"How long have you been standing there?" Red inquired.
"I just got here, Red," Boober answered her.
"I take it you're not a fan of crystals on clothes?" Jessa asked.
"They're too hard to get around when washing the fabric. And don't even get me started on sequins. And rhinestones."
"Boober, we know how much you hate extra material on clothes," Red groaned.
"I can make the crystals removable," Jessa added nonchalantly just as she finished the last of her hemming.
"How?" Boober asked.
"I wasn't going to stick them all over the dress anyway," Jessa answered before showing Boober a long, incomplete string of different-sized clear quartz.
"It just needs a few more crystals and some Velcro."
Jessa then sniffed the air and smelled a lovely aroma radiating off of Boober.
"Why do you smell like apples?"
"Probably because I have an apple pie bite behind my back."
Boober then revealed it to Jessa, who looked at it in surprise. Mokey and Red gasped quietly while watching them.
"I made one for you in case you were hungry," Boober said bashfully, his tail wagging as he handed her the pastry.
Jessa blushed before taking it.
"No wonder you smelled so good," she said before taking a bite.
Boober couldn't help but smile as he blushed and felt his baloobius glow.
"Maybe I should add apples to my list of ingredients," Boober commented after seeing Jessa enjoy what he made.
"I'll say," Jessa answered after swallowing her bite. "Thanks, Boober."
"You're welcome."
Jessa broke eye contact and blushed just as Boober did, Mokey grinning happily and Red smirking knowingly.
"Need some alone time, Jessa?" Red asked her in a teasing manner.
Boober blushed even deeper while Jessa replied with something witty, and Red rolled her eyes while smirking before she and Mokey left the room. Jessa finished off her apple pie bite just as Boober sat down next to her.
"How did you manage to get an apple of all things?" She asked him.
"It wasn't easy," he said while glancing at her half-completed dress.
Boober had been up earlier than usual and he thought about doing some laundry, but then he wouldn't have anything to do later on besides finishing the rest of his cooking for the solstice. At a loss of how to spend his morning before everyone else woke up, he remembered the morning after Jessa had a nightmare involving her past. He remembered approaching her in the gorg's garden while she shot that apple out of the tree with her crossbow. He remembered Jessa eating half the apple before kicking the core out of sight. Boober didn't know how, but he ended up in the gorg's garden and retrieved an apple that happened to be lying on the ground. He chose a fallen apple by default since he couldn't climb the tree and lacked a crossbow, much less a magic sword that could morph into one. That was something that only Jessa seemed to possess. Where she got that sword from, Boober didn't know. Jessa wouldn't tell anyone more about it other than what it could turn into and what it could do. By the time Boober rolled the apple back inside the rock, he couldn't believe that he had gone out there by himself. Granted, the gorgs hadn't woken up yet, but it was still a danger zone for Boober. He had gone into the gorg's garden and got an apple. All for the lovely purple fraggle herself. Transporting the apple to the kitchen was hard since it was huge. Boober thought he was going to need some assistance, but he managed to get the heavy fruit into his kitchen. That's how he ended up making an apple pie bite for Jessa. The rest of the apple he stored away somewhere and wrapped it up so it wouldn't rot. He told Jessa about his journey too as she smiled at him. Seeing her grin like that made Boober blush.
"You know," Jessa began once he finished. "you've been getting quite the arm workout with all that stirring you've been doing."
Boober blushed once more at this comment before rubbing his biceps.
"They are rather sore," he replied.
Jessa thought for a minute before laying her hands on his shoulders, taking Boober by surprise.
"Hey, what are you-" he began before feeling a gentle squeeze that eased the tension in his shoulders.
Boober hummed in satisfaction, which made Jessa smile.
"You've been working too hard for the solstice," she pointed out.
"Tell me about it."
After squeezing his shoulders a few more times, Boober scooted closer to Jessa and leaned into her.
"There's a tight spot in my neck," he said lowly while resting his head on her chest.
Jessa chuckled wholeheartedly and began squeezing his neck. Boober let out a low groan and melted into her, loving the massage she was giving him. Jessa blushed at how content he looked and felt her tail wag a little bit. Boober felt his heart bumping against his rib cage and his baloobius lit up. She smelled so good! That coconut scent radiating from her hair and the soap she used recently. Boober sighed lovingly while she massaged him. Jessa remained quiet to allow him to relax. Eventually, the soreness and tightness disappeared. Boober was about to fall asleep on Jessa when he heard Gobo and Wembley return.
"Sounds like they're back," Jessa said before Boober sat up and gave her some personal space.
"I know I'm not the best at making decisions," Wembley ranted to Gobo. "What does that flower know anyway?"
"I can't believe it thinks I like Red," Gobo ranted. "The nerve."
"Sounds like your trip went well," Jessa called out sarcastically as they were passing by.
"Define well," Gobo replied, still in denial about what the Singing Flowers sang to him.
"I'm a fraggle, not a dictionary."
Boober glanced at Wembley sympathetically as he was still uneasy about being indecisive.
"Maybe you shouldn't have gone with Gobo to the Singing Flowers."
"I wanted to," Wembley replied. "I'll never make that mistake again."
"I knew that the Flowers sang what's on your mind, but I didn't think it was going to be anything like this," Gobo added before glancing at Jessa's yet-to-be-completed dress and materials that she left on the floor in front of her bed. "What all this stuff?"
"I was adding a few crystals to my dress," Jessa answered indifferently.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because I want it to look a certain way."
Jessa grabbed some idle crystals and her string and continued to put them on there.
"Mokey took me with her to get a dress since I didn't have one."
"Well that was nice of her," Wembley replied.
"Yeah, it was."
Jessa smiled before grabbing another crystal and putting it on her string.
"Where did you get the crystals?" Boober inquired.
"I've had these for a while," she answered. "These particular crystals make a dazzling glitter when crushed into a fine powder."
Wembley let out a sound of interest.
"But I'll spare Boober the trouble of washing around glitter since he doesn't like it."
"Thank you," he replied gratefully.
"You made it clear earlier how much you hate washing clothes with glitter, sequins, and rhinestones on them."
"My washboard doesn't guarantee that they'll stay intact once the fabric is clean," Boober added. "And when I beat the suds out on some rocks, it will only make it worse. If it's anything like those clear quartz crystals, they'll break."
Gobo, being a male, was tuning the conversation out. He didn't particularly care about fashion or laundry.
"If you guys need me," he began as Jessa and Boober paused their conversation to hear what he had to say. "I'll be skating around on my peapod zoomer."
"Alright then," Jessa replied.
Gobo left, leaving Wembley with Boober and Jessa.
"I'd hate to break your crystals, Jessa," Boober said to her.
Jessa smiled in response.
"Sounds like we're both doing each other a favor then."
Wembley sat down on the floor in front of them, joining their conversation.
"Good thing I don't wear sequins," he added. "They're scratchy."
"Can't say that I've ever felt comfortable in sequins myself," Jessa replied to Wembley.
"Not to mention they get caught in your fur," Boober added.
Both Jessa and Wembley groaned in displeasure at the thought.
"Don't remind me," she told him. "I once had to wear this fugly gown with sequins on it. Let's just say that it ended up destroyed by the end of the night."
"What happened?" Boober asked with slight worry.
"I shredded it because it was so gaudy and uncomfortable. Good riddance."
Jessa frowned at the memory but didn't dwell on it for too long. Boober then began to wonder how the dress would look on her once it was finished. Given Jessa's slender and toned figure, he guessed that she would look stunning in it. This thought made him blush, which both Wembley and Jessa noticed.
"Easy there, Boober," she said to him. "You're getting too carried away with whatever thoughts you have in your head."
"I think I'm in the mood to eat some Doozer sticks anyway," Wembley said before getting up. "I'll see you guys later."
"See ya, Wembley," she replied.
"Bye."
Now it was the two of them alone again. Had he been by himself, Boober would have chastised himself for having sexual fantasies about Jessa right in front of her. How utterly embarrassing! Before he could say anything else, Mokey's cuckoo clock went off, reminding Boober that he needed to return to the kitchen.
"Sounds like my break has come to an end," he said before getting up.
"Thanks for the apple pie bite, Boober," Jessa told him sweetly.
Boober looked at her, getting flustered by her smile. It was so beautiful! But he tried to keep his composure before leaving the room.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," he replied. "Of course, there's plenty of that apple to go around."
The last sentence was flirtatious, to which Jessa picked up and blushed.
"Is there now?" She flirted back.
"Yeah."
Boober grinned and knew his tail was wagging.
"Just let me know if you want any more apple-flavored recipes."
Jessa giggled before answering.
"I will," she said with a wink.
Boober's heart skipped a beat as he strolled back to the kitchen. Once he was there, he took a minute. Did he really just flirt with Jessa? Boober leaned against the wall with his hand on his heart, which was beating like a drum.
"She does things to me," he admitted quietly, fearing somebody would hear him.
Once Boober was sure he was calmed down, he returned to cooking what was left of the solstice food.