Hearthstone Entertainment
10 Decompression
BY THE END OF THE DAY, we were all exhausted and thankful for the casseroles that Sarah had prepared in advance and that Monte thawed, prepped, and had in the ovens by three o’clock. He and Theresa had a basket full of salad makings from the garden, as well. They washed, tore, and tossed them. I was watching the dance show when I saw the two slip up the back stairs to the dormitories hand-in-hand. I hoped they remembered that it wasn’t soundproof.
Heaven joined us for dinner as soon as all the crew left, dressed in her white gi. During the course of the afternoon, we’d all changed into gis as we finished our responsibilities. Hannah, Samantha, and Elaine were still upstairs in the shower.
“I nearly had a heart attack when I realized Kevin was standing in front of you in drag,” I said as I gave Jessica a hug. She was more comfortable now and returned the hug briefly. “When did you plan that all out?”
“Yesterday afternoon. Hannah had the details about his contest win at WSU and had already talked to him about the possibility of participating. I met him before the show,” Jessica laughed. “Elaine is game for absolutely anything!”
“It was sure a whole lot more interesting than watching that woman paint this afternoon. I thought she was going to talk while she painted. She kept stopping to talk. It took forever,” I complained. “I think even the moms were bored.”
The moms in question left after dinner. They were staying at the Hampton Suites and made a couple comments about going to a campus hangout and seeing if they could get some young college studs for entertainment. We all rolled our eyes.
“What do I need to know about what we are doing tomorrow on Young Cooking?” Jessica asked. “Do we have a surprise vegetable?”
“No, but we’ll be talking about getting enough protein on a vegetarian diet,” I said. Jessica and I talked for an hour and I walked her through the kitchen.
ME: The key element is to keep your intake in proportion. As we have seen, it is very difficult to get enough protein from vegetarian dishes to truly fuel your body without overloading on fat.
HEAVEN: Peanut butter?
ME: Remember that a tablespoon of peanut butter may have eight grams of protein, but seventy percent of the calories in peanut butter are from fat. Read the labels. What we want to see is a balance of twenty percent of your calories from protein, twenty percent from fat, and sixty percent from healthy complex carbohydrates. Stay away from those simple carbs like bread, potatoes, and sugar.
HEAVEN: Can I do that on a diet of 1800 calories a day? You don’t know how hard it is to count calories like many of us models do.
ME: Personally, I would throw away your calorie target. If you eat this 20/20/60 diet, all you have to be concerned with is no overeating. Your stomach will tell you when it is full. Don’t cram any more into it.
HEAVEN: I’m going to try this, but if I get fat, my agent will be after you.
ME: Well, just remember this, girlfriend. No matter what, I still love you.
“Brian?” I looked at my pixie Hannah, already known to the crew as ‘the dragon lady.’ Her lip was quivering and a tear streaked down her cheek.
“What is it, honey?” I asked as I folded her into my arms.
“I need a brownie.”
“A brownie and a glass of milk sound like a great idea. Let’s go.”
At this time of night, we didn’t bother dressing. Everything was shut down for the night and most residents were either in bed or getting near. There really wasn’t any place to sit comfortably in the studio except at the kitchen counter. Dawn and George were sitting at the counter with a plate of cookies between them. I really missed our living room.
Hannah and I went into Stall One and I asked her for the key to the cabinet. While Hannah kept the key to the locking file cabinet on a cord around her neck, for some reason, she had refused to get her own brownies that I kept stocked in the cabinet. I pulled out the plastic covered paper plate with four brownies on it.
“Looks like I need to bake. You aren’t denying yourself when you need them, are you, honey?” She shook her head. “Then do you suppose I could have one with you tonight?” She smiled. We each took a brownie and I relocked the cabinet. I put the key back around her neck. “I’ll bake tomorrow night.” We went to the kitchen for a glass of milk. George and Dawn had moved to Elaine’s guest chair and were cuddled up together. Hannah scowled and then shrugged as she let it go.
“This week has been hella tough, hasn’t it?” We sat and slowly ate our brownies. The THC moved more slowly when ingested this way than when smoked, but I could feel myself relax—maybe just from sitting with Hannah.
“I always knew, but then I saw it today. I saw you say the words to her that you always say to me. And I know…” she stopped me from responding with a finger to my lips. “I know you still mean them for me. I know that you mean them for every one of us. But I saw you say them to her and I just got sad. I don’t even know why. I like Heaven. Sarah loves Heaven. I know you love Heaven and that doesn’t mean you love me any less. But when you say it to the camera, no matter who you are thinking of, I think in my heart that you are talking to me. Today, you turned and said it straight to her. I couldn’t imagine they were my words.”
I turned her toward me and lifted her foot to my lap. It gave me a very nice view. I massaged the tattoo of my words written there.
“They are always your words, honey,” I said. “No matter who else I say them to.”
I only ate about half my brownie and when she’d polished hers off, I gave her the rest of mine. George and Dawn had left two cookies on a plate on the counter. I wondered if I should admonish them to clean up after themselves or if they had left them for us. We ate them. Then we raided the refrigerator for leftover casserole.
We giggled a lot.
We touched each other.
We left dirty dishes in the sink and went upstairs to cuddle in the recliner for the rest of the night.
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