“Thank you so much. This is so thoughtful of both of you.” I do the only thing I can, taking the bottle from Harrison and hoping he’ll go back to his other guests.
When he doesn’t leave, I know I’m not getting out of this without eating some of the spicy stuff. I open the bottle and shake out a small dollop on my sandwich.
“Don’t be shy on our account. I know how much you love the stuff and how much effort Harrison went through to get this for you,” Gavin says, smug as he can be next me.
I shake another small dollop on my sandwich, ruining the food. At least I had a few bites of savory goodness before it was desecrated.
This is some cold shit. It was well known in our school growing up how much this Indian couldn’t handle spicy food. My classmates made fun of me, led by the man of the hour, Gavin.
Everyone’s still looking at me expectantly, so I take a bite of the tainted sandwich. The smallest bite I can possibly take while still consuming some of the food. “Mmm...this is so good. Thank you again, Harrison, for doing this for me.” I salute him with the sandwich, mouth very much on fire.
Just smile through it. Breathe, and smile through it.
“Good. I want my guests to be as happy as they can be.” Satisfied that he did his duty as a host, hefinallywalks away from our blanket.
Once his back is turned, I frantically look through the baskets for some water, because my mouth hasn’t stopped burning. Tears are forming.
“Are you looking for this?” Gavin, who’s enjoying himself more than anyone has a right to at the suffering at another human being, is holding all of the bottles of water that were in the baskets.
“Give it,” I snap as I reach for a bottle. I throw a quick look at Nate and Naomi, relieved to see they’re focusing on a conversation with Cindy on their other side.
“But you love the spice so much, I wouldn’t want you to dilute it.” He raises the bottles even higher. The heartless giant.
I shove at Gavin repeatedly, who laughs the entire time as I push him to the ground. I snatch a bottle from him and quickly bounce back up, focusing on the burning in my mouth over the burning desire I felt when I was pressed against him.
“You must be so proud of yourself right now,” I say after I drink the entire bottle of water.
“Exceptionally. And you deserved it after making me so uncomfortable I wanted to tear through my clothes all last night.” He gives me an arch look.
I glare at him in response and then look longingly at my sandwich. My stomach rumbles, protesting the fact that food is so close but I can’t eat it.
A very deep sigh comes from next to me. Gavin’s hand comes into my view and takes the plate away from me, and replaces it with his own, unspicy plate.
My head snaps to his direction, and he takes a big bite of the sandwich. “This is a really good hot sauce. Artisanal. Harrison probably spent a lot of money getting this for you.”
I take a bite of the regular sandwich, groaning in relief when my mouth isn’t assaulted by any new heat. It’ll probably take longer for the burning to go away entirely, but a plain ham and cheese is a good start. “Why are you eating it?”
“Because unlike you, I actually like spicy food.”
“Weirdo,” I say, without any heat. I’m too busy enjoying the plain sandwich. “Here, knock yourself out. But literally, please.” I shove the bottle of hot sauce at him.
Gavin looks at me, not breaking eye contact while he opens the bottle and puts even more hot sauce on the sandwich. And some over his potato salad for good measure.
Whatever, it’s his taste buds.
By my second sandwich, the burning in my mouth has gone away enough that I can enjoy the expensive food laid out for us. Digging deeper into the basket reveals brownies. I toss one at Gavin and start devouring mine.
“Are you going to tell me what made you so upset today?” Gavin asks when my guard is lowered with chocolate.
He’s still on that? Why does he care? It’s unnerving that he’s digging into my emotions. “Why do you care? Looking for ways to find out my weaknesses?”
“No. I just care.” He sounds frustrated.
“Why?”
“You’ve been in my life since we were in kindergarten. That’s a long time to know someone and not care about them a little. And despite wanting to beat you at work, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you in general.”
What is this new Gavin? Has he been hit on the head lately? Did he have a loss of oxygen to the brain recently? He’s deviating from our roles and I’m not entirely comfortable with it. And where’s all this assertiveness when it’s time to stand up to his dad? “It’s just work stuff,” I mumble.
