FicWad

Sunlight poured into the room through the cracks in the blinds of the windows. Shelby was lying in Jon's bed, but the other side of it where he usually slept was vacant and cold. She yawned, turning onto her side, ready to go back to sleep for a couple more hours. The digital clock on the night stand read 7:20; too early to be waking up.
A clatter of metal from the kitchen caused Shelby to jump up, and her heart to jump with her. It was pounding so hard in her chest, she swore she could hear it in the quiet, cozy bedroom. She slipped out of bed, clothed in the same Panic! T-shirt and jeans from the night before, slowly following the sound. She figured it was probably Jon, but she didn't know for a fact if the others had stayed the night or not. Stepping onto the cold kitchen floor, she shivered and noticed a form hunched over the refrigerator. "To whomever is probably standing behind me, I apologize for the dropping of the pan. I'm uncoordinated with my hands this early but I was hungry."
Shelby giggled. "It's alright. So that's what that was." She crossed her arms. "It scared the crap out of me."
The figure turned to face her, but she knew already from the hair that it was Brendon. He chuckled. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you up from dropping that pan?" he pointed over to the skillet, now resting on the counter by the sink.
"Not really. I was already half way up. It just scared me." A shrug rippled through her shoulders and she looked at the combination of food in his arms that he gathered from the refrigerator.
"Hardly what I call breakfast food." She remarked.
He glanced down at the armfuls of food. Mashed potatoes and gravy, leftovers from about two or three days ago, homemade burritos, sent from Jon's mom, and cornbread.
"It's as close as I can get without burning the house down. Stoves are not my friend." Brendon shook his head slightly and looked down at his food again. "And anything looks good when you haven't eaten all night."
"Not anything," Shelby smiled.
"So," he smiled sweetly, setting the food down on the kitchen counter. He held up a box of pancake mix. "Cook?"
"For you?" Shelby raised an eyebrow.
"There's other people in this house," he pointed out. "But, uhm, pancakes are classic. You have to make them 'cause classics never go out of style."
Shelby let out a light chuckle and couldn't help but smile at the convincing pout that Brendon was making. "Alright, fine." she shrugged. "Do you know where Jon went? It's pretty early."
Brendon shook his head, brushing his bangs from his eyes. "I never knew he left."
"Hm...that's funny..." she murmured, but shrugged it off. "I guess I can't be out of style, so hand me the mix."
Brendon grinned, handing her the mix. She took it and walked over to a cabinet. Opening it, she pulled out a white plastic bowl and set it on the counter. While skimming the back of the box for directions, she glanced at Brendon, who had taken a seat at the kitchen table. "So, where are the others? Ryan and Spencer?"
"They're in the basement fast asleep like the cute little rock stars they are. Jon said we could crash down there."
"Ohh." she nodded. "That makes sense." Her eyes were focused on the bowl, which she was carefully filling with pancake mix. "Hand me two eggs?" she asked, sliding open a drawer to get a spoon to mix it with.
"I made a cake once," Brendon commented, getting up to get the carton of eggs in the fridge. "The eggshells were the best part." he smiled weakly and handed her two eggs and put the carton back in the fridge.
Shelby giggled. "I made a cake for Jon, for his birthday last year." She smiled and Brendon could see the reminiscent glaze sparkling in her eyes when she looked up at him. "It was chocolate," she continued, cracking the eggs and letting the slimy yellow yolks fall into the bowl. "And I had spent all day trying to make it perfect. I remade it three times actually, and ran out of eggs and sugar. Good thing it was alright the third time." She added a few more ingredients to the bowl before mixing them all together.
Brendon chucked. "What happened with the other two?"
"Eggshells, and the oven didn't like me that day. But it all came through well. He loved the cake." she grinned proudly. "But no where near as much as I love him."
Brendon laughed lightly. "Of course. When did you meet him?"
"About a two years ago." She couldn't help but grin at the memories flooding into her head. "Jon was so cute, and so sweet, I couldn't help but fall for him." she sighed, mixing the batter until it got gooey. "It doesn't even seem that long..." She seemed to get lost in thought, zoning out for a few moments.
"Shelby?"
"Hm?"
"I'm no Iron Chef, but I think its pretty darn mixed up." he pointed to the batter, which she was still mixing.
"Oh!" She felt her cheeks get warm and stained with red as she took out the spoon, set it on the counter and went to get the skillet hot.
"Is that pancakes?" Spencer asked, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He was wearing a pair of shorts that came to his knees and a shirt. "I smell pancakes." he looked at the batter in the bowl. "So it is pancakes."
"Yep. And hey, the first one's mine, Spence. I got her the eggs." he pointed with his pinky at the eggshells left beside the bowl.
Spencer laughed. "Alright." he sat down at the table. "Ryan's still sleeping so we have to be quiet."
"The divas always sleep the most. Its for beauty." Brendon laughed, "Besides I think he was tired last night."
The creak coming from the front door sounded in everyone's ears as Jon tiptoed past the kitchen. He was holding a plastic bag. When he noticed Shelby staring at him, he stopped suddenly and looked at her. "Hey, sweetie." he grinned, casually walking into the kitchen. "What are you doing up already? And making pancakes?" he asked gently. His tone wasn't demanding, just curious.
"Brendon wanted them." she grinned. "And friends of yours are friends of mine, babe." she grinned as he pulled her close.
"For...Brendon?" he looked at him. Brendon was sitting at the table, fork in hand, ready for food.
"I hope you don't mind, but I didn't want to burn your beautiful house down trying to cook." Brendon smiled.
"I don't mind at all." Jon shrugged.
Shelby buried her face into his chest and inhaled his scent. "Jon baby, why do you smell like sweat?"
"I decided to walk to the bakery. I'm out of shape so I sweat." he replied, smiling.
She laughed. "Okay, then. Sit down, the pancakes are almost ready. But Brendon has called the first one since he helped with the eggs."
Jon glanced at Brendon, who had his fork driven through Spencer's pancake. Spencer had his fork struck in the other side of it. "Spencer, big singers need big pancakes. So hand it over."
Shelby giggled. "I could just make more. It's no big deal."
Brendon looked up, and Spencer took the opportunity to snatch away his pancake. "I think I'm going to like staying here." He looked back at the pancake, only to find Spencer happily eating it. Shelby placed another on a plate in front of Brendon and the pout that was previously on his face melted into a content expression as he drowned it in syrup and began eating it.
Jon watched Shelby's smile as the two ate the pancakes she had made and said, "You're not staying here. You have a friggin' house of your own."