Elsyian: peaceful and perfect

Someone was stroking my cheek gently, so gently that all I could feel was a whisper of fingertips on my cheek.

I sighed and snuggled closer to the touch almost unconsciously.

I heard a soft laugh somewhere at a distance.

“Iris, sweetheart. You need to wake up,”

I frowned.

I didn’t want to wake up, I was too comfortable.

The gentle hand was suddenly withdrawn and I scowled at the lack of warmth.

I peeked an eye open to glare at the culprit. Green eyes stared back at me, his eyes lit up with amusement.

Shit.

I fell asleep.

I sat up straight and rubbed my face,“ I’m so sorry.”

“Have you been sleeping well?”

No.

“Yeah, kind of.”

He raised a brow silently letting me know that he knew but didn’t comment on it for which I was grateful.

I looked around to see that we were in front of his house.

“I thought we were going back to the dorm?”

“I thought we could watch a movie and eat dinner? Only if you want to. There’s absolutely no pressure, okay? I-”

“Okay.”

“What?”

“Let’s have dinner but this time we’ll cook together and moreover, I miss Groot.”

“Ofcourse,” he mumbled and said something in Spanish.

He quickly go out of his car and walked towards mine and glared at me when I was about to open my door.

Fine then.

I waited till he opened  it again and muttered a small thank you as I got out.

As soon as we opened the door to the house there was a familiar sound of small paws hitting the wood.

Zephyr-that traitor- moved out of the way as the fluffy ball of black and brown whizzed past him and slammed into me.

I laughed and picked him up, hugging the puppy to my chest.

Zephyr huffed.

“Did you miss me?” I cooed and snorted as groot tried to lick my face. He gave a tiny little woof as if agreeing with me.

Aw.

I heard a scoff.

“Well, come on then,” he said grumpily.

I smirked,“Aw, Groot show some love to your Dad too, he’s getting rather jealous,”  

“No, I’m not.” Zeph threw a glare over his shoulder.

“Whatever you say,” I shrugged,“Anyway what do you plan to make?”

I kept the bag containing the rest of the cake on the table.

Zephyr eyed it curiously and raised a brow,

I felt red creep up my neck,“Uh, it’s cake. I thought you could maybe like to have some more? That is if you like it ofcourse.”

He stared at me,“You bought me Santiago cake?”

“Yeah…..”

“Do you know that you’re my favorite person in the whole fucking world?” His voice was filled with what seemed like awe.

He doesn’t mean it.

He doesn’t.

He was still staring at me with stars in his eyes,“It’s just cake,Zeph.”

He shook his head and swallowed hard.

“Since you made dessert how about I make dinner?” He suggested

“Nope. You can eat the cake later. How about you make the food and I bake you a fresh dessert?”

Please say yes.

“I don’t want you on your feet again. You’ve been working at the cafe since morning,”

“It’s totally fi- how do you know when I work at the cake?” I asked suspiciously.

He froze for a second.

“Uh, today’s Sunday right so I assumed you worked full time,” he mumbled

Something tells me that he’s lying.

“Hmm, okay but it’s totally fine. I feel refreshed from my nap and I do feel like baking something.”

“Fine,” he mumbled hesitantly,“but you’ll tell me when you’re tired,okay?”

“Sure,”

He sighed unhappily and opened the fridge to take some tomatoes, basil leaves and god knows what all until the counter was full with stuff. He motioned towards the fridge,“You can take whatever you need, sweetheart.”

Okay then.

I searched the fridge and the cabinets and found some flour, milk, eggs and some sugar.

They also had pistachios.

I just have the best idea.

I quickly took my phone and pulled up the recipe just in case.

“What are you making?” I asked him as I saw him tying his apron,

“It’s a secret,” he grinned mischievously

I huffed.

Fine.

“What are you making?” He asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

“What makes you think that I’ll tell you?” I raised a brow.

“Because I’m charming as fuck?” He shot me one of his gorgeous I- am- beautiful- and- I -know- it smile.

“Is that so? Well, good luck with that darling.”

After two hours of countless pouts (which happened to look completely adorable) , dashing smiles and puppy eyes (He puts Groot to shame) and whines (I couldn’t decide if it was annoying or cute) I was almost done.  

The house was filled with smell of warm, delicious spices and the sweet aroma of baked goods.

“Damn, whatever you’re making it smells fucking amazing,” he sighed, staring longingly at the closed plate.

I smiled over my shoulder.

“Are you done?” I asked.

He nodded and was about to say something when he froze.

Several footsteps echoed through the hallway and Zephyr groaned loudly.

“Yeah and I told the chick that-” The boy stopped and stared at me and a second later three other boys stood in front of me, staring at me as if I were an alien.

I already knew all of them because of Willow and also because they were kind of popular.

I gazed first at Chase Arkwright, heir to the Arkwright empire and player extraordinaire. 
To his left stood Grey, rumor had it that the guy was almost alergic to girls and was practically a genius. And then came the twins, Alec and Alex Herrington, the trouble makers.

They set fire to the chemistry lab last year according to the seniors. At least that was what had been circulating but seeing how clumsy Zeph was, I wasn’t so sure anymore.

The only reason they didn’t get expelled was because they were rich and extremely talented med students.

“Melantha?” Chase said, his tone laced with disbelief.

I gave him a subtle nod of acknowledgment.

They stared at me and then at Zeph.

Grey was the first one to break out of trance, he cleared his throat and moved forward with a smile on his face,“ Hi, I’m Greyson Scott.”

I smiled politely,“I’m Melantha Mikael.”

“Oh, we know,” Alec snorted which earned him a slap to the back of his head from his twin.

Zephyr scowled,“Sweetheart, this is Chase, Alec and Alex and guys this is-”

“Melantha, we know,”

The guys had a smirk on their faces which was honestly a bit creepy.

Alex sniffed,“Is that food I smell?”

Zephyr sighed,“Sometimes I feel like  I’m babysitting four toddlers.”

“Don’t use Az’s line. We all know who the real toddler is,”

“Yeah, I recall someone crying his heart out over some cheesy movie last week,”

Zach huffed though his cheeks flamed,“Real men show feelings,”

Damn right they do.

“I’m just so hungry and it’s really cold outside.” Alex sighed.

Zephyr narrowed his eyes.

“I’m sure we have enough food,” I murmured lowly to Zeph so only he could hear.

“You sure?” He grumbled.

I nodded.

He sighed dramatically,“Fine, I guess you could join us for dinner”

Their faces brightened in an instant,“Thank you,Melantha.” Alex grinned. 

I smiled in return and we all sat down at the large table in the dining room.

Zephyr placed a large platter in front of us.  Alex excitedly opened it and I found myself looking at the warm, delicious looking tacos.

Birria tacos. My favorite

I raised my eyes to see that he was already looking at me with a knowing smile on his face.

“Fuck yeah!” Chase cheered as he grabbed one from the plate. The boys quickly started piling up the food onto their plates as if they haven’t seen food in a long, long time.

Zephyr sighed and handed me a plate of tacos and a glass of cranberry juice. Again my favorite.

Why did I feel that Will had something to do with this all?

I took a large bite and once again wondered how one could cook so well. Like seriously, he had some crazy talents.

Weren’t rich boys supposed to be whiny brats who didn’t even know how to make a damn coffee without his chef?

I guess not.

Zephyr sat next to me and I inhaled the woody, citrusy scent that followed him. He leaned into me, placing his face on his palm to stare at me with a smile.

Do. Not. Blush.

“Zach, man, don’t scare away Melantha with your creepy staring.”

That seemed to break him out of his reverie.

Zephyr threw him a glare.

“So, Melantha your is dad Elijah Mikael right? How is he? I’ve met him at a party hosted by my family last year.” Chase asked out of nowhere when Zephyr went to get a spoon from the kitchen.

I stiffened for a second before I plastered on a blank expression.

“Yes and he’s doing well, I suppose.”

Did he know? Did he connect the dots? Is he going to ask about it?

Thankfully he didn’t and I relaxed and enjoyed the rest of my tacos.

Fifteen minutes later we had polished the entire plate.

“Can I have my dessert now?” Zeph pleaded.

“Sure,” I smiled and got up.

I went into the kitchen and opened the fridge and grabbed the large, glass tin that held my cake and the jar that contained my syrup. I quickly grabbed the whipping bag that I had stored in the fridge and piped some fresh cream on it.

I turned to see Zephyr trying to look over my shoulder to get a look of it,

“Can you get some bowls?” I asked and he immediately nodded and went to grab them.

I took the tin and placed into on the dining table and cut into into large pieces and placed it on the bowls before pouring the sauce all over each slice.

Zephyr grabbed a bowl and looked at it, his face a mix of curiosity and amazement,“Is it like tres leches?”

“No, well it’s similar but this is actually pistachio milk cake.”

He nodded and took a large bite, sighing in pleasure.

“I’m never going to like regular desserts ever again,”

I smiled.

“Damn, this so good.” Alec said around a mouthful of the cake while the rest nodded in agreement.

After finishing the cake, I got up again with my bowl,“ Where are you going?” Zeph asked, now on his third slice.

“Uh, to wash it?”

“No, leave it in the sink, sweetheart,” he said sternly.

“But-”

“You baked us dessert and Zach cooked so it think the dish duty is rightfully ours now,” Alex said.

“Right- Chase, you dumb fuck! Don’t you dare take the last piece, you already ate four slices,” Grey scowled, holding the bowl to his chest.

“You ate three, Grey. Clearly the last piece belongs to me.” Alec grumbled.

I felt a tug on my wrist and looked down to see Zeph grinning up at me,“Want to watch a movie?”

“Sure,” I murmured.

He got up, still holding my hand and I followed him to his room, little Groot trailing behind us.

Just then the sound of thunder made me jump.

He quickly pulled me into the room and I looked up at his glass ceiling to see a flash of lightning, the sky a dark grey color.

A drop of rain fell on the window and Zephyr cursed behind me.

I turned around to find him looking at his phone with a frown.

“What is it?” I asked hurriedly.

“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry but there’s a storm coming up tonight,”

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A U T H O R ' S   N O T E :

hey guys! So my exams are finally over and I have officially graduated highschool. Ngl kinda happy that nightmare is over but I maybe just a little bit sad.

I'm free for for like a month so I'll try to post more frequently.

XxAelinAsh.