Kissing In Cars

2

"What're you doing here?" are the only words that come out of my mouth as I look at him. Not very professional of me, I know.

"I, uh, I'm picking up a cake." he says awkwardly looking about as surprise as I am. "I didn't know you worked here."

I blink at him, stuck in a sort of daze. It's been six years since I've seen Tony and now here he is in my bakery of all places, picking up a cake of all things. This was the last thing I was expecting today, or ever.

"Um, sorry." I say pulling myself out of my trance. "What's the name your orders under?"

"It should be under Cora."

Despite the fact that I haven't seen him in six years I feel a weird pang of jealousy in my chest as he says another womans name. I can't help but think if Cora is someone he's with and how long he's been with her, if its serious, if he loves her. I shake those thoughts out of my head as quickly as they came in.

"I'll go grab it." I say to him with a forced smile, then head towards the freezer where our ordered cakes are stored.

My thoughts fall back to Tony as I search for the order. He looks good. His hair is shorter than he used to keep it, but it really works for him, it frames his face perfectly. He has more tattoos than he had before. Last night I saw him his throat wasn't tattooed and his arms weren't filled, but now about every inch of his body has ink on it. The only thing that hasn't changed is his style. He's dressed in black jeans, a black tee and Vans. Again, he looks good.

I find this cake and head to the front with it. Tony has his back to me looking at a display case where we have cakes, cupcakes and fresh pies. I wonder if his favourite pie is still cherry. I wonder if he's still the same person or if he's changed just in the way his appearance has. 

"Is there anything else?" I ask him as I round the counter, putting his cake down in its boxing in front of him.

He shakes his head. "No that's it." he says.

I ring him up for the cake as he continues to look around at the store's decor, most of which I have done myself. 

"So, how are you?" he asks me. For the first time since he got here we're both really looking at one another.

"I'm good." I say hesitantly, drawing out the o's in 'good.' "How about you? How's famous life?"

"I wouldn't call myself famous, but yeah, life is good. Just finished a tour, so I'm back home for awhile." Tony says to me as he pays. "I noticed the name. Uh, of the bakery. Blissful Bakery. You always wanted to name your bakery that."

"Yep." I reply, not really knowing what else to say to that. 

"So, this is yours?" he asks, gesturing around.

"Yeah, its mine." I say, feeling a sense of pride. He might be a very famous musician but I have my very own thriving bakery, we both succeeded in ours dreams. With a heavy heart, my mind reminds me that the word 'separately' belongs in that previous thought.

"Thats really cool." he says. "I'm really glad you got to do what you wanted."

The words slip out before I can stop them. "Yeah, and at no cost to anyone else." 

Tony's face flushes with shame so much that I have to look away. I didn't mean for it to come out, especially since so much time has passed since its happened, but the words came out before I could even try to stop them.

"I didn't mean to say that." I say quickly.

"No, I deserved it." he says. "We both know I did."

There's a lull in the conversation that I've now turned awkward, and we both look at one another unsure of what to say. When you see someone you had a lot of history with, especially when it ended bad, its awkward to see one another again because all you can think about is how it last ended. 

"Well," I say after a couple of more seconds of silence. "Hope you enjoy." I say gesturing to the cake he's now holding onto. "Have a great day."

"I know it'll be great." he says and smiles at me, a real Tony smile. It kills me a little inside to see it, but I don't let on. "It was great seeing you, maybe we'll bump into one another while I'm back."

"Yeah, maybe." I say hoping that we honestly wont. If this were our last interaction ever I would be perfectly okay with that. "Bye, Tony."

"Bye, Ava." he says. With one final last look he turns and exits my bakery hopefully for what is the first and last time.