LOVER

christmas kisses

               One hundred and fifty seven.
There are one hundred and fifty seven cookies on the wooden countertop of her kitchen. One hundred and fifty seven steaming, delicious and chocolate chip cookies. She bakes when she's a little nervous. And she bakes whenever she needs to overthink. Today, the twentieth of December, is one of those days. Why am I like this?, the singer pondered, groaning and dragging her hands over her tired face. She checked the time and realized it was past one a.m. She needed to go to sleep, since the day after she had to go ice-skating with her model best friend – for whom she had a huge crush on – and have dinner with some of their mutual buddies. Technically, all of these things weren't happening the day after, because, technically, it was the morning of the twenty first of December, since it was one a.m., therefore she would see Karlie in a matter of hours. Precisely, she would see Karlie within fourteen hours and, frankly, she didn't need Gucci bags under her eyes. She needed to look perfect.

She groaned once again, deciding to leave the cookies there on the countertop, not even considering the possibility of her cats pushing them on the ground. She walked up the stairs with her eyes half closed and, when reaching her bedroom, fell on the bed, not even changing into her pajamas. Needless to say, she was surprised when someone shook her shoulder and woke her up.

"Taylor?"

She hummed some unintelligible words under her breath, covering her eyes with her arms when light poured inside her room. Wasn't it night just a few moments ago? She felt the weight of someone else's body fill the space beside her tired body and, God, who was the jerk that had woken her up?

"Taylor? Are you even awake?"

A familiar laugh made the singer's eyes shot open. She turned around, coming face to face with the incredible and gorgeous green eyes of her best friend. "Karlie?" her voice cracked terribly and she sat up, panicked.

"Can you please explain to me the reason why there are more than one hundred cookies on your kitchen?" the model chuckled, her intense yet gentle gaze never leaving the singer's face. Don't look at me. I look like shit, please. Taylor forced a laugh out of her body. "Nice Christmas sweater, by the way," Karlie winked.

The singer looked down at her own outfit, blushing furiously. Nice. "I stayed up late last night, sorry,"

"Is that why you didn't open the front door when I knocked five minutes ago?"

Taylor furrowed her brows. "What? What time is it?" she searched for her phone between the sheets.

"It's quarter past three. We were supposed to go ice-skating this afternoon, remember?"

The blonde singer looked up at her best friend, her eyes wide and laced with embarrassment. "Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I swear I didn't forget, I just went to bed late last night,"

"And you baked cookies?"

"And I baked cookies, yes."

The model stared at her amusedly, before bursting out laughing, clutching her knees so as to not fall from the bed. Taylor blushed even more – if that was even possible – and averted her gaze. "Don't laugh at me, you're mean," the singer whined, pushing at the model's shoulder. Karlie stood up, taking her best friend's hands and pulling her up with her.

"Come on, I forgive you because I still want to go ice-skating with you."

"I can't even do that."

"That's why we need to go! I will teach you," the model reassured her. Taylor groaned, selecting a comfortable outfit from her closet before venturing inside the bathroom to change. Within twenty minutes, they were standing in front of the singer's porch, ready to face the cold winter outside.