[ C A R A ]

The entire kitchen is a mess.

    I shouldn't have suggested that we cook the entire dinner: we really should have ordered takeaway or something. Because it's really not worth it. All the girls are completely stressed out—Blaire's busy making creme brûlées for everyone and struggling to use the blow torch, Sienna's rolling out the pasta dough and checking every minute or so for the lasagna and the ham that's both in the oven while I'm trying my damnnest not to screw up the steaks.

    They really shouldn't put me in charge of anything, really. The only thing I know how to do is bake, and baking and cooking are two totally different things.

    Scattered all over the kitchen counter are pots, jars of spices, chopped vegetables and three glasses of wine—one for each of us if we want to survive the next few hours. I take another sip of my wine and pour the remaining half into the pot along with the steak, hoping to god it will taste good.

    Beside me, Sienna yells, 'shit!' as she wafts through the cloud of smoke rising from the oven. She grabs both of her mismatched mittens and coughs as she takes out a half burnt chunk of ham and slides it across the table.

    Yeap. We're totally eating out next Christmas.

    "Seriously, you girls need any help?" Kayden materializes from the hallway, crossing the room and placing his hands on the edge on the kitchen counter. His lips are pressed into a line, worried line.

    "No," Sienna says she she tries to scrape the burnt bits from the ham with a metal spoon. She's doing a horrible job at it. "We got this."

    Kayden refuses to stand down. "Lucky, I'm a better cook than you. I can do this," he says as he makes his way towards his girlfriend. He takes the spoon from her. "Let me help you."

    "Fine," she grumbles, "but you have to wear an apron."

    His eyes dart over to the remaining ones on the hooks. His face falls. "They're all pink."

    "Even better," she says, kissing Kayden quickly on the cheek to retrieve him one. "Pink suits you. Especially the hot pink one," she says, her eyes lighting up with amusement as she loops the apron over his head and ties the back for him. The apron is too small for him for his size—but he does look adorable in it. "There," she murmurs. "You are one of us now."

    He stares down at himself. "I look ridiculous."

    "No, you look cute. I like it," she says, grinning, as she places her hands on her hips to look at him. "You know what would be better though? If you were wearing just the apron. And no shirt underneath."

    Kayden groans.

    Sienna lifts her hand. "All in favor of that say 'yes'!"

    "Yes!" Blaire says, jumping up and down. "Hell fucking yes!"

    "Yes!" I say too. It would be a rare sight—rare and spectacular.

    "No," Simon says, shaking his head as he comes into view. "Please don't. And babe, don't encourage him." He points an accusing finger at me and I laugh.

    Is my boyfriend jealous? His eyes meet mine and jealousy burns in the embers of his. God, that's so cute. I rarely see him be a green-eyed monster before. 

    "Come on. It's no big deal," I say to him, waving him off. "It's just for fun. We see him half-naked all the time."

    Simon's nostrils flare. "Since when?"

    "We all watch him fight, you idiot," Sienna says, coming around to pat Simon on the shoulders.

    Jax appears, his hands shoved into his pockets. His dark eyes scan the room calculatively. "What's this I hear about taking someone's shirt off? Because fuck, I'll personally volunteer for that."

    A giggle escapes me. Another hunky guy I would love to see half-naked is Jax. He's just about the same size as Kayden, but his face is more striking, with that sharp jaw of his and signature smirk constantly dangling on the edge of his lips.

    I wish Alex were here right now. They took a later flight than me and Simon so hopefully they'll arrive soon. I catch a glance at the clock perched on the wall and grimace. They should be here by now.

    "We were saying that Kayden should take off his shirt when he's in that apron," Blaire tells him as she mixes something in a glass bowl. Her boyfriend's eyes narrow at her.

    "What? Why?"

    "Just for fun," Blaire squares her shoulders.

    Jax casts a glare at Kayden, who shrugs. Ah, I almost forgot that the both of them aren't on good terms until now. "No," he says sharply. "He's not taking off his shirt here. Not under my roof."

    Blaire snorts. "Are you jealous, Jackson? You want to do it? It would give us something nice to look at while we're busy slaving over here."

    "I'll do it, but only you get to watch, darling," Jax winks at Blaire and her cheeks turn crimson.

    "Jesus guys, save it for the bedroom, will yeah?" I call out and both of them laugh.

    The next couple of hours are spent trying not to burn any of the food. Fortunately for us, Simon and Jax decided to help out as well. Jax is helping Blaire with the desserts, Simon's chopping vegetables so that he can make the salad and Kayden's trying to salvage what he can from the ham. Overall, it's not too bad. He reckons we can eat most of it, which is great.

    Alex and Daniel arrived a good two hours before dinner is supposed to be set. They look a bit flushed; I wonder what happened.

    "Hey, guys! Merry Christmas!" I throw my arms around my best friend and give her a good hug. She smiles warmly at me and greets me back.

    "Hey, Cara," she says.

    "Come to the kitchen. Everyone's there." Linking my arm around hers, I bring her to the kitchen so that she can meet the rest of the gang. Daniel trails along behind us. When our friends come into view, Alex breaks into a huge smile.

    "Hey!" Sienna places her knife down and pats her hands on her apron before coming forward to embrace Alex. Daniel greets everyone else—giving a passing nod to each of the guys, and a cheeky smile to Blaire and Sienna.

    I notice Alex and Daniel give each other a secret look—a look of love, adoration and lust.

    I know exactly what they did on the flight here. My eyes glaze over my best friend; sure enough, the signs are all there.

    "Alex," I say. "Your shirt is unbuttoned."

    "What—" She glances down and quickly fixes her shirt. "—Oops."

    "Oh my god," I breathe. "You guys totally did it on the plane!"

    Everyone's eyes immediately land on the both of them.

    Alex pinches my arm, glaring daggers at me. "Dude!"

    "It's true," Daniel says, shrugging. "We kinda also got kicked off the plane because of it."

    Alex whirls around to glare at her husband. "Dude!"

    "That's awesome, bro," Jax leans over the kitchen counter to high-five Daniel. "Blaire, we should totally do that—"

    "Already putting it on our bucket list," Blaire says, grabbing her phone and typing it down. Oh my god, these two are delusional.

    "Damn, that's some Mile High Club shit right there," Kayden says, slapping Daniel's hand. "Nice."

    "Right?" Daniel chuckles. "That's why it took us so long to get there. They detained us and gave us a lecture about hogging the toilet for two hours. I don't think we're welcomed to fly that airline anytime soon."

    "Who knew you guys were so... rebellious," I say, grinning at Alex.

    "It was a one-time thing," she replies. Daniel makes a pouty face but she isn't having any of it. "A one-time thing, Daniel. I mean it."

    "I'll get you to change your mind. I will, sweetheart," he says with determination. His wife merely bats her eyelashes, dismissing him.

    "I need to pee," she announces. "Eventhough we were in the plane's washroom for two hours, I did very little peeing."

    "I'll direct you to our washroom," Blaire says as she ushers Alex away.

    "So, you gonna stand there and look pretty, Daniel, or are you going to help us? Because we need all the help we can get," Blaire says as she hands him a couple of potatoes. "Here, you can mash these."

    Daniel cradles the potatoes in his arms like he's not sure what that means. "Uh, okay."

    Jax taps on his girlfriend's shoulder. "Did you just call him pretty?"

    "Yes, Jackson. I believe I just did," she says, returning to her task at hand.

    Jax merely frowns. "I'm way prettier than him."

    I can't agree more.

* * *

    Two hours later, we're finally done preparing dinner.

    The food looks decent enough—Sienna and Alex are laying them down on the dining table. Meanwhile, Blaire, Simon and Daniel are busy cleaning up the kitchen. The place is so messy that it almost looks like the aftermath of a battle, though it did quite feel like one.

    Kayden quickly excuses himself to go upstairs to check up on the baby whereas Jax is outside playing ball with Blaire's brother, Eden. It's quite an adorable sight—watching Jax with him. I can't help but think that he'll make a great dad someday. To Eden and to any future children him and Blaire might have.

    Jax as a father. Who would have thought those two words would ever be in the same sentence?

    I wonder if that would also be set in the stars for Simon. He'll make a great dad, I'm sure of it. He has such a big heart and a kind soul. That is what made me fall in love with him in the first place.

    I watch as he shares a joke with Blaire and Kayden. I can't believe he used to be a shy and awkward guy. Hell, back when we liked each other, I was the one who kept making moves on him, wondering when he'll return the favor.

     It took me a really long time to pry him out of his hermit shell. It wasn't easy, took him a while to open up to me. I guess it was hard for him; I was his first girlfriend. First everything, really.

     But it was worth it. Digging through those layers.

     And what I saw underneath was truly beautiful.

    I head over to the washroom to clean up. My hands are caked with flour from helping Blaire with the desserts. I turn on the tap and rub my hands together, attempting to get the clumps of starch off the tips of my fingernails. My eyes roam around, taking in the beauty of the place. Marble tiles coat the floor, granite surface as smooth as silk. I would give anything to live in the paradise that is this mansion.

    My eyes dart all over out of curiosity, marveling at the sight of this huge bathroom—

    And they land on the trashcan beside me.

    I gasp.

    Turning off the tap, I wipe my hands clean and kneel down, my eyes can't quite believing the sight. Because beneath all the used tissues and barren toilet rolls—

    Is a pregnancy test.

    And on that little screen, there are two red lines.

    Positive.

* * *

A/N: I know, this chapter is super short BUT SHIT WILL GET REAL SOON I PROMISE!!! I'm pretty sure it just did after that last word!!

Anyways, there's only a few hours left to vote for the Fiction Awards! So don't forget to head over there to give DALEX and the PERFECT SERIES some love by spamming in the comments section with '+1' for me!! YOU GUYS ARE ALREADY KILLING IT! Hopefully we'll SLAY everyone when we nab both awards!

YASSSSSSSSS

See ya'll on Tuesday bitches!

Love, Claudia.