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 Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 1:40 pm
The sweet had worked. Acutally, it'd worked brilliantly well, enough so that Drake had announced himself smitten with the bakery that had produced the treat, and demanded a chance to visit it himself that very next weekend. Adam had refrained from mentioning exactly how short on money they were, deciding that his boyfriend's smile was more important than little things like electricity bills. He'd figure something out.
It was Saturday afternoon, and the sun was too hot, despite the season. People were shedding coats and glancing in surprise at the sun. Adam loved it, the feel of heat on the back of his neck, the brilliant blue of the sky. Drake was less impressed, hanging heavily on Adam's arm, and asking repeatedly how much further they'd have to walk.
"Why on a hill?" Drake's voice, when he was happy, could be sweet and soft. But at times like this, it had a sharp irritable edge to it, cutting the listener.
"Perhaps it's better for baking." Adam replied absently, looping his arm around the red head's waist as they neared their destination.
"That's stupid. Why would it be better for baking?" Drake, nearly half a foot shorter than Adam, glared upward, lips twisting downward.
"You're right, of course." Adam replied, glad that the door was now directly in front of them. "Maybe they'll move."
But he remembered the man talking about never selling the place last time he'd been in, and knew he was lying. Pushing the door open, he allowed Drake to step inside in front of him, and took a moment to breath in the comforting smell of the place. There was something so refreshing about the old fashioned feel to it.
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 5:29 pm
Although a small jingle signaled the couple's arrival, Audley was drowning in a good novel and as such did not hear it. He leaned against the counter with his back to the shop door as the small space drank in the sunlight that slid through the large windows. Everything about the shop was warm in the afternoon sun, and later in the day the caramel colored walls would probably cause it to glow the color also. His look was one of perfect contentment. Unfortunately it was not the look of a very dedicated business owner. Books tended to do that to him.
Fortunately it wasn't too long until Audley was able to feel that odd "you're not alone" sensation that one sometimes gets when another person is in the room, and when he realized the two had been standing there he practically threw the book down, apologizing quite urgently for his inattentiveness.
"It is good to see you back," he said gratefully to the one with the sad smile, or otherwise known as Adam. He turned to his acquaintance also and offered a smile and pleasant greeting. The problem with Audley was - and it wasn't a very serious problem anyways - that as a straight man he had absolutely no gaydar, to be blunt about it. Should a gay man happen to walk into the same space as him and any number of other people, Audley would always be the last to know. Not his fault, really. He was just born that way.
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:26 pm
Adam allowed the door to swing gently shut, standing behind Drake as the bright eyed man took in the shop. He was smiling, the sweet, almost childish smile that had drawn Adam to him in the first place. "Oh, it's so sweet!" He announced, bouncing toward the counter, completely oblivious to the reading Audley or any other patrons that he might be disturbing. "I love it Adam. Oh why didn't you take me here before."
There wasn't really a question there, so Adam didn't answer, simply following the more animated man, wearing that fixed vacent smile of his. He let himself place a hand on Drake's shoulder, only to get it shrugged off with a glare and a 'not in public look'. They had shared the same strict sort of upbringing, but somehow he had not picked up Drake's distaste for PDAs.
At least, Drake was in a good mood, the mistake clearly forgotten as soon as Adam took a step backwards. Forgotten, until Audley spoke. Adam saw the fire spark in those green eyes, and while it made him wince he still couldn't help but admire the fierce passion of it.
"Why dear," And his voice was cloyingly sweet, "I didn't realize that you were such a valued customer." He turned that look on Audley, still smiling, sweetly, perfectly. One might note that a smile is really no more than the baring of one's teeth, a threat with most species. "I simply love your little bakery. I just begged Adam to take me here. He's such a good boyfriend."
Adam was... trying very hard not to back away from the sugary venom in Drake's words. At least they were in public. At least they both knew how to play nice. It would be okay. It would be fine. And if one could almost see Adam shrinking in place, well, maybe they wouldn't say anything.
"I was, hoping to try another scone?" He managed to say, and even he couldn't keep smiling, the expression fading into stoic blankness. His tone though, was questioning, almost lost.
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:47 pm
Audley had the distinct impression that Drake wanted to castrate him. He wasn't even sure why. It took him all the way up until the word 'boyfriend' for him to figure it out. Audley was always the last to know. Oh. Oh.
"Err- well-" he stuttered desperately in an attempt to fix the awkward situation. He wished Laurence had been there. He could've played the 'I have a boyfriend and I promise I'm not hitting on yours, honestly please don't kill me' card. Not that Laurence would ever stand for it. "That is, with such a small business as this every customer is vital... I mean, uh, not that they're not anyways."
Oh, yes, he was a real smooth talker.
The sudden change in expression and tone startled Audley back into stability, though. The sweetness made him unsure of how to navigate the situation. If only people were honest all the time, they'd be easier to deal with. After a few moments of blinking Audley finally managed to reply with an equally blank (although perhaps a little more on the perplexed side of blank) expression "What flavor?"
Annette, in the meanwhile, had wandered out in all her puffy pink glory and after taking one look at the situation immediately turned around and headed straight back the way she came.
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 7:17 pm
As Audley spoke, Drake seemed to calm, that wicked smile of his relaxing into something more like a pout. Adam watched him, noting each tiny change of expression, so that he'd be prepared for what happened when they got home. It'd be tears, then, if Drake was pouting. Tears and accusations, which would be a change from screaming and accusations.
Poor Drake. It was just so hard to reassure him, and he never knew what to say. Drake was fragile. Most people just didn't understand that. Adam tried. He really tried. But it was still hard to watch Drake standing there snarling at the poor man. And the man wasn't setting of any 'pings' in Adam's head, so it really didn't seem to be worth the effort.
The pink girl distracted him for a moment, and he could only sympathize with her quick retreat. Was she the owner's sister, perhaps? They didn't exactly look alike, but there was more to blood than surface appearances. He and--
"No, I think I want carrot cake." Drake's voice still had a razors edge; it neatly cut Adam away from more dangerous thoughts. There was that to say for Drake's mercurial moods they kept him distracted. "Tell him I want carrot cake."
Which meant, of course, that he now wasn't speaking to the poor bakery owner. Forcing himself not to sigh, Adam fixed a smile in place. He wanted, really wanted to say he was sorry for Drake's attitude. But he wasn't feeling quite that masochistic. He hoped the guilt in his eyes was enough. "He'll have a slice of carrot cake. And if I could please have a cranberry orange scone?"
"To go," Drake interjected.
"To go." And Adam couldn't quite keep the disappointment out of his voice, no matter how well he kept that smile in place.
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:49 am
Adam's boyfriend being decidedly scary, Audley thought it would just be best to get the whole thing over with and maybe - hopefully - he'd never return again. He almost forgot why he was so happy to have seen Adam in the first place. Which then made the situation even more complicated, since now he knew he could not simply hand off the gift to him as he had hopped.
"Righto," he said with a slight nod, and turned to retrieve and bag the sweets. He placed each in a seperate envelope of white paper and with his back turned to the two men he slipped in with Adam's scone a small bag tied shut with a bow, coutesy of Annette's need to make everything cuter. He placed both together in a larger bag, then, and set it on the counter.
"$5.25, please." He returned the look of guilt with a gaze that would suggest a "sucks to be you" sentiment, although in reality he felt a bit more sympathetic than that.
{[ excuse my crap post, I'm at school and the period is almost over. x.x ]}
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 12:51 pm
Adam nodded, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his black leather wallet. Like his clothes, it was obvious high quaility, a fact made slightly confusing by the fact that there was very little money in it. Well... such was life. Sometimes the appearance of the thing was more important than the reality. Or so he'd heard.
Pulling out a five and a quarter, he held the money out toward Audley, giving the tea things behind the counter a reluctant look as he did so. He'd planned to spend the afternoon here. He'd thought it would be nice.
Drake was sighing.
Next time, if he found the time for a next time, he'd come alone. It was too much of an ordeal for his boyfriend, that much was clear. Hopefully Drake wouldn't forbid him to come to the bakery all together. He didn't like lying to the red head, and knew perfectly well that he wasn't going to give up the little slice of peace he'd found.
"Thank you." Speaking to say something, even if that something wasn't quite as satisfactory as 'I'm Sorry'.
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