First [COMPLETED TEEN FICTION]

18. First Return

~Daniel’s POV~

I wandered in the grocery store mindlessly. I wanted to get something for Danielle to thank her for accompanying me yesterday. Thanks to her, me and my mom sorted things out. We might just become a happy family in no time. My mom booked the closest flight to New York and decided to settle things with my dad as soon as possible. This was all thanks to Danielle. If she hadn’t encouraged me to speak with my mom, my family would have been in three separate pieces still. We were getting closer and closer to reuniting again.

My mom asked if she could move in with me while my dad was in New York for the meantime. Her flight was next week. I reluctantly accepted, mainly because I was male and she a female. Danielle told me otherwise. She said it would be a great chance for me to finally experience a mother’s wrath. And I sure did. As soon as she moved in she was nagging my ears off about doing my laundry and making the bed after I woke up every morning. It was annoying but I felt happy at the thought of finally having a mom to remind me of these trivial things.

My eyes landed on a specific section of the grocery store: The bakery. My mind flashed back to two weeks ago when we walked by the same bakery section.

 

*

“Can we go the bakery? Pretty pretty pretty please?”

“Why? Do you want to buy bread or something?”

“No! Let’s go!” She dragged me into the bakery and the smell of baked goods smacked in the face. It was a mixture of cinnamon, honey, and wheat. “Eeeeep!” She squealed and ran toward the far end of the bakery. I quickly stalked after her.

“What’s the big deal-”

“CHEESECAKE!!!” She was literally drooling all over the cabinet of cheesecake. “Oh my god which one should I choose? Cherry? Strawberry? Blueberry? Chocolate? OOOH TRIPLE CHOCOLATE-”

“Okay okay calm down. How about we just get one for today and get more later?”

“Aww…BUT I WANT IT ALL.”

“We can’t eat 20 different cheesecake flavors in one day, Danielle.”

“Touche.” She grabbed a strawberry cheesecake slice and took it to the counter.

*

 

I eyed the counter and found a cheesecake sampler. It had all the different flavors on one tray. She’d love this. I reached out to grab it when another hand landed on the cheesecake platter.

“Oh sorry. Can I have this?” She was a girl about my age, if not a bit older. I couldn’t tell through her makeup. Her eyes wandered from the cheesecake to my face. Her mouth opened a second in surprise and quickly closed as her eyes travelled down my body and back up to my face.

“No,” I said simply. “I believe I had my eyes on this first.”

“Oh?” She smirked. “What if I told you I had my eyes on it first?” She leaned in closer, not letting go of the platter and pressing her body against mines. Her eyes locked with mines and we had a staredown in front of the cheesecake section of the bakery. Not breaking the gaze, or my one handed grasp on the cheesecake platter, I pushed her body away from mines with my other hand.

“Sorry. My cheesecake.” I ripped the platter out of her hands and started to walk away.

“HEY! At least settle this like a man!” She screamed.

I turned around, intrigued. “Like a man?”

She smirked. “Rock paper scissors.”

I scoffed. “Really now?”