Shiny Demon

Know Your Onion

A lonely little petunia in an onion patch.

The phrase pushed its way into Seb's mind with the la-dee-da lilt of his mum as he considered the forsaken onion sitting before him on the cutting board. That's how she would describe him right now if she could see him, hiding at the edge of the kitchen while everyone else bustled around chatting to one another. She would call him that when she thought he was being sulky and superior. The irony was that he usually felt like the onion amongst petunias.

And besides, he wasn't sulking. There were quite literally too many cooks in the kitchen. So Seb decided to avoid the struggle, and camped out on the outer edge of the counter where he could safely watch the chaos ensue.

"You're cleaning that up, mate." Bill sniped at Harry, who had just knocked several items off the crowded counter.

"I am not. It's not my fault."

"How is it not your fault? Your foot is in my mince!"

To be fair, Nicky had been pulling random items from the fridge and placing them on the counter, monopolizing the already limited counter space. But Harry and Bill weren't helping things as they competed to occupy the remainder. Both were haphazardly gathering items and creating an ungodly mess in the process. Camilo was the only one who really looked at home in the kitchen, but he was too preoccupied with his work to help the rest of them.

Harry and Bill had been bickering all day. Ever since they'd found out that they were both choosing Stevie for their date. Camilo picked her too, but like now, he remained cooly above it all, and sidestepped them and their tension.

Truth be told, Seb had also considered choosing Stevie for about half a second. She seemed like the most fun to spend an afternoon with. And if he was being completely honest with himself, he was thinking about her a bit. His mind kept pulling unwillingly to thoughts of her. What sort of music did she play? How did she take her coffee? What did she think of the other Islanders? What did she think of him?

But when every other guy but Nicky announced they'd be choosing Stevie, he knew. That's just the type of girl she was. Everyone was drawn to her. It was like discovering a song that spoke to your soul so clearly and directly, only to find out that everyone else felt the exact same way and had already been playing it on repeat for a month.

It was almost a relief though, realizing that Stevie was just the next catchy chart-topper. He didn't usually go for the obvious. He had a kind of built in anti-tropism to things people generally loved. When others leaned in, he leaned away. He used to wear that personality trait proudly, but now he was starting to suspect that it just made him kind of an asshole.

Asshole or not, his silly infatuation would fade soon enough. Plus, they'd decided to be mates. In the end, he ended up going on a date with AJ. It felt too political to pick anyone besides his own partner. And AJ wasn't terrible company. She took care of all the talking at least, so the risk of embarrassing himself trying to be charming in front of the camera was minimal. They'd been about two minutes into their date when AJ admitted she had a crush on Stevie, and she spent the rest of the time discussing her many wonderful traits. It wasn't a bad time, actually.

A fog of perfume and hair product wafted into the kitchen preceding the girls, mixing oddly with the already confusing concoction of scents that the boys were creating. Seb grabbed a nearby knife and tried to look busy, jabbing the onion with the sharp tip.

Genevieve, a petunia of a person if he ever knew one, bounced cheerily over to Harry. Iona, Miki, and Elladine followed suit and found their own partners. AJ gave him a nod across the room and then hovered around the other couples, keeping an eye on Stevie, who was last to arrive.