Piece of Cake | Ashton Irwin [au]

Two

Ruth’s POV

Ashton guides me and Serena over to one of the few small round tables that are scattered around the interior, but by the way they look brand new and never touched, I’m assuming that they are only for aesthetic appeal.

“So, do you own this bakery yourself?” Serena asks as she looks at every single fake display cake and the pastries in the display case like she's in some kind of museum.

Ashton shakes his head and chuckles. “No, this is actually my parent’s. I basically got dragged into working here since I have a natural talent for baking, but I enjoy it and the pay isn’t too bad.”

“So, are you the only one working right now?” I question. There doesn’t seem to be any other employees here seeing how quiet it is.

He stops in his tracks and turns to me, almost surprised that I am involving myself in their conversation. “It’s a slow day so there isn’t a need for more people to work. I can handle the place on my own on days like this.” He says nonchalantly and I nod and go sit at the table that he gestures to with Serena following slowly behind me.  

He tells us to have a seat while he goes to find a sketch book and colored pencils from the employee office. Once he passes through the swing door and is out of sight, Serena nudges my arm.

“He’s nice,” she whispers, keeping her voice hushed to make sure that Ashton can’t hear her.

Too nice. “I guess.” I don’t like his ‘nice boy’ façade. He acts like a perfect angel with Serena, but every time he looks at me, he turns into a devil observing his eye candy. Pig.

“He’s cute too,” she adds.

I internally groan. Sadly, she’s not wrong about that. I’m a sucker for accents and his beautiful face just adds to his appeal. “I guess,” I repeat, flipping my hair over my shoulder.

“Do you not like him?”

“He just seems like an asshole,” I say, putting more emphasis on ‘asshole’ than needed. “I mean, did you see the way he was ogling at me with that stupid smirk of his? His job is to assist customers, not wink at them.”

“I guess he’s already gotten on your bad side?” Serena chuckles, using her hand to cover her mouth to help mute the sound of her laugh. “I don’t think he’s a bad guy. He’s friendly, but I don’t think he means any harm. Just because you think that the entire male species is an asshole, doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for one non-asshole.”

“Yeah, well I don’t think he’s that one.” Just as I finish my sentence, Ashton pushes through the swing door and walks over to sit at the table with us.

He opens the sketchbook to a blank page before focusing his attention to Serena; completely ignoring me. Why do I have a feeling he heard what I said? “Alright, so what do you have in mind for this cake?” he asks, pulling out a black colored pencil from the slim box and spinning it around his fingers.

Serena pulls out several magazine clippings from her leather purse and spreads them around the table. Each clipping is of wedding cake designs and decorations that she found while brainstorming for ideas. “Well, I want it to be a circle cake, that’s for sure.” She points to one of the clippings with a large, grey fondant covered cake with painted paisleys and swirls on each tier. “And I think I want it to have four tiers.”

I give Serena a perplexed look, unsure as to why she wants her cake so big. There will be less than fifty people at the wedding and if she orders a huge cake that could practically feed an entire homeless shelter, she is going to have a shit ton of leftovers and I don’t want to be the one to have to take half of it home because she knows I will devour all of it in less than a week.