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Determined to make it up to Gemma, I headed to Bare Necessities after work on Friday. The small stucco building next to the dry cleaners was drab on the outside, nothing like the colors and smells of the inside. Like before, the bell above my head dinged when I opened the door, and my eyes caught on a sign for vegan brownies and cupcakes. I’d never tried vegan anything, but they actually looked pretty good.
“Hi, welcome to Bare Necessities. How can I help you?”
I spun around at the voice to find a person with pale skin and wavy bleach-blond hair, styled on top of their head with a sparkly lemon pin. “Hey, I’m looking for Gem.”
“And you are?”
“Jason.”
Their face changed immediately, hands thrusting up in the air. “Jason! Yes, Jason, so nice to meet you. I’m Alex, pronouns are he/they, and I’m owner and manager of this bountiful vegan oasis. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“You have?” I was both surprised and thrilled at that fact. “All good things, I hope.”
Alex looked me up and down with a critical eye before pointing to the bag in my hand. “Come bearing gifts?” When I held it up in a silent answer, he patted my arm. “Good man. Gem, darling,” he called over his shoulder. “I need your assistance out front.”
My breath caught in my chest when she stepped into view, dressed in a flowing white shirt. Her hair caught the sun streaming through the window, and it highlighted the amber hues waving loose down her shoulders. She looked angelic.
Then her dark eyes narrowed, her face altering into something a lot less heavenly. “Why are you here?”
Finding the closest thing to him, I held up a bottle of liquid smoke. “Shopping.”
She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I came to apologize about the other night.” I offered up the take-out bag from a local burger place. “Since we didn’t have dinner together, I thought I could make it up to you.”
“I’m not eating meat,” she said, and Alex let out a sound of horror from where he hid two aisles over, not so subtly watching us.
“It’s not meat. I promised you it wouldn’t be.”
She reluctantly took it from my hand and glanced over to her boss, who gestured to the door. “Go ahead.”
Gemma growled out something that sounded like “Fine, come on,” so I followed her outside to sit on the steps leading up to the store.
“What is it?” she asked, unwrapping the burger. It didn’t have the same mouthwatering scent as beef, but it looked okay.
“Black bean and mushroom. I got you fries too.”
She stared at the burger, suspicion lining all her features.
“I had to try three different places,” I said, pointing to it. “Not many restaurants make vegan burgers.”
“Really?” She turned to me, her eyes sparkling, and if that was all it took to make her happy, I’d personally see she had vegan burgers whenever she wanted them.
I nudged her elbow with mine. “Yeah. Wasn’t that big of a deal.”
Only took me an hour.
With a hint of a smile, she bit into it, a slice of tomato falling out of the top. She scooped it up and slurped it between her lips, coating them in juice. “How is it?”
“Really good. Here, try.” She shoved it at me. “Go ahead.”
Sharing her food with me had to be a good sign.
When I accepted it, she dug into the bag for a few fries and ate those too.
“Come on,” she cajoled. “I want to witness your face when you try your first animal-free cheeseburger and realize how good it is.”
