Earworm
Robbie slowed down, falling a step behind Cat so that he could observe her. Their conversation had trailed off about a block ago, and he wasn't sure why. Usually words flowed so easily between them; they rarely ran out of thoughts to bounce off of each other.
She didn't look unhappy. Her gaze flitted around, starting at the window of a nearby surf shop, going across the street to a little girl with a red heart balloon, and then settling on the sky above. The stark, cloudless blue of the July sky was a contrast to Cat's pale yellow dress, which was printed with puffy white clouds.
Falling further behind, Robbie noticed a small bounce in Cat's step that melted his heart a little.
He looked away from her and toward the beach, distracting himself from his feelings. The waves were unusually calm, forming a perfectly straight horizon line with the sky. He could smell the familiar ocean salt, and he couldn't wait to feel the wet sand between his toes. He and Cat were going to build sand turtles.
When he looked back at Cat, he realized that she was about to bounce right into the middle of the street. She was still staring up at the sky and hadn't noticed that the illuminated crosswalk sign had just switched to a red hand.
"Cat?" he called, but she didn't seem to hear him. "Cat! Stop!"
He ran up to her and pulled her backwards by her wrist as the traffic light turned green.
"Ow!" she yelped, looking back at Robbie with anger and confusion. "What was that for?"
Then the engine of an orange sports car a few feet away roared to life, and she reflexively hopped backwards, bumping hard into Robbie. Slowly realizing what had almost just happened, she watched with wide eyes as the car sped away. Even after the car went around a corner and was out of sight, she was still gaping in its general direction, not noticing how tightly she was holding on to the fistful of Robbie's shirt she had grabbed.
"Cat?"
"Yes?" she said guiltily, looking up at him.
"You could have gotten hurt."
The simple statement paired with the worry in his eyes made Cat feel awful. Suddenly self-conscious, she pulled her hand away from his now-wrinkled shirt and looked down at the sidewalk to avoid his eyes.
"You okay?" Robbie asked, reaching up with both hands to fix the ribbon around her ponytail.
Cat nodded silently, not knowing what to say.
While she was waiting for him to finish re-tying her ribbon, she lightly touched her nose to his sleeve. "Did your mom buy new detergent?"
"Yeah, the scent is called fresh laundry. She said it 'made sense' to her. She also got new water-scented hand soap," he said, finishing off the knot. "So you really didn't hear me yelling for you to stop?" he asked, quickly getting back to the more important topic at hand.
Cat shook her head. "I'm sorry, Robbie. It's just, sometimes I don't hear you over the music that's playing in my head."
Seeing that Cat was completely serious, Robbie sighed, now knowing that he was taking a backseat to Cat's internal soundtrack.
"Oh no, are you sad?" Cat asked, tugging on his arm.
Robbie shrugged, not sure what he was feeling. "I guess you just scared me. That must be some earworm you have."
"I have a what?!" Cat shrieked, jumping away from Robbie.
"An earworm?" he said uncertainly.
Cat screamed and threw her hands over her ears, running back up the sidewalk away from Robbie.
"Cat!" he yelled, but once again she couldn't hear him.
"No, no, no!" she cried, shaking her head and earning the stares of passersby. "Get out of my ear!"
Cat easily weaved in and out of the crowd, screaming all the way, but Robbie was not as adept at running and dodging, constantly apologizing to people over his shoulder after he ran into them. People started to catch on and moved out of the way to let the two of them through, and Robbie was able to catch Cat by the waist, leaving her yelling and squirming in his arms.
"No! The worm is going to eat a tunnel straight through my brain like a mushy apple!"
He spun her around to face him and yelled, "Cat, it's okay!"
"What?" she shouted in his face, still covering her ears.
He pulled her hand away from her left ear and said calmly, "It's okay, Cat. An earworm is just a song that gets stuck in your head."
Cat frowned. "You mean it's not a real worm?"
"No, it's not. It's just a song," he assured her.
"So there's nothing in my ear?" she asked, still covering her right ear with the hand he wasn't holding.
He looked in her left ear. "All clear on this side."
She slowly lowered her other hand, letting Robbie take it.
"All clear on this side as well," Robbie reported. "No real worms in this Cat's ears."
"Thank goodness," Cat breathed. "You scared me."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," Robbie apologized.
"You know how I feel about small animals living in my ears," she reminded him.
"Yeah, you're not a fan," Robbie said, remembering the butterfly incident. "Well, I scared you, and earlier you scared me, so let's call it even."
"Kay kay," Cat agreed, absentmindedly swinging their hands between them.
"Uh, um…" Robbie stuttered, letting go of Cat's hands and turning to walk back in the direction they had been heading.
As he stuffed his hands in his pockets, Cat matched his stride and wordlessly hooked a hand around the crook of his elbow.
Once they had crossed the street safely, Robbie asked, "What kind of music is it?"
Cat blushed, not having expected him to ask about her head music. "Well, today there's this one particular song in my head. It's upbeat. It's really pretty, and happy, and dancey. It makes me wanna jump on a trampoline and eat cotton candy!"
"That sounds sweet… and dangerous," Robbie commented thoughtfully, wondering how a person could eat cotton candy and jump on a trampoline without choking.
"And it's weird," Cat found herself continuing, "because I only hear this song when I'm with you, which is fun, but then sometimes it gets so loud I can't hear anything else."
"You only hear this particular happy, upbeat song when you're with me?" Robbie asked nervously.
Cat nodded. "Yeah, I only hear that song when I'm with you."
Robbie stopped walking, bringing them both to a halt.
"And you like that song?" he asked.
"I do. I love it. I could listen to it forever!" Cat giggled.
Not wanting to read too far into her words, Robbie asked gently, "Cat, do you realize what you're saying?"
Cat's eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh, Robbie Shapiro! You're the worm in my ear!"
Robbie grimaced. "That doesn't sound like a good thing."
She said excitedly, "No, you're my earworm because you won't stop running through my head! But you always make me feel happy, so it's okay!"
Suddenly flushed over Cat's words, Robbie said, "I think I'm going to pass out."
"What? Wait, no!"
"I'm gonna sit down now," Robbie said, figuring it was better to sit on the sidewalk than to collapse onto it.
"Don't pass out!" Cat cried, watching him clumsily make his way to the ground. Kneeling beside him and shaking his arm, she said more firmly, "You're not allowed to!"
"Why not?"
"Because I love you!" she shouted. She then added sheepishly, "…and I prefer you conscious."
Cat folded from a kneeling position into a sitting position, surprised by the words that had just come out of her own mouth. A dazed look covered her face, but her brain was in overdrive, not having expected to deal with these feelings at this particular moment.
"Kitty Cat?" Robbie asked worriedly, trying to put aside his own lightheadedness.
Looking toward the ocean instead of at Robbie, Cat asked with pink-tinged cheeks, "Did I just say that?"
"You did," Robbie confirmed, sincerely hoping it hadn't just been a slip of the tongue.
He allowed her some silence to think, waiting to question her up until the very moment that he couldn't stand it anymore.
"So… do you?" he finally asked.
Cat squeaked involuntarily, realizing that he was asking if she meant what she had said, if she really did love him. She turned to look at him, which triggered a whole new slew of anxious thoughts, but as she looked into his eyes, all those thoughts gradually became overpowered by a vibrant melody and incessant, pounding bass.
As the music got louder, there was no way she could stop an affectionate smile from spreading across her face.
"I do," she admitted warmly, taking one of his hands in hers.
Hearing herself say the truth out loud, she felt a tremendous pressure lift off of her, as if a thousand butterflies had just flown out of her ear.
Robbie, however, had turned a new level of pale. "I think I'm dying," he said, holding a hand over his heart in an attempt to keep it from exploding.
"Robbie!" Cat scolded, "I just told you that I love you! Stop dying!"
"I'm sorry!"
"At least live long enough to say it back!" Cat said frantically.
"Caterina Valentine, I echo your sentiment!"
"What? No, say it the normal way!"
"I love you too!"
Suddenly serene, Cat said softly, "Really?"
"Of course I do," he answered, squeezing her hand.
"Good," she said decisively, leaning into him and kissing him.
Robbie breathed in sharply through his nose upon contact, surprised by her warmth and excitement.
Heart beating wildly, Cat pulled away abruptly and asked, "After we build sand turtles, can we go to my house and make cotton candy and jump on my trampoline? And after that, can we go to your house so I can smell your water-scented soap and fresh-laundry-scented laundry?"
"That sounds perfect," Robbie said, relief and laughter laced in his voice.
"But can we kiss again first?"
Robbie gave her a goofy smile, and Cat laughed out loud at herself.
And as he kissed her, Cat felt all the noise of the afternoon— the footfalls and conversations of nearby strangers, the dull rumble of passing cars, and the crashing of distant waves—fade away, drowned out by the beautiful, happy music in her head.