Reece's Haven

26

***

Sitting down on a cushioned windowsill in the living room with a bowl of nachos covered in melted cheese on my lap, I am in the middle of watching season 3 of Friends. Jenny lent me the cassettes.

Just when the show introduces the duck, emerging from Joey and Chandler's bathroom gracefully, for the first time, the sounds of doors being slammed shut catch my attention. I glance outside the window and spot Linda and Reece standing next to their car. Wrapped in a thick, grey blanket, Reece has one of his arms resting around his mother's shoulders. Their lips move asynchronously as they walk towards their house slowly.

It has been just over a month since I met Reece in the hospital. Unlike that time, there is some colour in his face and he does not look too weary. His dark hair has grown, with some rogue strands falling over his forehead. I don't realise that I'm staring at them until they disappear from view.

Shaking my head, I focus my attention on the show.

"That's a duck," states Ross.

"That's a bad duck," retorts Chandler.

Apparently Chandler is giving the duck a timeout, for reasons that I probably missed. I pick up the control and press 'rewind', cursing at the fact that I got so easily distracted by Reece.

***

It's two days before Christmas. Jenny and I are at Escape. Harris, Luna and Leo will be joining us in a short while. It turns out that Escape is having a Christmas bake sale today, the last day before it reopens in the new year and, because the food is usually exceptionally delicious, there are a lot of customers around, especially Hampton's students.

I am looking through the different cupcakes while Jenny is off to find our group a table. As I'm craving something chocolatey, my eyes land on a chocolate-looking cupcake and I smile. A waitress, who seems to be a few years older than me, stands in front of me, behind the cupcake stall.

"Hi, what would you like?" she asks politely with a smile.

"You have a great selection of cupcakes!" I exclaim. "I'd like the 'Velvet Elvis' cupcake, but first I need to know if–"

"No! Don't give her that cupcake!" I hear a deep voice say quickly.

My eyes widen and my heart begins to pound against my chest when I recognise the voice. Slowly, I turn my head to face the person who is apparently trying to stop me from getting my beloved cupcake.

"Excuse me?" I say to Reece, narrowing my eyes at him.

His dark brown eyes stare at my own green ones. Looking very, very attractive, he is wearing a long black coat, which accentuates his tall, slender figure. I glance at the waitress, and notice that she is smitten by him.

Good Lord.

"You can't have that cupcake, Dorothy," he says.

"And who are you to say what I can or cannot have?" I snap.

"Dorothy, you can't-" I don't let him complete his sentence.

"Ignore him," I say to the awestruck waitress, huffing.

He is depriving me of my cupcake.

MY cupcake!

And that's considered a sin in my book of deeds.

The waitress immediately stops staring at Reece in a dream-like manner and looks at me.

"So do you want this cupcake?" she asks me, very confused.