Chapter 4 – Secret Room
"Has anyone told you that you're really warm?" Lina murmured in a rather far-away voice.
It was still dark outside. Probably early, early morning. There were still several more hours before the arcade opened.
"Yeah," mumbled Gloyd. "You did. Just now."
The kids were lying upon the bed again, a little wiped out after their little wrestling match. This time, Crumbelina lay on her side with her back facing Gloyd, while Gloyd lay right behind, his arms wrapped around her in a snuggly hold. He was pressed along her whole body, hands rested gently upon her tummy, making her feel extra warm. To Crumbelina, this was heaven, to lie here all curled up with her boyfriend hugging her like this. Her eyes were closed in deepest comfort as she followed the steady rhythm of his soft breathing upon her neck. And her heart kept bouncing with excitement whenever she thought of the word 'boyfriend'. She felt relaxed and excited at the same time. But mostly, happy. Very happy.
"You're warm too, you know," Gloyd's voice drifted to her ear. He gave her hair a sniff. "And you smell nice."
"Naturally, Pumpkin Pie."
There was a moment of silence before Gloyd starting talking again. "Do I smell nice too?"
"You smell like a boy."
"Oh. I could…shower or something if you don't like that."
"You would actually take a shower just for me?" Lina purred.
"Yeah, I guess," Gloyd mumbled reluctantly. "If you want me to."
The knowledge that he was willing to make sacrifices just for her only made Lina smile. "That's all right. I quite love your pumpkin scent. It reminds me of you."
This wasn't the first time they had snuggled. But it was the first time they had done so like this. With Gloyd once again behind her, Lina couldn't see him. But just like all the times before when they had been positioned in this way, she loved it a lot. She scootched back even closer into him to absorb as much of his warmth as possible.
Gloyd, meanwhile, had his blushing face nestled comfortably upon the back of Lina's head and her new braid. He inhaled deeply, taking in her sweet, fragrant scent. He could feel her chest rising and falling slowly with each of her peaceful breaths.
"Are you asleep yet?"
"No," Lina giggled.
"Why not? You're supposed to be sleeping."
"Don't want to," she mumbled. "I want to enjoy this."
"I should go so you can sleep," he teased, starting to get up. "Bye bye."
"Nooooo…" she moaned pitifully, grasping his hands. "Not yet. I want this to last."
"We'll do more of this tomorrow," Gloyd said, giving her foot a nudge. "You should get at least a couple hours of sleep before the arcade opens. You'll feel better."
Lina turned herself around so she was now facing him. "But I feel better when you're here with me," she cooed in a drowsy voice, sleepy eyes gazing into his adorable face.
She felt his hand move down her back and land upon her hip. "Well, you'll make me feel better if you sleep," he muttered.
Lina didn't answer. Instead, she tucked her hands beneath his chin to feel his warmth and mushed their foreheads together. The bracelet around her wrist was squashed between them. She curled her toes around his. She just didn't want him to go.
"I won't be far," Gloyd's voice drifted, "I'm just down the hall, y'know." He still had one hand around her. The other hand, however, began running his index finger gently along the bridge of her nose. Lina didn't know what this was, but it seemed to be luring her closer and closer to a hazy cloud in her mind, summoning sleep. Her mind became foggy, barely able to register the bed shifting as Gloyd slowly unraveled out of her grasp, got up, carefully lifted her, and moved her to where the pillows lay. She felt the blanket being draped warmly over her body.
"Don't leave the house," she whispered sleepily.
"I won't" he promised, kneeling down to her face level. "I'll be in the mansion the whole time."
He knelt there for who knows how long, just watching her as she slept, before finally turning off the bedside lamp and slipping quietly away.
As soon as she heard the bedroom door close, the girl sat up and rubbed her eyes. Though sleepy, there was one last thing she really wanted to do first. She eagerly switched her lamp back on and removed the bracelet from her wrist. She simply could not put off inspecting her new bracelet just one more time. In the soft glow from the lamp, she read each message on the little heart candies over again, feeling affection with every one she scanned.
But then she noticed something that she had not before. On the other side of each heart, the side that would not be visible while wearing the bracelet, there was what appeared to be a continuation of each message. Crumbelina squinted her eyes to read these newly-discovered words:
'You're amazing…to me'
'You're beautiful…outside, but even more inside'
'You're smart…to know your limits'
'You're brave…to admit you're scared'
'You're enough…to make me complete'
'You're crazy…to love someone like me'
It was impressive how such small pieces of candy could hold that much text.
"Pumpkin Pie…" she sighed. One hand clutched the bracelet to her chest. The other hand found its way to her new braid.
Gloyd stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets again as he silently trudged further down the dark hallway. Now that the bracelet that he had been concealing from her view had finally been delivered, his pocket felt strangely empty.
At the very end of the hall stood another door, through which he entered. The room he now stood in was at least four times smaller than the one he had just left, but it was still quite large. It probably felt smaller due to the numerous gingerbread boxes stacked up in the corners with various items from cooking pots, glossy lawn ornaments, and peppermint screwdrivers poking out. There was an old dresser next to a single window. And in the middle of the room were a modest bed and a small bowlegged nightstand. An orange and black duffle bag sat on top of the covers.
A small chuckle escaped Gloyd's mouth as he remembered his and Lina's argument in this very room.
Last week:
"But this isn't even a guestroom," Lina protested.
"It's good enough for me," he replied. His duffle bag was slung over his shoulder, weighing him down on one side.
"Sweetie, I have half a dozen guestrooms in this house. This is just a spare closet that I use for storing outdated junk!"
"Lina, every 'closet' in your mansion is big enough to host a party. And I prefer clutter and small spaces. Have you not seen my place?"
"What about the room downstairs?" Lina urged. "It's got a 9-foot bed already prepared and a charming view of the sunset. I just had the walls respackled with fresh buttercream too. You'll love it!"
"I don't need a racetrack for a bed."
"But don't you want a room with at least another window?"
"There's nothing outside that I want to see."
Lina looked pained. "But…but why this room, Gloyd?" she asked. "I can't bear the thought of shacking you up in a dusty, cramped space like this! This is a hobo's accommodation! Even Vanellope's hideout in Diet Cola Mountain was better than this. Why do you want this room so badly?"
Gloyd already had the answer for her. "'Cuz it's the closest one to your bedroom. What happens if you have a nightmare and you need me? Your mansion is so big that I still get lost in it. I wanna be able to reach you lickety-split just in case."
He watched as her mouth opened, but no words came out. Instead, her eyes softened and she glanced around the room before letting out a reluctant sigh. "At least let me tidy up a bit first. And move a bed in here."
Gloyd smiled and dropped his bag on the floor, upsetting a considerable cloud of sugar dust as it plopped down.
Present:
This storage closet looked more or less like his room back at his house: small with a floor littered with stuff. If anything, he felt more at home here than in any of the six guestrooms Lina had offered him. Or was it seven? He lost count. Lina's mansion was programmed with such a scale that he still got overwhelmed by just its size alone whenever he visited her. Navigating it was a mission on its own. This room was perfect.
His wandering mind now turned away from a reluctant Lina whom had given up trying to persuade him to choose a different room, and instead switched over to a foam-covered Lina in the bathtub, sitting in a mountain of bubbles with tea droplets speckling her glistening skin. Gloyd smirked at the memory of her messy wet hair with all the suds clinging on like tufts of cotton candy. It had taken every bit of restraint he had to not burst out laughing at how silly she looked, knowing how obsessive she was over her appearance. Gloyd enjoyed teasing her, but even he knew limits...sometimes. He remembered the smile on her beautiful face that told him she was comfortable to have him there with her…comfortable enough to ask him to scrub her back; Gloyd started to become lightheaded as he tried to revive that memory. He had seen Lina wear all kinds of clothes; that was the first time he had seen her wear bubbles.
He should have known that Lina was the type of girl who liked getting wet. What with how much she adored her luxury hot tub with its rich chocolate fondue or how she always got excited whenever Vanellope invited them all over to her castle for a pool party. And yet, picky Lina refused to swim in the natural cola along Sandy Candy Beach. Something about the ocean cola not being right for her skin or whatever.
Then his thoughts randomly turned over to Swizzle, who bragged to no end of how close he and Minty effortlessly got with each other every day (at least according to him). Yet, Gloyd somehow felt that even Swizzle had not enjoyed such pleasures as he had tonight. Minty's hair wasn't long enough to braid. And there was no way they had snuggled in bed like that. Such a romantic move would have immediately been the #1 hot topic of Swizzle's boasting, relayed in detail to him and Rancis long by this point.
Suddenly, Gloyd felt very pleased with himself. Stepping over a long box of Lina's decorative cannoli staffs, he made his way to the bed with a smile on his face.
Lying fast asleep upon his pillow was his pet candy rat, Mr. Spitfire. The sugary rodent lifted his head and squeaked at his master. Gloyd smiled wider. He had initially been worried that Lina wouldn't let him keep Spitfire if he was to stay in her mansion, since rats weren't exactly everyone's first choice for a pet. Taffyta still got the jitters at the slightest mention of Spitfire. But on the contrary, and to Gloyd's relief, Lina found his rat cute. She had even hinted towards giving him a complete makeover. 'I think purple is definitely his colour!' she had declared. After that, it was Spitfire who minded his distance around the girl.
"Hey buddy!" Gloyd greeted him with a cheerful pat on the head. "I'll spare you the details. All I'll say is now I finally got a way to one-up Swizz."
The Halloween racer gazed out the window in thought. "I'd say I scored extra points with my own girl tonight," he boasted. "And Swizz will have no choice but to be jealous. He'll get so green with envy that his face will blend with his hair. Just wait till I tell him!"
Mr. Spitfire squeaked. Gloyd's face fell in horror.
"Wait a minute. What am I saying?" he suddenly gasped. "There's no way I can tell him. I can't tell anybody!"
Scrubbing her back? Snuggling in her bed? Telling everyone that he had sat with her while she took a bath? Was he nuttier than an Oh Henry bar to think he could brag about any of this?
"They're gonna think I'm insane! And then they'll never leave us alone!" Gloyd babbled. "Great. I earn all these bragging rights and can't say squat about 'em. This is so unfair!"
With a disappointed huff, he unzipped the duffle bag…and frowned as he pulled out a book.
It was a very large book, titled 'Going the Extra Mile for Her'.
Unlike his pet rat, Gloyd knew that Lina would not approve of this. She always told him to just be himself. But now that they were together…as in really actually kinda maybe just a little more than yesterday or last week together…he had been feeling an almost mandatory requirement to please her in any way he could. Or at least be ready to. To do that, he wanted to make absolute certain that he knew how. This book of handy tips seemed to be helping, since Lina had enjoyed the one thing from the text that he had tried out on her tonight. Braiding a girl's hair was definitely not a skill programmed in his code. But thanks to the book, specifically the chapter titled 'Her Hair: What the Heck to Do With It', he could enjoy the memory of seeing Lina's immense happiness over his handiwork.
But now he felt a wave of guilt. That bit about licorice ropes had been a fib improvised to avoid mentioning the book's involvement and she had just barely bought it. But had he not been urging her just a few hours ago to be honest with him? And here he was, not being honest with her.
Gloyd rubbed his face, feeling conflicted and exhausted. He also rubbed his knees, feeling a little sore from kneeling on the bathroom floor for so long.
"Man, this boyfriend business is tough. How does everyone else make it look so easy?" he complained.
Mr. Spitfire twitched his licorice whiskers helpfully.
Pushing aside his duffle bag, Gloyd flopped belly-down on to the bed and let his frustrations carry his thoughts far into a boundary-free journey…
Even now, it was still baffling to him; how someone as sophisticated, so prim, so proper, so classy, so smartly-dressed, so upper-crust, and so…irresistible as Crumbelina DiCaramello, the richest and fanciest girl in the world with standards as high as a Too-Tall cake, would fall for him. Gloyd knew she loved him. He definitely loved her. But he was so unlike her in every way imaginable, basically her opposite. He didn't know the first thing about fashion, how to treat his own hair, or how to be romantic. And yet, Lina didn't seem to care about any of that. Sure, she would tease him about his ignorance, but she seemed to find it funny. She laughed when he was with her. She laughed because of him, with real laughter, which meant more to him than anything. Even more baffling, it was never from when he would actually try to get a laugh from her with his best jokes, but more often when he wasn't trying. She was a mystery to him. A funny mystery. A mystery that Gloyd felt nowhere close to figuring out any time soon.
But that didn't seem to matter. She loved him. That mattered.
Feeling a little better, though still uneasy about the book in his hand, Gloyd sat back up and resumed unpacking his things. There wasn't much else, just some spare clothes and a few of his favourite novelty toys, but Gloyd was only half-paying attention. He was just conjuring up the image of Lina wrapped in a towel with suds clinging to her bare legs that disappeared up into the hem when he was interrupted by the doorbell.
Doorbell?
Gloyd levitated. The sudden and frantic desire of not wanting Lina to be woken up caused him to sprint out of the room with lightning speed and a sudden weight in his hand making him realize he was still clutching the book. Tossing it over his shoulder, he charged down the hall, and practically flew down the three flights of stairs that brought him to the main foyer. He ran so fast that the doorbell only had time to ring twice before he threw open the front door to silence whoever was ringing it.
'Whoever' turned out to be everyone. Gloyd stared at the crowd piling on Lina's doorstep. "Uh, hey, guys."
A loud chorus of individual greetings filled his ears as the Sugar Rush racers started pouring in like he had just opened the door to the mall during a mega 2-for-1 sale.
"Yo, Gloyd!" chirped Vanellope. "What's shapin' my orange-studded bud? Clear us a path if ya don't mind, fragile cargo comin' through!" Before Gloyd could respond, he found himself stepping aside to make way for the large box carried between Vanellope and Snowanna Rainbeau.
"Hey, Gloyd," Snowanna said, grinning as she passed.
"S'up, Orange-bro? We haven't seen you all night!" said Swizzle Malarkey, clapping his best friend roughly on the back before side-stepping inside with a jingling crate tucked under his arm.
"You don't mind us dropping in to visit, right Gloydie?" asked Jubileena Bing-Bing with a big cheesy smile. Her oven mitt-covered hands clutched a large circular Tupperware with something presumably hot inside. Adorabeezle Winterpop was right behind her, lugging a large blue tub dripping with icicles that had something definitely cold inside.
"Don't bother answering, we're already here," Taffyta Muttonfudge cracked as she flounced in, giving Gloyd a pat on the head as she passed him. She carried a single lollipop.
"Guys, what are you doing here?" Gloyd frowned. "Hey, wipe your feet on the mat, will ya? It's there for a reason! Crumbelina hates muddy tracks!"
He turned desperately to Vanellope, who smirked and clapped her hands together, "Alrighty, my chewy chums, as long as we're in Crumbelina's place, we're gonna respect it," she said. "Now wipe that chocolate mud off your soggy feet. This is a direct order from your loving president!"
While everyone took turns shuffling their boots on the doormat, Gloyd assessed what stood before him: all 14 of the other Sugar Rush racers filling up the foyer, a large chocolate ganache cake, a giant platter of assorted Skittles, five boxes of donuts, a cherry pie, a tub of Neapolitan ice cream, and a whole 48-pack of flavoured soda.
"So…what's all this?" he asked.
"What do you think? We've brought a party," Rancis Fluggerbutter said simply.
"Yeah!" Citrusella Flugpucker chimed in, swaying where she stood with her usual energy. "You know, for Crumbelina, now that she's feeling groovy enough to race again!"
Gloyd found himself in a tight spot. He loved parties as much as anyone did since they meant total mindless fun with opportunities to pull a good prank like hiding an explosive sugar-snap in the cake when no one was looking. But he didn't feel right throwing one in Crumbelina's mansion without her knowledge.
"Where's Lina, Gloyd?" Snowanna asked him.
"Sleeping," he grunted.
"Sleeping?!" several of the kids exclaimed and groaned.
"Aww, sugarrats, we had everything planned out too!" wailed Candlehead in despair. "I even wrote a poem for Lina, see?" She waved a piece of parchment covered with very messy scribbles. "What's a party for Crumbelina without Crumbelina?"
"Just a party, I suppose," came the bored drone of Sour Bill, whom Gloyd hadn't even noticed until now.
"Great idea, Bill" Swizzle grinned, yanking a bottle of blue raspberry soda from the crate he had brought. "C'mon dudes, let's get this sweet loot to the table! Then we can get this party started!"
Everyone started bustling into the living room. Vanellope took a moment to pause. "You're cool with this, right Gloyd?" she whispered. "It's all they were talkin' about ever since you two left the Random Roster. I'll make sure everyone cleans up whatever they spill."
The Halloween racer slumped with defeat as he watched the crowd of racers already making themselves comfortable. There wasn't much point in arguing. "Sure, whatever," he muttered before hurrying after them to tell Swizzle to get his feet off of Crumbelina's polished coffeecake table.