Thefollowingweekend,Lucyinvited me to attend a friends-and-family plated-dessert experience at her culinary school to celebrate the end of the school year. She had to be there early to set up, so she took the family car. In turn, I borrowed my parents’ Tesla SUV and drove down with her mom, Ivy. Because we lived in the middle of nowhere, it took us an hour and a half to get to her school. She had told me how long the drive was before, but I couldn’t believe how far she commuted now that I’d actually done it myself!
We parked and entered the school, following the sound of people until we found where tables were set up with white tablecloths and desserts displayed. As soon as we walked in, Lucy spotted us and came over wearing a white jacket and hat, her eyes lighting up, greeting us both with hugs.
I looked around and saw that everyone had put out intricately designed dessert plates. They looked more like art than food. I’d only ever seen desserts like this a few times in my life.
“Come right this way,” Lucy said, leading her mom and me to a table. “These are my creations.” She smiled, reminding me of a little kid showing off a painting she did in pre-school.
I looked down at the table and I was in awe. “Wow, these are amazing!” On display were mini-cakes that she had clearly spent copious time detailing until they were perfect. She had put out three options—what looked like a chocolate cake detailed with swirls and whipped cream with chocolate spirals and raspberries on top, a very fancy-looking strawberry shortcake, and what appeared to be crème brûlée plated with mini-macarons and various berries.
“Try all of them.” She looked at us eagerly. I took the chocolate cake first, grabbing a spoon off the table. It almost looked too beautiful to eat.
“Wow, this is so good!” I gasped after taking a bite. I mean, I’d always known Lucy was a good baker, but something about a dessert being so pretty made it seem like it wouldn’t taste as good. I quickly finished it and Lucy took my plate from me, handing me the next cake. Her mom, similarly, praised Lucy, which made her glow.
Before long, more people began coming in. Lucy’s face lit up as different people approached her table to try her desserts. I’d never seen her look so passionate about anything before, besides maybe Luke. Later on, she took Ivy and me around and introduced us to her classmates while we sampled all of their creations as well. Others had done a nice job but—maybe I was biased—Lucy’s were definitely better. It was like you could taste the passion as you bit into her desserts. By the time we’d walked around to everyone’s tables, I was starting to feel nauseous and bloated from all the sweets I’d eaten. “I really need to go for a run after this,” I said to Lucy, clutching my stomach. Lucy laughed and rubbed her stomach in agreement.
Signaling the end of the event, the chef quieted everyone and made an announcement that he had two awards to hand out. The first award was for perfect attendance, which went to one of Lucy’s classmates.
“The second award is for our student of the year. This year’s award goes to Lucy Owen. Congratulations, Lucy!” Everyone clapped as she went up to collect her certificate. She rejoined Ivy and me at her table, a huge smile on her face.
After everyone filed out, she began cleaning up. Ivy and I offered to help, but she turned us away and said, “No, it’s fine. It’ll only take me a few minutes, and I’ll be right out.” We left the room and found a bench to sit on and wait for her. She came out about a half hour later.
Once Lucy joined us, the three of us walked down the street to a café to wash down the desserts we’d just stuffed ourselves with, enjoying the nice weather. While Lucy’s mom went up to the register to place the order, Lucy and I grabbed a small table by the window.
“Thanks so much for coming today. It means a lot to me!” Lucy said, a wide smile on her face.
“No problem,” I replied. “Your desserts were really good.”
“It’s nice being the customers for once,” she said, leaning back in her chair and looking relaxed. We normally worked at the café back home on Saturdays, but Valerie had given us the day off for Lucy’s showcase.
“Congrats again on getting the student of the year award,” I said.
“I know, can you believe it?”
“You always had it in you. You just needed to find something you actually enjoyed studying,” I replied, feeling pride that Lucy had finally found her calling after years of trying to motivate her to care about school.
“Thanks, Jaz. You’ve always been a really good friend to me.” She sighed, looking troubled.
“Is everything okay?”
She looked at me seriously and said, “It’s just that things are going so well right now. I’m doing good in school, Luke’s coming home at the end of the summer, and Valerie’s finally trusting me to decorate wedding cakes without supervision. I just keep feeling like disaster’s around the corner.” She suddenly looked very vulnerable, a side of herself Lucy didn’t often show.
“You should just enjoy the feeling and not worry. My grandma used to say worrying means you suffer twice.” As I said this, I realized how lame the advice was. If stressing out were a sport, I would be an Olympic champion. I can’t recall a time in my life when school didn’t bring me constant, overwhelming anxiety.
“Yeah, you’re right,” she replied, but didn’t look convinced. Her mom joined us, and Lucy went back to being her old bubbly self.
“Any plans for this weekend, girls?” Lucy’s mom asked.
“I’m trying to convince Jasmine to go to a party Emma got invited to! But she’s using the oldyou know how my parents areexcuse,” Lucy playfully whined.
Ivy laughed and said, “Jasmine, your parents need to lighten up! These are some of the best years of your life and you can never get them back! Once you find your mate, it’s all diaper changes and feeding schedules. After I realized Lucy’s father was my mate, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other and just popped one pup out after another!”
“Mom, stop!” Lucy shrieked.
Lucy’s mom laughed and continued, “We used to throw tons of parties when I was growing up. It was much easier back then because they didn’t patrol the party lake as much. Tons of sex at those parties too. Nothing like alcohol and a dark forest to encourage naughty behavior!”
“Oh my Goddess, Mom! We definitely don’t need to know this!” Lucy started to look a little green. I was on the edge of my seat, wanting to hear more. My parents never told me stories about growing up in their respective packs, and we never talked about sex in my house. They made it seem like no one ever dated when they were growing up. I was riveted by the information Ivy was revealing, especially knowing that my dad had graduated in the same class as her—although I’d prefer not to imagine him as one of the people that was having sex at those parties. Ick!
“Just make sure you use protection.” Ivy gave us both a severe stare. “It’s okay to not be careful with your mate, but it definitely complicates things if you already have a pup once you meet them.”