Troye
The Oakley residence had been bustling with activity since five o'clock in the morning. Interior decorators, chefs, bartenders, catering, cleaning and maintenance staff had all been hired for the Friday preceding the party—and the woman in charge of the entire operation was my mom. I had almost forgotten about the party, but it was certainly at the front of my mind now. My mother, knowing how occupied she would be, had kindly drawn up a list of her normal housework that someone had to take care of while she busied herself telling everyone what to do. Of course that someone was me.
It was a typical Friday which meant I'd be working at the diner—but it was an evening shift so I had all morning to complete the daunting list of chores. I was trying mostly to stay out of everyone's way, but there were people everywhere. Setting flower arrangements, decorating every available wall, ceiling and surface, mass-producing food of all kinds in the kitchen, setting up drink mixers in the bar and bringing in bottle after bottle of various types of expensive liqueurs. Cleaning staff were going over every floor with polish, the glasses were being washed until they sparkled, vacuums and dusters worked non-stop. There were few rooms in the house that didn't contain some kind of activity.
The laundry room was one of those rare spaces, so I enjoyed some solace there while I folded warm clothes fresh out of the dryer. I couldn't imagine how stressful the whole situation must be for my mother, just thinking about it made me feel guilty. The amount of work she took on felt criminal and I vowed to work extra hard to help her however I could. She'd already asked me if I could take Saturday off from work to help the catering staff—having three extra workers who didn't need to be paid was a pretty big bonus. Thus Sage and I had been assigned to carry around trays of food and glasses of champagne. Tyde was not yet trusted with so difficult a task. He was helping in the kitchen.
I was almost finished folding the dryer load when someone unexpected walked into the laundry room. Tyler, his hair rumpled from sleep, wearing nothing but sweatpants. My first instinct was to look away, heat rose on my cheeks. Didn't he care that the house was full of strangers?
Tyler blinked, as if surprised, and then broke into a sleepy-smile that made my insides turn to jelly.
"Hey, didn't expect to see you in here. And holding my underwear too." Tyler broke the silence.
I looked down at my hands, sure enough he was holding a pair of briefs. I looked back up, the blush on my cheeks deepening. "I-I was j-just..." I swallowed, trying to grasp some way to explain the situation to Tyler.
"I'm just doing the laundry." I was dismayed to hear my voice drop to a whisper at the end of the sentence.
Tyler only laughed, though I thought his carefree demeanor wasn't reaching his eyes. "It's okay dude, I'm just looking for a shirt. You wouldn't happen to know the location of one would you?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Wordlessly I reached into the basket of folded clothing and held out a plain T-shirt to him.
"Thanks." He took the shirt, his fingers just barely brushing over mine, I shivered. "So you're the laundry boy today?" Tyler asked, pulling the shirt over my head. He looked so composed.
I nodded, and then because he couldn't see me with his head inside a shirt— I added, "yeah something like that."
"You want any help?" Tyler asked when he'd finally gotten the shirt on. The question took me off guard and I didn't respond for a moment while I processed it.
"Are you sure?" I spoke the first words that came to mind, it seemed silly for him to want to do laundry when he surely had a thousand more important things to do.
"Hey I asked didn't I?" He grinned and gave me a playful punch on the shoulder that caused my heart to jump in my chest. "I'm afraid I have no idea how to do laundry though so you'll have to explain to me how everything works." He laughed again and I felt a little less nervous.
"Don't worry, I've got you covered." I found myself smiling at him. "You can start by moving all the clothes from the washer to the dryer." I pointed in the direction of the two machines.
"Yessir!" Tyler gave me a mock salute and marched off. I watched him from the corner of my eye while I set up the ironing board and got started ironing a stack of button down shirts. He opened both the washer and dryer, likely because he didn't know which was which, and eventually found the wet clothes in the washer. He began to move the items carefully, one piece at a time to the dryer. I laughed.
"What is it?" He turned around with a goofy grin, "am I doing something stupid?"
"Well you can certainly move the clothes one at a time, I'm sure it makes them feel special. But if we want to be done sometime today I might suggest moving several things at once." I carefully hung the first ironed shirt on a rack while I was speaking.
Tyler looked embarrassed but he never stopped smiling. "Right, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually."
It was actually kind of adorable to see him struggle with something as simple as doing laundry. Suddenly he was just a little more human.
Finally he managed to transfer all the clothes from one machine to the other and he smiled at me triumphantly.
"Finished! What's next?" He looked so proud of himself that I gave him a double thumbs up.
"Good job! Next, you see that handle on the top of the dryer there?" I went back to absentminded ironing as I gave him instructions. He turned around and peered over the top of the dryer.
"Yup, found it!" He called.
"Okay pull it out and empty the lint off the screen inside." I waited while he removed the lint filter and attempted to scrape the gray fluff off the screen.
"It's not coming off!" He protested, turning back to show me his futile attempt to pull at the lint.
"Just gather a little bit of it and rub it across the rest, it'll work better." It was really funny to watch him become so focused on his task. His eyebrows furrowed and it was obvious the job was taking much concentration. I looked back down at my ironing for a moment until a hand appeared under my face with a fluffy gray ball.
"Here I got it all!" Tyler was holding the ball out to me, like it might be some important part of the laundry. I burst out laughing, out of all the things he'd done this seemed the silliest by far.
"What's so funny!" He protested, looking hurt when I couldn't stop laughing at him.
"Sorry, sorry." I gasped out, "It's just that..." I took a deep breath and looked at him seriously, "it's just that that's lint Tyler." He actually looked confused for a moment, before seeming to grasp the situation.
"Just lint." he huffed. "I've worked hard to get this lint for you Troye, the least you can do is accept my offering!" He was joking around now and began to tear the ball of lint into many small bits.
"What are you do-" I wasn't finished with my sentence when he blew them at me. Tiny pieces of fluff flew right into my face and scattered all over the shirt I was ironing. They stuck to my shirt too and I had no doubt they were also in my hair.
"Tyler!" I gasped after a moment of shock. He was grinning impishly at me, I narrowed my eyes. "Well if you're gonna play dirty..." I lifted the iron and pointed it at him, pressing the mist button and spraying him with warm water.
"Is that how you thank me for such a generous gift?" Tyler looked down at his clothes. The mist had barely even dampened them but he lifted the hem of his shirt as if to say 'look what you've done.' "I'll never be able to wear this shirt again!" He cried, clamping a hand over his heart.
"Truly a tragic loss." I conceded, laughing again. My heart felt light and giddy. It seemed like the last time I'd had fun like this was so long ago I could barely remember.
Tyler
Troye kept giggling at my laundry mishaps and I loved the sound so much I barely cared that he was making fun of me. It was embarrassing that I knew nothing about a simple task like washing clothes, but it didn't matter because it gave me the perfect excuse to spend time with Troye. His smile was so bright and beautiful, I wanted to watch him forever.
"Alright tell me what to do now."
"Sure, why don't you start by picking all the lint off this perfectly clean and ironed shirt that you've des-" all of a sudden a strange look came over Troye and he stopped to cough into his hand. It was light at first, and I didn't think it was anything serious until it worsened. He coughed and coughed until he was gasping for air, clutching the side of the ironing board for support.
"Troye?" I was starting to panic, a cold sweat breaking over me. "What's happening are you alright?" My hand instinctively went to his shoulder, it felt fragile like under his cardigan was nothing but bird bones. He looked up at me and swallowed hard, trying to get himself under control. His eyes were watering, but he gave me a tight smile.
"I'm fine." He paused and coughed again, "just inhaled some lint."
I felt instantly relieved, he wasn't dying, everything was okay. My knees felt weak.
"Guess my lint superpower is too much for you." I joked. Still I wasn't sure inhaling lint could make a person cough the way Troye had been.
"Guess so." he answered absently. I noticed his face was looking rather pale.
I helped Troye with the laundry until I had to leave for class. He was still playful and funny but he seemed more stressed after the coughing fit and I felt like somehow it was my fault. Still I'd made a breakthrough with him, we'd actually spent time together that wasn't awkward. I felt like we might actually be...friends.
In the middle of class I had a brilliant idea, I wanted to do something special for Troye. Something fun and silly and maybe as a bit of an apology for the lint episode. I decided I'd write him a letter and then leave it somewhere special for him. Ignoring the lecture on business practices I pulled out a piece of notebook paper and started right away.
To His Imperial Majesty Hot Iron,
I understand that we have had our grievances in the past, but I would like to propose a truce. On behalf of both our kingdoms I think it would be best to throw down the arms of war and raise our flags of peace. I understand of course, that given your extensive loss due to the actions of my legions you may not be so enthralled by this idea. In light of this circumstance I offer you my sincerest apologies for the the suffering you've endured. In an act of faith I ask you to accept the offering I enclose along with this letter. I do hope our kingdoms will someday strive to work together.
Yours truly, Duke Dryer Lint
On the drive home I kept an eye out for potential peace offerings. There were all number of stores throughout the city but I wasn't sure what kind of gift would be okay to get for Troye at this point in our relationship. Of course I wanted to buy him desinger clothes, or diamond cufflinks or an expensive watch but I figured those were probably not appropriate.
I spied the cupcake shop while stopped at a traffic light and had the sudden urge to check it out. While getting out of the car I second guessed myself, what if Troye doesn't like cupcakes? I suddenly thought of his skinny frame and how tiny his shoulders were. He needs a cupcake I decided.
"Hello, welcome!" the middle-aged woman behind the counter greeted me. The shop was adorable, the case in the front filled with the most intricate and wonderful looking cupcakes I'd seen in my life. There were chocolate ones, vanilla ones, raspberry ones, rum butter ones, coconut ones, strawberry ones, almost any flavour under the sun. It was slightly overwhelming.
"What can I get for you?" The woman asked. Watching me from over the counter.
"I haven't decided yet." I replied, still scanning the options. Then I saw it, the perfect cupcake.
"Actually, I'll take that one, the green tea and lavender one." It just seemed like the perfect odd choice for Troye. Plus it stuck to our lavender theme. The woman wrapped it up for me it a cute box.
Now the only thing left was to find the best location to leave the letter where Troye would find it.
When I returned home I found the drive strung with beautiful twinkling fairy lights—a direct contrast to the house which was mostly dark now. It seemed like most of the extra staff had left for the evening. I wondered if they'd turn off the driveway lights too, it seemed like a waste of electricity to keep them on all night. But then again, they really did look incredible.
I found my way to my room without running into anyone on the way. I was about to collapse onto my bed, exhausted, when I noticed the pile of neatly folded clothes. I knew Laurelle typically put them away for me—which meant that Troye was the one who'd left them there. I got an odd shiver knowing he'd been in my room. At the same time, it was really a sweet gesture that he hadn't gone through my things looking for the correct places to put the clothes away. I hummed to myself as I lifted them off the bed and moved them to my desk chair, I'd deal with them later. Right now what I wanted was to sleep.
