8 years ago

Oly was tall and muscular, so he probably looked a bit odd sitting alone on a park bench, hunched forward over his big pretzel. Maybe people were staring because of his outfit? On this day, he was dressed in blue jeans, a white T-shirt, a thin oversized black vest, heavy black boots, and lots of leather bracelets with spikes all over them. His small silver hoop earrings and onyx and silver rings completed the look.

 

Oly’s hair had grown out, so it reached his shoulders, and he was trying to use it to cover his eyes. He kept slipping up though, because he made eye contact with a few people and, for some reason, they kept smiling. It wasn’t just girls either. It was older couples, kids, bikers, balloon salesmen. They all smiled serenely at him in passing. This was perplexing because Oly was pretty sure he was wearing his signature “leave me alone” scowl. It never worked though. Strangers still approached him for directions all the time and old people would randomly grab his arm for support when crossing street. Try as he might, Oly could not perfect the menacing aura he worked so hard to cultivate.

 

While Oly tried to avoid human interaction, a little squirrel spotted him, or rather his pretzel from the other side of the walking trail.  It stood with its body at full attention and its bushy tail held up. Moving to the side once, it was getting ready for action. Its shiny black eyes never left the pretzel.

 

“No. Don’t come over here.”

 

Oly warned the little furball, but it crept forward anyway. Slowly it crossed the trail, its little nose twitching.

 

“Ugh! NO.”

 

Oly tried to raise his voice to scare the little creature, but he startled a few passersby in the process. Oly whispered apologies to those he offended and lowered his voice to a hiss.

 

“Stay over there, you little scavenger. No pretzel for you.”

 

The squirrel was undeterred as it continued crawling forward, pleading with big eyes, bushy tail fliting back and forth. Finally, it got close enough to place a little paw on Oly’s shoe. Oly stared at the animal for a moment and then let out a groan.

 

“Fine. Here! Take it.”

 

Despite his annoyance, Oly’s hand was slow and steady as he held out a piece of the pretzel. The squirrel made quick little movements, as if it was trying to stay ready to bolt if Oly made a wrong move. Standing on its hind legs, it reached for the treat with both its little arms outstretched. Carefully, it took the salty tidbit, holding on to Oly’s finger for support. When the pretzel piece was secured, it scurried away.

 

Oly scowled at the retreating figure and grumbled.

 

“You’re welcome!”

 

A little giggle grabbed Oly’s attention. He looked across the trail and straight into the warm, brown eyes of a kid who could be no more than three. Oh no. For some reason kids loved Oly, much to his chagrin. The little guy must have seen the whole exchange since his little face was lit up with mirth. He was dressed in denim overalls, and three balloons were tied to his wrist. One red, one blue, one yellow. In one of his dimpled little fists, he was holding a rather large ice cream cone.

 

“What do you want?”

 

Oly mouthed the words and made a face. The chubby tot was delighted. Immediately he started to walk towards Oly, but he soon reached the end of the lime green teether attached to his teddy bear bookbag. This caused the kid’s eyebrows to knit together as he redoubled his efforts to reach Oly. The kid’s mother barely noticed since she and her husband were talking excitedly to another woman with a small child in her arms. Apparently, they were classmates, and the baby had gotten so much bigger since they last met. Whatever, the lady needed to pay attention to her own kid, in Oly’s opinion, or the kid was going to drop…

 

The small boy began to wail when his ice cream cone hit the ground. Dramatically, he threw his own little body to the ground as well and thrashed all his teeny limbs about. Oly sighed, got up from the park bench and approached the nearby ice cream cart. He ordered what he assumed were the flavors the kid had. Wordlessly, he approached the chaos, with the clueless adults trying to see how the kid had fallen and if he had been injured. Oly came to a stop and held out the ice cream cone he’d bought.

 

The little boy immediately stopped crying and reached out with both hands. The parents looked at him with grateful eyes and thanked him profusely. Oly held up a hand in a gesture that meant he didn’t need thanks and returned to his park bench. Where is Gale...

 

Suddenly, Oly felt like he was being watched. He looked up at the little family and they were gathering their things to leave. He didn’t see the squirrel anymore. Then he saw him. Standing a few feet away, with a look of awe on his face was Gale Martinez. Child actor, movie star, model, and singer, Gale Martinez. He still looked like a doll, especially in the get up he was wearing.

 

Gale wore a navy-blue beret with his chestnut brown bangs peeking out the front, big round glasses, dark washed jeans, and, despite the weather, a royal blue sweater vest over a white shirt. There was a small navy and white handkerchief tied around his neck. His tiny hands clenched around the leather strap of his designer cross-body handbag. All of this only highlighted the cuteness of his heart-shaped face and pouty pink lips.

 

He looks like a painting.

 

Oly was little disturbed by his thoughts. He was even more disturbed by the fact that he and Gale were just staring at each other without speaking. Oly cleared his throat and that seemed to snap Gale out of whatever spell he was under. He took quick little steps to get closer to Oly before speaking in a surprisingly deep (considering his size) soft voice.

 

“Oly?”

 

Oly didn’t like the tightness in his chest, so he ignored it.

 

“Yeah. You’re Gale. I recognized you.”

 

“Right, from the phone calls with Aunt Grace.”

 

“No…from television.”

 

“Oh!”

 

Gale looked nervously at his shiny shoes. He didn’t seem to know what to say, so Oly decided they needed to move around to escape the awkwardness. He stood up from the park bench and Gale gasped. His dark, almond shaped eyes appeared twice their size.

 

“Pretty.”

 

Gale murmured this as if he were talking to himself.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Was he blushing? Oh, Gale Martinez was definitely blushing and not making eye contact. Weird. How is a movie star this shy?

 

“I, um…I mean. I always thought you were kind of pretty. Your eyes. The single eyelid…Um…I mean…you’re an actor right. You certainly have the look for it. You could model too.”

Oly looked at Gale like he’d grown three heads. Yes, he believed he was attractive, and he was proud of the eyes and complexion that showed off his Asian genetics, but in Oly’s mind, Gale fit the description of pretty much better than Oly ever could. With his petite frame, slightly tanned smooth skin; plump, heart-shaped lips; and dark almond shaped eyes, Gale hardly looked real to Oly. His soft features were somehow more beautiful in person than on TV.

 

Objectively speaking, that is. Don’t go thinking that Oly was developing a crush on the little star. Oly didn’t have crushes.

 

“Thanks for the business advice. I’ll keep that in mind. Let’s go grab something to eat. I had to share my pretzel with a squirrel.”

 

“I saw.”

 

“What? How long have you been here?”

 

Gale had to jog to keep up with Oly’s long strides. When he caught up, Gale tried to hold on to Oly’s arm like Oly has seen ladies do when they walk with their boyfriends. Oly halted his steps and yanked away from Gale’s grasp. Panicked and embarassed by the contact, Oly yelled at the shorter man. 

“What are you doing?”

Gale stared at him, stunned. And then it happened. Oly felt the world shift as Gale’s fat bottom lip quivered and tears pooled in his dark, sparkly eyes.

 

“You-You’re walking too fast. I can’t keep up.”

 

Oly’s entire demeanor changed as he cupped the shorter man’s face and wiped away tears with his thumb.

 

“Please don’t cry. My mom will kill me.”

 

Gale sniffed a few times, and then he registered what this big, hulk of a man just said. Gale suddenly started giggling, and if it wasn’t the cutest darn thing Oly had ever witnessed. Those had to be the deepest dimples in existence, right? Realizing that he was still holding a grown man’s face, Oly all but jumped backwards to put some distance between them.

 

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to invade your space.”

 

“That’s quite alright. Shall we head to that little café up ahead?”

 

“Sure. How tall are you anyway? 5’2? You’re so tiny.”

 

“No way. I’m 5’6. You’re just a giant.”

 

“I’m only 6’2. I’m not that much taller.”

Oly began walking again. At first his pace was just as fast as before, but then he slowed down a bit. An influx of pedestrians travelling the opposite direction threatened to separate the two so Gale grabbed hold of the back of Oly’s shirt. Gale braced himself for backlash, but Oly didn’t mention it and did not pull away. Oly didn’t get to see the small smile that graced Gale’s lips, but he didn’t need to. Gale would eventually get anything he wanted out of Oly. Oly was a sucker for all things cute.