Love in All the Wrong Places

As I stepped outside, I put my headphones in my ears and began scrolling through the music on my phone before finally settling on what to listen to. Today’s choice I decided to abandon my old-school roots, and went a bit more modern. I decided on listening to the self-titled The Postelles album. It’s one of my favorites, and the style of music definitely fit the weather outside today. However I won’t deny, one of the major appeals of this album was how old-school it sounded, while still being relevant and modern. I guess I felt akin to them because their style of music reflected the work I made. I take my influence of the old, and make it new again. Regardless, the album is upbeat and catchy and was definitely what I needed to clear my head.

It was warm and sunny, with a light cool breeze to cool you down, just as you began to think it was too hot. I found myself smiling as I walked down the sidewalk and took in the music coming through my headphones. Never underestimate the power music has over a person’s mood. It can take even the crappiest days and make them better. As I was walking, I found myself having a slight skip to my step as I rounded the corner to enter my favorite little bakery, hidden from the rest of the world. This bakery not only had some of the best cupcakes and sandwiches I had ever tasted, but had one of the best atmospheres to come in and just chill out. I smiled as I entered the door and waved to Dave behind the counter before finding my usual seat on the vintage plush couch by the giant front window. I sank down into the couch, headphones still in, and sat back closing my eyes. I smiled to myself taking in the smell of fresh cupcakes and feeling the energy radiating from the busy bakery while still listening to my music.

Dave was one of the co-owners and I met him freshman year of high school. He always wanted to open a retro-styled bakery and I was so proud of him when he was finally able to open shop with a couple of his friends from culinary school last year. Their business had absolutely boomed over the last year and I couldn't be more excited for the trio. I was starting to drift off to sleep in complete bliss when I felt the pressure of the couch change as someone took a seat on the other side of me. I didn't budge and continued in my music and cupcake-smelling coma. As I lay there, I began to get that sixth sense feeling that either someone was staring at me or that there was something in front of my face. I slowly opened my eyes and both suspicions were confirmed. I jumped a few inches into the air, accidentally hitting Dave’s forehead with my own. He stood up from leaning over me, rubbing his head, and laughing that he was able to successfully scare me. I rolled my eyes and playfully hit his arm as I sat up, rubbing my own throbbing head and taking out one of my earbuds.

“God Dave, next time you want my attention, don’t resort to scaring the shit out of me! I’m still trying to calm my heart rate down!”

He arrogantly smiled, put a hand to his chest, and smugly said, “Well Christy, I do tend to have that effect on people. I’m always available for a good time. Just give me a call when you’re ready to stop denying your hidden love for me.” He playfully winked before sitting back down next to me.

I rolled my eyes at his attempts to cheer me up. Next to Jessie, he was my best friend and he knew more about me than anyone, especially when something was up. Though I showed no signs of it, he knew something was off with me. His go-to for cheering me up in times like these was to pull the heart-throb card. It always has and always will be strictly platonic between us. We both know this for a fact due to thinking at one point in high school that we liked each other, and attempted to test it out. We couldn't even finish the date because we were both so grossed and creeped out by it. We laughed it off and concluded that we were just best friends, and would always stay that way.

He half smiled and grabbed my hand and shook my arm to get my attention. I looked over at him, and saw his concerned face. “Christy, what’s going on? I can tell something is up, but you’re trying to put up this wall to keep from showing that you’re upset. Please tell me what’s wrong.”

Damn. He knew me better than I thought. I sat there pensively, trying to think of how to best verbalize what I was feeling. As I sat there musing, he patted my hand and said, “While you think of how to tell me what’s going on, I’m going to grab you a cupcake. I’ll get the good stuff.” He smiled and winked at me before heading back to the kitchen to make my favorite cupcake. I smiled back at him, and wondered to myself how I ever deserved such a wonderful friend. I turned behind me and looked out the window at the people passing. People-watching has always been one of my favorite things to do. I've always enjoyed sitting there and thinking about the lives that these people live and how I’m connected to them, when my jaw dropped. This devastatingly handsome guy stepped out of his car, parked directly in front of the bakery and proceeded to make his way inside. I heard the bell jingle as the door opened to greet him as he stepped inside. I had to close my mouth and try to keep my eyes from bulging out of my head as he stepped up to the counter to take his order. As I enjoyed the view from behind, I took the chance to observe his features. He was about 5’9’’, not too much taller than me, but enough to give him some height over me. He had dark brown hair, cut short and very dapper in appearance. He donned a teal V-neck tee with dark skinny jeans. He had a medium build and was wearing a ratty pair of black Chuck Taylor’s. I noticed a few tattoos hidden underneath the sleeves of his shirt, and smiled to myself in approval. About this time he turned to look for a place to sit, and I noticed he had a bit of a five o’clock shadow and some of the most piercing blue eyes I’d ever seen.

He continued to look around to find a place to sit when our eyes met. I swallowed hard, and tried to steady my breathing as he smiled and begin to make his way over to me. I sheepishly smiled back at him and proceeded to scoot over against the side of the couch as close to the arm as I could. I could feel my checks flush, and cursed how easily embarrassed I could get. I heard him chuckle slightly before gesturing to the empty spot on the couch next to me as if to ask if he could sit there. I enthusiastically nodded my head and smiled at him in response, probably coming across as a complete idiot as he sat down next to me. I still had my phone in my lap with my headphones in, but since Dave had come to talk to me earlier, I had taken one of the earbuds out, leaving one still in my ear.

He looked at my phone in my lap, and picked up the earbud lying on the couch between us. Without asking, he proceeds to put the earbud in his ear before smiling wider. He turns to me and says, “Wow, you know The Postelles? They’re one of my favorite bands! I've never met someone else who listens to them! I’m Jake by the way.” He then puts his hand out to shake hands.

I hesitantly put my hand out to shake his hand back, before awkwardly smiling back and telling him my name. “C-Christy. I’m C-Christy.” I felt so stupid. I was now stuttering around him. I couldn't even tell him my name! By this point I knew my checks were a bright crimson.

He laughed to himself, and said, “Well C-Christy, it’s nice to meet you. I've never met someone with an extra syllable at the beginning of their name.” He playfully winked at me, no doubt trying to calm my nerves. I looked down, too shamefaced to maintain eye contact. I meet a gorgeous guy that has the same music taste and I can’t even properly tell him my name. Perfect. Seeing how embarrassed I was and how quickly I dropped my eye contact, he put a hand on my left shoulder to get me to look back at him. He had leaned in a bit closer than he was before, but there was still a comfortable space between us. As I looked into his deep, bright blue eyes, I completely tuned out what he was saying as I took in the deep blue color of his eyes, and the small patches of freckles that graced his face on his cheekbones and over the bridge of his nose. It wasn't until I saw his hand waving in front of my face that I realized that I had tuned out what he was saying. I shook my head and looked at him confused before he smiled, and repeated what he said. “Christy, I hope I didn't make you upset. I was just trying to ease your nerves. I want to make it up to you. There’s a small show at this great bar a few blocks from here tomorrow night, and one of my favorite bands is performing. I figured since we seem to have the same taste in music, you might be interested. Do you want to go?”

I stared at him wide-eyed, and before I could respond, they called his name at the counter. He quickly got up, grabbed his bag of baked goods and coffee before coming back over to me. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and grabbed a napkin out of his bag. He hastily wrote down something on the napkin before giving it to me.

“On that napkin is the address of the bar I was telling you about. If you’re interested, meet me at that address around 5:30 and I’ll be waiting for you outside. The show starts at 6:00. They’re not very well-known so it probably won’t be too packed, but it should be fun. I hope to see you there.”

With that, he picked up his stuff, walked out the door, and got into his car. I sat there in shock as Dave finally came and sat down where Jake had just been sitting. I turned to Dave as he set down my perfect cupcake: a concoction he had made up especially for me one day back in high school whenever I was having a bad day. He saved this recipe just for me, and refused to put it on the main menu for that reason, as well as refusing to share the recipe with anyone else. It contained everything I loved about dessert, but it was something that should only be enjoyed in moderation because of how much crap it actually contained. It was a dark chocolate cupcake, filled with a rich, creamy cheesecake filling. It was topped with a light, homemade whip cream. He juiced some fresh strawberries, and drizzled that on top, and added a few bits of gram cracker. I looked at the cupcake, then back at him, and engulfed him in one of the biggest hugs I had ever given him. He stiffened at my hug at first, due to being completely off guard, but then, instinctively put his arms around me and hugged me back. He was definitely the older brother that I always wanted, but never had.

He pulled back from the hug, and looked at me wondering what had happened in the 5 minutes it took him to prepare my cupcake that made me hug him as big and tightly as I did. I shrugged it off and proceeded to eat my cupcake. I had already tucked the napkin Jake had given me in my pocket. Maybe I was ready to date more that I initially thought. I fully planned on meeting Jake the next night, and now had to go through the tortuous process of figuring out what to wear. Noticing my seemingly short attention span, Dave chuckled and got up. “Christy, I don’t know what caused the sudden change in your mood, but hold on to whatever it is. I need to get back to work, but I’m gonna drop by the apartment when I get off. Jessie and I have a date. We can talk while I wait for her to finish getting ready if you’re up to it.”

He shook his head, smiling, and went back behind the counter to put his apron back on as he took someone’s order. I smiled to myself, feeling completely confident and content with who I was for the first time in a while. I sat there and ate my cupcake, going over in my head the various routes that tomorrow could go. I finished my cupcake, put my plate in the dish container on top of the trashcan, put my earbuds back in my ears and decided to finish my walk around the neighborhood before going back to the apartment. After meeting Jake, I couldn't take the ridiculous smile off my face. I walked in the apartment, set my keys in the bowl by the front door, swung my purse over my head and hung it on one of the coat hooks on the wall, and skipped to the living room and threw myself onto the couch with the biggest smile on my face. Jessie obviously took note of my much improved mood, and put her laptop aside as she took off her glasses and looked at me skeptically. I looked back at her, and gave her the grin I couldn't recently get rid of.

With a perched eyebrow, she sat up straighter on the couch, tucked her feet under her, and asked, “So either that walk was life-changing and you found the answer to life, or you met a cute boy. I’m going to go with the latter. Am I right?” I nodded frantically and sat up, bouncing on the couch, unable to contain my excitement.

“Whoa, calm down there jumping bean! I want to know EVERYTHING that happened! Start from the beginning, sparing no detail! Knowing how you tell stories, you should finish right about the time Dave gets off work so I can start getting ready.” I stuck my tongue out at her remark, knowing he didn't get off work for another five hours. I know I have the tendency to be long-winded, especially when I’m excited, but I wasn't in the mood for her teasing when I had to tell her about this amazing guy I met. She laughed at my response and I could see the excitement in her face as I began to tell her about what happened. Seeing her response reminded me of how she looked when she and Dave first started going out about three years ago. They’re so much in love now, and I’m convinced they’ll get married one day. Actually, Dave has told me on a couple occasions he’s just waiting for the right time to pop the question. This is one of the few secrets in my life that I've had to keep from Jessie. She could tell I knew something she didn't and would try to pry it out of me, but I just blew it off as her being paranoid. She hated that, but would continue to probe anyway, much like she’s doing now as I told her about Jake.

However, the more I talked about Jake and what happened, the more her facial expression changed. It went from extremely excited to very somber. Her already pale face was a new shade of white. As I finished, she asked me what I had said his name was, and I told her, confused as to why she was suddenly acting so strange. It was then, that she looked up at me, and I could barely make out her response. She only said, “He’s bad news. Don’t go with him Chris.”

I cocked my head to the side, and she proceeded to get up off the couch. Without making eye contact, she walked to her room, and as she headed that way, she told me she was going to start getting ready for her date with Dave. She then closed and locked her bedroom door. As I sat there staring at her closed door, I began to question what could possibly be so bad about Jake and how on earth Jessie would know anything about him. I began to question how well I knew my best friend after all. I knew about her dating history, good and bad, like she did with my non-existent history. I shook it off, and went to my room to begin to sort through my closet for something to wear the next night. I liked Jake and there was nothing Jessie could say that would change my mind.