by Nicole Thorn
After psyching myself up, I finally stepped off the RV. Sam’s jaw dropped when he saw me, eyes lighting up.
“Awesome!” he said, jumping up once. “That looks great. What a lovely pair we’ll be.”
I didn’t know what he’d meant at first, but then he held up a megaphone. Hamilton hung his head again, shaking it and muttering something too quiet for me to hear.
“And what do you plan on doing with that?” I asked.
Sam held it up to his mouth, clicking the button. His mouth barely opened before Hammy wrestled the thing out of his hands, saving us both. It hissed and whistled, but at least no one spoke into it.
“Hey! This is my contribution!” Sam protested, reaching to take the megaphone back from Hamilton. “You can’t stop me from my true calling.”
I’d never missed my little sister more than I did right in that moment. Bea didn’t do a whole lot to help me, but she’d never once tried to blow out my ears with a megaphone.
“Not a chance,” Hamilton said, thrusting the megaphone at him. “We need to live through this day. If you want to help, you can make another sign for the sandwiches.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “I want to help, but in the way I want to help.”
I sighed, wishing I’d stayed in the RV.
The boys went back and forth while I danced out by the table, hoping to tempt people off the street and over to buy our stuff. Every time someone did stop, I’d hoped it was my talents that did it. I had no way of knowing, since no one complimented me.
I did my best not to look at Hamilton or Sam, really not wanting to see them flirting. I’d thought Hamilton said he had no desire to get back together with him, but it seemed like a possibility. At the very least, it seemed more likely to happen than Hamilton and me dating.
The food truck showed up, of course, and they both had the audacity to wave at me from across the street. Did they not feel the burning hatred brewing in this queen bee of wrath? It seemed so clear to me. I would have liked to take a baseball bat to their truck.
“Oh, oh OOOHHH!” Sam said into the megaphone, throwing his arm up in the air when he got up to me. “Come one, come all to see bee boy and to taste his sweet, sweet honey!”
I stared in horror. “Don’t ever say that again.”
Sam lowered his megaphone, staring at me with bewilderment. Yes, how could I think that strangers wouldn’t be enticed by that? “Why not? Your honey is sweet. Do you want me to lie to the people?”
“No, but it would be great if it didn’t sound creepy.”
We went back and forth, fighting about what he could say and what he most certainly couldn’t. Hamilton offered me no help, but he looked quite entertained by the whole thing. I would have flipped him off if my arms weren’t wings. Though even if I had, he probably would have liked it, or laughed it off. You couldn’t take a person seriously while they wore a bee costume, and Hamilton just couldn’t take me seriously at all.
“I need a break,” I decided, walking toward the steps of the RV. I sat down and Hamilton tossed me a water bottle. I caught it with my wings, but I couldn’t really open it on my own.
Hamilton squeezed himself in beside me, both of us squished on the steps together. When I couldn’t get the water open, he did it for me and handed it back.
“Should I pour it into your mouth?” he offered.
“I’d rather you choke me.”
“Ooh, you’re into the rough stuff.”
Genuinely, I didn’t get it at first. I had to think about it for a full thirty seconds before I understood the joke, and then I felt my already warm body get even warmer.
What am I supposed to say? I didn’t know what I liked, but Hamilton probably hadn’t been looking for me to give him a list. I ended up staying quiet, not wanting to put my foot in my mouth.
I drank half the bottle of water all at once, taking a breath after I had finished it. Then I went to get up, but Hamilton grabbed my wing.
“You need an actual break,” he said. “You haven’t stopped moving for more than two minutes in hours.”
“We have things to sell,” I reminded him. “There are bills to pay.”
“And if you die, you can’t pay any of them. Just take another couple of minutes.”
I sat back down, since he didn’t let go of me. It felt nice to sit down, sure, but the food truck had a long line of people. We didn’t have so much as a single customer. We wouldn’t be able to keep up with this for long. We made less and less money, and I wondered how many more customers we would lose before we couldn’t justify doing this anymore.
“We need a better angle,” I said. “I don’t know what to do, but we need something.”
“We’re trying the sandwiches.”
“I know, but it’s not enough. I don’t know what to do. We need a real one up on them. Something that they can’t bring to the table.”
“Stripping,” Sam said, walking up to us. “We can strip.”
I rolled my eyes. “Helpful.”
“Thanks,” he said, taking a sandwich for himself. I’d have to make sure that came out of my half, because I didn’t want Hamilton paying for it. I didn’t want him paying for anything involving Sam, really. Hamilton would take on the responsibility without even thinking about it, but I didn’t want that for him. I wanted better.
“More food,” Hamilton said. “I think that’s it. We need more food and different kinds.”
“The good news is, I can’t cook.”
Hamilton smiled. “I can.”
I stared at that smile for way longer than what felt acceptable. It made me feel like I was in eighth grade again, failing math because I thought the boy across the room looked cute. I would constantly stare, missing the lesson entirely. I couldn’t get away with something like that now. While I had no idea what the hell Hamilton and I were to each other, other than reluctant partners, I knew that I couldn’t screw it up. We had to work together, and that meant not ruining anything with a sad, unrequited crush.
My insides got all warm, so I drank the rest of my water. It did nothing to help me, and I had to keep fighting off the desire to look at Hamilton. He was way cuter than I’d given him credit for. I might have been distracted by all the searing hatred.
“Half off for the lunch hour!” the Helen woman shouted, hanging a sign outside of the truck. It was huge, with big block letters that would have made it super easy to see from the road. They would destroy us, and I knew it. I wished I could have thought it would only get people to pull over, and maybe consider us over here, but it hadn’t worked so far.
“I’m going to kill them,” I breathed. “I swear to god. I can’t take this anymore.”
“It’s fine,” Hamilton said. “How about you change back into your clothes? We can go get lunch.”
“I don’t want lunch,” I said, standing up. “I want my fucking spot.”
I started marching toward the street and I could hear Hamilton behind me. Good, I thought. Good that he would be there. I could have done this alone, but I didn’t mind the backup. It felt nice to think that I might have actually had it. He was the closest thing I’d ever had to a friend, no matter how much that might have bothered Hamilton.
“Welcome!” Helen said, holding her little tray of samples. Her husband leaned out of the truck, dealing with customers. “Would you like a sample?”
I sneered. “Thanks, but I don’t have any money.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” she said, waving it off like she didn’t hear exactly what I said. “I can wait while you go get some.”
I could also go get a baseball bat, but I didn’t want to get blood on my costume. “I’m actually here to talk to you.”
Hammy tugged on my wing. “Let me buy you some pizza. We can have a couple of beers at my place. Just you and me.”
It was tempting as hell, but also not happening.
“We have a problem,” I said to Helen. “I’ve been working this spot for years and years. When you showed up, it cut int
o my sales by a ton. I have a family I have to take care of, so is it at all possible that you guys could maybe move to a different spot?”
The woman stared at me with a smile, blinking. “No.”
“No?” I asked. “Just no?”
“No,” she repeated. “This is my dream.”
“Okay, but I have children to feed and my friend here is taking care of his father and trying to pay for school. We’ve tried a dozen other places, and this is the only one that works for us. You guys could sell lunch at any construction site or by all those buildings like two miles away.”
“You can do that.”
“We tried,” I said, speaking slowly. “But for what we sell, that’s not going to work.”
Helen nodded. “Okay. Well, I’m sorry about that. This is where I want to be. It’s close to my house and the store, so we’re staying. You’ll have to figure something else out. Actually, I think it would be best if you all left. I think your little shenanigans are making people not want to come by.”
She wanted me to leave. She wanted me to leave the spot that I’d had since I was a kid. “I’m not going anywhere,” I said through my teeth.
Helen smiled again. “If that’s what you want, then fine. This is our spot, and we’re staying for as long as we feel like it. I still think you’d like somewhere else better. You never know what things can happen when you’re out in public like this. An officer can come by and start asking for all kinds of permits.”
Hammy blanched, but I sure didn’t. Taking a step forward, I spoke in an even and low voice. “I have all my permits. I have a food handler’s license too. I’m all fucking taken care of.”
“No need to use such language,” Helen said. “How about you two boys go back to your side of the street then. You’re bothering our customers.”
I nodded calmly. “Fine. Enjoy the spot. Hammy,” I said, holding my wing out. “Let’s go.”
He took it, hurrying back across the street with me. “Shit,” he breathed. “I thought you were going to put a curse on her or something.”
“Who the hell said I wasn’t going to?”
Chapter Nineteen
Hamilton
The next day, we had a bit of luck at the beginning of the lunch rush. One of the food truck’s customer’s spat their food out on the ground, almost choking on a piece of overcooked meat. It took Helen and Stanley almost ten minutes to get them to calm down, and they had to comp them a free meal and offer a certificate so the person could come and get another one at a later date.
While all that had been happening, most of their current customers had left, with more than half of them wandering over to our side of the street. It helped that Jay had on that ridiculous bee suit and Sam kept shouting into his megaphone that we had plenty of delicious, fresh sandwiches.
Helen stood by the food truck glaring at us while we sold to the majority of her customers. She slashed the prices, but no one wanted to wander over to her side again. Not after the fantastic display from the poor choking customer.
After the lunch rush ended, Jay flopped into his folding chair and put his hands on his knees.
“Why don’t you change out of the bee suit?” I asked. “We’re going to be dead another hour or two. There’s no reason for you be stuck in that thing all day. It’s over a hundred today, anyway.”
It said something that Jay didn’t argue. He just nodded and pushed himself off his folding chair. As he wobbled into the RV, I started thinking up things I could tell his parents when he collapsed and I had to take him to the emergency room. Would they believe he had been too stupid to take the costume off during the hottest part of the day?
Somehow, I didn’t think they would be surprised.
I glanced sideways at Sam. “You seem to be trying harder than normal,” I said, stretching my legs out under the table. We had an awning to keep the sunlight off us and Dad had installed misters on the outside of the fan—I hadn’t even known that was possible—so it felt all right at the moment. But I still wanted to sleep. I hadn’t gotten a proper night’s sleep all summer, and it started to weigh me down.
“I choose not to be offended by that,” Sam said, smiling at passing cars in the hopes that they’d stop for a jar or a bag of jerky.
“You shouldn’t be, considering it’s only the truth,” I said, still stretched out.
Sam glowered at me, then shrugged. “Maybe I care about your little business and want to see it succeed.”
“Of course you care,” I said. “I never doubted that you cared. That doesn’t mean that you would put more effort into it than absolutely necessary. And considering that I never ask much of you, I don’t think this is necessary.”
Sam put his hand over his chest. “You wound me.”
“We’re not getting anywhere with this conversation,” I said, planting my feet. “Never mind.”
Sam sighed. “I put a lot of effort into selling stuff before. You just didn’t see it.”
Right. I didn’t notice the person sitting next to me all day selling my wares, which I have to count at the end of each day. A likely story. Next, he’d tell me that he hadn’t stolen almost a hundred dollars’ worth of jerky.
“My parents also suggested that I should get a job,” Sam said. “Since, you know, I’ll need some extra money when I start going to college.”
As far as I knew, Sam hadn’t applied for any colleges. It wouldn’t surprise me if he hadn’t told his parents this, because they would have been furious. Sam wouldn’t care that he’d eventually have to tell them, as long as he didn’t have to get into trouble right then. If he got lucky, he could enroll into a community college late, and they wouldn’t murder him.
“And you need us to earn more money, so that we can pay you,” I said, filling in the blanks.
“You make it sound so tawdry,” Sam said, flinging his head back so that his hair would flip dramatically. He did that at the same time that Jay came out of the RV, and the two of them almost collided. Jay glared at Sam and started to walk around him.
“What sounds tawdry?” Jay asked.
“The fact that Sam is using us to avoid getting a job,” I said. “I’m sure his parents just love me for that.”
Sam didn’t say anything.
“You actually told him that you were doing this with two dudes, didn’t you?” I said. “One that they know is gay.”
Sam cleared his throat. “I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
I rubbed my eyes. “Well, it’s not like there’s any love lost between me and your parents, but I hope that you’re prepared for the consequences.”
He shrugged. “I think it’ll be fine.”
I thought that his parents would show up any day, scream at him for doing something they didn’t approve of, and drag him out by pinching his ear.
Jay slouched into his chair, glancing sideways at Sam. “I’m not sure what’s going on, still, but I’m on Hammy’s side.”
“Shock,” Sam said.
I raised an eyebrow at him. We would have continued the conversation, but someone pulled up just then, asking about prices. By the time I got through selling him jerky, I turned around to see Sam and Jay glaring at each other like they could slice the other one open with their eyes alone.
“Um,” I said. “Hey, Jay, why don’t you head over to the store and get us something to eat. My treat.” I passed him thirty bucks, which should have paid for all of us to eat lunch.
He agreed after another moment of glaring at Sam. Then he took off.
“What the hell?” I asked, slipping into my seat again. “Why are you facing off against Jay?”
“He started it.”
“Not what I asked.”
Sam sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at nothing. “I wasn’t facing off with Jay. He started glaring at me for no reason, so I glared back at him. I didn’t think he wouldn’t back down.”
“I don’t know if you were here yesterday, but he was about ready to take out t
hat Heavaii woman while wearing a bee costume. Perhaps, and take a second to really consider this, you should let Jay be when he’s overworked and hot.”
Sam smirked. “It’s the hot part that I’m most curious about.”
“What?” I asked.
“You held his flipper while walking across the street yesterday. Don’t play dumb with me.”
“It’s a wing, first of all,” I said.
Sam gave me a look.
“And, yeah, I held his wing, to keep him from attacking someone. Namely them.” I nodded to the people across the street. Helen smiled at us through the window, waving and pointing at a sandwich. She seemed to think that they were enticing. I didn’t particularly care for half-assed food, so I didn’t even acknowledge her.
“You didn’t have to hold his flipper.”
“It’s a wing.”
“Whatever,” Sam said, putting his feet on the table. I shoved them off before anyone could see him doing something so stupid. “You held it and you didn’t seem to mind. If you were girls, then I think you could have gotten away with it, but you’re boys, and boys don’t hold hands without sparks.”
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. “You’re giving me a headache.”
“Jesus, did it take you this long to decide that you liked me?”
“It took me longer, because I had to move past how annoying you were first,” I said.
Sam put his hand to his chest in a similar pose as he done earlier. “You wound me. Again.”
“I’ll do more than that if you don’t drop this before Jay comes back. Neither of us is in a position where we can survive without the other. It’s the draw of both the honey and the jerky that is getting people’s attention. And the sandwiches.” I looked over my shoulder at the cooler that had mostly been emptied out. We had turned a good profit today, again thanks to the choker.
But we wouldn’t always have someone to spit their food out during the lunch rush, so we had to start thinking ahead. We needed more than just sandwiches. We needed something bigger than what we already had.