she motioned me to take it out from the pantry.

I slowly bent my fingers, turned around and walked to the pantry, grateful that my body was working again. This was gonna be a long evening, I thought to myself as I returned with the chocolate in my hand and, yet again, saw April's beautiful face smiling at me.