Frosting

Short Fiction

The tray shifted in the back of the car, making a little screeching noise against the seatbelt.

Chuck shifted to the edge of his seat, closer to Taja, reached back and held the cake that seemed like it was the size of an air hockey table.

“Can’t believe you baked for Larry’s wedding.”

Taja smiled, changed the music on the console sound system from classic rock to hip-hop.

“Because he’s my ex husband, or because he’s marrying a supervisor I can’t stand, or both?”

“The first one, mostly. I knew you didn’t do it as a favor to Renee.”

“He called me last week panicking. I felt sorry for his disorganized ass.”

Chuck could read the real empathy in Taja’s eyes.

Loved her, always had. 

Couldn’t say it out loud.

She was kind to everyone. Gas station clerks. Little kids. Ex-husbands

“Most people wouldn’t do a favor for their ex.”

“We never hated each other. Just didn’t love each other. We were young, stupid.”

“He’s good looking.”

Taja changed the music again, mid song.

“Didn’t do me much good. We never had sex.”

Chuck laughed.

“Because he drank too much?”

Taja paused, went back to the hip-hop song she had just gotten rid of.

“I don’t think he was ever attracted to me like that. It’s weird.”

“He’s out of his mind.”

“I shouldn’t have brought it up, Charlie. Really. I just got in that headspace because the last time Larry and I had sex was our wedding night.”

Chuck started to say “Get the fuck out of here,” and said too much of it before he caught himself.

“I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Taja repeated. “It was rude of me. Kinda tired. Stayed up late baking, one too many shots of baking Jager.”

“If I was married to you…” Chuck started.

Taja jerked the wheel and pulled over.

Chuck was holding the sheet that held the cake but the cake itself shifted and purple frosting smeared the plastic wrap. 

Taja shut the car off.

“If you were married to me what? We’d have sex constantly? Kind of a silly thing to say. We’re friends.”

Chuck felt an empty pit under his rib cage.

“The cake kinda shifted. There’s a purple smear on the plastic.”

Taja looked back.

“Fuck. Okay, we’ll stop at a dollar store and rewrap it. I think I can smooth the frosting with my Swiss Army knife.”

Before they rewrapped the cake, Taja carved an L and an R where the frosting had smeared, with a heart in between to make it look like the smear was intentional.

She handed Chuck the knife, blade up.

“What do you want me to do with this?”

“I thought you might wanna lick it.”

Chuck’s lower lip trembled, wanting to say something but knowing it would piss her off.

He licked the frosting from the knife and handed it back. When their hands touched he shivered.

“I’m in love with you, Taj.”

She put the knife back in her purse, took a deep breath.

“I know, Chuck. I know. It’s obvious. Almost painful.”

“I’m sorry, Taj, I know you just want to be friends but…”

“You wanna just have sex and get it over with, Chuck? Like just drop the cake off at the wedding and sneak out to that Fireside Motel on Middlebelt?”

Charlie LeFevre felt like he was having organ failure. He seriously felt like he was going to soil himself right before passing out.

“You sounded way too serious for that to be funny, Taja”

“I was serious, honey. I really have no desire to be at this wedding, and I have no desire to go through life with you looking at me like Indiana Jones just unearthed some gold holy relic. Maybe if you have sex with me you’ll get it out of your system.”

“That’s not possible, Taja.”

“I believed that once,” Taja said, and pulled the seat belt over the cake, buckling it in.

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