What Are You Waiting For?

“You excited to make the cake?” Ian asked as he started pulling out the ingredients we bought a couple weeks ago from a plastic grocery bag. We decided to do it here since the party is going to be here tomorrow. Riley’s parents both said that Riley could spend the night at Ethan’s, and I knew Riley wouldn’t object to that at all.

“Stoked.” I said, a slight hint of sarcasm in my voice.

Ian hit my arm softly. “You can at least try and sound excited.”

I smiled and kissed him. “You know baking isn’t one of my hobbies.”

“It could be.” Ian said, smiling, opening up one of his cookbooks to a cake recipe.

“I highly doubt it. I’d probably burn water.”

“See? You’re already on your way! Not many people know you can burn water.”

I laughed and leaned up against the counter. “What can I do to help? I feel like I should be doing something.”

Ian stopped mixing the contents in the bowl. “You can make the colors for the frosting. I have the exact number of drops of food dye for each color written down on the little piece of paper stuck inside the box.”

I nodded and took the containers of frosting and dye to the kitchen table. “How much for each color?”

“Each container has enough frosting for one tier. I made the frosting last night.” Ian said, turning on the hand mixer.

He is too good at this.

I sat down and took the covers off of each of the containers, adding each color to the frosting as instructed on the sheet of paper. When the colors turned out to perfectly match the decorations, I was really surprised.

“Damn, you’re good, Ian.” I said, turning around in my chair, seeing him fill the different sized cake pans with an enormous amount of batter.

He shrugged with a smug smile on his face. “What can I say.”

I smirked and dipped my finger in the blue frosting, getting up and going to stand by him. When he turned to look at me, I wiped a little off on his nose.

He jumped back a little in surprise, laughing. “Nick, what are you doing?”

“I’m bored.” I said, wrapping my arms around him.

Ian looked at me, smirking slightly, then looking at his nose. “This frosting isn’t going to go away on it’s own.”

I leaned and licked it off slowly, getting it all off in one try. My eyes met his briefly before my lips made contact with his. He slid his tongue past my lips, tasting the sweet frosting that was still on my tongue.

We parted, and I held my finger up, Ian opening his mouth. I put my finger in his mouth and he licked off the rest of the frosting before I went for his lips again, and this time I get to taste the sweet frosting on Ian. We pressed right against each other, our kiss getting deeper, my arms around Ian’s neck while his stayed on my hips.

Ian pulled away from my lips. “We probably do anything yet. There’s still cakes in the oven.”

I pouted. “You’re right.” I kissed him again. “But while they’re cooling off?”

Ian smirked squeezing my hips, kissing me. “I’ll see what I can do.”

------------

After the bell for last hour rang, I sprinted out of the classroom, meeting Ian in the hallway, and we went to our lockers, stuffing them full of our homework. We made it out of there in record time.

“I’m so excited!” Ian expressed as we neared the front of the school, where we saw Ethan blindfolding Riley.

I smiled and kissed his cheek, then shushing him, catching up to them right as Ethan pressed a kiss to Riley’s lips.

He pulled away when he saw us. “Don’t worry about anything, Riley, okay? Just let me handle everything.”

“Alright, fine.” Riley said.

Ethan grabbed his shoulders and led him out of school, Ian and I following close behind. We got into Ian’s mom’s car and drove off to Riley’s house.

“Ethan left and set everything up, right?” I asked Ian as his mom turned the corner to Riley’s street, seeing Ethan pull up to the house.

“Yup. He lit a bunch of vanilla candles, so the whole house is probably gonna smell like a bakery.” Ian said.

I just rolled my eyes, smiling. “And you gave him our presents?”

“They should be sitting in the pile with all the others. Don’t worry, Nick, everything’s going to be perfect.” Ian said, kissing me before getting out of the car. We closed the doors and then heard Riley ask about it. Ethan bullshitted some excuse and led him into the house. We followed silently, closing the door softly behind us. We went into the kitchen and greeted Riley’s parents, telling them that it was time.

We all came out of the kitchen and saw Ethan and Riley sucking face. Riley’s parents walked over and tapped Ethan on the shoulder, making him pull away from the kiss. His cheeks flushed a deep red and he walked to turn the light off.

“Ready?” He said to Riley.

“I’ve been ready.” Riley said, sounding relieved.

I walked over by the light switch and heard Ethan take off Riley’s blindfold. I flipped the switch and everyone shouted, “Happy birthday!” while Riley looked like he was going to cry. This couldn’t have gone any better.

Riley got through our presents, along with his parents, and there was just Ethan’s left. Ethan didn’t tell us what he got Riley, he didn’t tell anyone. By the looks of the box, it was either jewelry, a gift card, or it’s him being a smartass and he stuck a condom in it.

Riley grabbed it and shook it. There was nothing inside it. We all watched in curiosity as Riley opened it. When he saw it, he smiled and looked like he was going to cry (again).

“What is this supposed to be?” Riley asked quietly.

“It’s my birthday gift to you. I give you my heart. It’s in a box so you never lose it.” Ethan said just as quiet.

Their chemistry, the way they connected, clicked, loved each other brought tears to my eyes. Their relationship is so strong, and this just proves it. That is the cutest gift idea I’ve ever seen. I looked at Ian, who looked to be having the same thought process as me. I put my arm around him. He looked at me, smiling, and kissed me softly. I put my head on his shoulder and looked back to Riley and Ethan.

“This is the best gift I’ve gotten, not only tonight, but of all the gifts I’ve ever received. I’ll hold onto it for the rest of my life.” Riley said. Ethan leaned up to kiss him, and that’s when Ian and I started sniffling, our tears falling. This moment is so precious.

“I love you, Ethan.” Riley said quietly.

“I love you, too, Riley.” Ethan responded, sounding sweet.

We let out an involuntary “aww” at them, earning us a look from Riley. We just smiled at him as we cuddled with each other.