Chapter 9

The next morning I was awoken bright and early by none other than my brother. I don’t know what he was doing but whatever it was, he was doing a pretty good job of making as much noise as possible.

When I got out of bed to check it out, I got downstairs to see a completely terrifying sight; Jaxon, my brother, was baking.

“What the hell are you doing?” I calmly asked him, surveying the room for damages before leaning my elbows on the island in the kitchen.

Jaxon looked up from his mixing bowl to see me before putting his attention back to his baking. “I am going over to the Parr’s in an hour and I am bringing homemade chocolate chip cookies. The only problem with that is I actually have to make them, but they aren’t actually that hard to make. All I have to do now is put the cookies on the tray and put them in the oven.”

I nodded at my brother despite the fact that he wasn’t focusing on me and scurried around the kitchen to make my own breakfast – which consisted of two blueberry waffles and a glass of chocolate milk. When I was done my breakfast, my brother had finished his baking and his cookies were on a pan cooling off.

I walked up to him and clapped him on the back. “They actually look really good Jaxon, who knew you could bake?”

“Not me, but it wasn’t that hard” he replied shaking his head.

“Can I try one?” I asked reaching my hand out to the pan of scrumptious cookies in front me.

“Yea sure, and while you do that, I have to take a shower and get ready so after 10 minutes could you take the cookies off the pan and put them on a plate then cover it with saran wrap so they stay warm?” he asked me while backing out of the kitchen.

“Sure” I nodded at him before he bolted it upstairs to get ready.

After ten minutes, I put Jaxon’s cookies on a rather large plate and covered them with saran wrap like he told me too. I waited in the kitchen for Jaxon to come down and fifteen minutes later he entered the kitchen showered and ready to go. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, black converse, a white undershirt and a checkered dark green shirt. “You look nice, but you do know that you’re painting a house right?” I nodded towards him.

“Yes, I know that Lex. These are an old pair of jeans that I haven’t worn for a while and this shirt is a little old so I don’t care if it gets ruined” he replied. Jaxon quickly grabbed his plate of cookies, his cellphone and his car keys and left without another word.

I shook my head and looked at the time. 10:47am. I jumped out of my chair and ran upstairs to jump in the shower.

After I finished my shower, I plugged in my hairdryer and straightener before going to get dressed. I opened my closet to look around when I came across a pair of light blue skinny jeans and a light yellow v-neck. I threw on the clothes and headed back into my en-suite to do brush my teeth, do my hair and apply my makeup.

Fifty minutes later I finished the last of my make-up and looked in the mirror. My dark brown hair was straightened to perfection with my side bangs pinned up in a braid on the left side of my head. My make-up was limited to give me a natural look, including a bit of foundation, mascara, a rosy blush and a subtle brown eye shadow. I gave myself a nod and headed back into my room. I picked up a braided brown belt, a pair of brown ankle boots and my light brown leather jacket and threw them on.

As I was walking into the kitchen to get my cell phone and purse, the doorbell rang. I turned around and jogged to the door to open it. I found Carson standing there with his hands in his dark blue jeans. He also had on a dark blue undershirt with a light blue plaid shirt thrown over it with white vans on his feet; he looked hot!

I pulled my eyes away from his body before he caught me staring at him and waved him in. “Hey, sorry, I just have to get my cell phone and my purse and I’ll be ready to go”

He stepped in the door and replied, “You don’t need your purse. I invited you, I’m paying. Now grab your cell phone so we can go, my sister is in the car and she doesn’t like waiting.”

I came back out with my cell phone and thirty dollars in my back pocket since he wouldn’t let me bring my purse and we both walked out the front door and towards his truck.

I opened the passenger door and got into the car. “LEXI!” I heard, so I turned around to see Tazmin waving her tiny little hands at me.

I smiled back at her. “Hey Tazmin”

“We’re going to the pizza place and rollerblading today! Carson’s taking us” she said in an adorably cute voice.

I looked at Carson as he was pulling out of the driveway and smiled at him when I caught his eye before turning back to the adorable four year old in the back seat. “Yes he is. Carson is being a great big brother to you"

“I love him with all my heart” she said hugging herself, before leaning back in her car seat and relaxing.

“I love you too Tazzy” Carson replied while shaking his head at his little sisters weirdness.

A while later, we pulled into the parking lot of the Pizza Palace. Carson and I jumped out of the car and I opened the back door to get Tazmin out of her car seat. She jumped into my arms and I put her down on the pavement and took her right hand, heading towards the pizza place where Carson was waiting with the door open. “Thanks” I said to Carson as I walked past him and into the shop.

“No problem” he answered while we walked up to the counter to order our food. “What do you guys want to eat?”

“I want a slice of pepperoni” Tazmin said poking him in the leg.

“I’ll just have a slice of meat lovers, a slice of double cheese and a slice of Hawaiian with a glass of coke” I said smiling sweetly at him handing him a twenty dollar bill for my food.

He shook his head and put the money back in my hand. “Lexi, I told you, I’m paying today don’t worry about it.” I tried to resist but he gave me a glare so I put the money back in my pocket and waited in line.

It was our turn in line and the worker asked what we wanted. “What would y’all like today?”

“We’ll have a slice of pepperoni, a slice of meat lovers, a slice of double cheese, a slice of Hawaiian and three slices of sausage and bacon with extra cheese. We’ll also have two cokes and a glass of orange juice.” Carson replied listing off mine and Tazmin’s order while adding in his own.

The worker nodded. “Is that all?” he asked. Carson nodded. “That’ll be $31.57, please.” Carson handed over the money and got his change back along with a receipt. “You are number 14, we will call your number shortly”

Carson led us to a booth near the back of the diner. Tazmin wanted to sit on her side all by herself so that left Carson and I squished together on our side of the booth. She immediately grabbed the package of crayons on the side of the table and started drawing what looked to be a horse on her place mat.

“So Tazmin” I started “how are Amy and Liam doing as your best friends?”

“Well, um...” she said putting down her purple crayon and looking up at me. “Amy and me are great because we are so alike we are always friends”

“What about Liam?” I questioned her, noticing that she didn’t mention him – her supposed kindergarten ‘love’.

“Um… well during recess on Wednesday, Amy was sick, so me and Liam went to play on the slide. We were having fun, but then he wanted to race and so did I, so we raced to the tree at the very back of the playground and once we both got there – I won by the way – Liam tripped over a root and cut his forehead on some stick that was on the ground. I asked him what I could do to make it all better and he said…” she mumbled the last part so we couldn’t hear her.

“What did he ask you to do Taz?” I said trying to encourage her to tell us.

“He told me to kiss him” she mumbled shyly looking down at her drawing of a purple horse.

My eyes went directly to Carson, knowing that he would be a protective big brother as soon as she said that. “And did you?” Carson piped in, questioning his four year old sister.

“Yes…” she mumbled

I put a reassuring hand on Carson’s arm to calm him down. I realized that his breathing, which had sped up when he heard that his little sister had kissed a guy in her class, was starting to slow down back to its normal rate.

“Wow” I said shaking my head back and forth “A four year old had her first kiss before me.” Then I looked back to Tazmin who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else at the moment. “Sweetie, are you and Liam boyfriend/girlfriend now or something?” I asked her, letting her see that I was not mad at her.

Tazmin looked up at me with a cute little smile on her face. “No” she replied shaking her head back and forth. “We are just best friends. That’s how we were before and that’s what we are now”

I smiled at her before I told her to continue drawing until the food came. I looked over at Carson to see him staring straight ahead – not really looking at something particular. “Hey” I said putting my hand on his thy and shaking him out of his trance. “I know you’re looking out for her, but she can handle herself. It was a one-off and they’re friends.”

Carson shook his head trying to get something out of his head. “I know, but I’ll always worry about her Lex, she’s my little sister.”

“And I think that’s really sweet” I replied looking into Carson’s eyes. We just stared at each other for a moment before something shook us out of our daze, and that one thing? Tazmin screeching like a little girl. We both looked at Tazmin to see what she had been screeching about.

“What Tazzy? What’s wrong?” Carson asked his little sister in a rushed voice, looking around the diner for something out of the ordinary.

“You guys are in love!” Tazmin gushed clapping her hands together.

“Wh…wha….what?” I sputtered out while Carson sat there frozen beside me.

“Yea, you are Cinderella” she said pointing to me “and you are the prince” she said pointing to Carson. “You guys are in love and are going to get married” she finished screeching and moving around in her seat doing a little dance.

I giggled slightly while Carson shook his head at his little sister’s imagination. “Sweetie, we aren’t in love. We are just friends, barely that” I told Tazmin as she stopped dancing.

Carson turned to me. “Hey, we’re friends. Just because I’m tight with your brother doesn’t mean I don’t consider you as my best girl friend” he said putting his arm around my shoulder.

“Sure” I replied shaking my head.

“Number 14, your orders ready. Number 14.” the microphone at the counter said.

Carson quickly got up out of the booth to go and pick up the food from the counter while I picked up Tazmin’s crayons and put them away so we could all eat.

Carson came back with a tray full of food and I licked my lips at the sight of it all. He placed that tray on the table and gave Tazmin her orange juice and slice of pizza first before sliding the tray to the middle of the table on our side of the table so that we could share.

I quickly took my piece of Hawaiian pizza and started munching down and Carson laughed. “What” I asked him with my hand covering my full mouth.

“Hungry?” he teased with one of his eyebrows raised.

“Shut up” I replied bumping my left hip against his right one before continuing to eat my three slices of pizza.

We were done lunch just before one ‘o’clock, and we headed back out to Carson’s truck to venture to the roller-skating alley downtown.

The car ride there was pretty silent. The radio was on a neutral station so Tazmin didn’t hear anything she wasn’t supposed to while Carson and I could still enjoy the music. The drive downtown took roughly eight minutes and once we pulled up at the roller-skating alley, Carson jumped out of his seat to grab Tazmin and ran in to the building before me.

I shook my head, silently laughing at Carson’s kookiness before heading into the building myself. The little bell rang above my head as I opened the door and walked to the front desk to stand beside Carson. The lady behind the counter was typing something on her computer so I slapped Carson on the arm and giggled. “You just couldn’t wait to skate could you?”

“Nope” he replied before taking three pairs of roller skates off the counter and heading towards the seat outside the rink.

“That’s why you ran ahead” I thought out loud. “You paid for me” I accused him while glaring at him.

“Sorry, I knew you would fight me on it and I already told you I would pay so I went ahead to make sure that I paid for your skates” he defended himself while trying to do up one of Tazmin’s skates.

I grabbed my skates to put them on. “Well thanks” I nodded towards him “but how did you know my shoe size?”

“I’ve known you forever Lexi. I think I can remember your shoe size, plus, we’ve been here a couple of times with your brother so I remembered.” Carson replied while putting Tazmin’s other skate on.

“Oh”

Once we all had our skates on and tied up, Carson and I stood on either side of Tazmin – each holding one of her hands – and walked towards the rink.

That afternoon was fun. Carson and I skated with Tazmin so that she wouldn’t fall too much and when she was tired we took turns watching her while the other one skated, showing off our awesome roller-skating skills.

At approximately four ‘o’clock, Carson pulled into his drive way and killed the engine to his truck and Tazmin jumped out of the car, rushing into their house.

I turned to Carson and said “Thanks for today Carson, I had fun. If you hadn’t let me come along I would’ve been cooped up in that house all day”

“It’s no problem Lex, you were without something to do and Tazmin wanted you along for the day” he replied.

“Yea, but you really didn’t have to pay for me, I had the money”

“I paid for you Lexi , it’s just money, measly pieces of paper. It’s not a big deal”

“Well thanks” I said before giving him a quick hug, jumping out of the truck and scurrying into my own house.

I was walking towards the living room to watch t.v. when a thought came to mind; I had spent more time with Carson this week out of school then in the past year. I shook my head ridding that thought from my mind before jumping on the couch and turning the television to Icarly.

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 Sorry about the late posting, school is back again so updates will be less frequent but still a couple times a week. Watch out for the next chapter which explain Jaxon and Cassidy’s day together.

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