Golden Silence

I was relieved to find that the front of my house did not have a swarm of vehicles in front of it. Then again, why would there be? No one of celebrity merit knew who I was and where I lived. My house was at the tip of a cul-de-sac and my neighbors always kept to themselves. I wondered a few times if they were collaborating against me to take my hammock but that was definitely pushing it.

“Do you mind if I park in your garage? Everyone knows how my car looks like, well at least ‘they’ do,” she asked.

“Sure, let me just move my truck,” I replied.

I ran out and went inside to grab my keys. When I went back outside I was expecting to suddenly see a mob of cars coming down the street. Nope, it was still clear. I moved my truck out of the way and opened up my garage. With a quick rev of her engine she was inside. I stepped out and joined her inside the garage. I quickly closed the big metal door and we went inside.

“Do you usually have that intense of a first date?” I asked.

“No, only for special occasions,” she said with a wink.

“Well, are you still hungry? You were barely able to eat your meal earlier.”

“Yeah, let’s make something from scratch. I have never done that in my life,” she said, excitement glowing in her eyes.

“Sure, I haven’t made anything from scratch in a long time. It would be an adventure, except not like one of yours. I don’t think I would be able to handle that,” I said.

“Yeah, maybe I should stop with that stuff. I am getting quite old,” she joked.

We went into my kitchen and raided the fridge and pantry looking for possible dinner ideas. After several minutes of turning my kitchen upside down we decided to make the most delicious creation that mankind has ever had to offer. It required lots of patience, stamina, and skill. We had all the ingredients laid out in front of us on my table. When mixed all together, it would create an army of sweets. I feared for my kitchen and our lives.

“Do we have to do this?” I asked nervously.

“Yes, it’s the only way,” she said with conviction burning in her eyes.

“Fine, but I sure hope that you know what you are getting us into.”

“Don’t worry. If anything goes wrong, I have a wonderful doctor.”

“Well that is reassuring. Let’s do it then. Let’s make cupcakes!”

We began to create the batter. It was a frenzy of egg cracking, flour adding, and egg beating. We were a mess. Anyone could see that we were definitely not even close to being the next Iron Chef. All over my walls were hints of the batter. Once that was done, we started to create the frosting. This time, we made it without a mess. Well, not a big mess at least.

“I think we added too much sugar Mr. P,” she said.

“I am living on the wild side, this was your idea by the way,” I replied.

“True, but I don’t always have the best ideas . . .”

“Don’t be a big baby, a little bit of extra sugar won’t kill us,” I boldly said.

“So when it comes to baking cupcakes you are high and mighty, but when I go over the speed limit a tiny bit you freak out?”

“A little? A little bit a lot is more like it. That was life and death, ma’am. This is for pure enjoyment.”

“So was that!” she snapped.

“Haha, don’t get your undies in a bunch Miss C, we still have cupcakes to bake. Shit . . .”

“What?” she asked.

“We forgot to pour the batter and bake the cupcakes. We could have killed a good thirty minutes.”

“See what happens when you get to excited?” she joked.

“Hey, you could have reminded me,” giving her a small push as I said it.

“Well, what should we do until everything is ready?” she asked.

“Clean ourselves. You have a bit of flour on your face.”

“Where?”

“All over your face,” I motioned with my hand.

“Oh, haha,” she blushed although it was difficult to exactly see her face.

“You can use my bathroom, I will use the sink,” I said.

“Thanks, do you mind if I change back? I think I should have changed before we started.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

She left the kitchen and I began to clean up. I had a fair share of cupcake ingredients on my face as well. It was worth it, I hadn’t had this much fun since . . . ever. As I put the bowls inside the sink I began to wonder if there was anything between the two of us. I may be a fool for thinking this but one must remember that she is an actress. All the emotions that she presents to me could just be a game to her, just like driving away from the paparazzi. There are many reasons why she could be doing this. I will test this theory out, I thought to myself. When everything is done, I will see if she is interested in me or her public persona.

I finally put the cupcakes back into the oven and I put the icing in the fridge. When I closed the door, I saw her coming down the stairs in her sweatshirt. She was beautiful even in casual clothes. I think she looks a lot more elegant in regular clothing than in ritzy clothing. She seemed more . . . normal. Don’t get me wrong, she looks beautiful either way, but just seeing her with a ponytail and a blue sweatshirt seemed unreal. I suppose it is because I have only seen her in something that would take most people a few paychecks to pay off.

“Almost done cleaning,” I said.

“You could have waited, I wanted to help. I made most of the mess by the way,” she said thoughtfully.

“It’s fine. I put the cupcakes in as well. So, all we have to do it wait.”

“Cool, so what should we do until they are done?”

“Would you like to continue our date?”

“Gladly,” she said with a smile.

She walked over to the table and sat down. I joined, sitting in the seat across from her.

“So, how is a graduate student able to afford such a big house? Do you sell drugs? Roomies? Special agent perhaps?” she asked.

“Well, I am really a special agent trying to root out terrorist cells in America. My current assignment is to do some recon on this beautiful actress, whose name I cannot disclose to you. At the moment, it is difficult to say if she is currently involved in any unpatriotic activities,” I said.

“Oh dear, this sounds very important. Now, how were you able to come in contact with this ‘terrorist’?” she interrogated.

“My partner, whose name I also cannot disclose to anyone, got me into a party of a famous person. I knew that the person I am investigating must be there so I decided to attend. Alas, I was right. She was there. Her camouflage was perfect. She was in a beautiful red dress. Absolutely gorgeous. I was about to confront her that night but then I feared to blow my cover. So, instead I wandered into the garden and pondered.”

“My my, that is a truly remarkable tale,” she joked.

“I would tell you more of the story, but if I did the cupcakes would become burnt.”

“You must tell me after we finish with the cupcakes,”

“All right, but I must warn you, most of this stuff is classified information,” I somehow said with a straight face.

“You can count on me,” she said with a comical salute.
We got up and started to put icing onto our cupcakes. We didn’t talk during the whole process. There were a few moments where we would just quickly glance up and see the other staring and we would return with a smile and continue decorating each cupcake. White icing. Brown Cupcakes. Golden Silence.