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A stretch of the limbs. Rub of the eyes. You can hear the rubbery latex across my body make a weird squeaky sound, it’s kind of funny! Stretching my legs in particular now, I stand up and let out a soft groan. Today’s marks my first month at Gardenview, working here as not only a side character, but what I’ve always loved: being an entertainer. I wrote in my little diary of my dream that night before, it was quite odd… Oh well! Something with Sprout in there… It made me smile, and at least I were well rested because of it.
Looking into the mirror, my balloon ears float straight, slightly swaying as I breathe. I grab a brush, and a pallette, painting on my coordinating green and purple cheeks on my yellow face, having to move my head side to side, my snout covering them from a front view. I eventually leave the bathroom, slipping on my suspenders, rather too large parachute pants (that Glisten rudely said were “out of style”…), and my beloved crop top. I mainly got it cropped so I would be more flexible, and it really does help! Poppy recommended that I did that… I decided to thank her in my head. I grabbed my keys, clipping the carabiner to the belt loops of my pants, and finally left my room.
The delicious scent of coffee, french toast, and something savory filled the air, along with hearing a nice sizzle, it really does make my mouth water. Walking to the kitchen, waving to those nearby, there’s a little bounce in my step. Sprout and Cosmo were seen cooking in the kitchen, the taller whisking up eggs and milk together for scrambled eggs, his thin fingers holding onto the whisk with a tight grip, and the shorter cooking the french toast on a flat top, flipping them just in time.
“Hello, you two!” I exclaimed, I think there was a voice crack somewhere in that sentence. Sprout didn’t let his eyes leave the pan as he poured the eggs in there, but Cosmo did acknowledge. “Hey there, how was your rest?”, said with a wide smile from the swiss roll. “Oh, it was wonderful… Didn’t wanna leave the bed this morning!” I replied with a laugh, making him chuckle as well. Sprout finally had looked this way, taking a swing of his coffee with a black mug that said ‘#1 SHOW HOST”, I think he stole that from Vee. “We’re making some french toast, want some?” Sprout said, a warm smile on his face. I grinned back, “Yes please! It looks too delicious to not!” I clapped my hands together, my balloon ears swaying with my head.
I stayed for a while, eventually eating with the two of them. Did Sprout get prettier? His seeds covering his face, his shaggy leaf bangs, his eyes slanted but bright, was it some makeup thing Glisten did, or better sleep gifted to him by Astro? I couldn’t really take my eyes off of him, it was so weird. This was kind of like my dream, what’s it called? Deja Vu? We were in a meadow, I held his hands, we were dancing in a meadow. Why was this happening? I practically tuned out of Cosmo’s story of him and Ginger as kids… “Looey?” Sprout asked, waving a hand in my face.
“Oh! Uhm, I’m so sorry… God, this is embarrassing…” I stood up, placing my plate on the counter. “I need to- Uhm- Talk to Poppy! We were gonna talk about our next act, yeah, uhm, thanks for the breakfast! Bye-Bye!!” I said, awkwardly leaving. If I could sweat right now, I would be drenched, thankfully balloons don’t have sweat pores. At least I didn’t completely lie, I planned on seeing Poppy right now, my brain just wrote it on a mental calendar, because I need to figure this out. I’m a clown, not a total loser… I hope.
And eventually there I was, in her room, wailing in her silk pillows. Poppy had that look she gave even when she was a little girl, always whenever I had trouble with some feelings. Boxten, her fiancé, had his brows furrowed in sorrow, adjusting his glasses as he soon spoke, “How long have you felt like this?” His voice was soft, and with care. “I have no idea… Today is when it really spoke to me, though.” I looked at him, my face still shoved in the pillow. “You’ve got a crush, Looey!” Poppy said triumphantly, slamming her fist down on her hand like a lightbulb ignited in her head. “WHAT!! NO?!” I objected, how could she have any idea what I felt?
“Looey, my sweet little brother… I’ve been dating Boxten for 6 years before we got engaged, I think I know a little bit about being in love. And you are so, so, so much in love.” She grinned, her eyes squinting a bit as she did. I could only groan, I have no idea if she even is right. Sprout made me feel like my stomach twisted like making a balloon animal, and my heart juggled around as if it were a mere toy; I felt like the whole circus act whenever he laughed or looked me in the eyes. It’s always been like that whenever he was near, but now it’s really, really evident. “Poppy may be right… You do have ‘the eyes’ whenever you’re talking to him...” Boxten added on, air quotes mentioning my unintentional goo goo eyes, was it really that bad?
“But how do I tell him? Do I even tell him at all?” I questioned, eventually rising from Poppy’s pillow, fiddling with my keys. Poppy hummed inquisitively, pacing around as she thought of ideas, I’d assume from her furrowed brows. “Well… You could always ask to hang out, like a date?” Poppy spoke, speaking with her hands a bit. “Doing what? I dunno what movies he likes, and I can’t bake worth crud! Oh… It’s useless..” I hung my head low, feeling lost. I really had to impress him, he had so much people around him that are probably better than a clown, it all had to be perfect. “Just ask that! Ask him to teach you to bake better! I’m sure he would mind!!” Poppy spoke with wide eyes, although I was a bit hesitant about that. I nodded though, deciding that today I’ll learn how to bake.
“Sprout, could you maybe teach me how to bake..?” I asked sheepishly, unable to make eye contact in fears of getting flustered. “Oh, sure! Cosmo’s helping out Shelly today, anyway, so having a baking buddy’ll be nice.” Sprout smiled warmly, it made my heart do backflips whenever he smiled like that. He started grabbing out a mixing bowl and utensils, “We’re doing something simple, just a cake today. I’ve been craving one, if I’ll be honest.” He chuckled, looking back at me with a grin. I smiled back, wide, hopefully not too wide, I don’t wanna come off as weird! “Also, are you feeling better than this morning? You were acting a little off.” He had a hint of concern in his voice, but I just thought he was looking out for me the same way he did for anyone else. “Oh, yeah!! Sorry about that, it must’ve been such an ick…” Ew, did I just use Glisten’s language? I have to stop hanging out with him, that was embarrassing. “Don’t worry about it, ’m just making sure.” Sprout looked back at me, giving me a wink, I swear it was just a little chilly.
“Okay… I need a stick of butter, milk, and the eggs out of the fridge.” Sprout ordered kindly, grabbing the oil, flour, sugar and some other ingredients from the lazy susan cabinet underneath the counter. I sprung on my feet, opening the butter out of its wrapper to let it reach room temperature, then bringing the milk and eggs close to Sprout’s mixing bowl. His movements were so memorized, fluid and smooth as he’s done this millions of times before. It was so mesmerizing, like a dance that you’d practice over after perfecting the moves just to keep those perfections. Sprout reached to grab the measuring cups off of the drying rack, carefully measuring the dry ingredients together, “Preheat the oven to 375, please.” He asked softly, concentrating on leveling the flour. I obeyed his task, pressing buttons on the oven until it showed the right temperature, and let it start heating up.
I couldn’t help but continue to watch him work, his hands moved so diligently, whisking up the dry mix into a bowl. “Is the butter soft?” He questioned softly, his gaze not leaving the second bowl I didn’t even realize he grabbed, measuring milk. I pressed my finger on the stick, and it left a plush imprint of my fingertip, it felt ready, “Yup!” I said with an accented pop. He grinned, slicing it into small squares, and placing it into the bowl. “Grab the hand mixer for me, would you? It’s in the cabinet over the sink.” He actually looked at me this time, his eyes were so gorgeous, but I couldn’t gaze at Prince Charming for now, so I reached to the cabinet, grabbing a pink electric mixer out of there, a little handle to portably use it. “Pink?” I chuckled, “Dandy originally bought it as a gag gift for me, but it comes in handy.” His face was dusted with a blush, and smiled as if he held a laugh in. I could only giggle at his new found use of a Barbie Pink hand mixer.
The rather loud whirr of the mixer startled me at first, but it’s become rather nice. Sprout let the contents on the mixer drip back into the bowl, “Wanna mix the dry and wet ingredients together? You seem interested when I do it.” He asked, looking at me with that lovable gaze. “Sure! Is there a certain way to do it?” I asked as he handed me a white spatula with the iconic rainbow flower logo printed on it. “You just mix both of them together until there’s no clumps left, don’t mix further after that.” He spoke, getting two cake pans and started using the rest of the softened butter to grease them. “Why not?” I asked, raising a brow, and to his reply, “You don’t wanna make your cake dense, over mixing causes the batter to collapse as it’s baking, and it won’t taste as good in the end.” He handed me both mixes, letting me pour them in together, and started incorporating them together with the spatula. He stood close by, I could feel his breath on my neck, I swear I could be in the oven by how hot I’m getting.
I whined a bit, the lightheadedness getting far too much. “Are you alright?” Sprout asked, placing his hands on my shoulders , “Oh! Yeah— Yeah.” I was indeed not fine. This hot, charming guy of only my dreams is practically breathing down my neck while I mix this stupid cake batter, it’s so intoxicating, I can’t help but crave more. But I suppressed it. “I think it’s all mixed together,” I say, leaning the bowl to his side, and his hands slide to my elbows. I’m about to explode and include balloon latex within this cake. Sprout slid his hands farther to the bowl, nudging my hands away, kindly, of course, and started pouring the batter into the pans, letting them level, and putting them both into the oven. “Now it’s time to wait.” He grinned, turning the knob on the radio sitting on the counter, trying to find a station. It fuzzed through piano tunes, politics, the latest pop songs, until he landed on a station. It sounded like some type of rock song, is that the genre?
“What is this?” I asked, tilting my head, it seemed to make him grin. “Just some rock. They’re playing Seether right now.” Sprout smiled as he said the band name, tapping his fingers to the tune, and gesturing to a seat at the table, one across from him. He eventually pulled out his own chair, sitting down and crossing his legs. “So, mind telling me what’s up with you today?” He looked at me, raising a brow, was it that obvious? “Nothing, It’s—“ “You’re really bad at lying, Looey.” He spoke sarcastically, a smile on his face, I felt like I needed to sprint out of there, but my knees locked, my ankles felt broken, I couldn’t move. “I just— Well. I can’t tell you. It’s really embarrassing and stupid and… Just don’t worry about it.” I turned away, the tip of my snout facing down at the floor, balling my hands up and letting them relax wrist down on the table. I felt like a child, a fool, so brainless. This was a bad idea.
“Looey. You can talk to me, you know that.” He reached over, prying my hand open, and intertwining his fingers with mine. I am going to pop, I swear, I need to learn to self destruct. “It’s just..” Do I even say it? I made him do all of this, it’s only fair. “I mainly asked for this so I could— I could spend time with you. And. Uhm…” Earth to Looey?! Say it!! “I thought it would be nice to kind of have a date with you and I really just wanted to say that I like you but I have no idea if you even like me back and this is so embarrassing oh my God!!” I probably said that too fast, what if he didn’t even understand? My hands flew to my face, cupping around my snout while a deeper shade painted all over me. And all he did was chuckle, smiling so sweetly as he squeezed my hand.
“I like you, too.” Sprout said, grinning, you could tell he was blushing a bit as well. My mind is absolutely scrambled right now, I would scream off of the rooftops if I could!! There’s no way. No way! “Really?!” I exclaimed, my eyes very wide with either shock, fear, or happiness. “Yeah, really. I think you’re adorable, incredibly sweet, and you have such a passion for your acts, I admire it. I love watching you perform, whether it be a clown with your group, or just being you.” He smiled, rubbing his thumb on my palm. I’m going batshit crazy in my head, and oh my God is he leaning towards me? He opened his mouth, looking as if he were going to say something. And I just? Couldn’t help myself?
I kissed him. Oh my God I kissed him, and he didn’t seem upset at all, rather letting himself melt into it. I never kissed anyone in my own life, my teeth awkwardly clicked with his before we started to understand the feeling. It was so embarrassing, so awkward, but it feels so real, so loving. I pulled away, I probably looked like a dork smiling my dopey smile. It made him chuckle, I got something out of being absolutely starstruck. This is so awesome. I feel like I’m on top of the world. “I’m guessing it went well?” Poppy suddenly said, leaning into the walkway of the kitchen, I need to die right now, I’m so embarrassed it hurts. Sprout chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, “Were you in on this?” He asked, smiling awkwardly. “Of course I was, he’s my baby brother!!” Poppy smiled widely, walking over and rubbing on my head.
The oven timer rang, I guess a whole confession took enough time to bake a cake. Sprout slipped on an oven mitt, shaking the cakes a bit before pulling them out. They looked absolutely delicious, a perfect golden color and all! He grabbed a toothpick, sticking it inside of the cakes, pulling it out clean. “You did a good job, Loo,” He said, looking at me with a smile. I guess he came up with a nickname for me, it was very endearing! I couldn’t help but hug him, “I didn’t do anything, it was all you!” I was grinning so much my cheeks hurt. He reciprocated the hug, I could feel his smile on my shoulder. I could only hug him tighter, my tail wagging at least 100 mph. I felt so happy, it’s like relief after hitting a move that you tried so desperately to perfect. Today was the best day. Ever!!