Riley lied in bed, mulling over her conversation with her childhood friend Dakota that had transpired nearly an hour before. "Just kiss the boy," she had said over the phone, "this happens every time. You're too damn oblivious and shy. And from the sound of it so is he."
"But you don't understand," Riley tried defending herself, "he's high class and rich. I'm low class and borderline poor. He wouldn't be into me. Not like that."
"Do. Not. Be like that," Dakota said, obviously annoyed, "From what you've told me, this Takashi doesn't seem the type to put people into categories like that. And he's gotta be into you. He gave you that big ass panda." She paused for a second to catch her breath, "Just tell the kid how you feel. You might be surprised at what will happen."
By then, nearly an hour and a half had gone by and those words still echoed in the baker's mind. "Could it be that easy?" She thought to herself as she stared up at her blank ceiling. That's when her mind began to wander. Wander to a world where she told Takashi exactly how she felt about him and, by some miracle, he felt the same way about her. From there, her daydreams escalated. They were in a smoky room, toys surrounded them and watched as the smoke around them grew thicker. "Oh, Takashi," she nearly moaned before bringing his lips down to hers and kissing him. The feel of his body and lips pressing against her own was so realistic an immediate warmth erupted from deep within her before spreading throughout her entire body.
It was such a shock she awoke from her sleep and, with that, her dream ended but the warmth never left her. "Mori..." she muttered while trying to calm her racing heart, "get out of my head." Being under the same roof as him only seemed to heighten her desire to be near him, which was the opposite of what she was trying to do. Ghost, who woke when Riley did, wandered over to her bed and rested his chin on the fluffy blankets. "Sorry dog, did I wake you up?" Even the familiar sight of her faithful husky wasn't enough to calm her. So with a sigh she stood from her bed and donned one of her long t-shirts and shorts before venturing out into the cold, dark cabin.
Mori, who was still in his room, sat at a desk with a book in hand. For an unknown amount of hours he sat there, trying to ignore the fact that Riley lay asleep just a few mere feet from his own room. It felt like every inch of his body wanted him to go and knock on her door; every part besides his own mind. He didn't even know what he'd do if she answered, he just wanted to be there. And yet he still hesitated. 2:30, his clock read.
"Surely she would dislike being disturbed," he thought in a vain attempt to dissuade himself from leaving his room. He allowed himself to be mildly convinced and went to his bed. That was when he felt time really begin to slow. The more he tried to push Riley from his mind, the more she showed up until eventually, he succumbed and let himself daydream about her. It all started innocently enough, her showing up in her flour splattered apron, her hair in a messy ponytail and a faint powdered chocolate smear on her cheek as she smiled at him with a cake in her hands. Then his daydreams evolved from her apron to a blouse, some jeans to a skirt, a ponytail to free flowing luscious wavy hair. And her hands which before held a cake were now caressing his cheek, so soft and loving. This sudden change in dreams affected his body so drastically he lunged from under his covers and stood by his bed while trying to regulate his breathing.
This was the first time someone so close to Mori had this effect on him and he knew he was past the point of being able to just turn these feelings off and forget about her... the baker... his baker. Another glance at the clock. 2:38. "I have to see her," he thought and left his room.
There was no sound in the hall besides his own footsteps and no light to show where he was heading. In a matter of seconds he found himself in front of Riley's door. His palms were sweaty and he felt light headed but he knew that the only way to find release from these feelings was to see the one plaguing his thoughts. And so he knocked. As he stood and waited for her he could feel his heart beating so fast and hard he felt like it might burst free of his chest. "What am I going to say to her?" he thought to himself, the panic within him beginning to build. "I'll worry about that when she answers," he concluded to put his mind at ease. However, she didn't answer. So he knocked again, this time louder and more insistently. Nothing even stirred.
Just as Mori debated on whether he should enter the room uninvited to turn around to leave, he heard the faint clicking of nails on a hard floor. While he stood waiting, the clicking got louder and closer. Soon, after the clicking started, he saw a small beam of light appear at the beginning of the hallway. At first it stayed pointed down at the floor as it slowly made its way toward him so whoever wielded it wasn't aware of the tall host looming uncertainly in the middle of the hallway. Suddenly freezing like a deer in headlights, he waited, hoping that his short baker was the one behind the light. As if lady luck herself smiled at him, Riley's silhouetted image emerged from the darkness with a shocked expression which quickly faded into delight once she recognized him. "Takashi," she greeted, "I didn't expect to see you... well anyone really. I would've brought you some tea too if I'd known I'd see you."
The way his name sounded upon her lips made his blood run hotter than he'd ever felt before and he found himself grasping for some sort of greeting but nothing seemed adequate enough to say to her. Ghost, who was the source of the clicking, walked up to the host before leaning his head against Mori's thigh. "Looks like he's happy to see you too," Riley commented. There was a slight moment of mildly uncomfortable silence, or maybe he just thought it was, when he finally managed to say, "I couldn't sleep."
She nodded, obviously understanding his predicament. "So... you couldn't sleep and came to my room because?" She said with one eyebrow slightly raised in confusion. After she asked, the host felt the blood drain from his face as he desperately tried to think up some logical excuse for standing outside her room's door in the middle of the night. He started to panic and wondered how could he think of absolutely nothing? No sentences, no phrases, not even words. All that came to mind were actions; holding her and kissing her being the most prominent thoughts. Yet, of course, she he most needed his level headed mind, it failed to help him. "I heard your door open," his mouth worked without his stunned mind's consent, "and knew you were awake. So I came to see if everything was alright." Mori was surprised at the words that seemed to flow out of him but was pleased with the end result.
Now it was Riley's turn to be surprised. "I think that was the most you've ever said to me in one breath," she laughed. Then, if he didn't know any better, he would have sworn she blushed when she asked, "Do you want to go make some tea?" He found himself shaking his head without realizing, wanting not tea from her but something else entirely. With his eyes adjusting to the darkness, he noticed the long t-shirt she wore, which pretty much hid her sleeping shorts underneath and left her legs exposed. And, for the first time, he saw her without her hair tied back or it wet or it covered in flour and other baking ingredients. Her long wavy black hair reached down to almost her waist and was freshly washed, he noted when he detected a hint of vanilla in the air. It was almost as if she stepped right from his dream and stood before him.
"Well," Riley's voice broke him out of his stupor, "I'm not tired yet. Do you want to hang out and talk?" For a second, Mori had to convince himself that he wasn't still in his dream. When he was able to tell that what was happening to him was very real, he nodded vigorously before following her into her dark room.
Riley was still reeling from her sudden burst of courage by the time she and Mori were sitting on her double bed. "What could I possibly say?" She thought to herself as the two sat in silence. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw the host in the hallway as she walked back from the kitchen after getting herself some tea that she felt giddy with excitement. So giddy she built up the courage to invite him in. But now that he sat in front of her, she could think of absolutely nothing to say.
"You invited him," she thought to herself, "you have to start." Only two things came to mind. First, to talk about school but she felt like that was all she ever talked about. Second was acting on her feelings, something derived from Dakota's earlier remarks, and either telling him how she finds herself nearly enthralled with him or straight up kissing him, like Dakota suggested. Both seemed like equally bad ideas. "It's funny," she tried, "how we both weren't able to sleep. What do you think kept you up?"
"Hah," she thought, "his turn to talk. I hopefully won't have to tell him that he's the reason I'm still awake." He sat silently staring at her long enough for her to start blushing before saying, "Vivid dreams."
"Oh yeah? What were they about?"
"Good job Riley," she praised herself, "smooth casual banter."
Then, if she didn't know him, she'd have guessed that he was grasping for words as the silence between them lengthened. Eventually, he shook his head and muttered, "I don't remember." Maybe there was something in the way he avoided her gaze or that he shifted his weight on the bed but she somehow knew he was lying. Maybe, she began thinking, Dakota was right.
As she turned and the host and baker stared at each other, she could feel her courage building once again and felt less and less nervous about leaning over and kissing him. Mere seconds passed by the time she made up her mind. She needed to feel his lips, to feel his hands upon her body. Just as she was about to act however, Ghost came crawling up onto the bed with them and plumped down between them. That small act crumbled whatever nerve Riley had just as fast as it had built. "Useless," she said as she pushed him off the bed, "you're useless Ghost." In an attempt to hide her inflamed face and her own embarrassment, the baker began fiddling with the brace encasing her foot and said, "Hey, do you wanna see something?" Without waiting for him to answer, she reached over to the end table to her right and grabbed the black leather bound book which sat on its surface.
When she handed it to him, she began to hope its contents would show Mori exactly how she felt about him without her trying to voice it. Inside the book were drawings. For the most part, the beginning of her sketch book was filled with cake designs she had created back when she worked at the bakery and the occasional picture of Ghost. Her latest drawings however were a lot of pictures of the hosts, Honey and Mori in particular. As he was flipping through those pages, she hoped he would notice how many portraits there were of him and that it would speak louder than her words ever could. "These are amazing," he praised while looking at a picture of Honey staring in awe of a five tiered cake.
He wasn't looking too long at the portraits of himself, Riley noted. In fact, he was absolutely transfixed on this doodle she had done of a horse. Not a bad picture, but definitely not one of her bests. "I don't think any of us even knew you drew." Mori continued, still staring at the horse.
She barely heard him, she was so disappointed that he didn't get the message she was trying to convey. Her brain finally processed his words and she nodded, "Yeah well I just used to draw out how my cakes would look like then it just kind of grew from there."
"Have you ever ridden a horse before?" He suddenly asking, finally looking away from the horse and at her instead.
"No... I've always wanted to but I didn't wanna spend all that money to go horseback riding when I could've bought, you know, food."
Her cup, now empty in her hands, felt cold while she mentally scolded herself for not following Dakota's advice. "We should go sometime." Mori's voice snapped her back to reality and she was so thrown off by his suggestion she couldn't find any words in her mind.
Until she heard Dakota in her mind saying "he's gotta be into you." Realizing very suddenly that she might be right, Riley found she didn't need courage to simply lean over and peck him on the cheek, "I'd love that."
Even with the dim lighting of the room, she could see Mori's cheeks flare bright pink while he stared at her. Something in his grey eyes seemed to shift before he pushed away her sketch book, pulled her close to him and kissed her.