Buzzy Bee's

Chapter 6

Mel was in a much better head space the next morning. She even got up and did a quick jog followed by some yoga. Kassie didn't join her for the run but did stretch with her after. While Mel was out running, Kassie got her beads out and started working on a friendship bracelet for Derek.

She was actively ignoring the silence from Aaron. When the sun came up she planned on writing him a good morning message. In the meantime, she focused on making Derek an obnoxious bracelet. She picked out small pink and purple beads that had a glimmer to them. She used irradiance letter beads to spell D +K with heart beads beside each of their initial. It was childish and gaudy. It was perfect.

**

After the morning rush, Kassie checked in with Mel. She said she was fine and Kassie believed her. She wasn't snapping at everyone like she had before and she seemed to be at peace waiting for her test results.

During the mid-morning lull, Kassie went on the hunt for soap. During their wait at the clinic the previous day, Kassie researched soap. She now had a wealth of knowledge about soap. She had to look in a few stores but now the men's bathroom had a liquid and a bar soap that should help remove oil from Derek's hands.

By the afternoon she had still not heard from Aaron. She had sent him a message in the morning. It was fine. She was completely mature and chill about it. Mostly.

Derek was on time today. He looked a little out of place in the brightly colored bakery. He wore dark wash jeans that had a hole in one of the knees. He had a dark green flannel layered over a black shirt. The friendship bracelet was burning a hole in her pocket and she was excited to show him the soap.

She grabbed him on his way to the employee's break room. He was good-natured as she pulled him by the wrist to the bathroom.

"This is assault."

"Nah, this is friendship."

She pushed him to the men's bathroom and made a "ta-da" motion with her arms.

He looked around the room, eyebrows raised. "It's the men's bathroom."

She nodded excitedly. He looked around the room again before giving her a once-over. His slightly bewildered expression dropped into a confidant smirk.

"You changed your mind, baby girl? I'm sure we can find a better place to hook up than the bathroom." He took a couple of languid steps towards her but he abruptly stopped when she mimed throwing up.

"That's disgusting," She faked gagged. " Don't ever call me baby girl again. I will drink bleach."

Red spread across his cheekbones. He threw his hands up. "Then why the hell am I in the bathroom with you?"

He was embarrassed. Good.

"Look under the sink."

Derek huffed and rolled his eyes before crouching down to look under the sink. She could see the moment he found his basket, his body froze up. She had taped a notecard on the front with his name messily written with a couple of little hearts surrounding it. He carefully pulled the basket out and placed it on the sink. He stared at it for a few moments before looking back at her.

"What the hell is this?"

She rolled her eyes and started taking items out of the basket. She held up a bar of soap and a small mesh bag. "This is walnut soap with pumice. It's supposed to get oil off your hands," She shook the little bag. "This is a soap saver. You put the little pieces of soap in it so you can use it when it gets small or breaks."

She grabbed the liquid soap. She popped the lid and smelled it then held it up for him. He obediently smelled it. "This is more heavy-duty soap. It works good but it can be rough on your hands." She put the soap down and picked up the lotion. "This is intensive hand cream because the soap might dry out your hands."

She put everything back in the basket and pulled out the last item. "I also got you chapstick because when you ambushed me with your mouth, I noticed your lips were chapped."

He reached out to touch the basket with his fingertips then looked at her with a blank stare. Might as well go all in.

She grabbed the friendship bracelet out of her pocket and shook it. The beads jingled. She grabbed his hand. His skin was warm and rough. She slipped the bracelet on his wrist. He was still for a moment before he threw his head back and howled in laughter. She took a step back, a sick feeling in her gut. She didn't expect him to laugh at her. He must have seen something in her face because he pulled her into a rough hug. He hadn't stopped laughing and she could feel his body shake with it. He gave her an awkward pat on the back before releasing her. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a bracelet. He spun it around his finger before he gently took her hand and slipped it on her wrist. He pulled the strings and tightened it. His face was flushed red and his eyes were still crinkling with laughter. "Now we match."

Kassie took a good look at her new bracelet. It was made from green and black cord braided together. Two black beads were braided into the soft cord, a D and K. She took one look at his bashful expression and burst into giggles. She threw her arms around him. "Yes! We're friends."

He wrapped his arms around her. "Or whatever."

"Nope." She popped the 'p'. "Definitely friends, but if you ever call me baby again I will fire you."

"This friendship sucks."

**

Kassie and Mel were washing dishes when Mel reached over and gave the bracelet a sharp tug.

"You're a friendship slut."

"You are a literal slut." Kassie shot back drly.

Mel splashed dirty sink water at her. Kassie sprayed her in the face with the sink's hose.

Abe came in to investigate the shrieking coming from the kitchen. He froze when he saw the water mess on the floor and turned around and left when Mel smacked Kassie in the face with a handful of flour.

**

Kassie slept alone that night. Mel went home after two nights in her bed. She flipped through her apps to kill time. She stopped on the messenger app every few minutes hoping to see a new message from Aaron. She was balancing on the thin line between anticipation and desperation. She wondered how she got to the place where her thoughts were consumed by some guy. How do people live like this? Constantly filled with yearning, actively dissecting every conversation for clues and following lines of thought into brick walls. Wasting all their time on someone and getting nothing.

Kassie was all too familiar with her tendency to fixate all her energy on something. It was a tendency that walked hand in hand with her anxiety. She poured that obsessive energy into Mel who bore the curse well. She fixated on every aspect of B's to ensure its success. She scoured for every scrap of information on things that interested her so that there was nothing left to the unknown. But this was the first time that this energy and effort had been focused on a boy.

Kassie fell asleep, second-guessing everything she had typed to Aaron in the entirety of their conversation history.