Sweet Like Honey

“No! You can’t make me go!” I yell as I jump on Harvey’s back and cling to him like a monkey.

“Get off,” he says trying to throw me off his back and into the car.

I hold on tighter and don’t let go of him as he jerks back and forth trying to get me off his back. My grip loosens and I slip right off and onto the ground. Harvey laughs at me and before he can pick me up and shove me in the car I cling to his leg.

“I’ll never let go! Never!” I exclaim, now wrapped around his leg like a young child.

“Come on Abby. It’s just until lunch and we can leave right after,” promises Harvey.

Harvey and Ryan are taking me shopping for my work gear and they asked Zack to help out. They didn’t even bother to trick me this time. I refuse to go because something tells me they’re going to ditch me with him and I’ll be forced to spend the afternoon with him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Ryan and Zack were brothers. I knew you’d catch on to the fact that Zack wasn’t gay and I’ sorry for lying to you about that too. I’m also sorry that I didn’t tell you about the job interview. It slipped my mind at first and then I learned why you were being so suspicious so I couldn’t tell you about the interview. You’ve always been good at avoiding guys that you might like,” says Harvey defeated.

I think back to my high school days when I heard Thomas Gray was going to ask me to prom. I basically hid in the girl’s bathroom all day. I even went as far as dressing as a guy so that he wouldn’t recognize me when I walked past him in the hall. It was pure genius!

“Fine, I’ll go,” I agree and let go of his leg. Not because I wanted to see Zack but because I was tired of fighting with Harvey. I can’t hold on to his leg all day. My arms are already starting to hurt. We get into the car and drive off.

“I’ll have to admit though you’re damn good at avoiding,” adds Harvey.

“I should be a ninja!” I exclaim and snicker. That could be my next job! When I honorably
resign from being a ranger, I will be a ninja. I bet my secret agent experience will really help. I just won’t mention that I got fired from that job . . .

“Oh no!” I say when a painful sensation hits me.

“What now?” asks Harvey annoyed.

“I have to pee!” I squirm around in my seat holding it in as best I can.

“Lucky for you we’re here,” says Harvey.

I take off through parking lot and into the store with the bikes and tents in the window. I ask for the bathroom and one of the ladies at the cash register directs me to the back. I run to the back only to find a group of people standing around in front of a door talking about maps.

Who hangs out in front of the bathroom? Agh I have to go!

“Excuse me!” I say and push past them and run through the door.
Oh sweet relief! My bladder was about to burst! When I step out of the stall and wash my hands I notice several urinals along the wall behind me through the mirror. Shit! I’m in the men’s bathroom!

Calm down Ranger Abby there’s no one in here. Just casually walk out and no one will ever know what happened. I open the door and step out casually.

“Abigail?” says Zack standing in front of me. Double Shit.

“It’s not what it looks like!” I blurt out.

He tries to hold back a chuckle but can’t. At that point I just walk away without explaining anything. I’m just going to pretend this never happened, like the kiss. Hopefully he doesn’t bring that up.

“First things first you need hiking boots,” says Harvey as I walk up to him in the shoe section.

“There are some cute ones over here,” says Ryan.

I try on several pairs but don’t know which to pick. Ryan says to go for the light brown ones while Harvey wonders off into the backpack section.

“You don’t want those,” says Zack coming up behind me. He’s always randomly popping in! Red flag number two.

“Why not?” asks Ryan.

“They’re cheap quality. They’ll rip in two months,” explains Zack as he looks for a different pair. He hands me a different pair to try on. These were super ugly in comparison to Ryan’s choice.

Zack gives me a brief explanation of the job and tells me what kind of food to pack for lunch and what kind of canteens to buy for water. Most of the time Ryan argues with Zack about how ugly he’s making me by picking out ugly mismatched stuff. Zack mostly ignores his brother’s comments and tells me quality is more important than physical appearances. All I really end up buying are boots, canteens and bug spray.

I can’t help but admire his knowledge on this kind of stuff. It turns out Zack is a hard core backpacker, climber and kayak-er. I didn’t learn this from him though. He doesn’t say much the entire time and Ryan comments on his brother’s experience as if he’s trying to convince me Zack is a super hero or something. It’s not like Ryan has to work hard to convince me Zack’s a great guy I can kinda already tell . . .

When we sit down at a table outside to eat lunch Harvey says he’s going to get our food for us while Ryan makes the excuse of going to the bathroom. Zack looks over at me and then back at Harvey and Ryan as they walk away.

“That couldn’t be more obvious,” he says coolly and leans back in his chair.

I sink into my chair and play with the pine needle on the table. I can’t help but notice how handsome Zack looks just leaning back in his chair. We sit in painfully awkward silence for about a minute until I decide to break the ice.

“I walked into the men’s bathroom by accident,” I explain still twisting the pine needle into different shapes until it snaps.

“You’re not a man? So I kissed a girl?” he jokes and flashes me his signature smile.

“I’m sorry about . . . that night,” I say hoping that he accepts the apology and drops the subject.

“Sorry about what exactly?” he asks.

“I don’t normally behave that way,” I mumble. What I really mean to say is that I don’t normally kiss strangers, call them gay and run off.

“You don’t normally kiss straight men?” he says with a chuckle.

I can’t help but laugh at myself.

“I just . . . well I . . . maybe we. . .” I trail off trying to figure out what I want to say.

“Maybe we should start all over. . . as friends,” he says.

I feel super relieved when he says that because it means he’s going to drop the whole kissing thing.

“Zachary West, but you can call me Zack,” he says and holds out his hand.

“Abigail Jefferson, but you can call me Abby,” I respond and shake his firm and warm hand.

I suddenly spot Harvey and Ryan far behind Zack. Harvey holds two fries in his hands while Ryan puckers his lips. It takes me while to realize Harvey is making the two fries kiss and Ryan is making smooching noises. Real mature guys. Zack notices me shooting daggers and turns around. Harvey and Ryan quickly quit what they’re doing and start walking back to the table.

Harvey comes up to the table and says, “Hey Abby I can’t make out which order belongs to Zack help me out.” Ryan giggles like a teenager and Harvey winks at me and Zack.

“I think they both ordered the sun kissed fries,” adds Ryan with a wink.

“I had the normal sun kissed fries,” says Zack and I’m relived he doesn’t acknowledge the jokes. “Abby ordered the curly fries, she doesn’t like the straight ones ,” he jokes.

I don’t really have anything to tease them about so I just laugh along with them. Well at least Zack is fun to be around. I guess working with him won’t be so bad after all.

I’m glad I ditched my life back home for this.