Alexis's Cupcake Cupid (8 page)

Breathless, I reached Baker's Hollow and barreled inside. The sweet old lady at the counter gave me a funny look and said, “Everything all right, dear?” I huffed and puffed and tried to calm myself down. I gulped. My heart was beating so fast!

“Yes.” I gasped. “I'm fine. Sorry. Just ran here . . .”

She giggled kindly. “Well, we're always glad to hear our customers run to our store! Now just let me know if you need anything.”

I thanked her and grabbed a basket. My list was short and clear. A pound and a half of dark brown M&M's (generic brand, of course) from the dispensers. Ten tubes of brown decorating frosting with a fine-point tip. Plain cupcake papers. I considered buying some edible googly eyes that were really cute and would save us some time and labor, but when I looked at the price, I gasped aloud. They were $19.99 a pound! No can do, googlies!

I went to pay the lady, and as I looked over her shoulder and out the plate-glass window, I saw him again. Definitely Matt. Ugh! I could feel my face turning bright red, and I tried to maneuver myself behind a display of bread makers, so I couldn't be seen from outside.

“Sweetie? Are you not finished shopping?” called the lady.

“Oh, sorry! Just remembered one other thing!” I buried myself deep in the store for a moment, and then I returned to the register, frantically scanning the “sidewalk” outside the store. He was gone. The coast was clear. I breathed a large sigh of relief.

“Phew,” I said. Accidentally out loud. Oops.

The lady gave me a strange look and told me my total. I could feel her still looking at me closely as I counted out my change, and finally, she leaned
across the counter and put her hand on mine and said in the kindest voice, “Listen, dear, if there's someone out there who is bothering you, please feel welcome to stay in the store while I call security. Is it a bully from school?”

I looked up, confused for a moment, and then I laughed. Hardly. In fact, the opposite! Now it was the lady's turn to look confused.

“Thank you so much,” I said. “That is so nice of you. I'm just . . .” I lowered my voice and decided she seemed like the type who could handle the truth. “I gave a boy a valentine and he never acknowledged it. And I just saw him out there”—I shrugged—“so, you know . . . I'm avoiding him!” I stage-whispered.

The saleslady stage-whispered back conspiratorially, “You know, I had the same thing happen when I was young. Maybe a bit older than you, but still. I gave a boy a valentine, and he didn't reciprocate. Turned out it was because he had bought something for me that seemed shabby in comparison, and he didn't know what to do. He wanted to get me something better, but he couldn't afford it, so he was stuck. So sweet.”

“Oh, that's so cute!” I said. “So what happened?”

“I married him!” She laughed.

Now it was my turn to laugh. “Wow! That story sure has a happy ending!”

She smiled. “I know. All I'm saying is, there's often more than meets the eye. Most boys are good people, so don't read too much into it. I should know, because I ended up having four boys of my own!”

“Lucky you,” I said.

She nodded and handed me my bag. “Come on back and let me know what happens, okay? My name's Sadie.”

“I'm Alexis. I hope my ending is as happy as yours!”

“Me too. Good luck, now, and thanks for shopping with us.”

“Bye!”

On my way out of the store I looked left and right, and the coast was clear. He'd surely left by now.

I looked at my watch. Ten minutes till my mom was due. I'd have just enough time to pop into the bookstore and see if they had
Figure Skating for Dummies
. I needed all the help I could get!

I hitched the two bags up over my shoulder, satchel style, and trooped back across the food court to the bookstore on the far side. Just in case, I kept
my eyes locked straight ahead, looking neither left nor right. If Matt was there, I'd never know, and I'd spare him the horror of having to speak to me.

But as I passed the seating area, I suddenly heard his voice.

“Alexis!” he called.

I turned and blushed simultaneously. He was sitting alone, eating a plate of fried rice.

“Hey,” I said, playing it cool.

“Hey!” he said, smiling, but it was kind of tentative, like now that he'd called out to me, he wasn't sure what to say. I think he was surprised by my coolness, too.

“Um, anything up?” I asked casually.

I saw his face fall a little. Then he started playing it cool too. “Oh. Nah, just . . . grabbing a quick bite, then riding back to school for a game.” He shrugged. There was an awkward silence. He looked like he was waiting for me to say something, but I wasn't sure what he expected. Like, should I apologize for giving him a valentine? Whatever. I wasn't about to do that—not here, anyway. Not now.

“So . . .” I shrugged. “I guess I'd better get going.”

“Yeah. Right. Okay. Bye,” he said, all businesslike, like he was done with me. Like he regretted even calling out to me.

“See ya,” I said, turning on my heel.

“Yeah,” he said. I could almost hear the “whatever” at the end, even though he didn't say it out loud.

Fine,
I thought.
That's just fine.
I trudged away with my bags, knowing he wasn't watching me go, which was a relief in a weird way.

So this is how it ends,
I thought. In a mall. Me walking away. Him just sitting there. The whole thing spoiled by a dumb holiday and some maybe overly optimistic gift. Fine, then. I'm done with him. If he can't even have the common decency to thank me, or deal with the weirdness head-on, then he's not the one for me. I wouldn't want to be with someone who had such bad manners, anyway.

I reached the bookstore, yanked the door open a little harder than necessary, and located the skating book in the sports section. I flipped through it and decided it wasn't worth the money. Who could learn skating from a dumb old book, anyway. And who cared if I could skate well or not? I'd just go to the party to drop off the cupcakes on Friday, and then I'd head out. That's all.

It was time to go meet my mom. I peeked out toward the food court, and just as I expected, Matt
was gone.
Good riddance,
I thought. I won't have to see him for a while.

Then my brain started working and my memory kicked in like a ton of bricks.

I'd be seeing him tomorrow at the new Liam Carey movie.

If I went, that is.

A
fter the mall, I put Matt right out of my mind. I went home, did my homework, and organized the valentines and gifts for my friends. I showered, organized my schoolwork, tweaked my presentation for the FBLA summit, laid out my outfit for the next day, and got into bed with a good book. I simply refused to think about him.

The next morning I woke up kind of sad, but I shook it off. I told myself I was over Matt and that was that. From now on, I was all about my family, my friends, and my work, in that order. It was kind of a relief to be done with him and all that “mushy stuff,” as Emma put it. I felt sharp and focused and independent. It was good. Anytime he popped into my head, I pushed him out. Mind
over matter! No problem! Alexis first—boys second!

That day, I brought the valentine stuff to school, and at lunchtime in the cafeteria, we all met up at our usual corner table, where I presented the things to my friends.

“Ta-da!” I cried. “Better late than never!”

“Thanks, Alexis!' said Katie.

“It's a shockingly good feeling to have been more organized than you for once,” Emma said with a laugh. “When was the last time we beat Alexis to
any
thing?”

They all had a good chuckle over that one.

A little too good, if you ask me.

“All right, all right, it wasn't
that
funny,” I fake-fumed. “Break it up.”

They opened their cards and oohed and aahed over the candy baskets.

“They are just too cute!” said Mia. “
LOVE
the ribbons. Thank you
SO
much, Alexis!” She wound the ribbon over her hand in a loop and tucked it in her pocket.

“
Thank you!
I think I saw these somewhere. Did you get them at the stationery store at the mall?” Katie asked, wrinkling her brow.

“Uh-huh. Seventy-five percent off!” I bragged.

“Nothing but the best for your friends. Thanks, old buddy, old pal!” joked Mia.

Emma looked at the baskets as though she was trying to remember something. “I know I've seen one of these before somewhere. It wasn't at the stationery store. I just can't think of where it was.” She tapped her lip for a minute, then she shrugged and said, “Oh well. I'm eating some candy right now! Thanks, Lex!”

“Before your lunch?” I said disapprovingly, joking. “That is just not healthy.”

Emma laughed and then shrugged. “YOLO! You know—you only live once!

“Sounds good!” said Katie, diving into hers.

I had to sit back and smile. They were enjoying the stuff I gave them. Maybe Valentine's Day could be fun after all!

It wasn't until that afternoon that I began to actually panic about Matt. We were at Katie's to bake the cupcakes for Friday, knowing we wouldn't have time to bake them tomorrow. Things were moving along quickly, since Katie has two ovens, and since she is an only child, so there are absolutely no distractions, like brothers at the Taylors' house.

Toward the end of our session, as rows of future
plump pandas sat cooling on racks, Mia asked, “Are you guys going to go home before the movie tomorrow or straight to the theater?”

Emma answered, “My dad is going to pop over from work, because he has to bring Jake to us to watch him. He's going to give me and Matt a lift to the movies from school, since Jake can't ride that far on a bike. He can take any of you, if you'd like.”

“Great! I'd love it!” agreed Mia.

“Me too, thanks,” said Katie.

I didn't say anything, but I felt a pit in my stomach. So this was how it was going to be from now on. All my besties, riding to the movies together with my former crush. And me, riding solo. Biking, actually. Wow.

“Lex? Ride?” Emma asked absentmindedly, like she knew I would be in.

“Uh, actually, no. But thanks. You guys go on, and I'll meet you there.”

They all turned and stared at me.

“Why?” Mia asked incredulously.

I shrugged. “Oh, it's a lot of people for the minivan. . . .”

“It seats eight,” said Katie. “We're only at six.”

There was a brief silence, then Emma said quietly, “Is this about Matt?”

“No!” I said a little too forcefully. “No, no,” I added more casually. “I just . . . have some stuff, so I'll see you there.” I smiled, all fake-cherry. “Seriously. No prob.”

Emma continued to look hard at me, then she shrugged and raised an eyebrow at the others, and they all looked away. Now I was embarrassed and kind of mad, because I knew that meant they'd all be discussing me later.

See, this is why it's not a good idea to have a crush on your best friend's brother. 'Cause when it's over, there's no way to get away.

In fact, maybe liking boys is just more trouble than it's worth. It certainly seems to mess up your friendships while you're at it.

I focused on my task of setting the cooled cakes in their travel containers, so we could seal them up for the night. They'd have to be ready to decorate on Friday, and then we'd tote them over to the skating party, after which point I would turn on my heel and head home. Maybe I'd rent a movie. Nothing romantic. Not at all.

Our baking session ended, and we were all getting ready to leave. Mia's mom was picking her up, and she offered to drive me and Emma home, but we both refused politely. It wasn't that far to walk,
and the brisk air would feel good after the warm, sweet-smelling kitchen.