human life

The first time she fell in love with Drake Campbell he had been tending to his fathers bakery.

There was flour across his forehead and his cheeks were a bright pink from the hot stoves in the back. He'd almost fallen over as she walked in, his feet tripping over his brother's wooden toy. The sack of flour Drake had secured in his hands once flew, falling through the air in slow motion. The teenage boy hadn't meant to let the heavy bag go, but once he had been airborne the first thing his large palms grasped at was the nearest table to steady himself instead of continuing to cling to the large bag.

The burlap sack landed at the base of Alessia Marie Masen's feet, her silk heels stopping short of the thing crushing them. Unfortunately the sacks contents flew upwards, completely dousing the girl in its white powder.

She hadn't been paying attention before, still groveling over her parents plan to host her future in laws later that night and cooking them a grand dinner, to which the teenage girl was ordered to pick up the last minute essential. It wasn't that she detested having Brett and Andrea Park over but the fact her parents still insisted on marrying their daughter off to the family with the highest bid. She was pretty, they said, a catch only of value next to diamonds. Girls like her were a rarity not many in Chicago got the chance to have, and Isaac Francis Park would have her to himself. Since meeting him a few weeks ago she only knew three things about him, he had steel grey eyes, a joker at best, and she did not feel an ounce of attraction towards him.

Alessia detested her parents for doing this to her, treating her like yet another piece to their jewels and guarding her so, hence why Edward waited outside the bakery for his sisters return. She was ahead of her time even then, wanting nothing more then to be treated equal to man and not property.

Her anger subsided the moment she was blasted with the flour, her baby blue dress being completely stained over in flower as well as bits of her bangs.

"Miss!" Drake rushed towards her, stepping closer then any peasant man like himself dared to towards a lady like herself. His palms quickly began dusting the flour gently off, mumbling apologies. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking correctly. The bag was blocking my view, sorry I didn't see you coming. My father is going to have my head for doing this to a Masen. Please don't be mad, anything is on the house..."

Alessia managed to blow out the flour blocking her lips, grasping his palms between her small ones and pushing them off gently. "Do you always greet women with such intensity sir?"

Drake was briefly blindsided by her lack of anger, watching as she disregarded any signs of fury or distaste. "No, usually I crack an egg over their hair."

Alessia laughed, shaking her head and dusting more flour off her dress. She'd gotten most of it off quite easily, falling off the silk of her daytime dress. "All better... although it seemed that the flour was an improvement to the atrocity of this dress."

Drake belted out a laugh, it was refreshing to see a girl of her caliber be so nonchalant towards a ruined outfit. His hands covered his mouth, hearing the bell like chimes of her own chuckle follow his.

Alessia's green eyes darted upwards, for the first time realizing just how close they'd been as she dusted more of the powder away from her face and curled hair. She noticed the hue of his eyes was an eccentric honey, the color vibrant the more his smile spread. His pupils contradicting largely against the brightness of his iris's. She found it completely entrancing.

Drake briefly wondered how eyes could be so green, they reminded him of the trees back in New York. How his own would get lost in the beauty of the forrest every time he was forced to commute there every month.

Alessia cleared her throat, remembering that this was not a world where a man like him could freely step up to a lonely girl without consequences. Instead she smiled at him, greeting, "Alessia."

Before he realized what he was doing his dirty hand was grasping at her dainty wrist, gently lifting it up and pressing a soft kiss to her porcelain skin. "Drake Campbell."

She nodded wordlessly, not at all bothered that his hands were covered in dirt and flour, only paying attention to the curve of his lips and the moles scattered across his cheeks. They were set in a peculiar way she could spend days connecting dots too.

"Drake the baker," she finally spoke. "I always wondered who helped Mr. Campbell bring in those heavy looking bags. Seems to me you're not much of help if you keep dropping them."

Drake laughed, letting her hand go, "Alessia the joker. Well, for your information Ms. Masen I usually don't but I'm here on break from the big city and decided to help him out. Maybe earn a few pointers from him."

At the sound of his travels her ears perked, Alessia always wondered what it was like there. Were women at more liberation? Did she always have to be accompanied by a man?

Instead of voicing her thoughts she hummed in acceptance, looking down at her feet and briefly stopping to get the dust off them. "Well now probably not."

Drake cringed, realizing his father would have his head for this one. Their family didn't have much and what little they did they invested in the bakery, and this bag of flower was going to cost them gravely. Instead of answering with another joke his arm lifted to scratch the back of his neck and he walked back around towards the counter, feeling the absence of Alessia's warmth leave him. He cleared his throat, looking her way, "can I help you Ms. Masen."

The formal tone his voice took on was distant, cold, separating the rich from the poor like was taught. Alessia didn't like one bit of it, not coming from him. She opened the small clutch carrying her money as well as the one she's been given too buy the errands. The small piece of a paper in there told her what was needed. "I need three pounds of dough, and if possible a chocolate cake done by tonight, white frosting with pink accents? Say 4 o'clock?"

Drake briefly counted off how much money that would be, wishing for the day he would posses that type of money to spend leisurely. His lips pursed, "that's doable, it will cost ten dollars though."

Alessia nodded, already pulling out the money before pausing, "wait...what did that bag of flour cost you?"

"Alessia no..."

The strawberry blonde crossed her arms, raising a brow in challenge at the taller boy. "Alessia yes."

Drake sighed in annoyance, he figured she was given more then enough money to pay the bag tenfold. "About fifteen."

Alessia didn't even hesitate, pulling out a twenty from her clutch, "here... take it. My fiancé said I could have that to buy myself something pretty but if his definition of pretty is this dreadful piece of clothing then I'd rather you take it and keep the change."

Drake laughed, masking the deflating hope in his heart. Of course, a girl like her wasn't available, they never even thought to look his way. "Fiancé huh? You'll be a bride soon then."

Alessia smirked, mischief shining in her emerald eyes. "For the moment."

The boy's honey eyes widened, was she actually flirting? She was truly different to her class of women, braver, bolder.

The door to the shop opened, cold air bursting between the pair as Edward poked his head inside. The bronze haired boy searching for his sister before stepping inside and shivering slightly. "Alessia, sis, you ready? Mother is bound to be waiting for us and it's getting cold outside, hate for you to catch a cold because of that absurd dress she made you wear."

Their moment was cut short, Alessia turning towards her dear brother and nodding shyly. "Yes, I was waiting for you to come get the dough. Edward, this is Drake, he is Mr. Campbell's eldest son."

Edward smiled at the boy, not missing the way up, until Alessia had said his name, the bakers son had stared entranced her way. He'd never caught Isaac gazing at her this way unfortunately. "Pleasure, I'm sure we will see one another a lot over the summer. We do have to go."

Drake nodded, "nice to meet you as well sir. I will just take a second."

His clammy hands and accelerated heart were a mess as they searched the back room three times before finding the bags of dough staring directly at him.

Drake walked back into the room, handing the bag off to Edward and bidding him farewell.

Alessia caught his eyes, the strawberry blonde attempting to seem casual as ever as she spoke. "Goodbye Drake the baker, until next time you dump more flour."

Drake couldn't help himself, he knew mouthing off in front of a girls brother was unforgivable but there was something about her that made him comfortable. "Goodbye Alessia the joker and it will be an egg next time."

That day as Alessia and Edward walked home, her brothers amused grin turned her way the whole trip she came to two realizations.

She had fallen in love with Drake Campbell's bold attitude.

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FC HAS BEEN CHANGED FOR DRAKE CAMPBELL TO CHRIS PINE BECAUSE I AM SICK OF THE TW REFERENCES! AGAIN PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THEM AS I WILL NOT BE NICE IF THEY ARE MENTIONED!

Alake? Yeah, they are my OTP. Alacob makes my heart hurt too much I swear.

-Ash💜