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“Don't you worry about a thing,” Tim smiles. “You're perfectly safe here. Stan just wanted to make sure we weren't wrong to give you the apple wine.”
“Oh… right,” I blush fiercely, “the apple wine…”
I look around the table. All five of them are grinning at me widely. I realize they all know exactly what happened yesterday. They all look pretty excited about it, if I'm reading their expressions correctly.
“I don't really drink very often,” I explain in a quiet voice.
“I think Tim and Tom you an apology,” I hear Stan say softly. His hand covers mine completely, a warm shell. I stare it our hands together on the tabletop, slightly stunned.
“Apology for what?” I ask honestly.
“Well,” Tim starts uncomfortably, “maybe we were… you know. Too much. Didn't ask permission? Just sort of…”
“I thought we were just kind of going along,” Tom interrupts. “But if you would like an apology, we're ready to give you one!”
He nods earnestly, looking sort of proud as though he's maybe practiced that speech or something.
“No, don't do that,” I object. “You didn't do anything wrong. I mean, it was kind of strange… intense… but…”
“But what?” Stan asks.
I turn toward him, searching his eyes. His lowers his chin and stares at me with intense focus. I can tell he's really searching for the answer to a much bigger question than those two words.
“Well. I liked it,” I explain.
A hush falls over the table. I can't even hear them chewing anymore, but all of a sudden I hear them swallow.
“You're sure?”
I take a moment to look around. If this is a fairytale, this is the part where I realize I've just walked into the enchanted cottage in the enchanted forest to find this is a pack of wolves or something. Bears. Centaurs.
Am I sure? Yes, I think I am. It's not a question of whether or not I know what I like, it's whether or not I would normally admit it to other people. Being next to Tim and Tom was thrilling, overwhelming. The kind of thing I'd only ever dared to dream about before.
But I don't think that I can conceal the truth from these men. They are five of the most beautiful men I've ever seen, all gathered around the same table, all staring at me so intensely I barely feel like I can move. I’m trapped in their spell. They really want to know the truth, I'm certain of it.
“Yes, I'm completely sure,” I announce. “I loved it.”
“You know, you don't have to say that,” Stan assures me, tapping my hand lightly. “We're all adults here. You can be honest.”
“Well, it would probably be smarter for me to focus on just one of you… more normal, maybe?”
“Ha!” the youngest one, Charlie, barks with a wink. “Normal is not anything we're known for. It's really hard to get excited about normal, don't you think?”
“Yeah,” Tim smirks. “If you really wanted to impress us, you would have to flirt with all of us.”
“Yeah, right, guys… all five of you,” I laugh, but when I look around, they're not laughing. They’re smiling, sure, but not laughing. I can sense them leaning forward expectantly, wondering what I'll say.
“All five of you? Are you serious?” I ask, my voice suddenly quavering, but curious too.
“Is it something you could consider?” Stan says gently, his voice a low grumble in his throat.
They all seem to be on watch, waiting, leaning forward to find out what I'll say. If this was a pack of hungry dogs, I'd expect to see little lines of drool oozing down toward their plates.
“Geez, guys, give the girl some air,” Hank finally interrupts. He pushes himself back in his seat and tears the bread loaf in half.
I try to catch his eye, to see if he had a change of heart or was really trying to offer me a way out. He won't meet my eye again, but I sense he wants to. He just wants me to look away first.
But as they all grudgingly slump back in their seats, returning to their attention to their heavily-laden plates, I realize something very strange. I liked it. When they all looked right at me, I liked it quite a bit. It might sound strange — astonishing even — but the thought of being swept up in their fairytale fantasy of five handsome farmers sounded enchanting. Really delicious.
