Part 11 – Bro Talk

Gloyd was livid.

"Swizz, wake up, man! It's been, what…almost six months now? How have you not told her yet?"

Swizzle looked up at Gloyd, who stared right back at him with a round face that was flaring with utmost disgust and annoyance. Rancis said nothing.

Currently, the three boys were hanging out at Swizzle's home, which was a large tree house set in a candy tree a good 12 feet off the ground. It was high enough that Swizzle would survive a flood if Great Caramel Lake decided to dump its gloopy contents on Racers' Ave. overnight. This was every child's dream house, for it featured Twizzler rope ladders for climbing up, candy cane poles and taffy slides for getting down, periscopes and trapdoors, numerous balconies and lookout points, and Swizzle's private snack stash. Most of this stuff, along with his other necessities like his skateboard, hang-glider, gumdrop trampoline, and of course the Tongue Twister, had come with him as a part of his code. There were some items like his tire swing that he had made himself. There was just about everything you would ever want if you were a daring adrenaline seeker like Swizzle living in a tree. A man's home is his castle, and this was definitely Swizzle's castle. He loved his place of residence and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. From its highest point, he had a top-notch view of the street, though it wasn't as great as that from the fourth-floor balcony of Crumbelina's fancy mansion located at the very end.

But Swizzle's tree house was something to admire another day. Right now, his best friends had stopped for a visit and it was clear that they had him very much on their thoughts.

Swizzle tossed the blue gumball into the air and whacked it with his lollipop paddle to Gloyd on the other end of his ping pong table. "I dunno, Gloydster," he answered his friend's question loftily, hoping to somehow brush this topic away. For some reason, he always felt unusually sensitive when it came up.

Gloyd was not satisfied. "Why are you acting like this?" he demanded, giving the bouncing gumball an aggressive return swing. "This isn't like you at all!"

"What do you mean, dude?"

The daredevil did a quick reflex, one that Minty had taught him years ago, to swiftly smack the ball towards Gloyd again. Rancis meanwhile, lounged on the marshmallow couch, his eyes following the blur of blue. Though his mouth remained silent, his ears were listening intently.

"Swizzle," said Gloyd in an impatient tone, "we've known you for all our lives. You're always so chill and easy-going about everything. You live to take risks and find adventure everywhere you go. You've never been afraid to try anything before. If Sugar Rush had a volcano, we all know that you'd be the first one to dive right in! But this is the first time I've seen you so hesitant. So what gives?"

The beanie-wearing boy winced uncomfortably, almost missing the fast-moving gumball and raced to hit it back, while at the same time, definitely not feeling like the cool-dude he was coded to be. He adored the spotlight, but not like this. But he knew Gloyd was right. He had already told his best friends that he loved Minty (though it was actually more confirmed, since they had already figured it out long before he had). However, that was all the progress he had made. After that, he had strangely become tongue-tied whenever he had tried to confess his love to Minty, and thus had not completed the task he had vowed to do the moment he had discovered it on that quiet night in Felix's apartment. Whenever Gloyd or Rancis interrogated him after a failed attempt to do so, he would usually make up an excuse like 'the moment wasn't just right', or that his brain forgot how he was supposed to tell her. At first, his bros believed him, since they fully agreed that he only had one chance to make this confession right. But now, almost a total of six months after Swizzle had landed upon his romantic affections for Minty, they weren't falling for his excuses so easily anymore.

"I dunno, Gloyd…I just…I dunno, kay?"

Gloyd swung his paddle wildly, smacking the gumball back to the other side. "I dunno. I dunno. That's the best you got? Why don't you just tell her already, man? Get on with it!" he snapped with a raising voice. "I can't believe you! You losing your mojo or something? Maybe you're not the daredevil you always claim to be."

Everyone knew that Gloyd wasn't exactly known for his subtleness and manners, but whatever it was, Swizzle suddenly felt an ugly sensation boiling in his code, giving rise to a sick mixture of hurt and anger in his chest. Very rare for Swizzle to lose his cool, but right now, his patience had just about run out. He glared at Gloyd with a conflicted face.

"It's not that easy, okay?!" he snarled fiercely as the ball came bouncing back to him. With an angry growl, Swizzle swung his paddle so fast and so hard that it shot the gumball way off course and fired it straight out of the open balcony door like a Sweet Seeker. Gloyd and Rancis both jumped with widened eyes as they stared at the gumball's lasting streak of blue through the doorway, and then turned back to Swizzle who was seething with fury.

"Don't you think I want to tell Minty? Don't you think it's the one thing that my beating heart wants to do this very moment?!"

Gloyd recoiled, not expecting Swizzle's furious outburst. "Uh…is it?"

"Of course, it is!" Swizzle shouted at him. "But why haven't I told her that I love her? I don't know why! I'm not a genius, Gloyd. There are some blasted things that I don't know right off the bat! Even though this is the most important thing that I want to know the answer to, I just don't know!"

He finally stopped yelling, breathing in and out heavily as he collected himself. Slamming his paddle down on the floor with a satisfying CRACK, he stormed out the door to step upon his wide balcony. He didn't care where his gumball had landed after its surprise rocket trip, or that he had broken his lollipop paddle. So what? He could easily go out into the wild candy lands and find more sports equipment. What he could not find that easily was an antidote for how he was feeling right now.

Angry and upset emotions were clouding his brain. The venting had helped to partially clear his system, but his mind was still a mess. Why had it been so long since he had discovered his love for Minty and had still not found the nerve to tell her? Why didn't he just march up to her house, knock on her door, get down on one knee, and tell her that he loved her like he had always envisioned himself doing? It just made no sense to him and it was burning his heart as to why the answer was nowhere to be found.

Heaving great lungfuls of virtual air, Swizzle sat down on the edge of his balcony, letting his feet dangle freely. He was feeling his position deeper and deeper with every passing day that he had not told her.

Movement at the doorway told him that his friends were watching him. After a few minutes, Rancis sat quietly on the balcony on his right. A few longer minutes passed before he sensed Gloyd at his left.

Gloyd fiddled with his jacket collar awkwardly. "Swizzle, I…I'm sorry. I…I shouldn't have said that…" he muttered in a guilty-sounding voice.

Knowing that his anger was not rooted on his Halloween-racer comrade, the daredevil looked at him. "No, it's fine, Gloyd," he said, trying to speak calmly. "Look, I'm sorry for blowin' up at you. It's not your fault, I'm just so…so confused right now." He huffed out a loud breath as he gazed off down the street; his eyes trailed over to Candlehead's red velvet cupcake house down below, not too far away.

Rancis, who had not said a word throughout any of this, finally spoke up. "You're not nervous, are you? You've never been nervous around Minty before."

For a moment, Swizzle said nothing. He wanted to say 'no', but somehow, that didn't seem like the right answer. But the term 'nervous' didn't seem to fit the bill either.

"Maybe…maybe you're afraid to tell her," Rancis suggested.

Silence fell upon the boys. The only sound to be heard was the sugary winds rustling the chocolate leaves of the tree and the faraway sounds of a kart engine rumbling in the distance.

Swizzle kept his eyes locked on Candlehead's house. "Maybe."

Gloyd and Rancis stared at their friend. Swizzle didn't blame them for being confused. He wasn't known to be scared. But at the present, he would give anything to understand why he was feeling this way.

Taking a chance, Gloyd tentatively placed his hand on Swizzle's shoulder, trying hard to be gentle and kind, two things that did not come to him easily. "What are you afraid of, Swizzle?"

More silence.

At last, Swizzle sighed in defeat. "Dudes…"

He paused to make absolute certain that they were listening. "Here's the deal. Minty and I have been going on adventures for over 20 years. We have this common wild spirit in our blood that unites and takes us on super daring escapes and awesome feats wherever and whenever we want. And every second of it, I've loved it to bits! Going off into the unknown with Minty by my side is the most important thing to me! Other than chillin' with you guys, that is," he added hastily.

Rancis nodded. "Swizzle, don't worry, we get it. And I think I also get why you're having so much trouble in telling her."

Swizzle looked at him and also nodded. "Yeah…I think I'm getting my own drift now too."

"I'm not," Gloyd said helpfully.

Rancis rolled his eyes at him before turning back to Swizzle. "I think the problem, Swizzle…is that you're afraid that if you and Minty, you know, get all tied up with romance and all that stuff…you'll stop going on all your big adventures."

The blue-jacketed racer's eyes fell low. "Yep. That's just it. That's exactly what I'm afraid of."

"It is?" asked Gloyd, clueless.

Swizzle Malarkey looked up at the sky. "I don't wanna brag, dudes, but I know a lot of things. But romance isn't one of them. I know that many see me as a ladies' man, but in truth, I don't know my way around when I'm actually standing in it. I'm clueless with the girls."

"No, you're not," Rancis pressed firmly. "Swizz, you're great with the girls. They always feel at ease when you're around them. That's not your charm or your charisma. They really just like you."

"Yeah, buddy, come on," Gloyd added. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

Swizzle's mouth twitched. In truth, he didn't quite believe even himself when he said those things, but that still didn't explain his growing problem. "I guess so. But Minty…Minty's been special to me ever since we met in Sour Patch Gulch. Before that even. I just…I really don't want things to change if she…(Swizzle began to blush)…says she loves me back and we hook up and all that jazz. The crazy fun times we share…I don't want to lose that. I don't know what being in a relationship means, so I'm not sure if taking this to the next level means that we'll have to give all this up in exchange."

"You won't know unless you try," Rancis offered. He too placed his hand on Swizzle's other shoulder. "This is kind of like what Dad says at the dinner table…sometimes we have to try new things. It's better than just sitting here and wondering for the rest of your life."

Gloyd fumbled with his fingers; it looked like he was thinking before speaking for once. "I mean…let's say you and Minty do stop going on adventures," he said carefully. "At least you'll have her as your girlfriend, y'know?"

Swizzle blinked. He looked at Gloyd and put on a small smile. "Yeah, I…I guess that's true."

The orange-clad boy nodded encouragingly. Then he looked past Swizzle to the brown blazer boy. "Didn't you have a crush on Vanellope, Rancis?"

Blushing ever so slightly, Rancis sighed. "Kinda," he admitted.

A mischievous smirk crossed Gloyd's face. "Yeah, but it doesn't bother you so much now. 'Cuz now you've got Candlehead to keep you company, ha ha!"

Rancis' blush intensified. Now he was the one staring out from Swizzle's balcony to the red velvet cupcake house below. "It's not like that, Gloyd…"

Allowing his friends to squabble, Swizzle sat quietly, feeling grateful for once that the spotlight was not on him anymore. It gave him time to think. He could still remember the day when he had found Rancis and Candlehead fast asleep under a Fuzzy Peach tree. After the former had woken up with the girl lying down on him, Swizzle had encouraged his best friend to open up a little and reveal some of his growing feelings for the candle-loving racer. It had been the day following the night when Swizzle had hit his major revelation and also when he had secretly witnessed Rancis and Candlehead sneaking out of Felix's apartment. Rancis had later explained to Swizzle that Candlehead had been missing Vanellope and that he had spent much of that night comforting her (and unknowingly discovering a newly born affection for her in the process).

That was nearly half a year ago by this point, he realized, meaning that Vanellope had been living in the Internet for almost a full year. Swizzle had been so busy trying to figure out how to talk to Minty that he hadn't noticed how much time had passed. He wondered what Vanellope was up to.

Even now, Rancis refused to place a label on his close bond with Candlehead, since they had never discussed such thing and he himself was still working out his true feelings for her. However, this was making Swizzle think of something else. Even if Rancis and Candlehead weren't an official couple or anything of the sort, they were certainly very close now. And seeing as how much visibly happier Rancis was nowadays with Candlehead by his side, much like his own happiness whenever Minty was with him, Swizzle wondered now if things could work out if he and Minty were to get together. Perhaps they could continue their adventuring excursions even if they made a serious leap in their friendship. Two extreme hearts united as one heart that continued to push forward and explore the great unknown, hand in hand. That looked awesome in Swizzle's eyes. Like an impossible dream come true.

But even so, if getting together would indeed mean that he would have to sacrifice their exciting exploits, Gloyd had a point: he would have Minty as his girlfriend, and that alone he knew would make him plenty happy for the rest of his life.

Rancis had a point too: it was better than just sitting here and wondering for the rest of his life.

Swizzle sat up taller and addressed his friends. "Rancis? Gloyd? Thanks a ton. It's insane how often I forget that having two best friends is the raddest thing in the world."

The boys on either side, who had been in the middle of light-hearted arguing over girls and other sappy stuff, stopped abruptly and blinked in surprise when Swizzle suddenly thanked them for nothing more than their presence. Nevertheless, they both smiled.

"Hey, don't mention it, Swizz," answered Gloyd, thumping him on the back with his usual roughness. "We're here for ya."

"Definitely. Bros for life," agreed Rancis.

Swizzle felt warm inside. The unplugging event last year had taught him one thing that he had never forgotten: no matter how rough life got, friendship was one special plug that was could never be pulled.

"So…does this mean you're going to tell her?"

Gloyd sounded uncertain, almost hesitant, when he asked this.

With his confidence building up once more, Swizzle looped an arm around Gloyd's shoulders and did the same with Rancis with the other. "Yes. It does. And I don't know why, but this has suddenly given me an idea. I just hope it works."

Then his eyes turned past Rancis towards the building that was right next door to his tree house: a shiny green condominium decorated with sour candies and a lush green garden in the backyard.

"I hope it works."