After the excitement died down that evening, and her giddy energy was spent at being in Darien's arms again -- even with the bulk of their life vests between them -- Serena fell immediately into an exhausted sleep that night.
When she awoke, however, she was more tired than usual, but driven by memories of the day before.
She and Darien were winning, leading by a mere two points, but it was still winning.
She tried not to gloat too much in front of Mina as she readied for work that morning. Mina was a good sport, smiling and waving as she started off to her job at the boutique, promising that Andrew and she would wipe them out of the lead in the Ultra Challenge round.
"Ah, here's our girl from the star couple now!" Mrs. Miyako said, smiling as Serena came through the donut shop's back door into the work room later that morning. The plump woman who opened the shop wiped her powdered sugar hands on her pink apron and gave Serena a bone crushing hug, dodging a ponytail. "Our own celebrity!"
She was surrounded with Mrs. Miyako by Dono the baker, and the occasional delivery boy, Shingo. They all gave her a cheer, making her flush and smile.
"How did you know? We've only had one taping for the show," she said as Mrs. Miyako patted her shoulder repeatedly.
Dono was an aging man with powerful arms and nearly no hair, whose eyes disappeared when he smile, his long white apron usually full of chocolate frosting he 'taste-tested' in the back room. He looked to the woman at Serena's side. "You asked for your schedule to be altered, Serena."
"Oh, yes," she said with a giggle, forgetting the arrangements.
"Well?" Mrs. Miyako's voice raised an octave. "Did you win anything with that handsome fiancé of yours?"
Serena's smile dropped a little, but she forced it back into place. The donut shop owner was always getting that part wrong. "We can't talk about the tapings, Mrs. Miyako."
"Hmm," the woman's plump face pouted, arms crossed over her apron front. "A little?"
"No." Serena's competitive spirit took over. "But we're doing good."
"Oh, I knew it!" Mrs. Miyako cried, then looked to the next larger room as the front door's overhead bell tinkled, announcing a customer's arrival. "Have a pastry, Serena-chan. Keep up your strength!" She disappeared into the next room, her shrill voice greeting the customer.
Serena grabbed her pink apron from off the hook near the back room door as Dono and Shingo grinned at her. The room was small, but contained the baker's main work table, plus another table where Mrs. Miyako decorated special cakes, donuts, and pastries, as well as the industrial dough mixer in the corner and baker's racks filled with trays of already baked, unfinished goodies.
Goodies that needed Serena's attention. It had been a dream job for the summer, adding icings, sprinkles, and sweet fillings to the donuts, but not so dreamy since her decision to forego deserts during the competition. She sighed, looking at all the tubs of chocolate and banana frosting and sweet bean paste. Resistance may be her hardest challenge of all.
She tied her apron around her waist, realizing Shingo was still standing close by, a junior high student who'd always kidded her about getting her ponytails caught in the mixer, to which he always added he'd rescue her, if Darien wasn't around.
"What's the hardest part?" he asked as Dono turned back to kneading a pile of beige dough at his floured table. "Did you have to climb a rope? How about a rope bridge? Did you hurt anyone?"
She made a face at him, pulling a tray of donut buns from a rack. "No one got hurt, Shingo. That's just like something Sammy would ask."
Shingo stood farther back from the table she set the buns on, running a hand through his dark hair. "I'm not a little kid like your brother, Serena. So, what was hardest?"
"Shingo!" Mrs. Miyako called, pushing through the swinging door from the display room. "Delivery to Mr. Yashimoto!"
Shingo nodded and met the woman at a counter running the length of the wall where two pastry boxes waited for delivery.
Serena placed the tray of donuts on the work table and found the hopper of sweet bean paste and strawberry jelly to fill the donut buns, pulling it closer. Of all the varieties of donuts she filled, the strawberry was her favorite. With super-human effort, she arranged another tray lined with the shop's signature pastel pink and yellowed-checked papers, refusing to sample the fillings, as was her custom. She took two buns and gently inserted their sides into the hopper feed injectors and pushed down the levers beneath each jet, squeezing the fillings into the plain donuts.
She set them on the paper lining of the tray, and filled several more before the tinkling of the shop's door bell was heard, and Mrs. Miyako went out to see to the customer. Serena licked her finger when a blop of strawberry jam squirted onto it.
"Just a little sweet," she told herself, guilt creeping up on her as the jam hit her taste buds.
"Serena!" Mrs. Miyako said as she returned to the back work room, making Serena swallow the jam quickly before she had fully appreciated it. "A fan outside to see you."
Serena's eyes opened wider. "A fan? Are you sure?"
The shop owner nodded, cheeks shaking as her hands rested on her hips. "He looks familiar, but I don't know where I've seen him. Good-looking, too. I don't think he's been here before."
Serena frowned. "You've seen Darien." She set the donuts on the tray and wiped her hands on a nearby shop towel before going out to the front of the store. "Probably Sammy and his friends trying to get free sweets," she muttered to herself.
The shop front was small, a mere slot among many shops on the Tokyo sidewalk that offered ready-made eats and sit-down dining fare. The counter and display cases took up most of the room against the walls, and Mrs. Miyako did a healthy business, especially on weekends and during holidays, with Golden Week being her busiest.
Serena stopped behind the counter, looking up at the man who stood there, studying his short black hair and eyes that were somewhere between hazel and green for a moment before recognizing him.
"Hi, Serena," Varner said, grinning at her surprise. "Or should I say Mrs. Team Blue?"
"Oh, no," she said, giggling as he smiled. "Varner, is it?"
"Yes." He looked around at the display cases behind her. "Pretty tempting, all these goodies when you're in training." His eyes dropped over her, bringing a chuckle from him. "How do you stay so slender with walls of donuts? It'd be so easy to gobble them all up."
"Oh, yes," she said, blushing a little, looking behind her to see Mrs. Miyako's short form peeking through the swinging door's lone window. She looked back to Varner. "Is Gucci here, too?"
His grin turned crooked at the mention of the brunette girl. "No, she's elsewhere. Just me." He looked down at the glass counter, eyes sifting among the trays of filled buns and cake donuts glazed with sugar and syrups. "What's best here? What's your favorite, Serena?"
"Me? Well," she looked down to the counter, thoughts fluttering at his presence, "I'd say the blueberry cake donuts are good, and a lot of people like the lemon custard filled."
She pointed to the separate trays of donuts and he hovered over the counter to examine them better.
He nodded. "They do look delicious. I'll take one of each." He looked up and smiled at her. "Not too many. Don't want to be too slow for the Ultra Challenge tomorrow."
She slid open the glass door behind the counter. "You should take a lot, Varner. Some for Gucci, too. You'll need your energy."
He laughed, shaking his head. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
She only smiled and used a sheet of wax paper to handle the donuts and set them in a white bakery bag. "I haven't seen you here before." She debated asking her next question. "Do you live nearby, or does Gucci?"
"Both."
She nodded, feeling a little warm at the way he was grinning at her, not so much him, but his eyes, seeming too happy to see her. "Would you care for anything else?"
His smile widened, a flicker of mischief flashing through his eyes. "I'd like to thank you for the pie during the girls' mini-challenge. Very sportsmanlike of you."
She frowned in mock irritation. "That was a mistake."
"I know." He nodded to the bag. "That's it."
She folded over the bag top and pressed the crease sharp. "How did you know I worked here?"
He dug into his jeans pocket, eyes going to the donut prices on the dry erase board behind her. "I've seen you in here other times, before the competition." He placed the money on the counter. "A few other times. Just thought I'd see you in ..." His eyes went over her apron for a moment before moving to her eyes, watching the blush settle pink on her cheeks. "Civilian clothing. Or an apron. Out of cream pie or life vest." He grinned at the blush blooming fuller on her face. "Just a casual hello, Mrs. Team Blue."
Serena nodded, fighting her flush. "Then hello back, Mr. Team Black." She took the money and went to the cash register to make the change.
"Keep it," he said, taking the bag of pastries. He glanced to where Mrs. Miyako was trying to be discreet in her spying at the door window. "Say hi to Mr. Team Blue for me."
Serena found herself nodding as Varner waved and left out the front door to the sidewalk. She watched him disappear through the pink curtains at the window.
Mrs. Miyako came back into the shop front, wagging a finger at Serena. "I know where I've seen him before. He was on the Super Couple show last season."
Serena nodded, wiping her hands nervously on her apron. "He's in this season, too."
"Oh?" The woman's eyes opened wider, frowning. "Oh. Hmm. You have a fan?"
"He's the competition, Mrs. Miyako." Serena smiled, trying to hide her confusion. "I'll go finish that tray of buns."
Who are the next Super Couple? Poll is up!
