Chapter Fourteen
Mel
I showed up in a cropped tank top and mesh leggings. They were both black, but I didn't mind getting them a little dirty.
I thought about leaving my sunglasses at home, but they'd been saving me from embarrassment around her a lot lately, so I kept them on.
I was happy to see the bakery had some people in it this time. There was a girl working on a laptop, a couple of people talking quietly who kept sneaking glances at Cammie, and a few people reading.
"Oh!" Cammie exclaimed softly when she saw me. "You're early."
"We didn't pick a time," I reminded her. I knew the bakery didn't close for another hour, but I'd wanted to see her in her element, and I could've sworn Auntie Dorrie was trying to get rid of me the way she basically pushed me out the door.
"Oh, um, of course," she said, looking around. "I don't have anything for you to do yet, though."
"That's okay," I said quickly. "I can entertain myself," I nodded at a plush, comfy looking armchair. "I'll just sit over there. Don't mind me."
I took a seat and scrolled on my phone while occasionally looking up at her. I kept catching her sneaking glances over at me and couldn't help wondering what she was thinking. I could tell from how she was acting that whatever she was thinking about was making her nervous.
When closing time came around, I had to laugh at the previously quiet speakers turning up significantly to play the song "Closing Time".
A couple of her customers sang along quietly as they packed up. As they all left, they waved to her, and she smiled and waved back to each of them.
When the last person exited, she closed the front door and locked it behind them. When she turned back around, I asked, "Closing Time? Really?"
She shrugged, "I know it's cheesy but it's fun and the customers love it. But yeah, Justin used to hate it too," she said, grabbing the remote and turning it down.
All the teasing left me at seeing her spark of joy dim slightly and before I could consider the action, I jumped up on my chair and started singing along.
She just stared at me, so I jumped down, went over to her, took the remote from her, turned it back up and then, using the remote as a fake microphone, started singing to her.
It only took a few more words for her to grab a broom from behind the counter as her mic and start singing with me.
I was really getting into it now, pushing my sunglasses up off my face to the top of my head, letting her see my eyes and how much I was enjoying this.
I wasn't just humoring her, but seeing the joy on her face was more than enough reward for potentially making myself look like a fool.
When the song was coming to an end, I pulled her to me, spun her around and dipped her down low.
I held her there a moment before it occurred to me how close my lips were to hers.
How if I lowered my head a little more or lifted her up a little higher, I could brush my lips to hers.
Half a second before I pulled her back up, I could've sworn her eyes almost fluttered closed like she wanted me to.
I put her back upright and grinned at her, saying, "you're right, that was a blast."
She laughed. "It's not usually quite that fun, but it's a nice tradition."
"Definitely. It's little things like that that will keep people coming back in."
"You think people want to dance with me?" she asked with a laugh.
I was sure they did if the looks some of her other customers had been giving her were any indication, but that wasn't what I was talking about, and I certainly didn't want to think about that.
Just because I knew I shouldn't make a move on Cammie didn't mean I wanted to think about her with someone else.
"I meant that we have to make sure you're showcasing what makes your bakery different from any other bakery."
"Like Deja Brew next door?"
"Exactly! I'm guessing people come to both, but if I had to guess, it seems like the town has a lot more coffee drinkers than tea drinkers. So your pastries and the atmosphere of the place are what are really going to win people over and keep them coming back."
"That's what I've been trying to do. The teas are definitely uniquely me. We have different weekly specials usually inspired in one way or another by my family, like this week's Matcha Latte for Matcha himself."
"Matcha?" I asked.
She nodded slowly. "Yes, Matcha... Mattie... Matt," she paused for a long moment before her eyes widened. "Crap. Did he not tell you what Mattie was short for?"
"You're kidding? It's not short for Matthew?"
She shook her head with her hand covering her mouth and said, "he's gonna kill me."
"You're serious?" I asked again. "Mattie's actual name is Matcha?"
When she didn't correct me, I started laughing. "I love your parents, but damn, that's wild."
She laughed a little at that. "I always joke that I don't know if they loved us or tea more. So, when I opened the bakery, I knew it had to be a tea and honey sort of place."
"Why honey?" I asked.
"For Dorrie. She and her bees are legendary around here, and it made obvious sense to take advantage of the town's love of honey and of how perfectly honey ties in with tea."
"No wonder you're her favorite," I said with a laugh.
She chuckled, saying, "Hey, if you stick around, you'd be back in your rightful place in no time."
"I'm alright with sharing the spotlight if it's with you," I said, enjoying the way her cheeks flushed and used her distraction to slide in the question I was now wondering. "So, what's your name?"
"Huh?" she asked.
"If Mattie's short for Matcha, what's Cammie short for?"
She groaned, gesturing to the menu, saying, "Take a guess."
I looked at the board, scanning through different tea names. Earl Grey, nope. Chai, definitely not. Oolong, not a chance. Chamomile, no... wait, maybe?
"Chamomile?"
She nodded, saying, "yup" with an extra pop on the 'p'.
"No..." I said, shaking my head. "There's no way."
"Yup, my parents named their kids Matcha and Chamomile."
"How is it possible he never told me that?" I mused out loud. I was going to give him so much shit for that.
"Probably because he figured you, and anyone else who knew, would give him shit for it."
I laughed at that. "Fair enough. Guess he does know me pretty well."
"Don't be too hard on him."
"Anything for you, Chamomile."
She groaned, "Come on, don't start."
"Okayyy, fine, so what are we working on tonight anyway?"
She looked around towards the counter and the back room, saying, "I really have to get started on prepping dough if you think that's something you can handle."
"Handle? Please, of course, I can. I'm good with my hands. Just show me what to do."
She fumbled the broom she'd just picked back up, and I had to force myself not to laugh. I was having a little fun with her, but that's all this was, all this could be.
As she showed me how to combine the ingredients, I caught myself watching her muscles flex as she whisked. I tried to copy her movements, but from her giggling and the amount of flour on my shirt, I wasn't a natural.
"Actually, it's-" she started and stopped when I was attacked by more flour while trying to combine it with the other ingredients.
"It must be faulty," I grumbled.
She started laughing at that.
I looked down at myself and had to agree with her. There was at least as much flour on me as had actually made it into the bowl.
"What's so funny?" I asked with a smirk as I swiped my finger through some of the flour on the counter.
"It's- not funny," she wheezed through her laughter when she looked over at me again.
"Oh yeah?" I asked, stepping closer to her. She backed into the counter behind her with a small 'oof', but I didn't move back.
I raised my hand toward her face and brought my finger with the flour to her nose, dusting the tip before trailing my finger and the flour down to her chin and tilting her eyes up to meet mine.
"Funny now?" I asked.
She tilted her head a moment and wait, was she leaning towards me?
I couldn't bring myself to pull away, and suddenly her lips were on mine.
Her lips tasted sweet like honey, and this was so wrong, but suddenly my tongue was in her mouth.
Then my hands were on her hips as I lifted her up onto the counter.
She wrapped her legs around my hips and tangled her fingers in my hair.
I dug my hands into her hips, pulling her closer to me, and moved my hands up to her hair and tugged on her ponytail.
She moaned into my mouth. I couldn't believe this was happening, but I knew whatever this was, everything had changed.
There was no way I was going to be able to push thoughts of her out of my head now that I knew what she tasted like and heard the little moans I could pull from her lips.
I tugged her ponytail again and was greeted with another moan. I moved my lips from hers and was rewarded with a displeased whine, until I started kissing my way from her lips, to her ear, down to her neck.
I was kissing her neck when I heard her breathily ask, "What are we doing?"
It felt like someone dumped a bucket of ice water over me, the way the realization hit that I'd gone too far. I quickly pulled my lips away from her and said, “I’m so sorry.”
"No, no, it's...okay," she said slowly. "Just weird."
Of course it was weird. I was her older brother's best friend, and I was supposed to be here helping her, and now I'd made things weird. Well, not just me, she'd started it, but still. I should've been older and wiser and absolutely should not have thrown her ass on the counter.
I tried to pull away from her, but she still had her legs wrapped around me. She quickly released me when she realized I was trying to move away.
"I should go," I said quickly, needing to escape before I did or said anything that would make this worse. I looked around at the mess I'd made and paused, offering, "Unless you need help?"
I felt like a piece of shit for hoping she'd take the hint and say no. I'd come over to help her out, and I was apparently worse than useless since I'd made a mess of her counter and of the situation.
"No, no, that's okay, you don't have to stay," she said, hopping off the counter. She started dusting herself off, and I looked away as quickly as I could so I wouldn't stay standing there watching her rub her hands on her body.
I turned and practically bolted to the door, throwing a "see you later" over my shoulder.