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As the class spills out of the building, Julie checks her phone to see if she missed anything the past hour and a half and sure enough, there is a new group chat sitting in her notifications. She normally would spend the walk across campus people watching and soaking up the sun, but seeing her elderly neighbor's name amongst the slew of unstored numbers has her opening the chat as she walked to her car.
Bernadette (neighbor), (323) 555-7515, (310) 555-1442, (323) 555-9673, Flynnsmerelda 💩, (402) 555-4263
Bernadette (neighbor)
5:37pm Melvin and I smell a burning smell. Does anyone else smell it?
(323) 555-9673
5:37pm Let me check something real quick
(323) 555-7515
5:40pm it's our pizza. sorry
(310) 555-1442
5:41pm Nooooo Luke my pizza :(
Bernadette (neighbor)
5:41pm 👍🏼
Flynnsmerelda 💩
5:45pm Lol
She slips her phone in to her pocket as a chuckle escapes her. Apparently some of the neighbors aren't great at cooking.
The apartment Julie and Flynn live at is a two story building with four units. Two on the ground floor, and two above. They were in the top left unit and had been greeted by Bernadette and Melvin with a casserole on one of the many trips it took to move boxes in. They live on the other side upstairs. In the two years since, the apartments downstairs have changed renters and with their busy college schedules, Julie and Flynn haven't had much chance to get to know either. A single mom and her two kids live beneath them. She's helped them a few times and greets them anytime she sees them. And then there is a group of guys in the last unit. It's that unit that has all the windows open when Julie arrives home a bit later.
She can see movement through the screen as she approaches the buildings door, and a light breeze brings the faint aroma of burnt pizza to Julie's nose. She can't help the giggle that escapes her as she pulls the door open, remembering the texts. A face turns in her direction from inside the apartment, eyes making contact for a split second before she is through the door and heading up the steps.
She can hear the sounds of Flynn's most recent track playing through the speaker in their kitchen, along with the sound of pans moving around.
"Hey Flynn!"
"Hey girl! Good day?"
Leaning against the counter next to the stove, Julie looks into the pot on the stove that Flynn is currently stirring. Mac 'n' cheese. Classic. "Pretty good. That group text was fun to see after class."
She smiles thinking about it.
Flynn barks out a laugh. "Oh my gosh, Jules. It was great. Bernie sent the first message and I realized I could smell something burning and was about to respond when the one said it was their pizza, and I shit you not, I could hear the smoke detector go off immediately after the text came through. It was amazing!"
"All their windows were open when I got home." They devolve into giggles.
And that's that about the neighbor's burnt pizza saga.
Or so they thought.
Her professor has given them a rare in-class period to work on their final projects when Julie feels her phone start buzzing with incoming notifications, derailing her train of thought. It won't hurt to check it for just a second. Tapping the screen to wake it up, she sees it's the building group chat again.
The Building 🏠
Bernadette (neighbor)
5:23pm Does it smell like something is burning?
Luke, Pizza Killer 🍕🔪
5:24pm f
5:24pm it's our pizza
Julie chokes down a laugh, trying not to draw the attention of her classmates.
5:24pm again?! 🤣🤣🤣
(310) 555-1442
5:24pm 😭
Luke, Pizza Killer 🍕🔪
5:25pm i'm sorry reggie -_-
Julie's professor clears their throat from the desk they are sitting at. It's a polite reminder that she should be working right now, not on her phone. She throws a grin in their direction as she locks her phone and slips it back into her pocket. Then she picks her pen back up and gets back to working on her project.
When class is over, she quickly checks back into the chat.
(323) 555-9673
5:29pm
5:29pm dude
Flynnigan and again and again
5:30pm 
Bernadette (neighbor)
5:33pm How did you do that, Flynn? Will you show me?
Flynnigan and again and again
5:33pm lol
5:33pm sure B
And when Julie arrives home, all of the windows in the bottom right apartment are open yet again, airing the place out.
It's a week later and Julie is leaving campus after class. She needs to make a stop at the grocery store on her way home, so she decides to give Flynn a call as she drives to see if she needs anything from the store as well.
"Um, let me check the pantry real quick"
Julie can hear the sounds of food bags shifting around.
"We could use more chips and salsa, but otherwise everything else can wait until our next big grocery haul."
"Flynn, that was a family size bag of chips! How do we need more already?" She flips on her turn signal and turns onto the next street.
"Sometimes a girl gets a 3am craving for tortilla chips. Also, that's a lot of judgement coming from the girl replacing the 5lb bag of gummy bears right now."
Julie flinches at the jab. "Yeah. Sorry."
"Oh my god!" Flynn cackles.
"What?"
"OH MY GOD!" Only laughter peals through the speakers. Super unhelpful Flynn.
"What's going on, Flynn?!" annoyance creeps into Julie's voice.
"They did it again!" Flynn manages between laughs. "And Bernadette called. Them. Out!"
It takes Julie a second to piece it all together. "Seriously? Is this going to happen every Wednesday?"
Flynn laughs harder as Julie pulls into a parking space and turns the car off.
"Is it a pizza again?"
Flynn is calming down by the time Julie is pulling the chat up on her phone and sees what Flynn had seen.
The Building 🏠
Bernadette (neighbor)
5:42pm We smell something burning? Boys, is that you?
Julie bursts out laughing. "Oh my god. She's amazing. I love her for this!"
"Right?!"
Luke, Cereal Pizza Killer 🍕🔪
5:43pm ... yeah
Wanting to know if yet another pizza had been lost at the hands of this Luke fellow, Julie asks,
5:24pm Was it another pizza?
"Hold on a sec, I'm switching the call back to my phone."
She gets out of the car and holds the phone up to her ear as she heads inside the store.
"Someone should teach them how to cook."
"Really, Flynn?" Julie deadpans as she grabs a basket. "That coming from you?"
"What? You know I make a mean Mac 'n' cheese!"
"Girl, please. You are a master of mac 'n' cheese like my dad is a master of spaghetti. You can't handle anything else." She quickly grabs a bag of chips and salsa and heads to the candy aisle.
"Betrayal! By my best friend. I made you a very tasty snack just the other day!"
Throwing a bag of gummy bears into her basket, her phone buzzes against her face. "Slicing up an apple doesn't count as cooking, Flynn."
"It was a pizza. That boy is a disaster." Flynn says before Julie has a chance to look.
Julie is heads for the self checkouts but has to go through the refrigerated section to get there. She pauses as an idea comes to her. "Uhhhhhhhhhh. I need my hand back. Love you, Flynn! I'll see you at home. Byeeeeee!"
Hanging up, she stuffs her phone in her pocket and making a split decision, heads over to one of the open-face coolers and grabs a few items before going and paying.
When she arrives home, the windows are once again open. But this time there is a guy in a cutoff shirt at one window waving a notebook like a fan to get the hazy air out of the apartment. He's pretty cute, and she won't lie the movements of fanning the air really showcase the arms on display. Which he has every right to do. They are stellar arms.
A voice from inside chastises, "You need to pay attention, Luke!" (ah, so this was Luke, the infamous Pizza Killer) "We can't keep doing this. What are we supposed to eat?"
Luke winces at the words. "I'm sorry, Alex. I got distracted." His eyes meet hers as she walks up the sidewalk to the building. It's kind of hard to tell from this distance, but is he blushing?
Alex sounds done from wherever he's at inside. "You have a phone that can set timers, Luke. Seeing the girl that is inspiring you to write is not an excuse."
Luke's eyes go wide, having not left hers until that moment. His face goes beet red as he splutters. "W- what? Alex-- No-- Psh."
Julie grins, deciding to tease him. She pulls open the building's door and gives him a final look. When his eyes drift back up to hers she calls out, "Have you tried not burning it?"
A loud laugh rings out from within as she steps through the doorway. Even in the entryway of the building, muffled laughter can be heard coming through the door of the guys' apartment which emboldens her to go through with the rest of her impromptu plan from the grocery store. Instead of walking up the stairs to her place, she walks over to the door for the guy's and knocks. Footsteps get closer and the door swings open to a tall blonde guy still chuckling to himself.
When he sees her he says, "Uh, hi!"
She lifts up one of her grocery bags. "I have a delivery for Luke?"
His eyebrows shoot up in surprise but the amusement in his eyes doesn't falter.
"Yeah, one sec. Luke! Door!" he calls over his shoulder.
Luke walks into view, dropping his notebook onto the couch as he heads for the door. When he sees Julie, he pauses and approaches the door cautiously. "Hi?"
"Hello Luke. My name's Julie. I live up in apartment C," Julie smiles up at him. This close, she can smell the faint wafts of burnt pizza, and his eyes almost look colorless in the low light of the entryway. She begins trying to figure out what color they would be in better light before noticing his smirk, having caught her staring up at him. Blinking, she attempts to reset her brain to the task at hand. "I noticed you've been having a difficult time cooking pizza recently." His smirk begins to drop. "So I thought I could help you out tonight."
She offers him the grocery bag.
"You didn't have t--", He cuts himself off as he opens the bag seeing what's inside. Reaching in, he reveals one of three pizza Lunchables. The guy she presumes is Alex lets out an actual guffaw, slapping a hand to his mouth to stifle the noise.
Throwing him a wink, she says, "They aren't 100% burn proof, but they are as close as it gets so don't fuck it up!"
And with that she takes a few steps backwards before turning for the stairs. Behind her, Alex is full on wheezing and Luke is lets out an extended groan. The proud and amused smile on Julie's face doesn't leave for several hours.
The next day, Julie is working on her final project for her Advanced Music Composition class in one of the practice rooms on campus. Well, that was her goal when she arrived. She's mostly spent her time plonking away at random keys as her thoughts drift to the eyes and smirk of her downstairs neighbor. After a while, she hears a not awful melody from her distracted playing. She spends the next 20 minutes trying to recreate the melody and refine it. No lyrics accompany it, but they might come in time. Checking to see how much time she has left in the reserved room, she sees she has missed several texts in the building group chat again.
The Building 🏠
Bernadette (neighbor)
2:15pm We smell something burning. It seems too fresh to be remnants from yesterday.
Alex (neighbor)
2:15pm Damnit Luke. We banned you from the kitchen.
Luke, Cereal Pizza Killer 🍕🔪
2:15pm I was hungry and it was just poptarts
2:16pm how was I to know it'd get stuck in the toaster and catch fire?
Alex (neighbor)
2:16pm how was it stuck in there long enough to catch fire??
2:16pm didn't you notice it was longer than 3 minutes?
Reggie (pizza lover🍕)
2:17pm how do you know he set it for 3 minutes?
Alex (neighbor)
2:17pm we always set the toaster to 3 when we toast poptarts
Reggie (pizza lover🍕)
2:17pm THE NUMBERS ON THE DIAL STAND FOR MINUTES???
Alex (neighbor)
2:17pm NOT THE ISSUE AT HAND REG
2:17pm Luke why didn't you notice until there was a fire?!
2:19pm LUKE!
Wide eyed, Julie doesn't know what she wants to do first. Laugh at Luke's misfortune or yell about it to Flynn. Looking at the time like she meant to before, Flynn is still at her part-time job so she can't call her. She settles for texting instead.
Flynnie Flynnie bo Binnie
2:50pm HE SET A WHOLE ASS TOASTER ON FIRE
2:50pm \*WHEEZE\*
2:50pm adfjfjfjjfjfslkjslls
With only ten minutes left in her reserved time-slot for the practice room and now completely distracted from any productivity she might have had, Julie packs away her things to head home.
Upon arrival, the windows are open as she expected, but the only sound she hears is the gentle strums of a guitar.
She takes a picture of the toaster sitting in a circle of scorched grass in the front yard to send to Flynn, chuckling to herself. The metal was blackened and fragile, while the plastic sides had melted from the fire. And peeking out from one of the slots was the crispy burnt corner of what must have once been a poptart.
Friday mornings are Julie's favorite. She doesn't have classes on Fridays and she works in the evenings, allowing her the chance to sleep in and catch up on the things that fall to the wayside the rest of the week. But she has time to get them done and never feels rushed about it. It's as she is stepping out of the in-unit laundry room that she notices a funk in the air. Within 30 seconds, the funk is definitely a burny smell. That boy is ridiculous!
Luke, Food UN-Whisperer
11:37am Really? 3 days in a row?
11:37am ???
11:37am what do u mean
Is he that oblivious to what he's doing in the kitchen that he hasn't even noticed it burning yet? What the heck.
11:38am i can smell something burning
Right as she sends the text, the shrill beeping of a smoke detector can be heard from somewhere else in the building. Dread soaks her to the bone when it's followed by a child's scream.
Before she can blink or think, she's already out her apartment door and racing down the stairs. As she rounds the corner, she sees Luke crossing the hallway to the door of apartment A. He knocks as she approaches, but there is no answer. Just the continued beeping from a smoke detector accompanied by panicked screaming.
"Open it!" she yells.
He glances at her real quick, eyes panicked, before trying the handle. "It's locked!"
He pounds on the door again, louder to try and be heard over the noise. Thinking quickly, Julie rushes towards the door to the shared fenced in backyard, yelling over her shoulder, "Keep trying. I'm going to check their back door!"
And then she is racing through the grass to the back patio and sliding glass door. She can't see the kitchen from here but she can see the younger of the two children huddled under the coffee table, hands over ears, screaming.
Julie tries the door but it is also locked. She begins banging against the glass. "Harper! Harper! Elijah! Open the door!"
Harper opened her eyes and cut off mid-scream. Tears are streaming down her face. "J-Julie?"
"Let me in, Harper!" She slaps her hands desperately against the glass.
The girl crawls over to the door and it's only seconds but feels like forever before she is pushing down the locking mechanism on the door and Julie is pulling the door open. The smoke alarm increases in volume and the pounding on the front door intermixes with it in a truly anxiety inducing way. The little girl is clinging to her crying her name before she can make it too far. But then she hears Elijah shout "FIRE!" from the kitchen and she knows she has to move.
"Harper, I need you to go let Luke in. I have to go help Elijah, okay?" She gently pushes the girl towards the front door when she gives a tearful nod. Without looking back Julie sprints into the kitchen just in time to see Elijah pulling the sprayer nozzle from the sink, water at full pressure, towards the stove that has a skillet of Fire sitting on one of the burners. Knowing water will make this ten times worse, she quickly grabs the nozzle out of his hands pointing the spray away from the stove. She steps between him and the stove.
"Go let Luke in, then grab your sister and get to the backyard."
"But-"
"NOW."
The slapping of feet leaving the kitchen can barely be heard over the noise, but Julie is now focused on the fire. Tossing the sprayer into the sink, she approaches the stove and grabs the dish rag hanging from the oven door and wraps it around the skillets handle, moving it off the burner. The heat is ridiculous and she can't reach the knob to turn the burner off. Knowing she has to choke the fire somehow, she begins throwing cabinet doors open until she finds one with cookie sheets in it and she slams one on top of the skillet. Her moment of relief is short lived when after a few seconds she checks and the fire is still going strong.
Suddenly, a body is gently but firmly pushing her out of the way and the cookie sheet is being removed from her hands. She stares at Luke's back as he also puts the cookie sheet on top of the skillet, only where she had slapped it on, he slid it across until the pan was covered. The screeching of the smoke detector is still going so Julie goes to open the kitchen windows to begin the process of airing the place out. With the first breeze, a chill runs through her and goosebumps breakout along skin that is wet. That's when she realizes that she is soaked from the sprayer nozzle landing in the sink facing up and out into the middle of the kitchen floor. She rushes to turn the water off just as Luke removes the sheet from the pan, the fire extinguished. He begins fanning the area around the smoke detector with the cookie sheet and Julie steps to the stove and turns it off and the hood fans on with shaking hands. She looks in the pan to see burnt bread and the still bright yellow of cheese, all sitting in a puddle of grease.
Turning back to Luke, she realizes that while not as soaked as she is, he is also quite damp, his hair plastered to his face. The water causes his arms to glisten as he continues fanning the smoke detector.
"How did you know how to do that?" she asks, voice raised to be heard over the beeping.
"Youtube. Alex made me watch fire safety videos last night after the toaster incident."
"Thank god for Alex."
He chuckles but keeps fanning.
The smoke detector abruptly goes silent, leaving her ears ringing. But she can still hear the cries of Harper and the floor is covered in water. The fire may be out but this isn't over. She can't slow down now. Taking a step towards the living room, she is reminded that she rushed out the door in her dino slippers and they are very much soaked through now.
With a sigh, she says, "I'll go find a towel."
Rounding the corner, she takes the slippers off before walking across the living room carpet to the back door.
"The fire is out," she tells the kids. "Could you help me get towels? We got water on the floor that needs to be cleaned up."
Both kids are shaking but Elijah starts inside. Harper, however, couldn't shake her fear so easily.
"I don't want to go back inside!" she cries. "Don't leave me alone!"
Stopping Elijah with a hand, Julie asks, "Can you get the towels and help Luke clean up?"
Elijah looks unsure but nods. Julie squeezes his shoulder gently.
"You've got this."
Once he's inside, she shuts the screen door behind her before stepping down the steps onto the patio. They have a bench glider that is a short distance away from the building that she sits down on and invites Harper to join her. To distract the girl, she told stories of when she and Carlos were little. It seemed to work. And not much later, Elijah came back out and invited Harper to play 1v1 soccer with him. Promising to stay, Julie shivers as the wind bites through her wet clothing. A towel drops down on her shoulders, breaking her attention away from the kids. She looks up at Luke who is standing next to her.
"E-e-ever-ver-y thi-ing o-o-o-kay?"
Luke frowns before kneeling down and pulling the towel closed around her shoulders. Then he begins rubbing his hands up and down her arms to try and warm her up. "Yeah. Had Elijah call his mom for me. She's on her way home. You need to go change out of these wet clothes. It's a shame though." She gasp-shivers at his audacity. "The slippers were cute."
She'd smack him for such an idiotic statement, but the cocoon of warmth and the feeling of his hands was too comfortable to give up.
"But the kids..."
"I can stay with them. They'll be fine."
His hands have slowed down to the point of stopping, just resting against where her elbows are beneath the towel, two sources of heat radiating into her. In the sunlight, his eyes are a light brown with green and she can't drag her eyes away from them. "Have you eaten lunch?"
The side of his mouth drifts up in a confused half-grin. "What?"
"I haven't eaten, and the kid's lunch obviously didn't happen, so I'm thinking I can make some mac 'n' cheese while I'm at my place. I'll make extra if you'd like some."
The other side of his mouth joins the rest in the perfect smile. "Sure. I'd love some."
Leaning forward, Luke helps her up from the glider. Shouting to get the kids attention, she lets them know the plan. "I'm going to go make us all some lunch. Luke is going to stay with you."
Harper begins to panic. "Can't Luke make us lunch and you stay?"
Julie can't help the wry smile that overtakes her face.
"Luke can't cook. But it'll be okay." She lifts Luke's arm up in front of her, bending it at the elbow and squeezing the bicep for show. Holy crap, it's not even flexed and it feels like that? She clears her throat. "Look at how strong he is. He will keep you safe while I'm gone and until your mom gets home."
She can feel him smirking at her but refuses to acknowledge it.
"Yeah, we should probably leave the cooking to Julie. My track record hasn't been very good recently."
Harper studies them both intently. "Okay." Then she turns and runs off to play more soccer with her brother.
A shiver runs through the arm beneath her fingers, and that's when Julie realizes she is still holding Luke's arm in front of her. She slowly drops them down, releasing his bicep, her fingertips grazing down his bicep as she lets go. He grabs her hand before it goes too far, holding it gently.
"I can cook, by the way."
She raises an eyebrow at him. "Sure you can."
"I can!" he insists. "I've just been a little bit...distracted recently."
"Oh yeah? By what?"
"Um.. song ideas?" He seems flustered, and before she can ask him about the songs he continues, "We should probably get moving on making lunch for the kids. Don't want them to go hungry."
"...Yeah." It's an obvious changing of topics and she's not sure what to do with that information. "Why don't you try and get them inside. I'll be as fast as I can."
She squeezes his hand and then heads inside.
"Elijah! Harper!"
The door bursts open and their neighbor rushes in. The kids jump up and run to their mom. Julie's shoulders feel chilly and she mourns the los of Luke's arm that had been draped behind her on the love seat. They'd ended up eating in the living room when Harper refused to go to the dining table set up next to the kitchen when Julie showed up with a giant pot of mac 'n' cheese. After the kid's had posted up in the two recliner chairs, that had left the two-seater couch for the adults. Not that Julie was complaining. But heat had risen to her cheeks after he'd stretched his arm out along the back of the couch behind her.
Luke stands up to approach Jenny. Julie supposes she should as well and pushes herself onto her feet.
"What happened?!" Jenny's hands hold a face in each palm.
Elijah looks down at his feet. "I was just making grilled cheese for lunch. I didn't know it was gonna be too much butter."
"How much butter did you use?"
He holds his fingers about a half inch apart in front of his face. Luke's eyes bug. Julie's might be as well.
She can't help the words that fall out of her. "Total?! Or per slice?"
"Per slice."
That... that's a lot of butter. It's surprising things hadn't gone bad faster.
Jenny focuses on the two adults now. "It's a good thing Julie and Luke were here to help, then. Have we thanked them?"
The kid's chorus a thanks at them. Harper releasing her mom to give Julie a quick hug.
"I can't thank you two enough, really."
"I'm glad we were here to help." Julie smiles reassuringly. "There's extra mac 'n' cheese in the kitchen if you need something to eat."
"Thanks. I'll wash your pot and get it back to you soon."
And with that, they are shuffled into the hallway. Not ready to head to her own apartment, Julie leans against the wall and lets out a deep breath. Eyes shut, she can feel tension she didn't realize she was holding begin to leave her body.
"You okay?"
Her eyes pop open, focusing on Luke standing next to her. He looks concerned, so she puts on a smile so he knows he doesn't have to be. "Yeah. That was just... a lot. I'm glad you were also here. Had it just been me..."
"What are you talking about? You rocked that."
He's looking at her with such wonder, and she'll blame it on the day's adrenaline later, but she can't help but rock onto her tiptoes and placing a quick kiss to his cheek, and then retreating back to the wall just as fast. She can feel the heat spread through her cheeks to her ears but doesn't regret the action.
"We rocked it," she tells him. "We make a pretty good team. A fire-fighting team."
He looks surprised, but the sides of his mouth lift adorably into a bashful grin as he nods in agreement.
"If only one of us didn't set more than half the fires in the building," she tacks on, because come on, she can't just let that go.
His grin drops into a pout. "Hey! I told you, I've just been distracted!"
"Oh, yes. 'Writing songs'. Are they at least good?"
His nose wrinkles. "It's mostly a lot of ideas. Whenever I try putting some together it gets pretty corny and cliche. It's different from my usual stuff so it's not clicking together quickly like I'm used to."
"Ooooo. New muse?" Julie teases him.
"Yeah." His voice is soft and a little unsure, but he doesn't drop her gaze. "You."
Her brain stops. What? Her?
"Me?"
"Yeah."
"But- But there's nothing special about me?"
"Are you kidding me?! You're gorgeous. Your style is fly as hell."
"Fly? Who are you? My dad? Nobody uses 'fly' anymore."
"What? It's a compliment!" He moves on. "And then a few weeks ago I found out that you were basically the girl of my dreams because you also make amazing music?"
He uses his whole body when he talks passionately Julie is discovering. She blushes because everything he is saying seems impossible. There is no way he's talking about her. "You think my music is amazing? How have you even heard it?"
He hesitates, hand scratching the back of his neck. "About a month ago you started humming, and then eventually singing a song as you were leaving the building in the afternoon. It happens every week. And Julie, it spoke to me. It causes my brain to go into overdrive with inspiration. So much so, that everything else is pushed out. And then I'd lose track of time..."
He's biting his lip now, with that admission. But she can see his earnestness as well. He meant every word and wants her to know that. Julie is on the move, lips grazing against his, before realizing it.
Eyes bugging out, she pulls back quickily. "Oh my god. I don't know why I did that. I meant to say thank you."
He looks stunned, eyes a bit glazed over. His tongue darts out to wet his lips real quick. "I dunno. Pretty good thank you gesture in my opinion. Can I thank you for your thank you?"
He focuses back on her and she can't help the giggle that bursts forth.
"Yeah."
This time he leans down to her height, and this kiss lingers before her fingers are threading into his hair and his hands are at her waist and they lose themselves for a minute. Sparks flare at every point they touch. Lyrics shout and melodies rise around them.
Apparently this muse thing is not a one-sided thing, she thinks as she pulls back just enough to catch her breath.
"I have work tonight, but want to get dinner with me tomorrow?"
He grins down at her and she can't help but return it. "I can cook something if you want."
She rolls her eyes at him. "Maybe we should leave the cooking to the professionals for the time being."
He laughs and pulls her in for another kiss.
The Building 🏠
Bernadette (neighbor)
3:51pm Is someone baking? It smells like burning sugar.
3:52pm I'm sorry! That's me.
3:52pm I forgot I was baking cookies 😅
Trouble Trouble Boil n' Double
3:53pm how did you forget you were baking?
3:53pm also, I thought you were hanging out with luke?
3:53pm GIRL!
Julie scoffs at her phone. How dare Flynn call her out like that in the group chat?! She aggressively scrapes the cookies off the cookie sheet from which they are burnt on with a spatula. Warm arms embrace her from behind, hands pulling the front of Luke's body flush against her back. Despite her annoyance at burning the cookies, a shiver runs through her. His nose nuzzles against her ear, warm breath tickling her senstive skin there. She automatically tilts her head to the opposite side, giving him easier access. His lips press against her neck with a familiarity that comes from being there not 15 minutes before.
"Everything okay? You're making this face."
She can feel his lips pull into an exaggerated pout and a sour chuckle tumbles out of her. "That, is not my face."
Her aggression towards the cookie sheet increases.
"It's totally your face."
She turns to glare at him.
His grin turns giddy. Then he tucks a loose curl behind her ear and bites his lip, "I told you you were distracting."
Well, she can't be mad at that. Her own grin fights the frown until she's giggling at him. She stretches up onto her toes leaning in for a kiss when-
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Her phone alerts them to a new message.
The Building 🏠
Alexsassmaster 5000
3:56pm oh god, there's \*two\* of them?!
Julie groans and smushes her face into Luke's chest.