“Tell me why we’re doing this again?” John asked me with an amused expression on his face.
I smiled and skipped through the aisle’s of Wal-Mart. “Because I’ve never made cupcakes before, and we’ve only got two days left with each other before you go off on tour and meet some other pretty girl and ditch me,” I joked.
He stopped pushing the cart and pulled me towards him. “Hey, I’ve waited for you since the 6th grade. I can wait a little longer,” he kissed me on the tip of my nose and I smiled.
“God, you’re such a sweet-talker,”
“I know,” he winked. I laughed and began skipping again.
Stopping in front of the cupcake mixes, I put a finger on my chin, trying to decide which cupcakes I wanted to make.
“What’s taking so long?” John whined and I frowned at him.
“I can’t decide which ones to make!”
“Just grab both boxes then, kitten,” he laughed. I grabbed both.
“If we do that, we have to get both icing flavors then, too.”
“Why?”
“Because we can’t have chocolate icing on a chocolate cupcake! It’s gotta even out! Have you never had cupcakes like that?” I asked him with an incredulous look.
“…no?”
“You don’t want to. They’re way too sweet.” I shivered thinking back to Thanksgiving when I was 14 and how I ended up puking all of the chocolate cupcakes I’d eaten.
He laughed and shook his head at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and grabbed the sprinkles I wanted and took off without warning.
“Daisy!” he screamed after me and I laughed at his shocked expression. Just as he turned around the corner, I ducked into the furniture section and pretended to be a statue. When he passed by without looking in my direction, I hid in a gazebo, giggling quietly to myself at my ingenious idea of a hideout, when a shadow loomed over my head.
I looked up slowly to see John’s face directly over mine and I squealed, bumping my forehead into his.
“Ouch!” we both exclaimed at the same time and laughed. He leaned down and kissed me upside-down, Spiderman style.
I pulled away from him with a sudden thought. “Don’t tell Alyssa we’re making cupcakes.” He laughed at me and took my hand, pulling me up from my crouched position.
“We need to get French fries too.”
“Man, you are worse than a pregnant woman!”
I gasped. “Holy fuck.”
“What?”
“I think I know why Alyssa’s been all moody lately.” My mind reeled at the thought that Alyssa could possibly be pregnant! Could Halvo really even get a girl prego?
—
How could she be pregnant and not tell me? That’s preposterous! I sighed in frustration and shook the thought out of my head.
“We should stop by Blockbuster and have a movie marathon,” John said, looking at me out of the corner of my eye. He knew me well enough to know that I didn’t want to talk about what was on my mind. “We can rent your favorites,”
“You hate chick flicks,” I rolled my eyes.
“So? You like them. And I like you. So I’ll watch them with you,” he shrugged and I turned to mush.
“Why are you so cute?”
He laughed and didn’t respond. When we got to Blockbuster, I decided to spare John from having to watch too many chick flicks.
We rented Wanted, Finding Nemo, Grease, and Moulin Rouge! I minimized it to only two chick flicks. My phone buzzed while we were buying popcorn. It was Alyssa.
“Where r u?”
“@blockbuster w/ boyfran. We need 2 talk.” I texted back.
“..?”
“talk to u when I get home.”
—
John and I walked into my apartment, not expecting to see Alyssa sitting at my counter, eating the brownies I’d bought a few days ago.
“Alyssa! What are you doing here? And are those my brownies?” I gaped at her.
“…you said you wanted to talk. And no…” she replied innocently.
I huffed and put the groceries we’d just bought on the counter. I walked over to Alyssa and pulled her into my bathroom, locking the door.
“Man-handled, much?” she asked rhetorically.
“Are you pregnant?” I asked her straightforward.
“What?” she looked shocked.
“Are you pregnant? Is your eggo prego? Do you have a bun in the oven? Are you pregnant?”
“What?” she repeated. “No! Eric and I used a condom!”
“Everytime?” I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.
She looked away and hesitated. “Yeah. Everytime.” She looked back up at me again. I wasn’t convinced, but I let her go anyways. Before Alyssa walked out, I put a hand on her shoulder again.
“Hey, if you are, I’ll support you with any decision you choose to make, alright?”
She nodded with a thankful expression and walked out.
I walked her to the door when all of a sudden, she turned around and hugged me. “Thanks, Zee.” I smiled. “…is that cupcake mix?”
“Nope. Time for you to go.” I quickly pushed her out of my apartment, despite her protests. I could heard John laughing in the background.
“What was that all about?”
“She keeps eating all of my food!”
He laughed. “I didn’t mean that. I meant the whole secretive talk.” He snaked his arms around my waist and I hugged him tight.
“Something Halvo should be worrying about more than I am,”
He didn’t say anything in return.
“C’mon, let’s just go watch Grease.”
“Why are we starting out with a chick flick?” he whined.
“Hey, you let me pick out the movies!” I poked his ribs, the only spot he was ticklish in and glared. I was the only one who knew that he was ticklish by his ribs. Unfortunately for me, everyone knew that I was ticklish everywhere.
I took off around the apartment but with his stupid long legs, he caught up with me before I could even get past the kitchen and pinned me down, tickling the crap out of me.
“Alri-ight. S-stop, hahahah, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” I giggled and he stopped, laughing at my breathless state. “Jerk.”
“You started it, babe.” He was being so cheeky today.
I kicked his foot and he kicked back. We had an epic foot battle for about 5 minutes until I stubbed my toe. “At this rate, we won’t get any movie watching done, and you’re going to leave for tour with a bunch of bruises from me.” I giggled, and he laughed at me, pulling me up, only to plop me down on the couch. Instead of letting me get up, he sat on me.
“John!”
“Hmm…I think I hear something…” he joked. He weighed about 50 pounds, so it didn’t hurt.
“Ahh, get off, you jerk!” I said and punched his ribs.
“Ouch, what a hostile couch.”
I pouted.
“Awh, kitten, don’t be mad,” he wrapped his arms around my shoulder and pulled me into his lap. I pouted even harder. “I’ll start tickling again if you don’t crack a smile.”
“…you. Wouldn’t. Dare.” I punctuated each word with a pause. He grinned and started wiggling his fingers and I squealed. “Alright, you win, don’t tickle me!”
He laughed and got up to put the DVD in, poking me anyways. I kicked his butt and sat back on the couch, waiting for my pillow to come back.
I sang along to all of the songs and laughed at him when I caught his head bobbing.
To counter the dose of chick flick, he popped in Wanted afterwards.
“James McAvoy is such a babe…” I giggled.
“Hey!” he said, indignantly.
“Don’t worry. If it was between you and him, I’d pick you, forever.” I said and kissed his cheek. He smiled and kissed my forehead.
We covered each other’s eyes when Angelina’s ass came on screen.
“My eyes! My innocent, virgin eyes!” John exclaimed and I cracked up. What made it funnier was that it was actually true.
When the movie was over, I immediately popped in Finding Nemo.
“I have a confession,” he whispered as I wiped away two tears from the sad beginning.
“What?” I whispered back.
“I love this movie. A lot.”
I giggled and snuggled into his side.
—
The movie ended and I jumped up. “Foooooooooooooood,” I wailed.
John pulled out the bag of French fries and the box of mashed potatoes, beginning to make them. It was also a known fact that I couldn’t cook to save my life.
“Is this really all we’re having for dinner tonight?” John asked, the amused expression returning to his face.
“Si, senor.” I replied with a Mexican accent.
—
Right after we finished eating, I cleared the plates and grabbed what we needed for the cupcakes.
“You want to make them now?”
“Well…yeah.” I said. He just laughed and rolled his eyes at me.
I started to pour both boxes into the same bowl when he stopped me. “You don’t even know how to bake.”
“…but you do.” I smiled at him excitedly.
He rolled his eyes again and stood behind me at the counter, throwing in the ingredients. He placed his hands on mine and helped me mix the mixes together. It suddenly hit me how much I’d miss him, even if this tour was only about a month long.
“Hey, kitten, what’s wrong?” John stopped stirring and hugged me from behind.
“I’m gonna miss you so much,” I whispered. He kissed the side of my temple.
“I’m going to miss you too, kitten.” We just stood there for a while before I decided that the silence was killing me.
“I’m going to put on some cheerful music, now that I want to stab myself in the chest,” I said dully, and John laughed.
I clicked my iTunes on and immediately scrolled to Body Language by Jesse McCartney featuring T-Pain.
I could hear John cracking up from my bedroom as I carried my laptop out.
“SHUT UP, I LOVE JMAC.”
He laughed even harder.
“I DON’T SPEAK SPANISH, JAPENESE OR FRENCH, BUT THE WAY THAT BODY’S MOVIN’ DEFINITELY MAKES SENSE!”
“Daisy, it’s “talking” not “moving.” John corrected me.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “Whatever. I DO WHAT I WANT.”
He laughed. “Okay, the mix is done. Help me pour the mix into the brownie foils,”
“Yusssss.” I said, skipping towards him. “2/3 of the cup, right?”
He nodded. I began scooping the mix into the cups. When I got to the fourth one, John laughed. “Your cupcakes are going to look pregnant.”
“You’re…going to look…pregnant.” I wittily replied.
“Smooth.” he laughed.
It started getting boring, just scooping the mix in and I was eager to watch Moulin Rouge! so I started scooping faster, and I got a few drops on my hand. I licked my fingers and instantly recoiled. “Ew. It tastes disgusting. Does that mean the cupcakes will taste disgusting?”
“No, they’ll taste different after they’re done baking.” he replied, watching me lick the rest of it off of my fingers, recoiling at the taste. “Why do you keep licking at it if it tastes bad?”
“I want it off my fingers and I’m too lazy to wash it off right now.”
John laughed and stared at me for a moment.
“What, do I have something on my face?” I asked, immediately reaching up to check.
“No,” he smiled, placing a hand on my cheek. “you’re perfect.” I blushed as he leaned down to place a short kiss on my lips.
“And you’re so cheesy.” I laughed. “I love it.”
“I love you,” he nudged my nose.
“And I love you,” I smiled. “Why are you being so cutesy and mushy gushy today?”
He shrugged. “No particular reason.” He said it so nonchalantly that I didn’t believe him.
“You’re planning something, I can feel it.” I poked him and he grinned mischievously. I gasped. “You are! Tell me.”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he winked and I poked his face was a dot of chocolate cupcake mix.
He laughed and licked my face for some reason. “EW! JOHN GERMS. GTFO.” I screamed.
“…did you really say ‘GTFO’?”
“…yeah. Too much Tumblr…” I said. He shook his head at me.
“C’mon, let’s get these in the oven so you can finally watch your favorite movie.” He put the cupcakes in the oven and started the timer.
“How did you know that Moulin Rouge! is my favorite movie?” I asked him, shocked.
“You told me in the eighth grade, duh.” he replied, like it was an obvious fact.
“You still remember that?” I asked, still stunned that his memory was that good.
“Of course, I remember everything you’ve ever told me. I remember that your MySpace password was 35-111 for the longest time because you were so obsessed with Supernatural. I remember that in the sixth grade, you puked because you rode the pharaoh ride at the Halloween fair five times in a row. I remember that you used to think you were fat because your mom would remind you every week, but I thought you were beautiful. I remember that one year, you went through eight iPod headphones, because you can’t keep anything perfect. I remember that when you first met Halvo, you hated him because you thought he was stealing me away from you. I remember that you keep everything people give you because you’re a freaking packrat. I remember that you used to collect all of the tabs on sodas. I remember that you actually like orange juice with lots of pulp, unlike a lot of people. And I remember when you used to love Taylor Lautner more than you loved me.” he finished, and I stood in complete shock. These were the tiny little details that no one ever remembered about me, and yet, he remembered every one.
I closed the distance between us and violently crashed my lips into his.
He pulled apart from me, laughing, after a bit. “What was that for?”
“You have…a very good memory.” I said, breathless.
“No, I was just in love.” he replied, and I melted into mush. He laughed and carried me bridal-style to the couch, putting in my favorite movie. He sat down and I immediately snuggled into him. “I’m like a magnet.” I laughed. “You have such a squeaky laugh.”
“I know,” I frowned. “it’s so obnoxious.”
“I love it,” he said, and I smiled, kissing his cheek.
“You love me.”
“I do,”
I smiled. He didn’t make fun of me for knowing almost every word to the movie, and he didn’t laugh at me because I knew every word to the songs. “How did I end up with someone so perfect?” I asked him out loud.
“You’re so unhinged,” he laughed. “I’m nowhere near as perfect as you.”
“You’re funny. No. I’m so not perfect. And we are not having this cliché argument right now,” I giggled and he poked my side.
30 minutes into the movie, the timer beeped and we both got up to take the cupcakes out.
“It smells so good,” I said.
“It does.”
“Okay, so you decorate the vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing and I’ll decorate the chocolate with vanilla and we’ll sprinkle all of them with Christmas sprinkles.”
“Yes ma’am,” he smiled. I pressed play to the movie and we watched it while decorating. “Oh, hey, I almost forgot. Which date of the tour do you want to come visit on?”
“Oh, Max is letting me fly in for you guys?” I asked.
“Yeah, you and Alyssa.”
“Okay, where’s the last date?”
“New York. We’re playing two headlining shows there, so that’s actually a good idea. I’ll tell Max.” John pulled out his phone and texted Max really quickly and resumed decorating the cupcakes.
When we were finished, I suddenly felt really tired. “I don’t think I want cupcakes anymore.”
John laughed. “Okay, we’ll just wrap all of them up and then you can have them tomorrow.”
“You don’t want any?”
“I’m not a huge fan of cupcakes.” he shrugged.
“Then why’d you make them with me?”
“Because you wanted to.” he laughed. “Why is that a big deal?”
“It’s not, it’s just cute,” I smiled. “Let’s go finish the movie.” I held out my hand for him and he lead me to the couch. We watched the rest of the movie in silence and I could feel myself falling asleep right after the happy ending. I hated watching it all the way to the end because I cry every single time. I felt John kiss my forehead and fell asleep with a smile on my face.
The next thing I knew, John was carrying me into my room, lying down next to me, and kissing me on the forehead again. I didn’t think it was possible to be as happy as I currently was, but even in unconsciousness, I knew that John had made me happier than I had ever been.

Chapter by: Nickie.