Our "Friendly" Matrimony

10- Choosing a Cake requires the Finest of Taste buds!

Sophia's POV

Alex had been down for the past two days and I had bargained with our families to give him some space. Pushing him to do things would result in things having to be redone, and besides, he needed to relax.

Now, as much I love Alex, being the only one present during napkin selection was so hard! Not even boring! Just plain hard. Uncle Colton, Aunt Sydney and my future mother-in-law had driven me to their desired location at the very last minute.

Hence I'd grabbed the person closest to me to come along and keep me entertained, just my luck though, because I had in fact grabbed Julian, who whined all the way to the hand picked boutiques, inside the said boutiques and then all the way back.

The only good thing that came out of it was that uncle Colton and I got to sit back and relax while Julian invested his attention into the napkin colors and designs.

"How does this look?"

Angela- Alex's mother and a very prominent mother figure in my life- turned to us with two napkins hanging off her arms. I hummed thoughtfully and elbowed my uncle, who jerked as he woke up and stood up.

"Done already? Wow, we should really drag Julian everywhere, let's go."

I had stifled my laughter as My aunt folded her arms across her chest and Angela and Julian gave him disapproving looks. It was then that he had realized we still had hours to go.

"Oh..."

He had mumbled sheepishly and dropped down beside me while I had proceeded to giggle into my palms.

"Watch what you eat the next time you drop by my place."

He had threatened playfully before sending an innocent smile to my Aunt as she scoffed and turned to the napkins.

"What's the big deal anyways? They're just napkins."

That had been the worst possible thing to say and we had learned that the hard way by sitting through an hour long lecture about how everything had to be 'perfect'. Since this was the first time our families were going to be linked by something other than a generation long friendship.

Thankfully, we had finally settled on a napkin and now here I was, the very next day, standing outside Alex's penthouse. Turning the key, I heard the click resound before pushing the door open.

The place was only lighted by the light peering through the balcony doors as the sun set outside. I grinned to myself, placing the takeout I had brought in his kitchen, I turned on the lights in the hallways and closed the balcony doors before making my way up to his bedroom.

Cupping my hands around my mouth, I screamed as loud as I could.

"Lexy!!!!!!"

Watching him spring up from his bed in surprise, eyes wide and frantic as his hands hurriedly reached for his sleep mask to lift it off his eyes. I almost cooed at the mess he made of his hair in the process to jump out of his bed with the mask still on. He stumbled a few steps before successfully stabilizing himself and turning to me.

His panicked expression made me tighten my hand around my mouth to keep the sound of my snickers from escaping. Giving me a playful glare, he made his way over. His favorite silk pajamas shining as the light from his window shone on them as he tossed away his sleep mask and lifted me off the ground.

"Before you toss me out~"

"Nothing you say can help you~"

"I got food."

Silence ensued as he continued walking to the main door of his penthouse before taking an abrupt turn in the direction of the kitchen. I giggled at his antics as he put me down and gave all of his attention to the food.

"Can you get the plates?"

I hummed in return, opening the cabinet and rolling my eyes as I realized exactly why he had asked me to get the plates. I turned around to find him grinning like a goof, as if he had just noticed my dilemma.

"Oops, I wonder who put them up that high, need a hand?"

Throwing him a challenging look in return to his wiggling eyebrows, I grabbed the nearest bar stool and hopped onto it.

"You seriously can't be plannin~"

He cut himself off as I swayed a little but he dived forward to stabilize me by holding onto my waist immediately.

"Seriously Soph, you can hurt yourself."

I 'hmphed' grumpily in response and grabbed onto the plates before he lifted me off the stool, making me let out a very non-triumphant squeak before he put me back on the ground.

Ignoring his frown, I grabbed two glasses, and made my way towards his living room. I heard the ruffling of the bags as he carried the food and sat down beside me before abruptly shooting up.

"I'll freshen up, don't start without me."

He warned playfully before running off to his room while I casually scrolled through Netflix to look for something to watch. Why in the world didn't they have the first 'Equestria Girls' movie but for some reason had the latest?

"Okay, I'm back."

He sat down beside me and took a deep breath, reaching for the food before giving me a curious glance.

"Is calling you shortie on the blacklist now?"

I huffed in return as he 'awed' out loud before pulling me close and hugging me tight. I rolled my eyes at his puppy like habit before patting his head.

"Did you have dinner?"

"If you mean the lasagna you sent last night hell yes I did... Remember the time when the mere thought of you cooking would have us running for the hills?"

I scoffed in offense before glaring at him over my shoulder.

"It wasn't that horrific."

"Oh hun, you know I love you but it was bad, so so bad."

He reached for the food I had made and packed to bring along right after complaining about my cooking. Hell no he won't. I casually smacked his hand away from my hand cooked meal before settling on watching 'Modern Family'.

"Ow. I thought you loved me."

It sounded like he was pouting behind my back but I didn't dare turn back. No way was I giving in now.

"Sorry... You're right, It wasn't that bad, I mean Leo only got diarrhea twice and Vince puked his guts out just a couple of time while I passed out like what?... four times. So yeah, it wasn't that- Okay okay, I'm sorry!"

He laughed and apologized as I attempted to get out of his arms and smacked at them after failing to unwound them from around myself.

"I'm sorryyyyy!"

When his laughter continued, I pouted and glared at the food in return.

"Awe, you're so cute when you're mad. You little bunny."

He cooed as I huffed and smacked his arm one last time.

"You know I love your cooking now."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you'll never cook after our wedding."

I turned my head and narrowed my eyes at him.

"Of course not! Think about all the breakfast's in bed I'll make for you. Fluffy pancakes! hot chocolates! Waffles! Toast! ooh what about pasta, your diet is already so imbalanced, a little more won't hurt."

"Hey!"

He chuckled at my offended tone before nuzzling his head into the crook of my neck.

"Thanks for coming over, I was getting lonely by myself."

His somber tone made me sober up as I leaned back against him.

"Anytime."

This happened every once in a while, but that didn't make any easier for him to deal with. First few days he'd lock himself away and work from home before getting exhausted of solitude but not knowing how to get himself back into socialization, he'd stay away with his thoughts a little longer.

I knew he found relief in the fact that we never pressured him into emotionally draining himself with us. Unnecessarily of course, there were time we'd all be dragged out for a fancy meeting against our will.

"On the other hand, you're coming cake tasting with me tomorrow."

Propping his head up on my shoulder, he hummed as I unpacked the food and placed it out for us.

"Do you think It'll be fun?"

"Definitely, especially since literally everyone back home is interested in coming along."

He laughed at that.

"They'd finish all the samples before we even get to taste them!"

I giggled in agreement, before voicing my sneaky suggestion.

"What if, we leave without telling anyone?"

"Done!"

______________________________

"How?!"

Alex exclaimed loudly as we came face to face with six smirking faces. Me and Alex had decided to go directly from his place to the location his mother forwarded us. Only to come face to face with the hungry little shits we were running away from.

"You guys are just wayy too predictable."

"Avoiding hungry shits for peace with dessert, puh-lease, if I could have a seven letter middle name, that would be it."

The rest of the five stared at her with shock evident on their features, especially since it felt like she went off script while all of them taunted us in unison.

"Ugh, but we'll be the first ones to taste test."

Alex argued to get our point across, if these guys started checking before us, there would literally be nothing left for us to taste.

"Sure, your loss, after all, accomplishing a feat for cake tasting requires the finest of taste buds which I'm sad to say, neither of you have."

Julian's pompous remark had Alex throwing a remark of his very own.

"Shut it you caviar thirsty basic b***h~"

"OOOOOOOOOH"

A collective round of 'oooh burn' rang around the circle bringing an egoistic smile onto Alex's lips. I rolled my eyes at the group before tugging a sulking Julian behind myself into the taste testing room.

Leaving Alex behind to be crowded by the hungry chihuahuas, I Made my way towards the very first cake display.

"Molten chocolate fudge!"

Like possessed demons from horror movies, the whole group's heads snapped towards us. Raising their plastic spoons as if they were spears, they paused for dramatic effect before running past me and towards the sampling trays.

Alex groaned under his breath before linking his fingers with mine and calling over the woman presenting the cakes.

"Excuse me ma'am, could you put aside two samples of each cake, they're probably going to buy all the cakes they like but we need to settled on three at max."

The woman looked surprised for a bit before she snapped out of her daze, stuttered out a response and was on her way.

"Three cakes?"

I whispered to Alex, who grinned triumphantly in return.

"We were supposed to pick out just one."

"Where's the fun in that."

He winked in return before pulling me to the Red Velvet cake display. We picked up our spoons, gathered our sampling trays and huddled behind the counter to avoid being spotted by the gang of hungry cousins.

The cream cheese icing pulled sounds of satisfaction from our lips.

"This is perfection."

"I'm already deciding on this one."

I hummed in return.

"Hey, where did those two run off to?"

We froze and ducked our heads lower to not be spotted.

"Hey... two pieces of the red velvet cake are missing!"

Liam's shocked voice rang inside the room, followed by curses thrown at us.

"But wait, what if they're making out in a corner or something?"

I almost choked in response to Lia's teasing response.

"Ha! Alex can't put moves on Soph for the life of him, the only time he ever did was when Drunk."

"True, tsk. Such a baby."

I pressed my palm against Alex's lips as he tried to intervene, a giggle almost made its way through my lips as he frowned harder.

"Well, if they aren't here... then where are they?"

Zoe was the next one to ask as the door bell jingled, indicating that someone else had also entered the vicinity. I groaned in frustration when Leo shouted a greeting towards the group.

"Why are those two hiding behind the counter?"

Vince questioned and we stiffened, looking up with sheepish smiles as shadows loomed over us.

"Aha! They are eating the red velvet cake!"

"You traitors!"

"That's so unfair!"

"Don't you love us?"

I sighed in frustration, leaning my head against my best friends shoulder when my lovely Cora decided to speak up.

"So you were only cake tasting back there?"

Our cheeks heated up in sync as both of us rushed to argue but were cut off by Willow's voice.

"Hmm, can you be anymore disappointing?"

This was going to be one hell of a trip!