Chapter 31 – Cookies
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The atmosphere at the kitchen table the next morning was tense and awkward as fuck. It had been fine until Kylie had sauntered casually out of mine and Terry's room, her short hair a gorgeous mess and her school shirt crinkled. Her tie was looped loosely around her neck, several buttons were undone, and the shirt wasn't tucked in to her trousers at all. 

She had thrown a nod at Terry and Draco, who had also stayed the night (the two had passed out on the sofa after... um...), and a smirk at Fred and George as the former glared at her. She sat beside me at the table, picking up a slice of toast and munching on it. Fred glared at her for a moment more, then turned his glare onto me. 

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I was again wearing the purple shirt, which hugged my huge bosom, with the two top buttons undone, which unintentionally showed off the many hickeys across my neck and collarbones. My short skirt hugged my hips and ass, and I kept having to pull it down as it rode up my thighs. Kylie licked her lips, reaching a hand down to rest on the bare skin of my thigh. I took a deep breath as Fred's eyebrows furrowed, and he turned towards the sink. 

"This place is... quaint." Kylie said airily, taking a sip of her tea. Fred rolled his eyes, mockingly mimicking Kylie's pinky finger being held out. 

"The girls are fightinggggg." Terry hissed to Draco. 

"Guys." I said. "Stop." 

Fred pulled out a chair next to me and sat down heavily. He leaned over to me, opening his mouth to say something, when Kylie moved her hand up my thigh, squeezing it. Fred's eyes dropped to my leg, his eyebrows furrowing. 

I looked up. Kylie was smirking straight at him. 

"So, I'd say we made well over two thousand Galleons yesterday." Fred said loudly. "Isn't that fantastic, Softpaw?" 

I nodded, about to reply, when Kylie said, "You'd think, then, that you'd be able to afford something better than this... cozy little place, huh?" 

Even I froze at these words. Both of the twins were now glaring at Kylie, and Terry and Draco were staring at her, mouths open. I stood up. 

"Er - babe? Can I talk to you? Outside?" I said, striding towards the door. Kylie stood too, sending one last triumphant, haughty smirk down at Fred, before following me out of the room, into the living room, and down the stairs. 

We emerged out into the sunny street, where a line was already forming to get into Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes when it opened for the day. I locked the door behind me, stepping away from the queue, and spun around to my girlfriend. 

"Seriously, Kylie? What the hell was that?" I said furiously. Kylie looked at me in surprise, her deep blue eyes widening. "I know you're upper class or whatever, but I didn't think you were a conceited SNOB!" 

"Baby, I -" 

"No!" I fumed. "Listen to me! You might think that this shop and our apartment and my friends are beneath you, but they're not! That place is what we're comfortable with, and we don't need anything more." 

Kylie blinked, sweeping her dark, short hair out of her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise you were also in poverty. I... I should have been more tactful -" 

"I'm NOT in poverty!" I stamped my foot on the cobbled ground. "I'm a Potter; I have a FULL bank account. But that means nothing without the ability to be humble, and kind, and considerate! Money isn't everything, and it doesn't make up for lack of manners and class." 

Kylie took a step back nervously. "Woah. Babe, seriously, I didn't mean -" 

"Enough." I said, passing the back of my hand across my forehead. "This heat is getting to me already. And so are you. You need to go." 

"Baby, I didn't mean it to come off that way!" Kylie implored. "Your friend was just looking at you in a way I didn't like, and I -" 

"- Thought you'd piss him off and make him feel lesser than you, his competitor." I sighed. "Stop teasing him. It's exhausting to be around you two sometimes. Plus, you should know that you don't need to compete with him, I'm your girlfriend, not his. But if you keep this up..."

Kylie watched me with an uninterpretable look in her eyes. I shifted on my feet. 

"... I don't know. But you'd better get going, hadn't you?" I said wearily. 

Kylie hesitated, then nodded. "Can I get a kiss goodbye?" 

I rolled my eyes, then stepped forward. Kylie's lips connected with mine, moving gently against mine, then as soon as the kiss came, it was gone again. My girlfriend gestured for the bodyguard lingering a few feet away to step forward and take her arm, and just like the kiss, next moment she was gone. 

I took a deep breath, looking at Ollivander's across the street, watching the sunlight glinting off the windowpanes. I turned, gazing up at my shop. Movement at one of the windows in the apartment caught my eye, and I looked up just in time to see Fred's distraught face disappear from view. 

~~~ 

The days went by quickly. They say time flies when you're having fun. And days turned into weeks here at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, what with selling our merchandise, advising customers on how to cause the most mayhem, wandering the streets of Diagon Alley on our breaks, hanging out in the living room all together, and regular banter each night with Terry in our room. 

I was having the time of my life. Nothing had ever felt this good. 

Not even Fred when he got in his little moods could bring me down, though they were far and few beyond. He was always cheerful and mischievous, with the exception of when Kylie visited and stayed over a second time, and when, after I had seen her off the next morning, I popped back into the shop. 

Fred had eyed me with a mix of jealousy and something else. "You might wanna put in your top button if you're going to be dealing with customers today, Daisy." 

"Why?" I said as I wiped down the counter, weirded out by him calling me by my first name. "We always have our top buttons out. I thought it was like a brand thing now." 

"Yeah, well, you have hickeys visible all over your neck. It's not a very good impression to make. Not very... PROFESSIONAL." Fred snapped, his eyes narrowed. "So, put in your top button, Miss Potter, or I'll just give you a day off, or a write-up. Understand?" 

I felt dizzy, like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs and my brain was deprived of oxygen. I was insanely attracted to him in that moment. I was so glad that George and Terry were still in the warehouse, stocking up. 

"You can't discipline me, Fred." I breathed as he stepped closer, glaring down at me. "We're business partners." 

Fred's eyes darkened noticeably at the mention of discipline. I took a shuddering breath as he leaned in closer, towering over me. "I can do whatever I like -" 

There was a knock on the door, and we sprung apart as if shocked by electricity. A customer had his face pressed up against the glass, and he was pointing at the sign on the door that said our opening hours. 

"Hey, it's past ten!" 

But apart from that blip, the weeks went by happy and fun. I was currently lounging in an armchair by the fireplace, midnight approaching, scrolling through my phone as Terry took up the entire sofa, reading one of the volumes from our bookcase as he lay with his head propped on three cushions. 

"Hey, guys." Fred popped his head around the kitchen door. "Come in here." 

Terry grumbled as he swung his legs off the sofa; I liked Harry's latest status and pocketed my phone, following Terry into the kitchen. 

"Let's watch Bushy's awful attempt at baking cookies." Fred hissed to us as Terry immediately sniggered. I looked round to see George attempting to whisk butter and sugar together in a bowl, struggling to move the wire whisk around. I rolled my eyes as I grinned, taking the bowl and whisk from him. 

"You have to do it like this." I told my flaming-haired friend, taking the metal instrument and beating the batter with it. Fred and Terry laughed at George as I set the freshly beaten bowl in front of him on the counter, beaming. 

"What next?" 

George sighed, though I could see a smile playing on his lips. "The egg and vanilla extract." 

"Here." Fred flicked his wand, and I ducked as the egg whizzed over my head. "Oops. Quick, one of you two catch it, you're supposed to be Seekers!" 

Terry and I leapt at the egg as it whizzed round and round the room, laughing as Fred grinned at us, his wand held high in the air. George lounged back against the counter, watching with an amused expression on his face. Eventually I caught it, nearly letting it slip out of my hand as I pretended to wing it full-force at Fred's face. 

"Okay, now flour, baking soda, and salt." George read from the instructions as I cracked the egg into the bowl. Terry opened the cupboard, rifling through the contents as I mixed the egg and vanilla extract in. 

"I didn't know you liked to bake, guys." I said conversationally as Terry started measuring out all the ingredients. The twins exchanged a glance. 

"Well, since we're now adults and living independently." Fred said. 

"Might as well try to make our own food." George grinned. 

"Here, Soft-" 

Terry slipped on an abandoned tea towel on the ground, and his little plastic bowl of flour went up into the air. A huge white cloud poofed up around the four of us, and I giggled as the three boys whooped. 

I made to move across the room towards the sink, but the copious amount of flour on the tiled floor, combined with my fluffy socks, made me slip. I shrieked, wildly flailing about for the nearest thing to hold onto, but unfortunately I grabbed Fred, dragging him down to the ground with me. I landed flat on my back, knocking all of the air out of my lungs. Fred landed on top of me, one leg in between mine, his hands on either side of my head. 

His deep brown eyes stared into mine. His lightly freckled face was dusted with flour. I could only assume mine was the same, as he lifted one of his hands and brushed it across my face, sending another mini flour cloud up into the air. I felt like I was holding my breath. My heart was pounding in my chest. His face was so close... 

Fred leaned down just a tiny inch. I didn't know what I was doing; my body was yearning to lean up, too, to meet him halfway - 

A sudden vision of Kylie, lifting me bridal-style into her arms, laughing and looking down at me with such love and happiness in her eyes, flashed across my mind. I immediately flinched away from Fred, laughing awkwardly. Fred seemed to snap out of it, too, suddenly aware that there were two others in the kitchen. 

He glanced nervously at George and Terry, but the two were pelting each other with small handfuls of flour. 

"Hey! We need that!" Fred yelped, and got a faceful. 

"Nice." I snickered, and sunk my hand into the massive flour bag. I aimed at Terry, and as the flour hit him, he whirled around, his eyes narrowing at me. 

"Oh, shit!" I screeched as I noticed the huge handful he had. 

"Come back here, you shit!" Terry chased me across the kitchen, and yet again we both slid on the tiles, Terry crashing into me, who crashed into the twins in turn, and all four of us went down. We all lay on the floured kitchen floor, giggling and laughing, watching as the flour cloud slowly drifted around above us. 

"I love you guys." I said fondly. 

"Me too." Fred and George chorused. 

"I don't know how I would get by if I didn't have you guys." Terry said, slightly out of breath. 

"You wouldn't." I told him, and he shrugged, nodding. 

~~~ 

Our chocolate-chip cookies turned out delicious, despite the messy creation process. I had the bowl snatched away from me by Fred once it had gotten too hard for me to mix, and I watched in awe as he used his strong Beater muscles to whisk the ingredients. I was always a sucker for strong people, I don't know why. I had also ruffled my hair out beside the window, letting the massive poof of flour that had previously clung to my curly locks out the window, but it still wasn't enough to get rid of all of it, and we all had to take a bath each. 

And now we were in the living room, under our blanket, watching a stupid romcom and making fun of the characters again. We were munching on a large bowl of popcorn and a platter of our soft, delicious cookies. 

"Ugh, these are so buttery and SWEET." Terry moaned, his mouth full of cookie. "So DELICIOUS... they taste SO fucking good, Softpaw!" 

I sniggered as Terry closed his eyes, letting his head fall back onto the sofa. 

"Yeah, just like S-" Fred muttered, before halting, looking away with an expression that told me he had stopped himself from saying something bad. George looked sideways at him, smirking. 

I cuddled in to Terry, and he threw his arm around me, pulling me closer. I lay my head on his chest as he fed me a cookie, and as the movie went on, I felt myself getting sleepier. 

*Fred's POV* 

"It's okay, I'll take her." I told Terry, scooping up the sleeping Daisy in my arms. Terry nodded once, sending a knowing look at George as he disappeared into the bathroom, but I ignored them both. I turned, Daisy making a quiet murmuring noise, and backed into her and Terry's room, pushing the door open with my shoulder. I lay Daisy on the bottom bunk ("I'm sure he won't mind for just one night.") and covered her with the blanket, tucking her in. 

I watched her for a moment. Her jet black, curly hair was splayed across the pillow, and her face was so relaxed as she slept. Her scar was so prominent on her skin after any bath, standing out against her pale forehead. She muttered something again, and my attention was drawn to her pink, pouty lips. 

I just want to kiss them. 

I jumped as Terry opened the door, sliding in quietly. 

"I hope you don't mind." I said. "There's no way for me to get her onto the top, unless I chucked her or something." 

Terry nodded. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll take the top bunk this time." 

"Alright, goodnight, mate." 

"Night, mate." 

As I left, I spotted the moving photos of Daisy and Kylie on her dresser. Kylie wrapped her arms around my best friend possessively, her sharp eyes staring out at me with a smug smirk on her face. I shut the door softly, as I tried to suppress the ugly bubble of jealousy and rage that always rose up inside of me at the sight or mention of Kylie Ford. 

The idea of Daisy being with anyone else would be awful, but incredibly less so than the idea of Daisy being with HER. 

And not just because Ford is incredibly handsome, and not just because she is insanely wealthy, and not just because she's famous and a member of a band and massively arrogant. But because she's the only person that I've ever seen Daisy this happy with, other than me. 

It seems that it's down to me, or Ford. And I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it's me.

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