Catch Up With Fate

“I’m home!” I yelled into the apartment.

Work hadn’t been too bad, especially because Mrs. Schu allowed me to use the bakery to make the cake I had promised Viktor and which I was now holding in my hands (in a cake box). The bakers had done the mixing, baking and filling, but I’d proudly take the credit for the icing and decorations. It really hadn’t been easy to make a cake for a professional athlete, there were so many things they didn’t eat or limited greatly. Making a cake with no fat and sugar was simply not possible, but this cake prided itself in being as healthy as could be, Mrs. Schu had promised. Hopefully he would like it.

“Viktor?” I called again when I got no answer. Silence. A frown set itself on my face when I brought the cake into the kitchen to put it into the fridge. Knocking on his room’s door only proved that he really wasn’t home.

I was disappointed because I’d so been looking forward to showing him the cake. There wasn’t even a note anywhere about where he was and when he would be back. Not that he owed me one or anything, both of us could come and go as we pleased. It just bummed me out because of my surprise for him.

“I’ll just give it to him later,” I told myself and went to my room to get changed. With a sandwich, I parked my bottom in front of the TV because I couldn’t stand the silence. Silence made me think.

Most of the time I made fun of stupid and point- and senseless shows like Hanna Montana and Hotel Zach and Cody, but sometimes that’s just what you need. Though I much preferred the episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar that they were showing right now. It was also a favorite with CC, so we used to watch it together a lot. Who knew when we would do that the next time...

.

I was pretty deep in my low-level TV show induced coma, when I heard the key in the door. Like a bat from hell I jumped up and ran into the kitchen to get the cake.

“Tasha?” Viktor called into the apartment.

“Kitchen!” I yelled back at him and put the cake box on the table.

“Hi,” he grinned at me, even before he noticed the box.

“Hey,” I grinned back.

“What’s this?” Curiosity showed on his face when he saw the box.

“I promised you a cake, so I made you a cake at work. I’m so sorry I didn’t do it Monday,” I told him.

“You didn’t have to,” he said but I could see how excited he was about the cake. I pushed the box over to him and he looked like a little kid opening it.

The cake wasn’t big because there weren’t a lot of people around to share the cake with. Kathleen, one of the bakers, had convinced me to at least put a thin cover of fondant on the cake so the decorations would look better. Decorating a cake for a guy hadn’t been easy, but I’d just used these decoration jelly colors you write on the cake with, to create an irregular stripe-y pattern that looked more like a couple of cans of paint had exploded. Somehow it had ended up looking good. There were no candles because it wasn’t his birthday anymore, but in thicker, black script I’d written ‘Viktor!’ on the cake.

“It’s as healthy as cake can be,” I told Viktor who was taking in the ‘artwork’.

“You did this?”

“I had a little help baking it, but I did all of the decorating, yes,” I nodded shyly.

“It looks great!” he beamed at me, which made me smile, too. “Can I eat some?”

“It’s your cake,” I chuckled and got out a plate and a sharp knife.

“Don’t you want a piece, too?” He gave me a curious look.

“If that’s okay.” Actually I was dying to know if it tasted as good as it looked and had smelled when we made it.

“Of course! You made the cake, you have to have a piece, too!”

“In case I poisoned it, huh?” I joked and got myself a plate, too. “Go on, cut it.”

“You do it, it won’t look as pretty if I do it,” he handed me the knife.

“Okay, how big of a piece do you want?” I asked as I made the first cut. Much to my surprise he put his hand over mine as I was holding the knife above the cake and showed me how big his piece of cake was supposed to be. His hand was warm around mine and I had to force my hand not to drop the knife upon contact. It was so unexpected, out of the blue. Since the long hug last week and helping me with my hangover, we hadn’t touched at all. Diane’s words popped back into my head and I swallowed hard. This wasn’t supposed to happen! And I wasn’t going to let it.

I cut off Viktor’s piece and carefully put it on his place, then cut a (much) smaller piece for myself as well, without saying anything or showing a reaction to his move. Ignorance is bliss.

“What’re you thinking about?” Viktor sat opposite of me and gave me a curious look. “You looked like you were thinking hard about something.”

“Uhm, just something someone said in class,” I answered quickly. “Didn’t really make sense.” What Diane had said made a lot of sense and that was the problem. Luckily Viktor didn’t ask what my classmate had said and went back to eating the cake.

“It’s really good,” he told me happily. The giant piece was mostly gone already...

“Thanks,” I said slowly and finally ate my first bite. I had to admit, the cake was indeed quite tasty. It was a different taste, rich, but not as sweet as you maybe expected, but still good. If Viktor liked it, everything was perfect, because that had been the point.

“Some phone’s ringing, I think,” he pointed out suddenly. I gave a closer listen and jumped up to find my cell phone. The caller ID read Diane. Great.

“Hello?”

“Hi Tasha, how’s it going?” she said cheerfully and I immediately knew she was planning something.

“Eating cake I made at work. What’s up?”

“Okay, this is maybe a little out of the blue, but you sing, right?”

I was confused, I hadn’t ever really sung for anyone in Chicago, except maybe for a karaoke party last year. “Um, yes, I do. Why do you ask?”

“Okay. You know Dillon’s band, right? The Undecided? Well, they had this girl singer, Melody, total bitch... anyway, she finally quit.” I found it quite comical, but also kind of cool that the singer’s name was Melody. If Diane said she was a bitch, I believed her though.

“Okay... what does that have to do with me?” I had a feeling I knew what she wanted...

“They’re holding this impromptu audition tomorrow and I really, really, really need you to go there and kick some ass. There are a couple of girls that are trying to get with the band now and I know one of them is pretty decent at singing unfortunately. I know it’s very short notice, but I know you would ace it, you’re way better than her.”

I just stood there, blinking. What?

“So you want me to audition for a band I don’t know because you don’t want this other girl to get the part?” I summed up finally, still very surprised. “You know that I’m not going to be here after the next semester, right?”

“Would you just stop with your leaving bullshit! You love Chicago way too much to leave and you know it! Please, Tasha, help us out! The band does great acoustic covers and things like that, you’ll love it, I promise,” Diane pleaded and I could literally hear her puppy dog eyes.

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “What do they do? Play in bars or online or whatever?”

“They play at Dillon’s uncle’s bar every now and then and this gig next weekend is some new place they might get a spot at, too. It’s not too much and they get decent tips. And girls, guys in your case, I guess. Not like it matters to you though.” That was a typical Diane jab. Thanks.

“There’s a gig next week?!” I squeaked. “Diane! How would I learn all the songs by then? I don’t even know the band or the guys in it, I’ve never heard them play...”

“I know. The audition is so short notice cause they’ll need the time to practice for next weekend. Please, Tasha, give it a try. I know the guys would get on great with you and you love singing, so...”

“I’ll think about it,” I offered vaguely.

“Thank you so much!” Diane gushed, like I’d just said yes. “Text me later, okay? If you need a ride there, I’ll pick you up.”

“Alright. Bye.”

Weighing my phone in my hands I walked back into the kitchen to eat the rest of my cake and possibly another piece to think, if Vik allowed.

“Uh oh, what’s the frown for?”

“Diane wants me to go to an audition tomorrow,” I told him and stuffed some cake into my mouth.

“An audition? For what?” He looked surprisingly interested.

“Her boyfriend’s band. Their female singer just quit, so they need someone new quickly because they have a gig next weekend. She kinda only wants me to try out so I’ll beat this girl she can’t stand, who’ll also audition,” I explained. Basically I would be fighting off the groupies like we sometimes did for the ‘Hawks.

“Sounds interesting,” he chuckled. “Are you going to do it?”

“I don’t know, probably not. Even if I made it, they’d need a new singer all over again in May.”

“Isn’t that kind of against the girl code?” he asked amusedly. “If it’s her boyfriend’s band and she asked you to help her boot this other chick, you’d kind of have to help your friend...”

I stared at him, he grinned. “I hate you,” I finally grumbled.

“And yet you made me an awesome cake, I don’t think I’m too bad,” he shrugged still grinning. “Do you want my opinion?”

“NO.” I gave him another dark look, which he ignored again.

“I think you should do it. You could help your friend out and you love singing. You’re so good at it, it’d be a shame if you didn’t at least try. Being in a band could be a lot of fun,” Viktor told me calmly. He was right, too, everything he’d said made sense and was completely right.

“I hate you,” I repeated and finished my cake.

“No, you don’t,” he laughed, squeezing my shoulders as he stood behind me. It was the same feeling as earlier when we cut the cake, only that this time the warmth rolled like a wave down my back. Trouble.

“What are you doing tomorrow evening?” I wanted to know then. If he was convincing me to audition, I was making him come with me for moral support.

“Nothing, why?” he asked back innocently.

“Good, now you’ll be busy being my chauffeur and moral support,” I grinned cheekily.

“Okay,” he agreed without argument.

Looked like I might join a band... Crazy Chicago.