Here With You

4. Invite

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!"

The jumping and squealing continued even after we got into the house.

"Girl! I cannot believe what's happening right now," Jackie said all excited and jumpy.

"I know me too. The orders, contracts, customers...it's so overwhelming," I replied with shock and excitement.

"Let's not be too excited so we don't jinx it," She said trying to act cool even though she was physically trembling with happiness.

"Well, I don't know about that. What I know is I'm definitely going to dance my hardest in church tomorrow," I said busting out some of my sanctified footwork.

From the corner of my eye, I caught Jackie hunched over the island counter laughing.

"You don't know how funny you look doing that," She said while copying me, and I saw how funny and weird she looked doing that.

"Ok, I see it now. You look weird doing that."

Immediately she heard that from me, she chased around the kitchen and living till we heard her phone go off.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!"

She stopped hitting me with the throw pillow, and then said, "What?"

"Your phone's ringing."

She went to check her phone, then suddenly whispered, "It's him."

The moment I heard that, I was as alert as a dog.

"What did he say?" I asked unable to control myself.

"Hold on, he's still texting," She said and I held my peace for the time being.

Eventually the time for being calm elapsed and I became restless. Since they were texting, I went straight to the kitchen to microwave pizza and scroll through my phone.

After putting the pizza in the microwave, I turned on my phone and saw a missed call and a text. I was surprised because my phone didn't ring out.

I checked out the missed call and it was from an unknown number, then I checked out the text.

"Hi, it's Aaron. The guy that spoke to you about a party at your bakery."

As I read the text, I realized I blew my chance of getting the good news directly. All because of my phone-silencing habit.

After I finished crying internally about my lost chance, I started plating our dinner.

Jackie stomped into the kitchen later on, her phone in hand and a broad smile on her face.

"We have cakes to bake~" She sang out as she moonwalked to the kitchen counter and did the electric slide.

"You better not hit your head. So what happened?" I said all springy again.

"See for yourself," She said then passed her phone to me.

I grabbed her phone, scrolled to the very beginning of the chat and started reading, while I stuffed my face with pizza.

A - "Hi, it's Aaron. The last customer to leave your bakery."

Me - "Oh! Hi Aaron, you're speaking to Jacqueline. How are you?"

A - "I'm good, you?"

Me- "I'm fine too."

A - "About the proposal I made earlier today, I had a chat with my people about what they wanted and they came up with this."

The next message was a picture of a cake.

It was a 3-tier semi-naked chocolate drip cake, with vanilla frosting and strawberries on top.

Me - "Ok, would that be all you need."

A - "Yes that's about it."

Me - "We'll make sure you get exactly what you ordered by Tuesday. Would you like to pick it up or do you want it delivered to you?"

A - "Delivery please."

Me - "That'll be done. All we need is the address and to settle payments."

A - "What's your price?"

Me - "Everything plus delivery will be 578 dollars."

A - "Ok."

After that, a picture of an invitation card was sent with another message that said, "This is you ladies' invite to the party. I hope you ladies aren't too busy to attend, cause I would be so honoured to have you ladies there to flaunt your amazing cake in person."

I choked on my pizza immediately after I read that text, then turned to face Jackie who looked so calm and composed as she ate her food with a smirk on her lips.

I drank a bit of my juice and continued to read.

Me - "Oh! You really don't have to. We can just drop it off and be on our way."

A - "Yes! I don't have to, but I want to and seeing as you haven't brought up any plans, I assume you could squeeze this little party of mine in?"

Me - "We have to work on Tuesday."

A - "I know, I invited you ladies because you don't have to show up from the very beginning. You see, it's a surprise cake that will be unveiled later on."

Me - "OK?"

A - "You ladies deliver the cake at let's say 3 pm. We take cool pictures, do a little PR, and you have some fun till whenever you like, but since you have work the next day, I'll say 6:30 or 45pm and then you head home."

A - "What do you think about that?"

Me - "That you're pretty persuasive and you've thought this whole thing out."

A - "Hmm... well have I successfully convinced you?"

Me - "Not quite. I have to talk with my partner first."

A - "No problem then. I'll wait for your response."

Me - "Ok, I'll go ask her."

I hovered over the counter with a slack jaw and wide eyes.

"I take it that you're done reading," Jackie said unable to hide her excitement.

I turned to face her and asked, "So are we going or not?"

"Well that depends on your answer Ren," She said all elder-like while eating her pizza and staring deep into my soul.

I looked away for a while to ascertain my thoughts, so I wouldn't be deceived by her enthusiasm.

She stared at me long and hard. Almost like she was trying to use telepathy to change my mind or something.

And after what seemed like forever, I went to Jackie's messages and sent my answer to Aaron.

"GIRLLL!!! What did you just send?"