My Hometown Love

Chapter 16 – Cake and Champagne

Lexie’s P.O.V

Kevin had just approached me with this serious look on his face and said he had something to tell me. I felt like my heart was in my hands. I didn’t know what to expect as my ever overthinking mind started coming up with all these positive and negative reasons that he had to talk to me about. 

I started breathing heavily as I prepared myself for what was going to come next.

“You see Lex-”, Kevin said.

Kevin had just started saying something, only to be cut short by my phone vibrating in my purse before starting to ring.

RING! RING! RING!

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or frustrated that the moment of tension between us had been disrupted. I fumbled around in my purse to find my phone, grabbed it, and put it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Ms. Cooper. This is Lily from the catering company. We have arrived at the venue. Shall we start setting up or shall we wait for you to arrive?”

“Oh, Lydia. Sorry. Please go ahead and start. I’ll be right there in 10 minutes."

“Ok will do Ms. Cooper. See you then."

I placed the phone back in my purse and looked up to Kevin, who was taken a few steps back. He had his back turned towards me as he kicked around the pile of dried leaves, clearly mumbling something to himself.

“Hey, Kevin?”, I said to get his attention.

“Everything okay?”, he said as he walked back to me.

“Yeah. That was the caterer. We’re needed back home.”, I replied professionally.

“Alright then. Shall we?”, Kevin replied as he pulled out his car keys from his pants pocket.

“Wait! Wasn’t there something you wanted to say?”, I said as we started walking back to the car, curious about what he was about to say.

“Oh, that? It was nothing. Not important. Don’t worry about it.”, he replied casually as if nothing had happened, as he started the car and drove towards home.

*************

Kevin’s P.O.V

It was an eerie silent drive back. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so in my mind. I can’t believe I chickened out from telling Lexie how I felt about her. I had all this courage and determination built up within me, ready to let all my feelings out. And then that caterer had to call and ruin my moment.

As she attended the call, I backed away from her, furiously kicking the neatly arranged pile of dried leaves in the corner of the garden. I regrettably started scolding myself and cursing myself for not manning up and telling her as the built-up courage in me slowly diminished.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!”, I said to myself as I kicked every innocent dried brown leaf my eyes fell upon.

By the time she was done with the call, I just didn’t know how to spill it all out. So I took the coward way out and brushed off the matter. And now here we are.

A short drive later, we were at her house as Lexie busied herself in getting everything ready for the reception. What was I doing? Well besides looking at Lexie and daydreaming, I was greeting all the guests as they arrived while Sam and Mindy ushered them to their seats.

Before you know it, all the guests had arrived and were seated at their respective seats around the Coopers’ backyard. I took my place beside Lexie in front of all the guests as we welcomed the newlyweds to the reception.

“Ladies and gentlemen, friends, and family. Welcome to the wedding reception of Jake and Maria Cooper.”, Lexie started saying into a cordless microphone with an empowering vibe.

“We thank you for taking the time to join us to celebrate their union this evening. Now, please put your hands together as we welcome the bride and groom…”, I said cheerfully as I addressed the whole crowd.

“Mr & Mrs. Jacob and Maria Cooper!”, Lexie and I said simultaneously as the crowd stood up clapping.

Jake and Maria stormed out from the kitchen door, doing a few dance steps in the middle before taking their seats at the main table. Sam, Mindy, Lexie, and I soon followed, taking our seats beside the bride and groom as the caterers began serving our courses.

*************

Lexie’s P.O.V.

I have to admit the caterers did an amazing job. The food was simple yet exquisite. Soon after, everyone was done with their courses and it was time for cake.

Mom and Dad came out of the kitchen wheeling the majestic cake to the yard in front of the crowd. I was impressed that Jakey and Maria noticed their face on the dolls quite instantly. We watched as they cut the cake and followed by popping open a bottle of champagne for the toast.

Mom, Dad, and Ms. Mendez had all made emotional speeches making everyone go “Awwwww” quite frequently. As I took the microphone and held my champagne flute in my hand, I closed my eyes for a second composing myself.

“Jakey, you have been an amazing big brother to me. You’re always there for me and support me no matter what. I have seen every side of you, but I never saw your romantic goofy side of you, until you met Maria. I still can’t believe my big brother is now someone’s husband. But I am confident that you will be the best husband that you can be. Maria, welcome to the family sister. Thanks for making my brother the happiest man in the world. He’s your problem now! Love you both! Cheers!”, I said as I choke back on my tears before raising my glass in a toast.

Jake and Maria rushed over to sandwich squeeze me as the crowd laughed and clapped. The microphone then got passed to the last speechmaker, Kevin. As he stood up with his flute in hand, I saw a part of Kevin I had never seen before. He looked sentimental, emotional, proud, and happy all at once. The crowd went silent as Kevin cleared his throat, preparing to begin.

“Jake, my bro! Congratulation on getting hitched. I am so happy for both of you. I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for Jake and I am eternally grateful. You and Maria have shown me what true love is and that it is worth fighting for…”, Kevin said as his eyes trailed towards me as he ended his sentence.

I felt my cheeks burn with a blush which I try to hide by secretly fanning myself with my hands.

“I haven’t seen Jake this happy since he started dating Maria back in high school and he’s been a changed man ever since, for the better obviously. So, all the best in enduring him Maria, and have a happy married life you two. Cheers!”, Kevin said ending his speech by raising his glass towards Jakey and Maria.

I watched proudly as Jakey got up and gave Kevin a huge hug. Kevin’s speech had me thinking of everything that he had grown through to be the man that he is today. I was left with my thoughts as the dance floor opened and newlyweds took their first dance to ‘When You Say Nothing At All by Ronan Keating’. I sat with my hand support my chin watching as they smoothly glide across the grass, happily cuddled in each other’s arms.

“Cake?”, I heard Kevin ask me.

*************

Kevin’s P.O.V

After the surprising and momentous speech that I made, I was in desperate need of cake to make me forget how I talked about love and how I looked directly at Lexie when I said that.

I cut myself a slice and cut another for Lexie, probably as a peace offering, hoping that she isn’t mad at me or something. I make my way through the crowd and find Lexie sitting in a lonely corner, watching the dancing newlyweds in awe. I approached her and offered her a slice.

“Thought you might like a slice of heaven?”, I asked as I offered her a plate.

“That’s sweet. Thanks. I haven’t tasted it yet.”, she said as she accepted the plate.

“Wait! Did you realize you have a very obvious smudge of white cake on your navy blue tie?”, Lexie suddenly said as she points at my tie.

I look down at the embarrassing smudge right in the middle of my tie, wondering how on earth did I get cake on it. I start thinking of how I’m going to clean it with a plate of cake and a fork in my hands.

“Here, hold this.”, Lexie says as she pushes her plate into my hand and starts digging in her purse.

She pulls out a tissue and starts dabbing at my tie, gently and delicately wiping off every last evidence of my clumsiness from it. I prayed hard that she doesn’t feel my rapidly beating heart in my chest through my suit because I am in absolute shock that Lexie freaking Cooper is doing this. I know it doesn’t seem like much but I find it very romantic. I hope it shows that we are getting closer and that she is not just doing this so that I don’t look like a clumsy fool.

She was standing so close to me that I felt like just putting my arms around her and holding her close to my heart with no intention of letting go. I look at both of my hands carrying the plates of cakes and say a silent ‘thank you’ to them, because one, if I didn’t have them, I wouldn’t be happily in this situation and two, if I didn’t have them in my hands right now, I might have hugged her right here, right now, in front of everybody.

“There, all done.”, she says as she takes a step back, admiring her handiwork.

“Thank you for that. Here’s your reward.”, I say as I hand her back her plate.

We sit in silence as we savor every bite of the heavenly cake.

“Oh my god. I want to marry this cake!”, Lexie says as lifts her fork to her mouth.

“How sweet. But unfortunately, I’m already married to it. Better luck next time.”, I say as I put my fork down.

Lexie starts giggling while chewing the cake which sends her into a series of coughs, to clear her throat.

“Whoa. Relax. There there. Feel better?”, I say as I gently pat her back to help her.

She turns to look at me in gratitude and I spot a little dabble of cream frosting on her cheek.

I don’t know what came over me and made me reach out to gently wipe off the frosting with my thumb as I almost cup her cheek. 

Only after doing so, the alarms go blaring in my head, alerting me of what I had just done. I quickly show her the frosting on my thumb so that she knows the reason I did what I just did. I can’t wait till I can cup her cheek and rest my forehead on hers without worrying about what she is going to think or if she is going to be mad.

*************

Lexie’s P.O.V.

I don’t know what has gotten over me tonight. I can’t believe I stood so close to Kevin as I helped wipe off the cake from his tie. As I was wiping, I felt his heart pounding so fast that I fear it was going to come out as it does in the cartoons. I bit my lip to control my smile as I continued wiping.

And then, Kevin touched my cheek! Well, honestly I was surprised as to why he was touching it. But I found myself melting into his warm touch only to be deprived of it a second later as he pulled away from his hand and showed a dab of frosting on this thumb.

It was then I realized why he touched my cheek. I felt like hitting my head in embarrassment but I didn’t want it to be obvious to him. So I bit my tongue and continued to carefully eat my cake.

Sam’s voice echoed through the yard as he opened up the dance floor for everyone to join.

“May I have this dance, milady?”, Kevin said as he did a small bow and extended his hand.

“It would be my pleasure.”, I replied, as I did a small curtsy and slipped my hand into his palm.

Despite personally not liking to dance in public, how can I refuse to when he asks so sweetly. And before you know it, we’re on the dance floor doing a slow dance to “Lucky by Jason Mraz”. As much as I was liking it, I was worried about where would these feelings lead, or if he even wanted to take things further. My mind started racing as minds of over thinkers do, but everything seems to fade away the minute Kevin stared into my eyes. I felt like we were the only 2 people in the world as he spun me around and pulled me back to him. A small part of me wondered if this was what I missed out on at my graduation dance.

The song eventually ended, sending us back to reality as people slowly started to disperse.

Jakey and Maria made their way towards us, beaming away.

“Great party guys! Thanks for everything.”, Maria said as Jake put his arm around her waist.

“By the way, before we leave for our honeymoon. I have a surprise for you.”, Jake says to Kevin, much to his surprise.

“Surprise? For me? Why?”, Kevin asks.

“For being a great friend of course. I know you will love your surprise. You have met her before.”, Jake says as he playfully punches Kevin’s arm.

“Her?”, I blurt out accidentally as I realize that I just said that out loud and not just in my head.

Jake eyes me suspiciously before shaking it off and shifting his focus back to Kevin.

“Yeah, it’s a her. It’s Betty.”, Jake says as he winks at Kevin.

“Wait, you’re kidding! That Betty?!”, Kevin replied enthusiastically, leaving me speechless.

Once again, I silently curse myself, slapping my forehead at the thought of the existence of another woman I failed to consider before letting my feelings for Kevin grow within me.

“Not again! Now, who the hell is this Betty?!”