Honey | Gini

Seven

Gina's POV

My breath cuts short, and I stumble backwards. Concern floods Nini's face, but I hold up my hand, signalling that I'm alright. I'm not alright. I've fallen into a classic situation of love that could never be requited. She couldn't like me that way. Could she? I suppose it's not impossible...

"Photos!" Nini remembers.

"Aren't they supposed to be bizarre outfits?" I recall.

She pauses for a second before darting off down the hall. A moment later, she comes back with two feather boas. I grin and take the blue one from her, and she wraps the pink one over her shoulders. She holds out her phone as she leans into me, and I swear my heart beats an extra time when her shoulder hits mine. After the photo is taken, Nini returns to her dressing room, her eyes immediately going toward the mirror.

"You should get it," I say.

"You think? I don't usually wear suits."

"Well, you look hot, and you obviously love it, so I think you should." 

Clearly, I'm not good at keeping my affection quiet. I've never had to before. I've never felt this way before. Besides, I'm only telling the objective truth. Anyone would agree that she looks absolutely incredible, so much that it's hard to remember to even breathe—

"Then you should get that," Nini says, pulling me out of my trainwreck of thought.

I glance down at myself again before looking back up with a smile. "Looks like I have next year's homecoming dress."

That lights a huge grin on Nini's face, and I feel pleased with myself. After switching back into my regular clothes, I purchase the dress, and the woman puts it in a brown, paper bag with the store's name printed in script so bedecked that I can't even read it. When I turn around, I see Nini observing the wall of honey jars, and I go up to join her.

"You like honey?" I ask.

"It's raw honey," she says, clearly in awe of the anomaly. "Nothing but just honey in it."

"Get it, too." 

"I don't even have a job. I'm going to go into debt if I keep spending today. But I do love honey. I used to put it on everything when I was a kid. And I mean everything. Even my pizza had honey, which is surprisingly good. I think I was a honeybee in a past life."

She and I share a laugh, which fades away fast as her focus returns to the shelves. My sight flicks from Nini's longing eyes to the honey, then I grab one of the jars.

"We'll split the cost," I say.

Every time I make her smile is like I've won another level of a game I didn't even sign up to play. But somehow I'm in it, and I can't see my score, but I really hope I'm doing okay. After buying the honey, the two of us head for the door, and I step ahead to open it for her.

She gives me a nod, saying, "Thanks."

"You're welcome, honeybee."

Another smile. Another win.

_______________________________________

Nini's POV

So Gina's allergic to tomatoes. I find that out when we go get subs for lunch, and she asks for no tomato. And she also likes cheese, potentially more than me. We get in a long debate about who likes cheese more, which we eventually settle only when she gives in and let me win.