Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

OSCAR

Sam was avoiding Oscar. According to Christian, Sam had been released the next morning and was just fine. Christian took the time to fill him in—after a bit of begging on Oscar’s part—and he’d learned that Sam would be tired for a few days. It was normal for him, Christian assured, and it wasn’t something Oscar needed to worry about. He’d need a few days to rest and recover and then Sam should be good to go. So Christian had said.

But after a week, it was clear that Sam was dodging him. Oscar had texted a few times to check in, and to try and get a conversation going, but after Sam’s one-word answers that left no window to continue a chat, it was obvious Sam wasn’t interested.

Did that stop Oscar from walking by Sam’s favorite coffee shop every day to look for him? No. And it didn’t stop him from going inside on day number eight when Sam finally made an appearance.

Oscar went to the counter and ordered a black coffee with two sugars and two lemon cranberry muffins. After he paid, he went over to the table Sam was seated at and sat down across from him.

Sam looked up from his coffee and tried to force a smile. Was he that unhappy to see Oscar?

“Hey. You’re a hard man to get a hold of,” Oscar said. “I got you a muffin. Lemon cranberry.”

“Sorry, I… I meant to thank you for helping me. I tried, I mean. A couple times. But somehow I ended up deleting every text I wrote to you.”

Oscar took the other muffin and gently peeled the wrapper off the bottom before breaking it in two pieces. He set the top down on the wrapper and ate half of the bottom in one bite.

“For the record, Sam, there’s no need to thank me. Any decent person would’ve helped you. I’m glad that I was able to help you.”

Sam nodded and took the other muffin. Instead of taking the wrapper off, he tore a chunk off the top of the muffin and popped it in his mouth. “Even though I’ve avoided you ever since?”

“Even then.” Oscar finished the bottom of his muffin and washed it down with a swig of coffee. “I meant what I said, Sam. About liking you. I want to get to know you better.”

Sam raised his eyes and looked at Oscar. His gaze was full of disbelief. “Given the way we met, I find that hard to believe.”

“There’s nothing wrong with how we met, Sam. You have seizures; that’s fine. It sucks more for you than it does for whoever you end up dating.” Oscar furrowed his brow and tried not to wince. “Wow, did that make me sound like an asshole? It wasn’t what I intended.”

Much to Oscar’s surprise, Sam laughed.

“It does suck for me. Thanks for acknowledging that. I think it helps to know that you understand what a shitty deal this can be sometimes. I’ve dealt with it since I was a kid and sometimes it is easier than others. The new drug I’m on is doing well for me, even if you wouldn’t believe that after the last time you saw me.” Sam tore off another bite of his muffin. “You were really great, by the way. With Ace and… and me.”

“Look, I’m just going to shoot my shot here. Sam, I like you and I’d like to get to know you better. I want to take you on a date. Probably not the movies because I actually want to talk to you. But I’d really like to take you on a date.”

Sam blushed, but it was there and gone so fast Oscar wasn’t sure if he saw it or not.

“When did you want to take me on this date? Just so I know how much time I have to overthink it to death.”

Oscar looked at Sam and the stiffness in his shoulders. Sam looked like a guy who didn’t have the best track record with men. He looked like he was just waiting for Oscar to disappoint him.

“Well, are you free right now?”

Sam’s eyes widened. “Now?”

“Yeah. Now. We can finish our muffins, then I can take you somewhere and we can talk and do first date things, and when we’re done, I’ll walk you to your door and maybe if I play my cards right, you’ll agree to let me kiss you.”

Oscar definitely saw the blush that time.

“Now?”

“Right now.”

If today went well, there were only a couple more days before Valentine's Day and Oscar wanted more than anything to be Sam’s Valentine’s date. But first he had to get Sam to agree to his crazy plan.

Sam looked down at Ace lying curled up by Sam’s feet.

“Normally this is the part where I worry about whether or not I’m going to have a seizure in the middle of our date and embarrass myself, but considering how we met, that doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“It wouldn’t matter to me either way. Some people have trouble walking. Some people have seizures. I had a speech impediment that I was in therapy for. It took years for me to master it, and sometimes it still slips out. I know it’s hardly the same thing as having a seizure, but I know what it’s like to be judged for something you have little to no control over.”

Sam narrowed his gaze. “You're almost too good to be true. You know that, right? I mean, you’re nice, you go out of your way to help strangers, you’re empathetic.”

“And hot, don’t forget hot.”

Sam rolled his eyes, but he was smiling now. “And you’re hot. It’s almost not fair how perfect you are.”

“I’m not perfect, Sam. Far from it. I’m a little bit full of myself and a lot obsessive.”

“So Christian has told me. Apparently you’ve been trying to convince him to introduce us for a while.”

Oscar narrowed his eyes. “What did Christian tell you? That I’m obsessive or full of myself?”

Sam smirked. “Yes.”

“Well, that settles it. Now you have to spend the afternoon with me.” Oscar stood and held out his hand, waiting for Sam to take it. Hoping Sam would take it. It wouldn’t be the first time Oscar had embarrassed himself, but if Sam brushed him off now, it would probably be the most painful bit of humiliation he’d ever endured.

With a sigh, Sam stood. He didn’t take Oscar’s hand, however, because he had Ace’s leash in one hand and his coffee in the other.

“You’ve convinced me. You have one afternoon, Oscar.”

Growing up, Oscar had hated his name. In middle school, he’d gone so far as to make all his friends and family call him David. Was it his middle name? No, but it was a nice, boring, normal name. Then Oscar hit high school and there had been no less than four other kids named David, so Oscar switched back to his real name. He didn’t mind his name when Sam used it though.

The weather had warmed up a little over the past couple of days, but it was still decidedly winter outside and Oscar didn’t want to spend all day freezing his ass off. He didn’t exactly have a plan for this date—he’d truthfully hoped to have more time to plan something special for their first date, but Sam admitted worry about overthinking and Oscar jumped at the chance to spend more time with him.

“Where are we going?” Sam asked after about a half a block of silence.

“Well… where do you want to go?”

Sam shook his head. “Nope, that’s too easy on you. You’re supposed to be impressing me.”

“Okay. One impressive date coming up.” Oscar nodded in the direction of a sprawling structure.

“The mall?” Sam asked, visibly confused.

“Yeah, the mall.” Already Oscar had a terrible, awful, hilarious idea of what he wanted to do.

“The last time a date took me to the mall, I was in middle school.” Sam didn’t seem upset by the choice of location, which Oscar counted as a win.

“What was your first date like?” he asked.

Sam let out a short laugh. “Awful. I’m bisexual, but I’ve never been able to talk to girls. Even before I figured out that boys were also an option for me. Girls are terrifying. Anyway, we went for pizza. I was too nervous to eat anything. She was too nervous to say anything. We sat there for the most painful forty-five minutes of my life. What about you?”

“Well, I never had to worry about talking to girls as more than friends, but it took a long time for me to get up the courage to talk to guys. My first date was a movie date. Which is good if you’re too nervous to talk, and bad if you’re also nervous about whether or not you should try to kiss him in the back of the theater. I still don’t remember a single thing about the movie.”

“First dates are supposed to be bad. It’s the law.”

“Then we’re definitely breaking the law right now because this is the opposite of bad.” Oscar hit the button at the intersection to change the light so they could cross the street.

“Is that what this is? Our first date?”

“Well, if you want to keep the track record of bad first dates, we could go with the day we met.” Oscar grinned at Sam, who rolled his eyes. “Then this would be our second date.”

Sam didn’t seem to have a response to that, which suited Oscar fine. Talking to Sam was easy and fun, but so were the silences. He liked walking next to him and being able to look over every so often and steal a glance at him. He liked knowing that out of all the places Sam could have chosen to be, he chose to be with Oscar.

The mall wasn’t insane, but the volume between outside and inside took a second for Oscar to adjust to. Valentine’s Day was a low-key holiday compared to Christmas or Halloween, but there were still some storefronts decorated with hearts and flowers and cherubs.

“Where are we going?” Sam asked again as Oscar led them further into the mall, past a couple of clothing stores and an electronics store.

“We’re almost there.” Oscar came to a stop outside Shirt-Shack, a place where they could have custom t-shirts made. “Here we are. Your mission is to design a shirt for me that will make me think of you, and I’ll do the same.”

“A shirt that will make you think of me. Are there any rules?”

“Not really, but you get bonus points for creativity.”

“What’s the time limit?” Sam asked.

“Let’s say… ten minutes to brainstorm and then however long it takes them to make the shirts.”

“Okay.” Sam smiled. “You’re on.”