Apples & Gin: Animal Crackers

Noah and Sawyer from Apples and Gin had planned to spend a romantic Valentine’s Day together, but Noah is stuck away from home while his flight waits out a storm. Sawyer won’t let distance spoil their holiday, though: he’s got a plan to make Noah’s Valentine’s Day romantic even while they’re apart. Memories, animal crackers, help from friends and a lot of banter combine to make waiting as sweet as reunion.

Excerpt:
Noah nearly called him again, just to hear his voice, but texted him instead about the possible flight and added, “They gave us juice boxes. I think there might be animal crackers next.” He put his phone away, then took it out again and texted, “I like animal crackers. I should eat some soon.”

The good thing about dating a singer, he thought as he plugged his earphones into his MP3 player, was that if he ever wanted to hear Sawyer’s voice, the man was only an iPod away. As ever, the sound of Sawyer’s voice made him breathe easier, even made him relax a little back against the wall and not even mind so much that his hands smelled like cream cheese.

He was through his favorites of Sawyer’s albums — the first one and the acoustic one, and not just because so many of the songs were about him — when his phone buzzed again. He took it from his coat pocket and pulled the earphones from his ears, but it wasn’t a call this time: it was a video file from Sawyer. Noah rolled his eyes affectionately and pressed Play.

In the video, Sawyer stood in front of a familiar diner, silver and neon in the glow of the streetlights. Sawyer spread his arms wide. “Hi, Noah!” he said happily. “Quiz time. Do you remember this place and the first time you took me here? If you get the answer right, I’ll send you the next message. If you get the answer wrong — well, I haven’t decided what I’m doing if you get an answer wrong. Probably rickroll you. Text me!” He waved and the video ended.

Noah laughed and texted him the answer. “That’s the Pacific Dining Car in Santa Monica,” he wrote. “I took you there the first time you stayed the night with me at the Venice Beach house. You were hungry at four a.m., so I took you there for chocolate chip pancakes.” He sent the text and sat back to wait for Sawyer’s next message.

It came as the flight attendants were coming around again to say that the flight was now scheduled to take off at noon. This time the message had a title, “You got #1 right, like I knew you would.” In the video, Sawyer was on a moonlit wooden platform that overlooked the ocean, and Noah could hear Sawyer’s personal assistant, Jeannie, talking behind the camera as the video began. “The battery has about another hour or so. We’re fine. Okay, go.”

“Hi, Noah,” Sawyer said into the camera. “Question two. Where am I, when did we first come here, and what did we do? Do you remember? Text me. I miss you.”

“Cut,” said Jeannie. She giggled before the video stopped.

Noah shook his head at them both and wrote his text. “You’re at Point Dume. We went there for our first anniversary to see whales. We didn’t see any whales. That may have been due to all the making out we did, so it was still a good day.” He sent the text and lay down on the floor again, his arm over his eyes.

It was a long wait for the third video to arrive: Noah’s flight had been seated, though they hadn’t yet been cleared for takeoff, and the flight attendants had not requested the passengers put away their cell phones yet. Noah smiled an apology at his seatmate as his ringtone played, and turned away a little as he played the video.

It irised in on an animal cracker. Noah laughed out loud. In the video Sawyer held the animal cracker in front of his eye and then popped it into his mouth. “Hi, Noah,” he said as he chewed, and behind the camera Jeannie said, “Ew, Sawyer, yuck. Crumbs.”

“Sorry,” Sawyer said and wiped the camera lens with his thumb. “Sorry, Noah.” He held up another animal cracker. “If you hurry home you’ll get all the animal crackers you want.” He popped this one into his mouth, too, but this time chewed and swallowed before he spoke. “Okay. Question three.” He stepped back and Jeannie stepped back, too, to reveal a familiar fountain among dozens of brightly-colored flowers. There were little tables scattered around, empty in the light of the rising sun. “What is significant about this place to you and me? Text me. Miss you.”

The video ended. Noah rewound it and watched it again, smiling, and wrote, “That’s the Grove. That’s where we were the first time I said I love you. We were not eating animal crackers at the time.” He sent the text, and then added, “I’m on the plane, but the flight may not leave yet. Waiting for news.”

Purchasing information

Dark Divas

Without any excess in words and characters that are easy to like, I thought Ms. Jones did a great job with her short story.