Sweet Like Honey

“You and I! You you and I! Baby yeah,” I sing loudly while I slide around in the kitchen. Socks and polished wood floors make the best combination. The oven rings and I slide over it to pull out the cupcakes. Yum! Nothing like cupcakes for breakfast!

“Abby!” yells Harvey and he slams the door to his room open.

“Yes?” I ask dancing around the kitchen while I wait for my cupcakes to cool.

“Have you been in my room?” he asks trying to hold back anger. Uh oh.

“Um yeah,” I respond and stop dancing.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of my room?” Well I think he’s told me about twenty times already.

“Maybe if you were more organized I wouldn’t have to go in there and clean things up for you,” I nag and any control he had just flew right out the window.

“I like my room messy! I like that I can toss my shit anywhere and I hate folding clothes. Stop going into my room and folding my underwear. Stop scrubbing down the tables with that lemon scented crap and eat some real breakfast for once!” he yells while he paces up and down the dining room.

“How dare you insult my breakfast? You know I haven’t eaten dessert foods in months!” Seriously the audacity of this guy. He knows how much I’ve missed chocolate and cake. I probably never should have agreed to go on a diet for my dad’s campaign. Now I’m addicted to dessert.

“It’s not about the damn cupcakes!” Harvey yells. He walks over to the couch and dumps my basket of clean laundry everywhere. He then goes to his desk near the T.V. and dumps all the papers I filed out of the drawers around the table. I watch as he throws this tantrum and he goes on about his house.

“There! Now leave everything as it is,” he says finally calming down. I feel like throwing a cupcake at him for being so rude to me.

“I was just trying to help,” I add and plop down at the dining table with the biggest cupcake on the tray.

I can’t believe he’s so mean! This place was disgusting before I came along. I didn’t even know he had couches until I dug them out from under a pile of paper and dirty laundry. I even found the source of the smelliness. I was cleaning the living room and under the couch there was a green moldy looking thing. At first I thought it was moldy cheese because well it smelled like it but it turned out being an old sock. I didn’t know why it was green and moldy but I didn’t want to find out. I did him a huge favor if you ask me. Harvey can be a real jerk sometimes.

“Look, I’m sorry I just blew up on you, but please stop trying to keep everything in order,” he apologizes and sits across from me.

Order? Oh no I’m turning into my crazy family! No wonder Harvey exploded. No one likes their stuff controlled by someone else. Not even me.

“I’m sorry I went psycho on you with the cleaning,” I respond and take a bite out of my cupcake for some comfort.

“Well at least you got rid of the cheese smell,” he says and lightens up.

“Gross,” I say as I remember the smell.

“So I’m going out to eat with Ryan tonight and—

“Oh can I come!” I exclaim without letting him finish.

“Yes, but try not to cling to me so much please,” he sighs. I can tell he’s been annoyed at lately so I’ll try not to bug him so much.

I promised him I won’t cling to him when Ryan’s around but I never said I wouldn’t when Ryan’s not present. It’s not that I want to cling to him because I really didn’t. It’s just that I don’t know this town very well. After we have that roomie’s spat we run errands all around town. They take all a day and I mostly sit in the car as I wait for Harvey to go in to different places and get what he needs.

I like riding around with him because I get a pretty good idea of the way the town is set up. There is one main highway that runs through the middle of the town and there are restaurants and grocery stores lined up along the highway. I even got a good look at the lake. It’s even more beautiful in person. Harvey sent me post cards of the place and I couldn’t have pictured a place more beautiful. The town is smack in the middle of the Sierra’s and the mountains surround the entire lake and town. I like it here.

After several hours of running errands we finally arrive at the same restaurant we were at last week—the one with pudding boy and karaoke. I tried to convince Harvey to go somewhere else but he wouldn’t budge. I never told him that I was strongly attracted to pudding boy and that he had asked that me sing with him. Harvey would only tease me and encourage me to do it.

So now we’re sitting at the same table we were at last week and Ryan is still not here. I decided that I would tell pudding boy that my throat is hurting and I’m developing a cold. I looked over to the stage and could see the band setting up. He wasn’t there with them and I felt slightly, but only slightly disappointed.

“Looks like the band is playing tonight,” says Harvey looking at the stage too.

“And we’d love for you to join us Abigail,” says a voice coming up to our table. The moment I recognize the voice I feel like crawling under the table.

“Hey Zack,” says Harvey. He knows him? What? I look at Harvey as he gets up and man hugs Zack. You know the strange side hugs some guys do.

“You’ve met Abby already I see,” says Harvey catching on to the fact that I’m avoiding eye contact with Zack. He smirks and I can already hear him teasing me inside his mind.

“Yeah we’ve met. So what do you say? You want to sing tonight?” he asks. I look down at my plate and avoid the look Harvey is giving me and think about what I’m going to say next.

I look up at Zack and my mind goes blank. It’s that damn childlike smile and the way his eyes smile along with his mouth. How does he do that? I can tell he’s happy by just looking into his eyes and they slightly squint as he smiles. Cute, real cute move there genetics.

I don’t say anything I just nod and he says, “Great! We’ll be performing in twenty.” He walks away and heads for the stage. I look at Harvey and his toothy smile as I prepare excuses for what he’s about to say.

“You like him don’t you?” he asks teasingly.

“No, I don’t even know him,” I respond and look down at my menu to avoid Harvey’s accusing eyes.

“It’s too bad he’s gay,” mumbles Harvey. Again the slight, and I mean slight, feeling of disappointment reappears.

“Really?” I ask trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

“Yeah all gay guys know each other in this small town,” explains Harvey.

Well I guess it makes sense. His hair is really fluffy and light brown I bet he dyes it that color. I bet he also spends hours getting it that fluffy. Well gay guys aren’t necessarily on my danger list, actually they’re on my friends list. I guess it won’t hurt to be friends with him. He might be more sensitive than Harvey. Maybe he’s a closet baker? That would be great! We can bake all kinds of dessert foods together.

I walk up to the band ready to perform and Zack introduces me to the rest of the crew. There’s a guitar player that looks like a younger and less attractive Jack Sparrow from the pirate movies. The drummer is a woman that’s as tall as me but super thin! She’s like a walking skeleton, I swear. Then there’s Zack, he plays the saxophone. This is a strange band. Zack and Jack Sparrow talk me through the songs they’re going to play and fortunately for them I know them all.

We perform for about two hours and I sneak a peek at Zack whenever I can. He’s talented and he definitely steals the show. I watch as one of his hands gracefully slides up and down his saxophone. He is completely absorbed in the music and it’s as if we aren’t even here. It’s just him and his saxophone. For a moment I let the sweet saxophone melodies carry me to a world where there’s only music and I have to match such harmonies as best I can.

It was a beautiful moment. A moment of complete union as if the music wanted to live through me and I was in charge of escorting it out into the real world. When the song ended the clapping of the crowd brought me back and I looked over at Zack. It turns out he was already looking at me and I just caught him staring. Did I hit a wrong note? This is embarrassing. . .

Suddenly Jack Sparrow, and skeleton woman walk up to me with smiles on their faces.

“Man you two killed it tonight,” adds Jack Sparrow.

“Do you want to celebrate with us?” asks skeleton woman.

I don’t usually celebrate with strangers, but when I look over to Harvey he’s standing at the bar with some really skinny guy—Ryan I assume. I want to get a good look at Ryan but he’s too far. Maybe I shouldn’t interrupt them. Well lucky you Harvey I’ll be leaving you alone for the night. Looks like I have a new gay friend that I can hang with.

“Sure!” I exclaim feeling really good after that last performance.

“Come on we’re outside,” adds Zack and I follow him out.

I didn’t even know this place had a nice little torch lit area outside. The waiters brought us out a crap load of food and we didn’t even order any of it. Apparently it was on the house because the owner was so pleased with us. I saw a plate full of some green looking pasta and I just dug in.

“Whoa for a small girl you can sure eat,” says Jack Sparrow. Oops sometimes I forget I eat like a starving dragon. I start slowing down and everyone laughs at me.

“So where are you from?” asks skeleton woman.

“East coast,” I respond trying to keep all the food in my mouth.

“Wow that’s a long way to come,” says Jack Sparrow.

Yeah it took several days and I had to stay in creepy hotel rooms sometimes. Wow I can’t believe I made it all the way over here.

“Here have some drinks on me!” adds a man opening a brand new bottle of tequila. I’m guessing he’s the owner because he talks to Zack as if they’ve known each other for forever. I know I’m not supposed to drink around strangers, but I feel it’s necessary to this celebration. Plus I did see the guy open the bottle right in front of me and if there’s anything Jefferson’s can do well it's drink.

Several shots later I find myself hanging around Zack because skeleton woman and Captain Jack Sparrow are m.i.a.

“How did you learn to play so well?” I ask him. His facial features are highlighted by the torch light and I’m seriously glad he’s gay or I’d just jump him.

"My car broke down in San Francisco once and I played on the streets for money to fix it. All the practice made me really good,” he says sliding into the seat next to me. He was so close to me now and I didn’t want to move away.

"Why didn't you just call your family for help?"

"Somethings I have to do alone," he says.

"I've never been completely alone like that."

“Can I ask you something personal?” He moves even closer to me.

“Sure,” I say looking right at those gorgeous brown eyes of his. Dear pudding gods please give me the strength to resist hitting on a gay guy.

“What are you running from?” he asks and it takes me by surprise.

“I’m not running from anything,” I say quickly and nervously. I break eye contact and scoot away from him.

“I bet you’re some kind of criminal back home,” he jokes.

“Ok you caught me,” I play along. “I started a gang. We were notorious for braking into bakeries and stealing all the goodies we could find.” He moves closer to me yet again and I don’t bother to scoot away.

“You’re cute,” he says and then something strange happens.

He moves really close and kisses me. I don’t even bother to stop him because well I’ve been dying to kiss him all night. His hands gently slide down to my waist and I wrap mine around his neck. This was better than the time I won the talent show back in the eighth grade. Our bodies just fit so well together and he’s so good at kissing. I mean my lips are having a great time and the butterflies in my stomach are having a raging party. It was yet another moment of complete union. Like Zack and I were one while remaining two different people. Wait isn't he supposed to be gay? My body tenses up and his body doesn’t feel so comfortable pressed against mine anymore.

“You’re straight!” I say as I push him away. When he let’s go I instantly regret what I did. I wanted to feel him close again but there’s no chance of that happening now.

“Of course I am I kissed you!” he exclaims and I snap back to my senses. Did I really just kiss a stranger!?

“I-II gotta go,” I mumble and I run off.

I run past Harvey and into the parking lot. When I find his car I lean against it and slide down. Stupid stupid me! Of course Harvey would trick me into believing Zack was gay. He was already annoyed with me and I wouldn’t trust anyone that was that attractive and straight.

And the idiot of the year award goes to Agent Abigail for kissing the stranger she thought was gay.