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Cove sighed contentedly as he pulled into their parking spot. Since they had started dating, dinner together had become a little more commonplace. For Jamie, that had been something he usually only experienced with family. Even though their relationship had been going on for a few years now, eating out together was still a novel experience. Despite Cove having had his license for a few years by this point, it took time for both Jamie and Cove to get jobs, and while working together at a restaurant they had both been put off from eating out too often. They had moved on from that restaurant job a long time ago in the extremely distant past, or as Cove liked to call it, three weeks ago. Thinking about such ancient times on the ride there had eventually led Jamie to a line of thought. Their dates and days spent relaxing together seamlessly blended together. Jamie wasn’t actually sure where the line between a date and a regular day together was when it came to Cove.
“What’s on your mind?” Cove snapped him out of his reverie by resting his hand gently against Jamie’s forearm.
“... You?” Jamie wasn’t sure if he or Cove blushed more at the admission. “I guess I was just thinking about how I’m never truly sure where our dates start or end. Like today, we started this morning on the beach, just like almost every morning, and then we went to work, which definitely doesn’t count as a date, and now we’re here for dinner, which probably does count as a date. So did our date begin after work or did it start earlier this morning at the beach? Or have we gone on two dates today separated by work? Is our time on the beach even a date if we do it almost every day?”
Cove effectively ended his boyfriend’s rambling by lightly bopping him on the nose with his finger. He smiled at the reaction that garnered from his dumbfounded boyfriend.
“I think I understand what you mean though. I sometimes wonder if our relationship started a few years ago or if it actually started with all those times we tried flirting and that kiss in your room back when we were 13.” Cove sympathized.
“This is kind of embarrassing to admit but, I still think about that day in the RV… A lot. And not just the anklet stuff.” Jamie added defensively. “I think about how after we got home how I bought like eight of them the next day. Or when you flirted with me for one of the first times, about liking my eye color and then me trying to flirt with you by saying how much I liked pretty hair like yours.” Jamie closed his eyes fondly. “Mostly I think about when I invited you into the loft, and how I fell asleep in your arms… I almost kissed you right then and there, you know?”
“Why didn’t you do it?” Cove asked.
“Well despite how much I teased you back then, you know I’ve always been clingy and nervous. Your opinion of me really, really mattered. I guess none of that has changed, has it?” Cove reached out to gently caress Jamie’s face, to which he leaned into. Jamie let himself rest in Cove's hands for a few moments, taking long drawn-out blinks like a cat before he continued. “That, and I figured you’d probably hit your head on the roof of the loft.”
They laughed and shared the second-hand embarrassment from a moment that never even happened for a few moments. Imagining the reality and the fall out from a situation where everyone was awoken by Cove smashing his head against the ceiling in shock. Jamie ended up kissing Cove’s imaginary “owie” better before they settled down.
“So what are you thinking of getting, the usual?” Cove rolled down the window to his left and looked toward it searchingly.
Unlike most occasions for them when they did eat out, dinner being eaten in the car was not a limitation or restriction, but an intention. A few miles outside of Sunset Bird, a brand new family owned restaurant had overtaken a fast food chain and opted to lean heavily into the drive-in aesthetic left behind by the previous owners. The combination had been a hit for locals, and with minimal pleading Jamie had convinced Cove to make the trip.
“Mhm, but I think I want to get a milkshake too.”
“I’m gonna do the same as you then.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and reached over to press the button on the menu beside them before being tapped on the shoulder.
Jamie pointed slightly above the button. “It's out of order.” They both sighed dramatically. Of all the booths they could have picked, they had managed to find the exact one that wasn’t in service. The note then went on to ask the customer to come up to a window near the front of the building to place their order instead.
“Back in a little bit.” Cove departed the car with a tiny wave leaving Jamie alone. He watched as Cove walked around the front of the car and up until he disappeared behind a truck that had pulled into a spot that blocked his view of the window and subsequently his boyfriend.
The moment of silence gave Jamie even more time to reflect. To call it a busy year would be an understatement. Work, even if part-time, had made him start to feel like his last break was during the winter of his senior year just before he’d gotten a job. That hurt in a way he found it hard to describe. Jamie felt as though he was robbed. Having not had the knowledge that the summer of his junior year was the last time he would feel truly free during the summer. And if the Holden and Last dinner a little over a week ago was any indicator, things were only going to get busier and busier. Cove was already working towards moving into his own apartment. Kyra, or as he lovingly called her, mom three, had returned back to Nevada. Liz had left for college once more. He couldn't wrap his head around it, Jamie so desperately wanted things to be as they were when he was younger. It was selfish, but he didn't know how else to feel. It felt as though everyone knew what they wanted to do with life but him.
This was leading nowhere good, and he knew that. Focusing on the heavy things was something that would only lead his night into a far more melancholic direction, so Jamie tried to shift his thoughts away the best he could. He pulled out his phone and checked his messages to find nothing, not even from Lee. He tried looking through social media but quickly lost interest. A new thought had entered his brain, what if Cove changed his mind and moved far, far away for college? Jamie couldn't handle that. Then it was the weather, and after the fifth time of checking that tomorrow would indeed be 72 and windy in Sunset Bird, he gave up on that too. Just before he opened his seldom checked email, the sound of the car door opening finally broke his concentration.
“Nine minutes.” Jamie said flatly, if Cove noticed Jamie's muscles relaxing he didn't mention it.
“In my defense, no one was at the window for at least four of them.” Cove shared a sympathizing look with Jamie that only those who had worked in the food service industry could understand.
“They’re that overworked, huh?”
“Yeah. It's really bad.”
“I’m so glad we don’t work at that restaurant anymore.” Jamie said in relief. His hand intertwined with Cove’s as they sat together. Cove gave Jamie's hand a gentle squeeze. Out of the corner of his eye he watched a person skate past them with a bag of food in their hand and up to the window of a car the row across from them. Quizzically he turned toward Cove. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking Cove?”
Cove simply shook his head.
“What if we incorporated roller skating deliveries into our pretzel business?" Jamie asked before holding up a finger, signaling to Cove an oncoming pontification. “Say we have our pretzel shop on the beach and someone on the other side of the beach wants a nice and warm pretzel with vanilla cream, but they don’t want to walk to the other side? We could have a roller skating delivery person to transport the pretzels to them!”
Despite Cove’s smile, Jamie carried on as if his boyfriend had rejected his idea entirely. “And I hear your objections already! How will we find that delivery person, and how will we get the person at the other end to pay? Lucky for you I’ve already gotten a solution for us. For our delivery skater we’ll simply ask the person who comes up to our window.”
“Will we?” Cove cut in, his expression stuck somewhere in between amuse and bemusement.
“We will!” Jamie responded almost immediately. “And as for payment, we’ll simply create a website and an app like a pizza place! That way when someone orders from The Pretzel Cove they can take care of the transaction wherever they are and just need to give us their location.” Jamie puffed out his chest somewhat in pride of his plan. "We'll be millionaires in no time!"
“The Pretzel Cove?” He echoed, and every semblance of pride that Jamie had shattered in an instant. The words were the stone in his glass pretzel shop.
“Yeah it's uh… that's the name I gave to it in my head. I sort of got attached to the idea when you took a nap on my bed the other afternoon.” Jamie rubbed the back of his head and decided to twist in his seat to face out towards the service window, or rather the truck that was still blocking his view of the window, instead of looking towards Cove.
Soon two arms loosely wrapped underneath his own and gently held him the best they could. “I like it.” Cove quietly admitted. The two stayed silent for a long while. Enjoying the quiet comfort and relative closeness between them.
Wind rustled the leaves of the bushes and trees hidden by the night sky around their car. People laughed and whooped and hollered, talking and yelling about all sorts of things at tables much closer to the building. Neon lights shone brilliantly off the surface of every window that were drowned out by much brighter, sensible lights above. If he listened closely enough he could hear their fluorescent hum amongst the cicadas and crickets. A light flickered a few parking spots away, a family packed up and drove off into the night. Cove still held on. Eventually Jamie got over his bashfulness and turned to face his boyfriend.
“Hi.” he whispered.
“Hi.” Cove whispered back, leaning a little bit closer.
“I didn’t really expect you to like it, I thought you would’ve found it embarrassing or too silly. I guess I'm still being too hard on myself, huh?”
“I don’t, I think it’s good. I like all your ideas.” Cove spoke sincerely, and a blaze of scarlet enveloped Jamie.
“I would kiss you so hard right now if-”
“Then do.” Closing his eyes, he lowered his head slightly and started to close the distance. Cove's hand lightly tilted Jamie's chin up towards him.
“- there wasn’t a slightly annoyed roller skater outside your window.”
It was Cove’s turn for embarrassment. In an instant his back shot straight up, petrified. His eyes locked onto the car’s dashboard and the dashboard only as the window slid down slowly.
“Here’s your order and the two milkshakes, sir.” To their credit, the worker did their best to keep it together.
“Ah, t-thank you.” Cove quickly took the bag and set it in his lap, then just as quickly took the milkshakes. “Have a um… Have a nice night.”
“You too.” They responded. For a moment it was silent. No one spoke nor did a bag rustle. Even the wind and the insects had decided to stay quiet to bask in its perfect awkwardness. It was because of this, and only this, that they heard the employee stifling a laugh as they skated away.
Cove looked at Jamie with an expression he could only liken to the time that Cove’s dad had found them sleeping together in Cove’s bed. Cove began to search through the bag with a slight shake in his hand. As he passed over a bag of fries to Jamie, his hand was caught in place. Jamie looked into blue, more so aquamarine eyes for a moment. Full of empathy and understanding.
“Cove, I’ll be honest…”
“Y-yeah?”
“I don’t think they’re gonna be a good fit for our pretzel delivery skater.” Jamie spoke dryly but his mouth curled into a grin, and soon Cove began to laugh. The worried crease in his brow faded. The window rolled back up and on came the air conditioner in a vain effort to ‘cool’ the hot flush feeling from being caught. Jamie took the bag from Cove and finished passing out its contents. Tinfoil crinkling filled the air, Cove’s attention drifted from the food before him and back out the window. Jamie hummed in curiosity.
“I still can’t believe I got caught.” Cove pouted and slurped angrily at his milkshake for a few moments. “Sometimes I worry I don’t show you enough affection. I feel like I wasted a chance or something. You know I’ve never been the most bold publicly-” Cove was interrupted by a fry dipped in milkshake being fed to him.
“We’re even now.” Jamie stated, greedily taking a handful of his own fries, dipping them in his milkshake, and eating them.
“Even? I bopped you on the nose with my finger.” Cove continued to pout.
“Ah, because getting a treat is so much worse, I understand. That is so long as you understand all is fair in love and war.” Jamie finished his argument by bopping Cove on the nose anyways.
“This is war?”
“No, it's love.”
Jamie checked over Cove’s shoulder, Cove checked over Jamie’s shoulder. Jamie checked over his own shoulder, Cove did too. Cove then once again checked over Jamie’s shoulder, and then his own for a second time as well.
Jamie cupped Cove’s chin to get him to stop, and Cove lowered towards him in response. Instinctively Jamie’s other hand cradled the back of Cove’s head. In the end neither was sure who started the kiss, nor who took it from an innocent peck into a full on French kiss, but neither cared. Roller skaters be damned.