“Chocolate chip cookies.”
“Favorite TV show?”
“The Office. Jim and Pam are life.”
“Agreed. Now, your turn.”
“Wait,” I say, glancing over at her. “That’s it?”
“Yeah, your answers were satisfactory.”
“Satisfactory? Those were some great answers,” I say with a huff. “Okay, favorite NSYNC member?”
“JT.”
“Favorite boxed cake mix?”
“Ugh, you play dirty. Betty Crocker.”
“Favorite animal?”
“Zebra. What the heck, man? Those were some random questions.”
“I gotta feel you out. I don’t know who you are by just knowing your favorite color.” I nod my head to the song pumping through the speakers.
“Pep—can I call you Pep?”
“Yep.”
“Pep, we’re going to be best friends, you and me.” She cranks the music up louder and rolls the window down, letting the breeze whip our hair around our faces, filling the car with the sounds and smells of late summer.
I’m doing what I want to do. Cooking, baking, making friends, and it’s freeing. Once I get my dirty little secret aired out, I’ll actually be able to enjoy it.
14 Pepper
Between the coursework and the actual cooking classes, my days are busy. Before I know it, a week has gone by.
We jumped right into ingredients and the multiple ways they could be used, and it’s almost intimidating, trying to remember it all. I’d thought I learned a lot from my grandma, but those cooking “classes” have nothing on actual culinary school.
We have Fridays off, and Andi is at my apartment, hoping for a Ben sighting since he didn’t come home when she was here on Monday.
“You could help, you know,” I tell her, narrowing my eyes at where she’s sitting on the couch, Danger draped across her lap.
He’s such a lap whore. Anyone will do.
“Not my parents,” she says, rubbing lazy circles through his fur as she grins at me.
I’ve been cleaning all day since my parents are coming to visit this weekend, and every minute that passes, I grow more anxious, a ball of nerves gathering in the pit of my stomach. Now that my schedule is so hectic, I’ve only seen Ben a little over the week. We haven’t really had a chance to hang out or talk since I started culinary school. I do know he’s going to be home tonight, so I’m hoping for a chance to brief him on my parents’ visit.
“When is Handsome McHunk getting home?” Andi asks from her perch on the couch.
I glance up, swiping the back of my hand against my forehead, and scowl at Andi’s teasing tone. I hear a key in the door and look at Andi from the kitchen.
“Now.” I grin.
Her eyes go wide. “Oh God. I’m not ready. What if you’re blind and he’s hideous, and then I have to tell you that you aren’t a good judge of hotness?”
I scrunch my face up at her.
“I’m not prepared to be the bearer of bad news just yet.” She sits up straighter, and Danger lifts his head, glaring at her for moving.
I just laugh as the door swings open, and Ben’s deep voice rings out.
“Pep, truth or dare?” he says suddenly.
I flush, thinking of the last time we played this game at the pond. The door is between Andi and Ben, so he hasn’t seen her yet, but he has a clear view of me standing in my cleaning clothes, hair flying around my head and a coating of dust on my skin.
“Truth,” I say, smiling. “I don’t think I can handle another dare right now.”
He does a quick scan of my body before meeting my eyes again.
Is he thinking about the pond?
“Is it true that your parents are coming this weekend and you haven’t told me?” He crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow.
“Shut the door, Ben. You’re letting bugs in.” I sidestep around the question.
He hooks it with his foot, still facing me, and I see Andi’s eyes scrutinizing him from the couch on the other side of the room. He strides around me to the kitchen, where he hunches over the open fridge door before looking back up at me.
“Well?” he asks, pulling the container of lemonade out and grabbing a glass.
“How did you find out?”
“Talked to Mason briefly.” He stands at the counter and starts to pour his drink before freezing. “Pep, don’t look now, but there’s someone in our apartment,” he mutters out the side of his mouth.
I swat his arm and laugh. “Ben, meet Andi, my only friend here. We’re in culinary school together.”
“Andi,” he says, giving her that bro nod that guys do.
She shoots me two thumbs-up when he takes a drink of his lemonade, and I mouth, Told you.
He drains his cup, and I sit there, mesmerized, watching him swallow, before Andi clears her throat. I jerk away as if he spontaneously combusted in front of me.
“You okay?” He raises an eyebrow at me as he sets his cup down.
“Yep, okay. So, my parents are coming this weekend, and we need to go over the game plan,” I tell him as I pick the vacuum cleaner back up.
“Why do you need a game plan?” Andi pipes up from the couch, clearly confused about what is going on.
“Pepper is a liar,” Ben says with a grin my way, and I huff.
First, that’s not the only way I can be described. Second, it should be a crime to look at me and smile like that, making my girl parts tingle.
“Shut up, Ben,” I scoff, trying to stop my body from an impending lady boner.
“A pretty little liar,” he says.
I sharply look at him and then dart my eyes to Andi.
“Isn’t that the TV show?” he says and then coughs.
“Yep.” I gather my thoughts. “Okay, so Mom and Dad will be here tomorrow afternoon, and I’m going to the airport to pick them up about three-ish. I’ll probably bring them back here. I’m thinking about cooking dinner for them.”
“Have you told them about me?” Ben asks.
I tilt my head. “What about you?”
“That I’m your roommate,” he says, giving me an incredulous
