A/N This chapter is for my wonderful best friend JapFreaky, who has always supported me. Many hearts, I hope you enjoy this chapter <3xx

Chapter 3: Fraisier, Beach, and Cupcakes

Chip's POV

It was a nice Friday afternoon. The bakery was quite empty, except for Rose at the counter and me washing trays and racks at the back kitchen.

I heard the same old jingling of the bells when a customer entered the shop and Rose greeted her usual lively ‘Welcome to Honeycutt’s, how may I help you?’

Until I heard his voice.

“Um hey, I was wondering if you guys do pre-ordered cakes…?”

It was Xander’s voice.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I dropped the metal tray I was holding onto and it fell to the floor with a loud and noticeable ‘clang’.

That caught some unnecessary attention.

“Hun? Everything alright?” Rose called into the back kitchen, but fortunately, she didn’t leave the counter.

“I-I’m fine!” I said, trying to make my voice sound as high as possible while gathering the tray and sponges.

I began to hear muttering from the bakery, which probably meant I was safe. For the moment.

I left the trays and racks under running water and tip-toed over to the door of the kitchen.

“Sorry about that—the pre-ordered cakes…” I could faintly hear Rose’s voice.

The bakery and kitchen was separated by a wooden door with a small crossed window on the upper half, which allowed those in the bakery to peek in and those in the kitchen to check the situation in the bakery.

I decided to risk it.

I popped my head just over the edge of the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the customer.

Nuu it really is Xander!

“I would like the cake to have strawberries?” I heard him say, as if unsure. “Something that girls would like.”

My heart dropped instantly.

A cake for a girl…could it be for his girlfriend?

I sighed internally. Well of course it is! Look at him! Who wouldn’t dig that? A voice in my head said.

I slumped against the door and after several seconds of staring into space, I snapped out of the fairytale I knew would never happen.

And got back to work.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, I tried to push cashier duty to Coco. I definitely did not want to risk someone from my high school finding out about the bakery. And definitely not Xander.

Although Coco had her suspicions, she was quite low about my request, and accepted it without hesitation.

I couldn’t help but think how blessed I am to have such kind and understanding sisters.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Chip! Are you ready yet?!” Kim’s voice blasted through my poor mobile. I instantly moved away from the speaker.

“Yes yes…I’m coming…”

“The competition starts in like, twenty! Get your pretty ass here right now!” Kim demanded, “and you better wear something cute got that?”

I nodded my head, even though I knew she wouldn’t be able to see. “Yes Ma’am I’m coming now.”

Groggily, I sat up on my tiny bed which creaked dangerously and rubbed sleep from my eyes.

I went downstairs to take a quick bath and realized that we had run out of body wash. Well, obviously—I mean 7 people sharing one bottle of body wash—it’s bound to run out. I sighed. Now I’ll smell of bread and vanilla again.

I pulled on a thin pastel shirt and my only beach pants, grabbed my mobile and spectacles—no wallet—and headed down to the beach.

In our small town, the beach was only a 20-30 minute walk, but since the bakery was situated more to the east, a walk to the shore took only 10 minutes.

When I arrived, the announcer was already calling for the match-ups, and about a third of our school’s population was there to support a certain someone.

I managed to catch sight of him. Xander was in a simple black and white beach pants that reached slightly above his knees, and of course—no shirt.

“From Rivendell High School—Blake Mason,” screams.

“And Xander Jaxon!” More screams.

“Against Heren Junior College—Riley Evans and Luke Hunter!” Applause.

I managed to fight my way through another impermeable wall of screaming girls and spotted Kim waving at the stands. Apparently, everyone at the beach didn’t dress up for the tournament—they dressed for the party.

Not a single person was clad in at least a shirt or bermudas; it was all half-naked men (okay I didn’t really mind that) and girls in stripy bikini that left little for imagination.

“Finally! I thought you were never going to come,” Kim laughed, slapping me hard on the back.

“I almost thought twice about it,” I said, rubbing my back in protest.

“Come, lemme introduce you to my friends—“The popular girl dragged me over to her group and started naming them. Surprisingly, I was good at remembering their names.

“Participants to your positions!” The announcer's booming voice blasted through the loudspeakers.

The crowd took their seats immediately at the stands, and the match began.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Needless to say, Rivendell High School won hands down.

There was a 1-hour break in between for the players to rest while the courts were cleaned up. The matches took up the whole morning and the finals would be held in the afternoon.

Unfortunately for Kim, her girls and I, we were unable to catch a glimpse of Xander during the break due to the hoard of girls congratulating the team for advancing to the finals.

The beach-side restaurants were packed for the first time and several groups set up beach umbrellas and picnics by the palm trees littered across the shore.

We came across a nice spot under a palm tree and several junior college boys were camping there. Kim managed to strike a conversation, and persuaded them to share their spot smoothly.

She winked at us and the group settled down.  

Two of Kim’s friends, Anya and Natasha, produced a picnic baskets filled with egg sandwiches and healthy salad. Being the complete healthy-geek I was, I didn’t mind the food at all. My appetite had never been big anyway.

“Gosh I’m thirsty…” Natasha huffed.

“I could go to the beach store to get you guys something to drink if you like,” I offered.

“That’s great!”

“Thanks Chip!”

The girls handed me some cash and I made my way to the restaurants.

As I was about to enter the beach store (with one hand already on the handle of the door), I heard a strange rumble, and before I knew it, I was knocked back onto the planked floor.

“So we’ll see you later okay Xan?”

“Call us!”

“See you at the party Xander!”

“Good luck!”

A troop of girls were filing out of the convenience store, albeit hesitant to leave. They probably hadn’t noticed that someone was behind the door.

I realized that my vision had turned blurry.

Darn I lost my glasses. It must have been knocked off while I fell…

I began to search the ground helplessly, groping around for my spectacles. I was so occupied that I didn’t notice someone exiting the beach store.

“Looking for this?” A low baritone voice said.

Uwah—it’s him again.

He bent down and handed me my glasses, which I slipped on quickly.

Xander stood over me, his towering figure leaning down and his beach pants hung dangerously low.

There was a crooked smile on his face.

My glasses fogged up slightly as I felt my face grow hotter.

“T-thanks…” I stammered softly.

Xander shrugged, “Thanks for coming.” He straightened up and added.

"Bread boy." A smirk formed on his face.

I jumped, startled. "W-why do you call me that? I'm not-" 

"Cuz you smell like...bread and whipped cream?" Xander raised an eyebrow. I blushed harder, but I was slightly relieved.

Phew. I thought he found out. 

“U-um good match,” I struggled to form a clear sentence in my head.

“Haha I guess.” He played with the bottle of sports drink in his hand, “you coming to the after-party?”

I hesitated. Then shook my head.

“’Kay then, see you around.” And with that, he was off.

I caught myself wondering whether I should stay for the party.

Maybe not, a voice in my head said.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Once I was back with the drinks, the participants were already beginning to prepare for the finals. The girls had made some new friends (the college boys) and we joined them in the stands.

Being the socially awkward person I was, I didn’t talk much—only sat there and enjoyed the game.

By the first half, Rivendell was besting the opposing team by 15 to 10. Xander had this cocky smirk on his face, but he really did look like he was enjoying the sport.

I felt happy knowing that he was doing what he was passionate about. Unlike me—I can’t even tell anyone what I’m passionate about.

“Rivendell, Rivendell

Ready to play?

Blake and Xander

All the way!”

The cheerleaders were doing a good job boosting the morale of the team, and they won the first half easily.

The second half wasn’t quite so, however—the first service went to the opponent, and they scored first blood. Our school team couldn’t complete a rally and the opposing team’s morale went up; they grounded the ball several times and we began to lose hope.

The wind was not to our favour and the hits faulted time and again.

“You can do it Xander!”

“Go Blake!”

“Rivendell, Rivendell,

We’ll give you HELL!”

The cheerleaders screamed and shouted and cheered, and so did the rest of our school supporters.

We lost the second half—21 to 12. To put it simply: we were crushed.

It was down to the final half and the first to 15 points would be the winner. Everyone was at the edge of their seats. The wind had begun to die down, and things were looking up for us. Xander and Blake could do this.

“Rivendell, Rivendell

Ready to play?

Blake and Xander

All the way!”

Unfortunately for the team, the opponents were also fired up to win. Their cheerleaders were going all out, and everyone was practically screaming and shouting for supporting team.

“And the first service goes to Rivendell!” The announcer boomed as the first ball by Blake smashed onto the sand.

Rivendell screamed.

The match was intense and very close. Exchanges were made throughout the game and soon we were down to a frightening 13-14 tie. Rivendell was one point ahead.

A series of fast events took place—the jump float serve, the receives, the spikes—neither team seemed to be backing down an inch.

And then Xander rose into the air; forcing the ball downwards and smashed it into the sand.

The final point was scored.

The crowd rose in cheers of mirth. 

*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*  

“Chippy hun, could you help me with the Fraisier cake that young man ordered last week? I need to get it done by tomorrow,” Rose said with great effort. It was already eleven o’clock in the evening but Rose, Coco and I were still busy with the last minute cake orders. There seemed to be a sudden demand for birthday cakes in the coming summer.

“Okay, I’ll get the strawberries.”

Rose smiled tiredly, “Thank you dear.”

While my sister mixed the honey lemon sponge for the cake, I prepared the icing and coated the strawberries with a layer of syrup. Fraisier cake was one of our specialties in the Honeycutt bakery.

After arranging the layers of the cake, Rose left me to decorate the white marzipan top. She said to write ‘Happy Birthday Giselle’ as requested by the customer.

Giselle. What a beautiful name. Xander and Giselle.

I vaguely remembered thinking that there was no one in our school named Giselle.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next day afternoon, Xander came to collect the cake.

I hid behind the kitchen door, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“Here’s your cake, young man.” Rose said gently.

I could hear her unboxing the Fraisier, and then the sound of it sliding on the counter.

“It looks wonderful. Thank you.” It was the first time I heard Xander speak with such sincerity in his voice.

“I’m glad you like it,” I could hear the smile in Rose’s voice as she repackaged the cake.

“Hey, do you think I can get a few cupcakes?”

“Of course you can!” My sister said, sounding very pleased. “What flavor would you like?”

Rose shuffled over to the cupcake display. “We have Red Velvet, Chocolate Ganache, Hazelnut Banana, Baby Pink Vanilla, Sunshine Buttercream—“

“Is there a way I can customize the icing and the cupcake?” I heard Xander ask.

I shifted uncomfortably in my position.

“Yes there is! Would you like to discuss it?” Rose asked cheerfully.

I assume Xander nodded, because the next thing I knew was JUST. MY. LUCK.

“Chip! Could you come out for a sec? We have a customer here!”

~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*

A/N

I'm so sorry to leave you at another cliff hanger! But what can I say, I'm evil >:D Hope you've liked this chapter! Updates will normally come out on Saturdays or Sundays, depending on my schedule. I hope you guys will stick with this story~

-Cupcake

P.S vote if you like cupcakees <3 and MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone around the world <3xx

24/12/13