Traces of Midnight Fallacies

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A grim smile plastered on her lips when I opened the window on my side. I know she just shows that to me because Dad remains on the front seat while looking at them. Kevin sat behind Dad while Celeste remained in her stance outside and beside my window while looking at me.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked, a bit annoyed because of her grim smile that seemed fake when you looked at it. "Times tickling, Celeste."

"If your Dad isn't with us now, I will punch you," she jokingly warned me, which made me chuckle a bit.

She also didn’t stay outside because Dad let her inside. Celeste was still blabbering about random stuff with Kevin, and she also asked for my father's opinion whenever she lost a debate with Kevin because of her pallid answers that she tried to fight for.

"I don't think that's okay," Dad said while pertaining to whatever she's fighting for. "I don't know, but that's not accurate for me if you asked my opinion about that thing."

"But that's okay with me!" Celeste hissed.

Kevin cut her off, "Every person has their own opinion. Not just because it's your opinion, that doesn't mean that it's the same with us."

It seems like she's not done yet with the things she's fighting for related to that topic, while Kevin looks like he's accompanying her just to ease his boredom while we're on our way home. While listening to my friend's argument, my dad did nothing but chuckle. I, on the other hand, didn't want to join in their argument. That's why I remained silent until we passed the terminal.

"Is there an accident?" Dad whispered to himself that I heard.

I left leaning on my seat before I looked at what he was staring at. He's right. There was an accident opposite the terminal, and this is the same accident I saw in my friend's eyes a while ago. It exactly looks like what I saw lurking in her eyes.

I felt shivers throughout my body when I looked at the two cars that were flattened and had a lot of damage to their bumpers. While looking at it, it seemed like someone had bumped into it, because from the bumper, I saw raw blood spit at it. I don't know, but I felt that I needed to get out of the car to look for the familiar girl I met this morning.

I hurriedly got out of the car without asking my Dad. I heard them calling my name, but I didn't look back. Instead of doing that, I hurriedly headed to the crime scene and I was almost shocked when I saw her dead body lying down the street. I covered my mouth because I was shocked, before I felt my friend's presence beside me.

My tears flowed when I saw her dead. He was lying on the cold floor as her eyes remained open while looking in our direction. Her blood was rushing out of her body. She has a lot of wounds on her body because of the accident, which made me cry even more.

Celeste tapped my shoulder to comfort me while I heard my dad asking for the report from the police. Kevin looked around while I, on the other hand, remained in my posture while busy wiping my own tears because of what happened to her.

I knew that it would happen, but I failed to help her. I failed to protect her, even if I just told her what I knew. I failed to let her know that I can see the future. I can warn her and if she believes in me, this thing will not happen.

Kevin suggested that we postpone our sleepover tonight because of what happened, which made Celeste agree while looking at me with sympathy in her eyes. They agreed, but later on, I decided to continue our planned activities. Some of the ingredients will go bad if we postpone it today. There's a doubt in their eyes, but they agree when they see me smile in front of them.

"Thank you so much, Uncle, Auntie!" They thanked my parents when we got home.

My parents warmly accepted them in our house. It seemed like my parents had their own special treatment for Kevin, which made me redden, especially when they turned to me like they were teasing me about him.

"I'm sorry for what they did," I said when we arrived at my room.

Celeste let herself feel at home. I saw her throw herself into my king-sized bed while Kevin remained in his stance outside of my room.

"What are you doing, Kev?" I laughed when I saw him. "Aren't you coming inside?"

He shook his head, which made me confused while looking at him. I heard Celeste chuckling, especially when I saw her walking towards my bookshelves.

Celeste said, "Don't let him inside of your room," which made me turn to her. "Don't you remember that was one of your rules when you two were still in a relationship?"

I sighed. "But we weren't in a relationship anymore, Celeste."

"It's okay," Kevin cut me off before he smiled at me. "You're parents are a bit conservative. Your dad told me a while ago that I could stay in the guest room for tonight. I think I'll just stay there for the meantime."

I looked at him apologetically, which made him chuckle when he saw my eyes. I did nothing but to pout my lips, especially when he laughed at me.

"It's okay, Charmaine," he said before grabbing his bag. "I'll just wait for you downstairs."

He was the one who closed my door before I heard him walk away from my room. I did nothing but pout at myself. My energy only returned when Celeste and I decided to go downstairs to proceed with our activity.

We did the usual procedures for baking a cupcake. We start by baking the sample mixture we made earlier. At first try, we overdid its texture. We did nothing but try again for the second time, but unfortunately, the mixture we made was a bit thinner than the usual mixture. Our third try looks like it lacks milk, and our fourth try almost burnt the whole oven when Celeste forgot to remove it.

Kevin leaned on the table while looking at our failed samples, while Celeste seemed irritated while looking at her batter. I did nothing but cross my arms to somehow let myself rest, even though we hadn’t started anything yet.

"Do you think we'll finish something?" Kevin asked while leaning in his seat. "It seems like we wouldn't have finished if we had no idea about this."

It seems like he wants to give up on this, as I feel now. It's not just baking that we need to fix now, because our professor in chemistry has dumped us with lots of homework that we need to pass tomorrow.

Celeste chuckled because of what he said. "What happened with your, "We are here to support you", earlier? Nothing made sense? "she asked, which made him chuckle a bit. "Stupid-ass."

"I mean, we are here to support her, and baking is not included in that," he reasoned out.

"What are you doing here then?" Celeste hissed before she crossed her arm while looking at him. "You came here for dinner, don't you?"

"I have my dinner in our house, Celeste, and I came here not for the sake of my stomach," he replied before looking at me with a grin in his lips. "I'm here for Charmaine."

Celeste looked at us with disgust in her eyes before she shrugged off what he said. "Even if you came here again and again, Charmaine's feelings for you would not be the same."

"Why are you always blabbering about our past relationship?" he asked, a bit irritated by what she said. "It seems like you are jealous of something!"

"And what would be my envy of you?" Celeste hissed. It's as if their fight will never end if I never mediate between them. "Is there something that makes me jealous of you?"

"My face, of course," Kevin replied, which made me chuckle. Celeste seems like she's disgusted by what he replied. "You were jealous because I'm more attractive than you," he added, a bit proud of what he said. "No one came near you because you were ugly. No one wanted to court you because of your attitude."

"I do have a lot of suitors!" Celeste hissed.

Kevin laughed at what she said. It seemed like she was already mad at him when I turned my attention to her. She's now fuming mad while looking at him intently.

Instead of mediating their argument, I decided to grab the bowl and do the fifth mixture while they were busy fighting each other. I don't know when they will stop fighting, but when they saw me sitting in front of them with the cupcakes I made alone, they stopped hitting each other. They looked at my cupcakes like they were surprised that I could have baked without their help.

"How did you..."

"Just taste it," I cut Celeste off before I handed her my cupcake. "I tried to make the mixture first before I put the vanilla frosting inside for the next batch."

Kevin hurriedly took the cupcake I handed to him, and when I saw him widening his eyes, I knew that I had done it perfectly.

"It tastes exactly like what you always baked for me last month!" he said happily, which made me chuckle, before we both turned to Celeste, who was now shocked by what she had tasted.

"It's perfectly fine!" she cheered.

We settled on the mixture I made, while we discarded the rejected one. Just like what happened in our first to fourth batch of mixture, the frosting we made looks gross. When they let me make the frosting alone, it works!

"It looks like you can do it alone without our help," Celeste said while leaning against the countertop. "Are you sure that you lost your memory?"

I chuckled because of what she said. No matter how many times I told her that I forgot everything, she wouldn't believe it. Celeste and Kevin look tired while watching me, but it seems like I'm still energized. I don’t know, but it looks like I’m enjoying baking cupcakes right now.

I don't remember using an oven, so I had to search on the website on how to deal with it before I bake. We don't have an oven in my real life, but I felt as if I was accustomed to it when I first touched it. I don't know, but it's kind of weird for me. Instead of thinking about this thing, I decided to continue the cupcakes I had started until I finished them.

"Finally, we were done!" Celeste cheered when she saw me take the others from the tray.

After we disposed of the burnt samples and placed the cupcakes we made in the gift box, we decided to rest and finally end our day today.

Celeste rested beside me. She was also the one to fall asleep earlier than me. I didn't bother myself to wake her up, and instead of sleeping next to her, I decided to do my homework while waiting for her to fall asleep. I felt like I couldn’t sleep if I didn’t let myself drink water, so when I finished my homework I decided to go downstairs and look for water in the kitchen.

When I finished filling myself with lots of water, I hurriedly went to my room upstairs. The door from the guest room is slightly open. This is the room where my Dad let Kevin stay while staying in our house. Because of curiosity, I let myself sneak inside to look for him, and when I found him sitting at the study table, I walked inside.

I knew that it might deliver a weird feeling for him when I secretly let myself tiptoed inside, but I didn’t think of that thing. All I wanted to do was startle him while I was heading for his seat.

Before I could startle him, I heard him speak, "You can't startle me, Charmaine," which made me a bit shocked, especially when he turned to me with a smile creeping on his lips, which made me red. "There's a mirror in front of me, so I saw your reflection in it while you were heading towards me."

I chuckled at him before I finally clung on. He turned his eyes to his textbook while I did nothing but look at his answer, which was not the same as my answer.

"It seems like you got it wrong," I said, which made him turn to me while lifting his eyebrows in confusion. "Just divide it by the concentration given, so that you get the concentration you need. Use your EE or EXP on your calculator rather than using those equations written in your textbook. "

He smiled at me as if he was amused, which made me pucker my lips.

"You are my angel when it comes to chemistry," he said, as I laughed at it. "Do you know how many times I take this equation, but I can't get the right answer?"

I said, "Because you get it wrong," which made him chuckle.

He presented me with the vacant seat on his side, which I accepted. I sat beside him with the glass of water that I brought when I planned to look for him.

"I know that I can't answer it all without you," he chuckled, which made me smile. "Can you please help me to get rid of my homework?"

Just like what he asked me to do, I helped him with his homework until we finished answering his textbook. It seems like Charmaine plays an important role for Kevin, likewise.