Two Love

Chapter 22

The most important day of Marty's year was coming up. It used to be Halloween (as that is the prime time for mischief) but now that he was enamoured with Parisa, it had to be 14th February - not only because it was Valentine's Day, but because it also happened to be Parisa's birthday.

So he was deeply delighted to be invited to Parisa's 16th birthday party. He wondered how he could show her that he loved her without making it too obvious. As much as he enjoyed being public with most of his life, he liked the idea of his crush being secret for a little while so he could savour it without observations from others.

He knew that her favourite book was Anne of Green Gables. Since she already had a copy of the book, he opted to find something with an Anne of Green Gables theme, so he scoured the internet until he found a journal with an illustration of Anne on the cover. It even had a pink background (Parisa's favourite colour). It was perfect.

Then, true to the Valentine's tradition, he wrote an anonymous Valentine's card for her. He kept it simple owing to his dreadful drawing skills - a pink heart on the front would suffice. Inside the card, he wrote in his big bubbly handwriting: 'To Parisa, Happy Valentine's Day, from a mystery guy'. He added a crazy-looking smiley face to finish it off. He also wrote in a birthday card he'd bought from Tesco that said 'Ha-pea birthday!'.

He thought he was ready for the big day until he received a text from Parisa on 12th February.

Parisa: hey, I know this is a bit last minute, but I was wondering if you could make some cupcakes for my birthday party?

For a split second, Marty wondered why on earth she was asking him when her family could make them for her. Then he remembered the disaster that was Hassan's carrot cake in year 9 food tech. It was so soggy that he'd had to spit out his first (and only) mouthful into the nearest bin. Perhaps dodgy baking ran in the family.

Marty: Yeah sure! What type?

Parisa: surprise me 😉

Immediately, one of his mum's recipes came to mind. Her famous chocolate and walnut muffins had won first prize at the annual Ferndale cake contest last year. 

Marty: Okay! see you Friday!

Parisa: :)

Her smiley face made his whole being light up. It was always the small things that Parisa did that made Marty grin like an idiot.

*

Coming home from school at 4pm, Marty dumped his schoolbag upstairs and ran down the stairs to the kitchen to bake the cupcakes for Parisa. However, he stopped short when he saw Riley sitting on the kitchen counter kissing Meredith fervently. Feeling awkward, he cleared his throat.

"Oh, hi Marty!" said Meredith with a sunny smile, pulling away from Riley reticently. "How's sixth form going?"

"It's a lot of work, but I'm managing," he said, "I've got to bake cupcakes for Parisa's birthday tomorrow, so I was hoping you could move your caboose off the counter?"

Riley stuck her tongue out at her brother, but Meredith willingly jumped onto the kitchen tiles. "Even better, we could help you bake! I love baking."

"Good idea! I'll watch from the table," said Riley, who'd slid off the kitchen counter by now. Meredith tucked an arm around her girlfriend. "Come on, babe, don't you want to join in? Please?"

Swayed by Merry's begging blue eyes, Riley relented. Marty told the girls which ingredients to get and what quantities to weigh out while he washed his hands and preheated the oven to 180°C. First, he mixed the butter with the sugar in a huge ceramic bowl; then he instructed Riley to add flour and Merry cocoa powder, and finally the finishing touches: three eggs and a handful of walnuts that Meredith had chopped. He and the girls worked together to spoon the mixture into the rainbow-coloured cupcake cases (a coming-out present that Marty had given Riley despite her dislike for bright colours).