spanish nights

chapter five: cake by the ocean

JAMIE

Spain; April, 2021.

I got out of the cab when we arrived at the bakery. Jake had mentioned that the baker was someone he had befriended after their season of Love Island. I never had any more information other than that, but my sister said he was the best. He came just for that, as he also lives in London and owes a bakery there. Apparently, this spanish one was from a friend who let him come to bake for the wedding. Jake loves going on about all the food.

We walked in and the place smelled like heaven. Everyone was very excited, possibly already a little sugar high. The baker came out from wherever he was bringing more samples, his smile lighting up the entire room; he definitely looked proud of himself. He started walking towards me and said: — You must be the maid of honor I heard about. And you're Tim; I'm already a big fan. Nice to meet you, I'm Bobby. — smiling; his golden eyes locked on me for a few seconds. Tim started laughing next to me for some unknown reason; but then he said: — Nice apron you have there, Bob.

I turned my head to look and there was a melon baller joke Tim made with Jordan during their season. Bobby fist pumped him and laughed. I waited for the interaction between the two of them to end and answered him: — Yes, I'm the maid of honor. My name is Jamie.

We sat down now as Bobby had set everything on the table; all the flavors of cake and frosting so we could pick our favorites. I looked at the entire setting and it was beautiful, it looked amazing, and I couldn't help but ask him if there was anything with cinnamon. He pointed it out for me and it had to be the first one I tried. It was delicious with the bourbon vanilla frosting, but unfortunately my sister didn't like cinnamon as much as I did.

I started moaning at the flavors and said: — I don't know about them, Bobby, but I found my wedding cake and every birthday cake from now on. I love cinnamon, but this is on a whole new level. — Tim looks at me when he hears me and whispers close to my ear: — I see you really like this one, snickerdoodle, maybe it will be our wedding cake. Can I have a bite? — he said it so casually it almost made me choke, my eyes widened. I tried to ignore him and his mouth dropped open waiting for me to feed him and I passed what was left of the cake to him. He ate a few bites and gave it back to me.

We all continued talking, having fun, and tasting cakes for a while. As we were about to leave and get our things back at the hotel, Bobby pulled me aside and asked: — So, lass, do you have a date for the wedding yet? — and smiled at me. He was a really fun and nice guy but I didn't wanna lead him on, so I just said: — Not really. I'll be on duty, but I will have some friends around to keep me company; I won't say no to an extra one. — and smiled back at him, winking. I felt a pair of eyes staring at us, and from the look on Bobby's face, I didn't even have to turn around to know very well who it was. Then Bobby said: — Okay, from the face he is making, either you guys are together or there's something complicated going on. Am I right? — he gestured to where Tim was and hugged me, I bit my lip and nodded sadly at him. — Bye, Jamie, see you later. — I waved and headed towards the others, then heading out to the hotel.

We stopped there and went to our respective rooms to get our stuff; less than half an hour later, we were all back at reception, then headed to the van that had been hired to drive us around for the day. It was a short drive. I was reminiscing about the first time I was there, for the Love Island finale, when Jordan and Jake won, and we stayed for a bit for the after party. Everyone was euphoric, it was so full of people and lights everywhere that I didn't even get to see the Villa properly. But now, empty, it was stunning; the feeling of being there wasn't the same, I was still getting used to the idea that my sister would get married in a few days, and it made me so glad to see that she had found her person and to see her life finally moving towards as she always dreamed.