“It’s not for everyone,” he said.
I flipped the first one over and realized that I had done it too soon. I made a mess. The second one I waited too long and when I turned it over, it was black. I wondered what the smell was. I kept messing with the heat, turning it up and then back down. None of them came out right.
“I’m not very good at this, am I?” I asked shaking my head and laughing.
“No. Sorry to say, but you’re not. I honestly could never do pancakes myself. I like waffles because the waffle maker has that little light that tells you when they’re done.”
“Oh!” I said excitedly. “That would have been so much easier. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“You seemed hell-bent on making pancakes once you found that box.” He gave a half-shrug and a shy smile.
I laughed.
“Fine. You have a point.”
Just then, Bryan walked into the kitchen. He wrapped me up in his arms and by the strong, fresh scent, I could tell that he had just gotten out of the shower.
“Do I even want to know?” he asked as he pulled back a little and looked over at the stove.
“No,” Colby and I said in unison.
Bryan raised a brow and looked back and forth between us. Then he smiled and shook his head.
“You know she’s mine right?” He looked at Colby with a deadly expression on his face but I could tell he was just messing around. It was all in the tone, it was playful.
“Stop it,” I said swatting his hard stomach.
“Come on,” he said reaching for my hand. “Prospect, clean this up and then get your ass to the hospital. It’s that time.”
I didn’t have a chance to ask what was going on or where we were going. Or even say that I didn’t want to leave the mess there for Colby to clean up. That wasn’t fair at all especially when the whole thing had been my idea.
“It’s what they gotta do, baby,” he said like he could read my mind. “Now, get your ass up to the room and get changed.”
He swatted me on the butt, effectively making me yelp and giggle at the same time.
“Jeans,” he said when I was about to open my mouth to ask him what I should wear.
So much for me trying to be sly and get some information out of him. Wherever he was taking me, he wasn’t letting me in on it.
I was a little surprised when he turned into the hospital. Only because he made it seem like we were doing something different. He had never cared what I wore here before. But then he headed past the main entrance and parked in front of a building off to the side. It wasn’t all that hard to figure out what part of the hospital this was because it was written on the outside.
“Why are we here?” I asked with confusion ringing in my tone.
“Just come on.” He playfully pulled me along.
No one stopped him as he strolled right in wearing his cut and looking like a biker up to no good. In fact, the old lady at the desk smiled at him like she knew him. Doors opened without us even being questioned.
And it was on the third floor that I found out why.
We greeted Mouse and Ky. There were a few other members that sent us that chin jerk thing that is like a silent ‘hello’ I assumed. I, however, did not chin jerk back because I didn’t feel like I could pull it off. I wasn’t some macho man Neanderthal, after all. I only meant that in the nicest way possible.
Then I saw all the bags that reminded me of what I imagined Santa had when I was a kid. They were overflowing with stuffed animals. A few of the guys were dressed up. Some of them even going all out and wearing spandex superhero costumes.
“Um,” I said looking at the guy in the far corner. “Why is that one dressed like a unicorn? And shouldn’t he be like down on his hands and knees? It just looks weird with him walking all human-like.”
“Because little girls like unicorns, right? And that was the best we could do. One time, we had one of the prospects dress up like a princess. Some of the parents weren’t so happy about that one.”
That sparked an idea in my head. But it turned out that I didn’t even have to say the thought out loud.
