Rivalry At Its Finest

It turns out having a bakery is not as civil as it used to be. Allison has no idea how the hell she got into this mess with The Queen Apple bakery owner. It never sits right with her the fighting and rivalry between bakeries, however, upon meeting Regina Diaz, Allison realized animosity had to be in the picture when dealing with that woman.

Allison’s dream had been the same since she was a kid: bake cookies to make people happy. Allison has always loved baking and will remain to do it for the rest of her life if it is possible. The only stone in her path is Regina Diaz, the rival bakery owner, who thinks the whole neighbourhood is entitled to buy baked goods only in her pastry shop. Honestly, what makes her think that? Just because Allison’s bakery is not as outstandingly decorated as hers, it doesn’t mean her pastries are any less good. To sum up, Allison has accidentally gotten herself into a rivalry with the other neighbourhood’s bakery and now she doesn’t know how the hell she’s going to get out of it.

Her only hope is the town’s annual holiday festival. Both bakeries will have a stand there to sell their baked goods and, honestly, if Regina Diaz thinks she has got the upper hand, she is going to find that out in the harder way. Allison has been studying hard to create new pastries that will hopefully melt the customer's heart at the festival. Allison knows she is a good baker and will not back out from this challenge, not even if Regina decides to sabotage her — yeah, she’s capable of that. That woman is infuriating and surely holds a large grudge against Allison. However, nothing will stop Allison Cooper from being the best pastry seller of the year. To hell with what Regina Diaz thinks and wants.

༻❁༺

Allison corners the organic aisle, holding a package of brown sugar as she goes, when, all of a sudden, her body bumps hard into someone. The sugar hits the floor as well as some of the fruits that were inside her shopping basket and Allison looks up to see who she had hit, feeling her body turn rigid when her green eyes meet enraged brown ones. It is, unfortunately, Regina Diaz.

All the other woman’s groceries have fallen to the floor and the mess is terrible. Those eyes are boring into her soul, so fierce and angry that it could set her on fire if it was possible.

“Miss Cooper!” Regina snarls, taking a step closer while Allison is frozen in place, mouth agape at the situation destiny has unexpectedly put her in. “Don’t you see where you’re going?”

“I… I didn’t see you,” Allison stutters, feeling her cheeks get warm. “You bumped into me, too, so it wasn’t just my fault,” she finishes with a shrug.

Regina shakes her head from side to side as if she can’t believe all the mess Allison caused. “Honestly, Miss Cooper, you make it so much easier to not like you. You keep making my life worse and worse.”

Allison presses a hand to her chest, baffled by the accusation. “Me? It was an accident!”

The woman narrows her eyes at her and takes a small step closer. “Was it, though? This could have been your plan all along, huh?”

“My plan?”

“To bump into me and delay all the time I should be baking for the festival!”

How the hell can this woman think so little of someone she barely knows? And why she thinks Allison would plan all this effort just to delay some of her time baking for the festival? It’s honestly beyond her mind to understand this unpredictable woman.

Allison releases a long, suffering sigh, not knowing exactly how to respond to such a petty accusation. Then, she decides to mutter under her breath, ”You’re insane.”

“How dare you to insult me like this?”

“Regina, I’m not insulting you!” Allison defends herself, backing away a little when the other woman only seems to get angrier by the second. “This was an accident and not a crazy plan of mine to sabotage your baking time, for God’s sake!”

“The festival is tomorrow, Miss Cooper. I believe you would do anything to make it harder for me to win the best-seller tomorrow. But, no, I shall not let myself be disturbed by your actions!” Regina says, glaring daggers into Allison’s eyes. She honestly hasn’t seen this woman so infuriated in her whole life.

“Regina, don’t-”

“You’re going to pay for this, Miss Cooper,” the woman threatens, pointing an accusing finger at Allison. “Be aware.” And with that said, she turns around and sashays away, leaving Allison with her mouth hanging open and Regina’s groceries all over the floor.

Allison swallows down the lump in her throat and starts picking up the products from the floor while trying to settle in her mind that she won’t have to pay for it… or worse — face Regina’s wrath if she really decides to get back at Allison.

༻❁༺

The day of the festival is when Allison feels the most nervous. It’s her first time participating, thus she intends to deliver the best pastries of her life and, therefore, be a great success among the customers of this small town in Ontario. The only thing that matters is if the citizens of Stratford will fall in love with her desserts.

However, the minute she steps inside her beloved bakery, she realizes that something is off. Regina’s threat instantly comes to mind at the supermarket yesterday, causing her to feel scared for a minute. The first thing Allison does is open the refrigerator to check if her pastries are all there, safe and sound. They are, but there’s something else: a note is glued to one of the cupcake’s icing.

You might wanna taste your pastries before you sell them at the festival.

Her heart starts pounding absurdly fast, causing her to feel nauseous just at the thought of something going wrong with her marvellous desserts. Without thinking twice, Allison grabs one cupcake and takes a big bite, receiving the terrible salty taste on her tongue instantly after.

The feeling of dread takes her whole body all at once and she thinks she’ll throw up. Regina has obviously sabotaged her pastries for the festival and Allison has no idea how she got there in the first place. This is terrible and makes Allison instantly feel powerless, not knowing what to do. Regina had said Allison was going to pay for it, and indeed she did. Her whole batch of pastries is now sabotaged and doomed with disgusting salt. Her whole sale’s plan at the festival is now ruined only because Regina Diaz cannot live without trampling over someone in her path.

Despite it all, she won’t back out. She has never given up on her dream to be a successful pastry chef and she won’t give up now that she has finally reached a good point in her career. Damn Regina Diaz and her revenge ideas — Allison will bake it all again even if she has to spend all morning to do it.

༻❁༺

Everything is already settled on Allison’s stand at the festival — from cookies to cupcakes and the one single pie she and her helper, Samira, found enough time to bake. She had worked very hard to make it all again and she honestly outdid herself even with the terrible sabotage. Allison can now say that she is a stellar baker and knows she can accomplish anything if she puts her mind to it.

The worst part of it is that Regina’s stand is right in front of hers, only separated by the wide path in-between all the other sales stands. Their eyes meet across and their connection strengthens for too long, making it almost impossible to look away. Those brown eyes hold anger and mischievousness, and Allison hates staring into them, even if something invisible pulls her in, leaving her with no other option but to reattribute.

The first customer of the night approaches Allison’s stand and that’s when their eyes break the connection. Allison grins at the old-lady standing before her and does her job to promote her baked goodies. After that, many more people start to arrive at the festival and, gratefully, several of them visit Allison’s stand and purchase countless pastries. They claim it’s good and some of them even praise Allison for the marvellous job she did. Those people are happy to be eating her food, so Allison is beyond happy for herself and the success of her bakery.

Despite all that, from the corner of her eye, Allison has also been observing Regina’s stall across the street, realizing many citizens are infatuated with her baked pastries too. They’re probably even, which means that Regina has failed in failing Allison on the way. Trampling over someone is never the right answer.

By the end of the festival, Allison cannot take away the grin from her face. Everything was a success even though the odds and Regina were against her. Samira is very content and, once in a while, throws glares at Regina’s stand because, unlike Allison, Samira really minds these kinds of sabotages and wanted to get even with the rival bakery, but Allison didn’t let her; told her it wasn’t worth it.

However, something still bugs her: why does Regina act this way? Why has she always held a grudge against Allison from the moment her bakery opened at Huron Street? She does not have answers for that and would love to hear Regina’s excuses.

The flow of customers has slowed down since it’s getting late and it’s time to close the festival. Thus, with those thoughts still in mind, Allison marches over to Regina’s bakery stand, receiving pointed looks from the moment she starts walking over.

“Can we talk?” Allison boldly asks, leaning on the bar of Regina’s stand.

The only answer she receives is a curt nod from the other woman, who leaves the inside of the stand to walk a bit farther to the side. Allison dutifully follows her and, as she checks that are no prying eyes paying attention to them, she starts, “I know what you did.”

Regina rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. “You’ll have to elaborate more, dear. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Do not lie to my face, Regina. I know you sabotaged my pastries.” Regina looks away at that, which instantly tells Allison that she’s a bad liar. “I didn’t mind it, though. I’ve overcome it and I sold more than I could have expected today.”

“I don’t care how much you sell, Miss Cooper. You-”

“That’s not what it seems like, Regina,” she interrupts pointedly. “I don’t understand why you think our bakeries can’t have mutual success,” Allison remarks, not bothering to hold her tongue anymore. She will ask whatever she wants because she deserves answers. “Why does everything have to be a competition for you?” Regina seems to be taken aback by all of Allison’s brazen questions, which only encourages her to proceed, “Why do you hate me and my bakery so much?” Allison questions, her tone serious and outraged.

Regina is staring at her with her mouth hanging open, seeming incapable of answering. Long seconds pass as they stare into each other’s eyes, the connection between them lasts and it is unbearably unjust to discredit the honesty of the moment.

“I… I don’t hate you, Allison,” Regina quietly answers, her cheeks blushing a light shade of pink.

“You don’t? Then how does that explain your obsession with me and my failure?” Allison pressures on.

“I… I don’t need to listen to you, Miss Cooper,” Regina snarls and suddenly turns around to leave. Acting on impulse, Allison gently holds her wrist, pulling her back towards her and causing their bodies to stand surprisingly close to each other.

“Tell me, Regina! I need to know.” 

Allison suddenly loses herself in the intensity that those brown orbs hold. The swirls of emotion she sees in them make her stomach flutter for some unknown reason and, without even realizing it, Allison leans in, hands finding solace around the other woman’s waist to undoubtedly draw her closer. There is an invisible pull between them that can’t be broken at that moment. Regina looks so lost, and yet, so vulnerable like Allison has never seen.

She’s still waiting for an answer to her questions, but only receives silence and the taste of Regina’s uneven breath against her face. Without thinking twice, Allison captures those plump lips that look so inviting and a shock of electricity sparkles between them at that exact moment. Regina gasps at first, but then her hand finds Allison’s jaw to pull her closer, their heads angling to naturally deepen the kiss. Regina’s lips are so warm and they taste like delicious sweet pastries, which only drives Allison to want more and more of this woman who has made her feel so much the past few months. Besides all the animosity between them, Allison has always known how gorgeous and talented Regina is. Their disagreements had always been exhilarating somehow that made Allison feel hot all over. Well, now she probably understands why: she is deeply attracted to this woman despite all her flaws and actions.

This unexpected kiss between them feels as if her brain was lit on fire, and the warmth has spread throughout Allison’s entire body. It’s too good to let go, to separate from this hot bombshell that is Regina Diaz. It should feel wrong to be kissing your rival, but the only thing Allison feels is a euphoric need for more.

The spell between them is suddenly broken by someone clearing their throat near them. They pull their lips apart, but not too far away to disentangle their grasp from each other’s bodies. Allison looks to the side and finds Samira, her friend, staring at them with her mouth hanging open in surprise.

“Huh, I guess hatred has a way of disguising itself behind attraction,” Samira says teasingly, causing a blush to form on Allison’s cheeks.

As she turns to face those intense brown eyes again, she views the hesitant smile Regina Diaz is giving her — a smile that holds a promise of much more to come.