Chapter Text
The JGPCBC preliminary elimination competition for Willingham’s official representatives was held in the Home Economics classroom. Home Ec had been required only for female students when Sterling and April had begun at Willingham. But Ellen Johnson had successfully lobbied for requiring the class for male students as well, arguing that with the current divorce rate men were going to need to be able to fend for themselves in the kitchen if they didn’t want to starve to death.
There were three teams in the preliminary competition. Luke and Lorna were using the counter next to Sterling and April, Franklin and Anna were behind them. Luke’s face lit up when he saw Sterling. April groaned inwardly as he made his way over and stood far too close to Sterling.
“Hi Sterling! I’m so glad you are in this competition. I wish we could have worked together though. You look great!”
Luke’s face was bent over Sterling’s as he hugged her. April’s low growl was barely discernible.
“Remember when you made that cake for me? It was so yummy! It made me think about what I planned for our wedding cake…” Luke’s voice trailed off awkwardly but he didn’t relinquish his hold on the Wesley twin.
“Sterling, if you and Luke are quite finished fondling each other I could use some help here.”
Embarrassed, Sterling broke from Luke’s embrace and he made his way back to his teammate.
“April, that’s just Luke’s way. It doesn’t mean anything. Please don’t be mad.”
April’s voice was clipped. “It’s fine, Sterling. Why would I be mad? I get it. There’s still feelings there.”
“Not on my part! Honestly! Please don’t think that.” April could hear the anguish in Sterling’s voice but remained aloof.
“Let’s just get started, okay?”
The competition began with the two-hour Signature Bake. April and a subdued Sterling tied on their aprons and secured their hair with scrunchies. Then they set to work, moving down April’s checklist and marking off each completed task. Sterling whipped the egg whites with a professional flair, and the blending and baking went well.
The peach souffle wasn’t the disaster Ellen had feared, and the finished product sat tall and proud for the judges, garnering high marks.
The Technical Challenge required production of twelve chocolate eclairs. April was very thankful she had reviewed making choux pastry a couple of weeks back. The girls set to work boiling and beating the dough, then slowly adding in the eggs. April carefully piped the raw pastry onto the baking sheets and stuck them in the oven. Then they got to work on the chocolate glaze for the tops and creme patisserie for the middles. There was a near disaster when Sterling dropped the bowl of creme pat on the floor, but as it didn’t break and not too much was spilled, April didn’t make too much of a fuss about it beyond a hard stare in Sterling’s direction. The pastry turned plump and crisp in the oven, the creme pat was pumped into the pastry thick and creamy and delicious, and the chocolate glaze was applied with two minutes to spare.
The girls swept the Technical Challenge. The remaining challenge was the Showstopper, for which they had only four hours. Both girls were tired from the previous baking, but were determined to put all of their efforts into creating a masterpiece. They needed to make the actual sponge cake layers, a peach jam for filling two of the layers, a vanilla mousse for the middle layer, peach decorations and browned buttercream frosting. The frosting would need to be carefully piped onto the cake to make the best possible impression on the judges.
Sterling solemnly sifted flour and sugar, and weighed/measured out all of the ingredients for the cakes. Then she set to work boiling up the peach jam while April crafted tiny little orange-tinted marzipan peaches for the cake’s decoration.
April’s buttercream piping around the cake was rapid and precise, and then the challenge was over. The cake looked fantastic, elegant on its crystal stand.
“Wow you guys! Your cake looks great! Good job Sterling!” Luke came barreling towards Sterling with outstretched arms, intent on giving her a huge hug. She backed up slightly and Luke slammed into her, pushing her towards the countertop. Sterling’s right arm hit the cake tray. Their showstopper teetered and then made a nose dive to the floor. April’s face took on a dangerous color.
“Damn it, Sterling! Couldn’t you keep your idiotic boyfriend away for one day? Our cake is ruined!”
Sterling’s face crumpled. She burst into tears and tore out of the room. Calming a bit, April mentally kicked herself for berating Sterling. She hadn’t asked for a hug from Luke and it wasn’t her fault. Luke was such an oaf. Sterling had said that she didn’t have feelings for him beyond friendship. Why couldn’t April just accept that? How could she treat Sterling so badly? It only took her a minute to make a decision.
“Team Wesley-Stevens hereby forfeits the competition.” said April formally, removing her apron and placing it on the countertop. She then darted out of the room and ran down the hall. She had to find Sterling.
After several minutes of searching, April located Sterling in an unused classroom surrounded by old desks and piles of books. Her arms were tightly wrapped around herself and she was crying as if her heart would break. She looked up as April came towards her.
“Sterling - I’m sorry. I know it wasn’t your fault. I overreacted. Please forgive me.”
“I just can’t seem to get it right with you.” Sterling’s tears fell freely onto her shirt. “It’s not just the cake. I know I messed things up when we were together by pushing you too hard to come out. And I hurt you by arresting your father. I thought things were going well for us lately - we’ve been able to be friends…kind of. We were spending more time together. I thought we were getting closer. At your house when we were watching the movie…I was hoping…I really wanted to -”
She choked up and couldn’t finish the sentence. April’s heart cracked at the sight.
“I told you I don’t have feelings for Luke. I was intimate with him in the past and I can’t change that. If I could, I would. For you. For us.”
“I fucked up our cake and lost us the competition - I know how important it was to you. And now you won’t get to meet Mary Berry. I’m so so sorry.”
April put her arms around the taller girl and she rested her head on April’s shoulder. She knew then that any stupid trophy or even scholarship money were nothing compared to the absolute bliss that she felt when she was with Sterling Wesley. Sterling felt like home. She was the only thing that mattered.
Sterling continued. “When I broke up with Luke I didn’t really know what he was feeling - how it felt to lose someone you loved. But that night at the lock-in when you broke up with me, I learned how it felt to hurt. Losing you was like losing a part of myself. And then after the kidnapping and finding out about my family - it was almost too much for me to cope. I did my best to push thoughts of you away. But in my weaker moments you crept in around the edges. Every time I remembered kissing you it was like a sharp, new cut.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I still want to be with you. Nobody has ever made me feel what you make me feel. I was with Luke for years and I was always wishing I could feel more for him. I was only with you for a week. But during that week I was completely consumed with you. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so much for someone. Everything in my mind was you. Even now - and we aren’t even together - I feel it; this attraction, this heat, this tension between us. But maybe you don’t. Maybe you would rather meet someone else next year at college and not bother with me. If that’s the case, I need to know. Please, April. It hurt too much to lose you once. I can’t go through it again.”
April’s couldn’t bear Sterling’s tears, especially knowing she was their cause. Everything she had been so afraid of - it all paled in comparison to the elation of being with the girl in front of her.
“Sterling…for me, it’s you. Since the fifth grade it’s been you. It’s always been you. It’s always going to be you. The time we were together was the best week of my life. I had never been so happy. The past month we’ve been getting along well as friends, and I didn’t want to ruin that. I’ve just been so afraid to let myself try to take the next step with you. But I know I can’t keep pushing my feelings away.”
“I can’t offer you what Luke could - I don’t think we can be “out”, at least not at school. I don’t know if you’ll still want me if all I can offer you is a secret romance. I don’t feel like I have the right to ask this - but could you be please patient with me? And for my part I’m going to try to be braver, okay? And some day we will be able to show the world how we feel about each other. Until then can we at least discuss coming out to individual people before actually doing it? Together?” April put her hands up to Sterling’s face, softly running her thumbs over the tear tracks.
“I love you, Sterling Wesley. Will you be with me - now and maybe forever?”
Happiness was overflowing from Sterling like the creme patisserie that had filled their eclairs. She didn’t hesitate. “I love you, too. You make me so happy. Yes, April Stevens, I will be with you - now and maybe forever.”
April drew her closer and kissed her, and the world melted away into a haze where there was only Sterling. Sterling Sterling Sterling.