ᴋʟᴜᴛᴢ | ʟʀʜ

𝟏𝟓. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲

Thirty minutes later and Alina finally popped the tray in the oven, moving to the sink to wash her hands with soap and water.

Yes, half an hour was a long time to assemble cookie batter, but Luke had managed to slow them down. She thought an extra hand would speed up the process, but the man seemed to defy all the thoughts she had before. Not only with cooking but with lo-

"Klutz," his voice interrupted, drawing her head to look at him.

The movement was too fast for her. His fingers moved from the edge of her jaw to her nose, coating her skin in a wet, sticky substance. Alina involuntarily closed her eyes as Luke smeared some leftover cookie batter on her cheek.

"Payback for that nasty flick you gave me," the tall man explained casually, popping his finger in his mouth. Tasting the sweetness of the batter, his tongue swiped across his lips— highlighting the black lip ring and already plump, red flesh around it.

"You- you bitchy fucking gooch!" Alina spluttered out, cracking her eyes open to glare at him. Then, she eyed the bowl next to him with revenge festering in her mind.

"Didn't know that you had such a dirty mouth and a creative little mind. How many things can BFG stand for?" His eyebrows raised in shock, but the grin tugging at his lips revealed his amusement.

His amusement only increased as he saw her inch towards the bowl beside him. "And try me, I don't think that your legs can outrun me or that you can reach the bowl," the dirty blonde taunted, holding it high above her head.

She scowled at him, muttering under her breath as her phone began to buzz in her pocket. Fishing around for it, Alina saw that it was her brother, Matt. Before picking up, Alina threatened, "Or I can just eat all the cookies myself."

She shrugged nonchalantly, smirking at the scandalized look on Luke's face before going to her room for privacy. Her phone pressed against her clean cheek, Alina grabbed a tissue to wipe the other one as she greeted her brother:

"Hey, Matt. What's up!" She hadn't spoken to him in a few weeks but it wasn't so bad because she was counting down the days until she saw him again.

The last time she had seen him was last year during Christmas break— a time she always cherished because he often stayed with their parents for a while. Matt and her parents didn't get along too well, but as a good brother, he traveled from the East Coast to Los Angeles to see Alina.

"Nothing much, Alina. How are you?" Matt asked, his voice muffled through the phone.

"I'm alright. I'm excited to see you," Alina replied, throwing the tissue in her trashcan before feeling her clean but still slightly grainy cheek.

"That's good. Uh- so I called because I've decided that I-I'm not coming anymore," Matt said slowly, waiting to hear her answer.

"What?" Alina whispered out, her voice barely audible. "What-what do you mean? You always come home."

"I-I know, Lina. But it isn't home for me anymore and you know that Mom, Dad, and I aren't on the best of terms."

"Yes, I know but I just-I thought you'd at least come to see me?" Alina choked out, cursing herself for not keeping her tone steady. She knew that her brother wasn't trying to hurt her and the last thing she wanted was to make him feel guilty.

Matt sighed through the phone, searching for the right words. "If I came, they'd insist that I see them and I cannot deal with another fight." His personality clashed with his parents' and no matter how hard they tried, they always managed to get on each other's nerves.