STORY OF THE CHUBBY

STORY OF THE CHUBBY 35

I smiled back at him and took his hand.

***

‘Chbn bnnn,’ I tried to say without cracking up. Chris tried too, but he ended up laughing so hard that he had no choice to spit out the spit covered marshmallows that had filled his mouth into a bag.

I did the same and announced happily, ‘I won! I won Chubby Bunny!’

Chris chuckled, shaking his head in amusement, ‘And yet you have never played this game until right this moment.’

‘What can I say,’ I stated sitting beside him on the hood of his car. ‘This girl has many talents!’

‘That is the absolute truth,’ Chris said smiling. We looked up at the cloudless night sky in silent content, studying the few stars that dusted the sky.

We had driven around town looking for open shops with something interesting to do when we had found a convenient store that was still open and decided to look around.  In the end, we ended up buying a packet of sweets and marshmallows, the album Bad Blood by Bastille and some goofy looking glasses that Chris had “fallen in love”. After that we kinda just drove aimlessly, looking for somewhere to just chill.

The cold night breeze blew our way again and I snuggled closely into Chris’s jacket. And my, did it smell heavenly. He’d given me a while back since I had been dumb enough to carry a coat. Luckily, he had a spare jacket in his car.

‘I don’t really remember much about her,’ Chris broke the silence and from what I gathered, he was talking about his biological mother. ‘But I remember her smell...she smelt like cookies most of the time. Because she used to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, baking and baking. Granma told me she taught Mum how to bake,’ he said, his eyes smiling and distant at the memory. ‘The cookies were for the children’s home that was just a block away from our place. They loved her cookies so much and she didn’t mind baking for them.’

He blew into the air, his hot breath mingling with the cold. ‘My parents were really in love, you know. I remember the look on her eyes whenever my father came home from work every evening. They never fought, ever. I guess they were just the one for each other. Maybe that’s why he took it really bad,’ Chris said, referring to his biological father.

‘The sad thing,’ Chris continued, suddenly looking sad. ‘Is that I can’t remember her voice. I try...but it just doesn’t come to me. She loved singing...she was always singing around the house...but I can’t remember her voice. I loved listening to her sing. She’d sing me to sleep each night.’

I scooted next to him and looped my arm in his, laying my head on his shoulder, as a sign of comfort. He looked so tormented at the moment. He seemed to have relaxed a little by my gesture since he leaned his head on mine. This was such a perfect moment...but I didn’t want to think about that right now. My main focus was to comfort him.

‘What song did you like her singing?’ I asked when he fell quiet.

I felt, rather than saw, him smile, ‘Somewhere over the rainbow, from Wizard of Oz.’

I had never actually watched the movie but I had heard the song from ‘Blended’ the movie when Drew Barrymore sang it and I had made a point of getting it and knowing it.

‘We liked watching the movie together, and that was our song,’ Chris chuckled, almost embarrassed.

‘I’m not judging,’ I said, chuckling too. ‘I know it, a bit.’ I said, pulling away, to face him.

He gave me a small smile, ‘Really now?’

I stuck my tongue out at him, before leaning back on his shoulder.

‘She’d be really proud of you, you know? You turned out to be a fine boy, Edwards,’ I said, after a minute of silence.

‘You think I’m fine?’ he asked suggestively, causing me to sit up suddenly to glare at him even though I could feel my face heat up.

‘You’re impossible,’ I said, looking away.

‘I’m kidding, I’m kidding, okay?’ he said, bumping my shoulder with his. ‘I know what you mean. Thanks, I guess.’ I nodded. ‘Although I think you’re biased because you have a crush on me.’

I hit his head and climbed off the hood, ‘You know you’re really not supposed to bring that up! Ever! It’s an unwritten rule of the universe.’

I felt a little embarrassed when he brought that up, because, let’s face it, there really wasn’t anything to talk about when that subject was concerned. His jealousy, however, was something we needed to discuss.

‘What’s with you, anyway?’ I asked, turning to face him. ‘What’s up with all this jealousy?’

He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again, as if wondering what he would say.

‘Well?’ I asked when he didn’t say anything.

‘About Ash, I really didn’t trust him and he proved me right,’ he defended himself.

‘Yea, I get that. Thank you, for that. But you punched him, and then you got mad at me because I went with him instead of you,’ I pointed out.

‘I punched him because he was messing with you! What did you want me to do? Shake his hand and tell him congratulations? And I got mad at you because you still didn’t believe me when I told you about his bullshit!’

I gulped. Twice. Well, that made sense. But then I remembered. ‘What about at the gas station?’

He exhaled deeply, looking as if he didn’t have a good excuse about that one. ‘Well, I-I, um...you were looking a bit too cosy with a perfect stranger...’

‘So you get mad?’

I was pushing him, and I knew it. I was pushing him to confess something, anything. I just didn’t want to be filled with all this missing pieces in my head and fill them in for myself.

‘You may or may not like the answer,’ he finally said, his expression resigned. Like he couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.

I held my breath, knowing what he was about to say and at the same time, wanting to hear what he would say to the contrary. The look in his eyes cleared any doubt I had.

‘No,’ I breathed, shocked.

‘Yes,’ he gave me some sort of sad look, but there was a hint of happiness there too.

‘No,’ I shook my head in denial. What was wrong with me anyway? Wasn’t I just pushing him to confess just a minute ago. Why was acting like this now? ‘You can’t.’

‘Yes, Cecelia,’ he said firmly, jumping off the hood and coming to stand where I was, ‘I can... and I like you too.’

PS: What do you think of the new cover?