Page 119 of Honeysuckle
“Fuck, he’s handsome,” Cael hummed under his breath. The low throaty sound of possessiveness left my chest before I could stop it, and Cael snorted. "Simmer down, big boy, it was just a compliment for our man.”
Cael was out of pocket, but he wasn’t wrong with his comment. Josh’s sharp features were highlighted by a tight black dress shirt with gold embellishments around the collar. Corner pins that dragged the collar down and met in the middle with a long golden chain that buttoned into the top of his shirt like a bolo or a tie. He shifted in his dress pants, and Mr. Malik had even found him a pair of shoes to complete the look.
The dark fabric made the gold in his eyes glow against the dark browns, his lips pressed into a thin line that screamed unamused. “The collar is too tight,” he grumbled.
“No, the collar is perfect,” Mr. Malik hushed him and walked around to admire him from the front. “The beauty is here,” he said, pointing to the fabric without touching Josh. All of us leaned forward to admire the way the shirt shone. When Josh shifted, the light caught it, and the faintest hint of deep blue reflective pinstripes appeared. “Navy, for the newest Hornet.”
“Mm,” Josh groaned.
“Navy to match.” Mr. Malik looked at me before pointing at the sheer shirt. I smiled at him and nodded. “Now shoo, there’s more to put on.”
Josh glared at me, and I could feel the heat rising off him as Mr. Malik made him change outfits. Each one was fitted and much nicer than the shirt he had been wearing. A few dress shirts in dark colors, two new pairs of dress pants and two suit jackets and a grey knit sweater he could wear to dress everything down.
When Josh was finally set free it was Van’s turn, it didn’t take Mr. Malik long to tree the giant but we had to sit and wait for him to re-measure his gait four times. “You have grown since the last time you were here, it's unnatural.” Mr. Malik grumbled as he worked.
“That’s what I’m saying.” Josh shook his head, sitting on the couch next to me with our knees almost touching. His hand was between us on the couch, and I nudged him gently before slipping our palms together. His jaw tightened slightly, but after a moment, he relaxed back into the couch with a sigh.
“Oh, hey.” Cael sat forward on the couch. "Mr. Malik, do you still have the Christmas present I gave you last year?” He asked, and I instantly knew he was up to something by the sparkle in his mischievous blue eyes.
“Yes,” he said without looking up from the hem of Van’s pants. “Behind the counter, under the box of ties.”
Cael leapt over the couch’s back and hit the ground running before I could even stop him from ripping the Hornets calendar out from behind the counter. “Put it back,” I tensed as he came toward us. “Cael, I swear—” I let go of Josh and pushed off the cushions to stand.
“It’s only right he knows,” Cael laughed, darting to the left out of my reach and around the couch toward the massive shelf of bow ties. “It’s tradition!”
“I will burn every poster in your room!” I threatened, and Cael laughed.
“Worth it,” he mouthed and decked me out again around the rack of dress pants and back toward Josh, who was watching on in annoyance. He flipped through the pages with precision and dropped the folded calendar in Josh’s lap.
“Behold, Mr. November.” Cael leaned over the back of the couch just behind Josh, whose eyes flickered down to the ratty page. The whole thing looked like it had suffered immense water damage, and it crinkled every time Josh moved even a little bit.
“Holy shit.” Josh cracked a smile. “You guys still fucking do these things?” He looked back, and Cael shrugged.
“That was the last one before the school decided that it was morally wrong to issue school-sanctioned calendars that promoted using our bodies for fundraising purposes,” Van said, his voice low and almost professional. “That was taken almost two years ago now.” Van moved, and Mr. Malik threatened to stab him with a pin if he did it again.
“Look at this baby face,” Josh laughed, his eyes roaming over the image. I hated it, those pants were too tight on purpose, the paint stung when it got in my eyes and they refused to let me wear a shirt even though it was the middle of February when we took those. “Did they grease you up?”
“With sunscreen,” I grumbled, eyes shut in defeat.
“He smelt like a baby for a month,” Cael said, laughing.
“It was like tar, it took four showers to get it out of my hair,” I said with my eyes still closed, collecting my breath. I opened my eyes and Josh was still watching me, his gaze flickering to my bright red ears and embarrassed smile. I huffed, as he smiled and handed the calendar back to Cael over his shoulder without looking away.
“Please don’t,” I begged him.
Josh just pressed his lips together and shook his head. I knew I’d never hear the end of it later, but he wasn’t going to let me have it here, not in public. Van got changed back into his sweats before Mr. Malik started ringing up the orders.
“Go across the street and order some pizza,” I told Cael, and he looked over his shoulder with a shrug. “Go with him,” I said to Van and Josh when they paused to wait for me. Once the bell over the door had silenced, I turned back to Mr. Malik. “You can put it on this,” I said to him, handing Silas’s black card over the counter.
If Josh knew that the shopping trip was on his brother's dime I would have never gotten him out of the house. Mr. Malik took the card and wrote down the numbers.
“He’s a nice boy,” he said, handing it back. I shoved the card into my wallet and shoved it into my pocket. “Very polite but very sad.”
“Yeah, he’s working on the last part,” I sighed and watched the three of them disappear into the pizza place. Mr. Malik handed me the few boxes and bags of Josh’s new game day wardrobe with a smile.
“Make sure you take lots of pictures for me,” he said, nodding to the wall of photos behind him, a lot of them were us, especially the ones of us wearing the clothes he fitted for us. “Have fun Mr. Tucker, and don’t spill anything on your shirt this year!”
I laughed. "I promise.”
