Lives Intertwined

The clock hit 11:45 pm as she arrived home after a long, tiring day at work. She stumbled down to her room and hopped in some clothes laying around from the laundry she hasn’t put away in a few days. “I’ll get to it eventually” she loves to tell herself. Her procrastination loves to take full control of her sometimes. “Laziness, pure laziness” her mother had always told her before she moved out about two years prior. Her mother’s phrase still haunts her. It, seriously, makes her NOT want to put away that gigantic pile of clothes on the floor. She walked back up to the kitchen, and as she walked into her kitchen, she noticed a little bit of cardboard sitting beside the trash can. It was really dark that night and she knew she didn’t have anything to do or anywhere to be tomorrow, so she decided to go outside and start a fire. She grabbed the cardboard, a lighter, and dryer lint and walked out of her backdoor. She stumbled down the three withered white cement stairs to her patio and headed off to the left a little to get to her firepit. She started up the fire with a little bit of cardboard and the dryer lint and sent it all ablaze. Her backyard was dark other than the massive, scorching, bright orange fire she had just lit, and dim, delicate, little stars in the beautiful night sky.

It was about midnight or so. The grass was still damp from the rain from the previous night. There was a lingering, cool, nippy breeze of night that made the leaves of the surrounding trees tremble and rustle. Due to the fire being burnt, the air smelled like burnt cedar and cardboard. The breeze began to chill her so she scooted both her plastic, olive green lawn chair and herself closer to the fire.

This is her backyard- Zelda Chapman, a 5'4”, about 210 pound, slightly chunky girl with an hourglass figure and reddish brown, wavy hair who has a sort of hippie vibe to her. She is wearing a rainbow tie dye shirt with a peace sign on it and frayed blue jean above the knee shorts - what she had originally picked up off the floor. Physically some may say she is NOT in the “best shape” but that is alright with her.

She had stared intently and carefully at the beautiful, roaring, dancing flames for quite some time before she nodded off in her outdoor chair. It was about 4 or 5 in the morning when woke and realized she had fallen asleep. The fire had worn itself down already, but she still went inside to grab a cup of water to splash it over the ashes to keep them from sparking back up again. Afterwards, she decided to just wake up the rest of the way by brewing some fresh, dark roast coffee. Her good for nothing, yet loving, little brother, Jeff, labeled her “the coffee addict” starting at a very young age. It had always been a nice pick me up for her.

Zelda had always warned people,“Be careful, I’m a bitch without my coffee.”

Zelda certainly has a good reason for that though. One day in middle school she didn’t have time to make her coffee and she stabbed a plastic fork through the annoying kids hand for “not shutting the fuck up for once in his god damned life.”

He screamed, hooped, and hollered “Help! Help! Somebody! Anybody! Help! This chick is crazy!”

Nobody came to help him. Not a single person nor teacher. Not even the middle school principal. He was the most despised person at school for a reason. So, from then to now she has tried to be good without her coffee but prefers not to go without it.

After Zelda had finished her coffee she questioned “What am I gonna do for the rest of the day? Maybe clean? Nah. Go out and party? Absolutely not. Huh.” she ponders for quite a while before coming to an absolute conclusion. “Oh. I know! I’m going to go flirt with that cute guy at the bakery! So she began to walk.

The bakery, to her, was gorgeous. She walked in through the glass, black trimmed door and looked around. The floor is sandalwood, almost a caramel tone. There were round, wooden tables with chairs to match. The matching wood furniture was the color of dark, silky espresso. That is when she saw him. He stood behind the glass paned cage, trapping all the delicious pies, cookies, and other pastries inside, yet he was the greatest treat of all.

His name is Brock Lancaster. He was about 5’5’’, just a little taller than Zelda, and was about 220 pounds. He had medium length, curly, dirty blonde hair, broad shoulders, nice ass, and gorgeous hazel eyes. His work uniform was comprised of his everyday black framed glasses, a dark purple collared shirt, a pair of light blue jeans, his apron with the work logo on it, and his old black steel toe shoes.

“Wow” she sighed to herself.

They only knew each other because of Zelda’s weekly sweet cravings or what she likes to call her “sweet kicks for her sweet rolls”. Brock secretly had a crush on her and planned to ask her out on a date the next time she came in, which would be today. He had even started to prepare her favorite treat- blueberry muffins. She shows up every Monday at 9 am to enjoy a blueberry muffin, or two, and to start her week off right. Eight forty five and he is already nervous.

“Fifteen minutes till she shows. I hope I don’t mess up.”

His coworker, Steve got really concerned for his friend. “Bro, you alright, you look like you just saw a ghost?”

“No, I’m just waiting on Zelda to walk in so I ca-”

He was cut off as she strutted in way earlier than normal. Before she left her house, she changed into a tie dye off-the-shoulder tank top and some tight bell bottoms jeans that hugged her waist, hips, bottom, and thighs. Her ponytail gave her natural waves more of a curled look. His jaw dropped. Zelda loved the smell of the bakery and also the sights.

She thought to herself, “There is literally eye candy everywhere. Muffins, cookies,pies, other assorted pastries and Brock.”

She glanced over at him,blushed a little, then conjured over some self esteem, and a lot of confidence, and strolled right to him.

“Hey, Brock, how are you doing today?” He closed his mouth as soon as he realized she was talking to him.

“Good, good, uh, are you fr-- he starts thinking then slips his words- eady for your muffins, they are almost done. ”

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you, Brock, but God yes, I am! Oh and question, are you free this afternoon?”

“Well, uh, yes. What time did you want to meet? I get off-a work at 5.”

“6 o’clock sharp then. I’ll make dinner at my house and-”

“First date, at-at-at your house?” he stuttered.

“Well, yes, homemade dinner and a movie, is that a problem?”

“NO, no, not at all, where do you live?”

“776 Sallys Way. Right around the corner. You know the gray house down the road?”

“Well, yeah, that means it’s directly across the street from mine. I’m at 777.”

“WAIT! WHAT! You’re telling me you live right across the road from me? Are you serious?”

“Yes. I live in the blue house - right across from yours.”

Another customer walks in and both Zelda and Brock are rudely interrupted for this prick of a guy.

“Excuse me, I’ve been standing here for too long, could you move so I can get MY order?”

Zelda turns around to yell at the guy.

“Dude, can you chill? You literally JUST walked in the door. I haven’t even got my muffins yet. They are still in the oven.”

The prick looks frightened. Threatened even. He stared intently at her. He seemed quite familiar to Zelda, but there is no telling why. Then it hit her.

“Oh hell no. You’re the little bitch I stabbed with a plastic fork in middle school aren’t you?”

“I knew it was you, she-devil.”

Zelda, proceeded to jump scare him. He bolted out the door. Brock looked over at her and wasn’t even fazed by what had happened, he just smiled and offered Zelda her muffins in exchange for a few bucks.

“Thanks Brock, see you after you get off! Don’t forget 6 o’clock sharp at my house.”

“No worries, beautiful I got it.” He blushed hard after he realized what he had said.

She blushed as well and left with a big goofy smile. She thought to herself

“He thinks I’m beautiful. Wow.”

She walked all the way back to her house while eating her muffins along the way.

“God these are frickin’ delicious,” she mumbled to herself.

She looked up and realized she was already home. She was glad the bakery was just around the corner.

“Oh God what am I gonna make? I was totally caught up in the planning of the date that I don’t even know what to make!”

Zelda struggled to unlock her front door. After her door trouble, she analyzed her house to figure out what all needed to be done. There was crap everywhere! She frantically stormed around her house starting from her living room. There were blankets everywhere, movies stacked up high-clearly not on her movie shelf like they were supposed to be- in the living room. In the kitchen, there were dirty dishes everywhere. There were dirty dishes in the sink and some randomly stacked up on the counters.

“I’ll just throw them in the dishwasher for the time being,” she thought to herself.

Then the thought of dinner came to be. Zelda just did not know what to make nor what she even had. She threw herself around the kitchen. She looked through the freezer, refrigerator, pantry and all of the cabinets.

“Alright, so I have shrimp, okay, and spaghetti noodles,” she thought for a minute,

“Oh my god, what about my grandma’s recipe of homemade shrimp alfredo? Do I have bacon or bacon bits?”

She relooked through the pantry, scurried through the cans of Chef Boyardee and boxes of random stuff she didn’t even realize were still there. She scooted over her nutella, and saw her storage peanut butter jar. She grabbed it hurried like and struggled to get it open. She gave it one good smack on the bottom, twisted the cap a little, and BOOM! It was now opened.

“YES! Storage peanut butter container to the frickin’ rescue again!”

She grabbed the small bag of “real” bacon bits, shredded parmesan from the fridge, cream cheese, garlic powder, basil, black pepper, and two pots. One pot she put on the stove for the sauce, and the other she filled with water, oil, and a pinch of salt to boil the noodles and shrimp in.

For the next few hours she cooked, cleaned the table, cleaned the bathroom, washed her hands, and plated the food. She looked at the clock. It read 5:56pm.

“He should be here any minute,” she mumbled to herself.

“Did I get everything done? Lemme see, candles on the table, lighter to light them, food - plated, forks, salt and pepper shakers, uhhhhh, napkins. Yeah, I think that’s every- OH MY GOD” she panicked, “I need to get changed!”

She rushed to get dressed into a nice, slim fit, low cut, black dress and colorful, rainbow socks. She heard a car pull up.

“Aw shit.”

Brock parked his car and looked at Zelda’s house.

“Am I really ready for this?” he questioned himself.

It took him a minute before racking up the fake confidence to get through the night. So, he got out of the car, walked up to the door, and knocked. She had already ran to the door and slid past it accidentally because of her socks. Zelda brushed herself off and opened the door.

“Hello, Brock, are your ready for our dinner date? I homemade shrimp and bacon alfredo.”

“I’ve never had that before? Is it any good?” Brock asked.

“Well God, I hope so.” she joked.

They both broke out into laughter.

“Alright, Brocky let’s go eat.”

“So, what movie should we wat-. Zelda’s attention went straight to Brock as he was unbuttoning his black and purple plaid shirt.

“W-w-what are you doing Brock?”

“Just getting comfortable. Oh, I-I have a shirt under this one if that’s what you are asking.”

She redirected her attention back to her original question.

“So, what movie would you like to watch?”

“Uhm, lemme look. So you’re letting me choose right?”

“Well, yeah. I asked you what movie you would like to watch.”

Zelda sat down on the couch while Brock stood there looking through all of the movies. She contemplated for a minute after staring at his butt for a while.

“So, about earlier,” she walked off to go grab the plates of food to bring into the living room. He worried a little but thought nothing of it. He kept scanning the movies.

“Whatcha mean?”

“When you called me beautiful, did you really mean that?”

He stopped searching the movies with his hands and his whole body tensed up. His usually peachy skin turned to an almost Coca-cola red. Brock stood silent.

She broke the silence by setting the dinner plates on the espresso colored coffee table.

Brock was freaking the hell out. He thought to himself, “ What am I gonna say to that? Say to her? I’m just gonna say it. Full out.” He turned around, walked up to Zelda, grabbed her hand, and said it.

“Yes, I, uh, do believe you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I really want to be with you. I have for a while now, but I couldn’t find the nerve to do it.”

He turned back to the movie shelf after displaying his every feeling to her, grabbed Treasure Planet, put it in her old four button DVD player, then sat nervously on the couch beside her. Zelda being the chunky monkey she is grabbed both plates of food for them and set his plate on his lap, while holding her plate in one hand and shoveling food in with the other hand. Brock found this typically disgusting sight as beautiful as she was.

After they finished their plates and set them to the side, Brock and Zelda held each other’s hand for the next one hour or so. They wept through every sad part, laughed at every funny scene, and held each other closer through ever heartfelt moment.

“I love this movie so much,” Zelda emotionally admitted “, it is my favorite Disney movie after all.”

“Well I didn’t know that... but I-I do now.”

Brock smiled heavenly at Zelda, like he had possibly seen an angel. He knew that she was the one from that very moment.

“That movie was quite enjoyable though, like really-seriously, I really enjoyed it.”

Zelda leaned in for a kiss, she was almost there! Just a little further.

He looked at Zelda and kind of freaked out. He sternly said "I can't Zelda. N0t yet. Like, we barely know each other and it's only our frst date. Even though I find you extremely attractive and all, I wanna take it slow."

"Oh... I am sorry... I thou- maybe you should go..." Zelda turned her face so he couldn't see the tears streaming down her face. She was so confused.

"Zelda, I didn't mean anything bad by it, but I-I will respect you wishes and go. I hope to see you again soon."

Brock got up and walked out the door leaving his flannel behind. Zelda broke down crying after she heard his car door shut behind him. She really thought she messed everything up "like she normally does." She cried herself asleep on the couch that night. He hoped what he said wouldn't be the last thing he said to her. He didn't mean for it to end up this way, but he didn't thinkshe would try to kiss him on the first date.

"Hopefully isn't the last." Then he fell asleep.