Swedish Style
The first thing Josh noticed was that his body ached all over and his head felt like it could explode. As Josh pried his eyes apart, he noticed something new. There was a warm, fluffy feather down comforter floating on Josh's body, just touching the tip of his chin. Josh knew that this comforter definitely didn't belong to his bed. He pried his eyes open wider to take in his surroundings. Nothing around him looked familiar at first, but then his eyes focused on the fireplace on the far wall of the bedroom. It was open in the back, revealing another room and a pair of slender, tan legs walking past. He knew this fireplace.
Suddenly, a face appeared hanging upside down, peering at Josh from the other side of the fireplace.
"Good morning sleepy head."
"Juliana." Josh croaked out. His throat was dry and scratchy.
"I'm making breakfast." Juliana said with a smile as she walked away from the fireplace and back into the kitchen. Josh could hear a faint sizzle coming from other parts of the house and a sweet smell was wafting through the warm air. Josh made his way, stumbling, into the kitchen.
The sight before him was one to behold. Juliana stood in the kitchen, with her back to Josh cooking something in a pan on the stove. Josh noticed that Juliana wore only a pink tank top with spaghetti straps and short gray knit shorts. Her hair was pulled up into a sloppy ponytail and already curly tendrils had escaped to hang down her back or be pushed behind her ear.
"Smells good." Juliana threw a smile back at Josh over her shoulder.
"It should it's my specialty." Juliana bragged. Josh walked closer to Juliana. He stared into the pan, expecting to see eggs or some other breakfast food he recognized.
Josh crinkled his nose in question, "What are they?"
"Have you never had a Swedish pancake?" Juliana asked in disbelief.
"Do the Swedes make their pancakes differently from the rest of us?"
"Yes! And I happen to think that mine are among the best. I think they're best with boysenberry syrup, but try them with anything you like." Juliana shoved a plate towards Josh, pegging him in the chest. Josh took his plate without speaking and sat down at the table. Juliana poured more batter into the pan and soon she was sitting across from Josh with her own plate of Swedish pancakes. Juliana placed two glasses of orange juice on the table and both Josh and Juliana ate their first few bites in silenced.
"So, how are they?"
"MMMHUM?" Josh mumbled with a mouth full of pancake. After swallowing he added, "They're not what I'm used to, but they're good. You're right, they're better with the boysenberry syrup."
"I used to live for college holidays so I could have Swedish pancakes. Finally, I just had to know how to make them, so I learned from the best."
"Who did you learn from?"
"The personal chef for the King of Sweden."
Josh almost choked on the mouthful of orange juice he was drinking.
"The who?" Josh asked, not believing that had heard Juliana correctly.
"Klaus van Soderstrom. The King of Sweden's personal chef." Juliana reiterated with a smile. "I went to college with certain members of the royal family. During college holidays, instead of flying back to California I usually spent time with my friends in Sweden. In the mornings, I used to sneak down to the kitchen and Klaus would make me Swedish pancakes. As a graduation present, Klaus taught me how to make Swedish pancakes because I wouldn't be visiting as frequently. Plus I think that he thought that if taught me how to make at least one thing, I wouldn't starve."
Juliana told the story nonchalantly as if everyone spent time with the Swedish royal family. Josh sat in amazement, unable to eat another bite of his pancakes.
"Well, Queen Elizabeth herself taught me how to make tea and crumpets." Josh joked after he regained his composure.
"Right, like you even know what crumpets are." Juliana stood up with her plate and then glanced at Josh's noticing it was empty. "You want more?"
"Sure. If it's not too much trouble."
"Of course not." Juliana flashed Josh a warm smile and the turned back to the pan on the stove.
Josh rose from the table and walked over to stand behind Juliana. He was curious as to just how to make these famous Swedish pancakes. Juliana could feel Josh standing behind her. He was uncommonly close, his breath moving the loose wisps of her hair that hung down from her ponytail. She could feel the heat form his body against her back, different in its intensity than the heat from the stove on her front. As Josh observed and Juliana cooked, she asked the question on both their minds.
"Josh, why are you here?" Josh took a step back and looked at Juliana, who kept herself facing the stove, her attention focused on the pancakes.
"I'm surprised you have to ask." Josh's tone turned from serious to mocking. "When a man and a woman…" Josh stopped when a potholder hit him in the face.
"Shut up!" Juliana laughed, turning around with two more plates of pancakes. She carried the plates back to the table, sat down and looked at Josh, waiting for him to follow. As soon as he had seated himself, she asked again.
"Seriously, Josh. It was 2:30 in the morning when I heard the buzzer. And much to my surprise there you were standing on my doorstep. Why?"
"Really?" Josh asked, flashing Juliana his dimples. "Usually when I'm drunk I end up on Donna's doorstep. Evidentially I like yelling at her cats."
"So, you were drunk and you what, forgot your own address and gave the cab driver mine instead?" Suddenly the joking tone was gone from Juliana's voice. Josh paused, a forkful of pancakes halfway to his mouth, to look at Juliana. Juliana was skeptical of Josh's arrival and she was bound and determined to get to the bottom of it.
"Wow, did you just turn on your ESP or something?"
Juliana didn't reply vocally, she simply raised her eyebrows and shrugged expectantly.
"That's pretty much exactly what happened," Josh continued. "I can't really remember much of last night, but I think I remember stumbling out of the bar and getting in a cab. I guess you were foremost on my mind." Josh added the last part more quietly as he looked back down to his pancakes and finished the forkful in front of him.
"How sweet." Juliana said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why did you go out and get drunk?" Juliana thought she knew the answer to this question, but she wanted to here Josh say it.
"I didn't go out specifically to get drunk." Josh said defensively. He was a little incensed that Juliana seemed to want to argue so early in the morning. "Okay," Josh admitted. "Maybe, just maybe, I went to go get a few drinks so I could sort through some things. I just needed some time to myself to think about things."
"Alone?"
"Yeah."
"Josh, you know they have a word for that, right? Drinking alone." Juliana chided.
"Sad?"
"Well, that too. I was going to say alcoholic."
"That's not who I am. You know it." Josh walked back into the dining area and sat down at the table, taking a drink of his orange juice. Juliana walked towards him and flipped the last two Swedish pancakes onto his plate.
"An alcoholic? You're right, you're not. Sad? Well, the jury's still out on that one. Did it have to do with me?" There was a long pregnant pause. Josh didn't want to take this conversation on, but Jules wasn't going to drop it.
"Yeah."
"Do you have a problem with my new job?"
"Yes…no…I don't know. God, if I thought it was bad that I was dating a senior advisor to the GOP what do I think about dating the chief of staff for the Senate Majority Leader? I needed some time to think about it last night." Josh expected Juliana to interrogate him about what he had been thinking and what his conclusions were. Instead, when Josh turned around, Juliana was standing in the middle of the kitchen with a goofy smile on her face. She was biting her lip coyly and staring at Josh as if she were star struck.
"Dating?" Juliana squeaked out.
"Yeah, I thought my life couldn't get more complicated but…What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Josh was a little confused by Juliana's disposition.
"Dating?" Juliana repeated. "Did you just say we're dating?" Juliana's voice sounded little and light. She almost sounded like a 7th grader who's just discovered that her first real crush likes her back. "You've just never put it that way before. It's so, sweet."
"Yeah, well doesn't seem so sweet when you think about it as a headline: Deputy Chief of Staff dates Majority Leader Chief of Staff…all of Washington shocked. It doesn't seem sweet then."
"Yes it does." Juliana walked over and positioned herself behind Josh. Her hands snaked their way over his shoulders and down the material of his shirt over his chest. "We can make this work. You just can't keep going out and getting plastered every time I get a promotion."
Josh smiled. He leaned his head to one side so it rested on one of Juliana's arms. Josh wasn't exactly pleased about the situation, but Juliana meant a lot to him and he wanted to take this chance. She made him happy. Sometimes she made him a little crazy, but there were more good times than bad. The real question was what was he going to tell his friends?
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