The Enemy

 “Linda? What are you doing here?” I say in shock, to see one of the Harper’s bakery key bakers here in my bakery a couple days before the festival, the biggest time of the year for all local bakeries across the country.

   “Oh umm, just looking around.” She says standing still as if had just caught her doing something she shouldn’t be. “Linda” I sternly say as I push our famous twisted candy cane cookies into the display case. “Ok, I am sorry Harmony, Justin just wanted me to come see what you were making this year and see if I could find what ingredients you were using in the new holiday bread recipe.” she says looking down at her black flats twisting and twiddling her thumbs. Linda isn’t a liar or cheater, she is a loyal friend actually, but no one says no to Justin Harper, well besides me of course. 

   “Linda, you know you won’t find that over there and besides I am not that dumb, I know his tricks. You go tell him if he wants a holiday bread recipe go somewhere else because he won’t find it here.” I say putting my hands on my hips and looking up at her. This is the first year I will run the bakery alone, even though I grew up here, doesn’t mean I want to be a baker. For god's sake, I am a business student. I just have been running the bakery for the past month since the rest of my family flew to France in November and this is how we make our money especially during the Christmas season. “But you're the only bakery that has the best tasting holiday bread.” She says walking towards the door, I’ve known her since I was 15, she knows I won’t tell her even if she offered money. I may not be a baker at heart, but my parents have built this place from the ground up and they would be heartbroken if I took it for granted. I did create the holiday bread recipe but still, it would be messed up.

   “Bye Linda” I say as the door closes behind her and she waves through the window. I look back down at the order forms. I have to order more flour and vanilla. We are running out of everything, I have baked thousands of pastries already this week and I still have so many more to go before the festival. The Radclaw and Harper bakeries are the 2 providers of holiday treats for the Christmas festival that takes place Christmas Eve. Making us Rivals, Both bakeries opened around the same time, I even went to school with their son Justin. I hate Justin… a lot. One time in grade school he put gum in my hair, so I had to go get a haircut up to my shoulders. He has always been like that, He didn’t even say sorry but his parents did pay for the hair cut so I guess that was nice of them. Justin has always tortured me, another time his parents were out of town so he had to stay at my house and he put oil in the hallway and tape on the door way, he yelled for me so I ran and ended up breaking my leg. His parents once again paid for the cast. My point is he is a big jerk and always has been especially to me. He is 21 years old and clearly hasn’t changed, like who tries to steal other bakeries recipes, so childish. I felt for him when his parents passed in July but when I tried to send him a casserole that took forever to make, I found it the next day smashed on my door. And now he is trying to steal my recipes, he acts like such a child.

   I decided to go visit the park to see how the festival is coming along, every year the winter Christmas festival is held at one of the largest parks in Michigan which is here in town, Crystal Cove Park. As I walk up the small hill in front of the entrance, a wave of excitement overwhelms me. The first thing I see is the annual decorated Christmas tree in the center of the park, surrounded by gifts from each and everyone in town, at least 1 person has a gift under that tree. Everything surrounding is an aftershock, there is snow everywhere, lights hanging 15 ft above the ground, booths from the entrance to the end, and even real reindeer surrounded by a large fence decorated with candy cane like ribbon. But my smile fades as I see him. Justin Harper setting up a Harper’s Bakery booth, I didn’t know I had to set up a booth! My mom usually does this but it is ok, I can run to the store and work on this tonight. From what I see Justin's booth was decorated by decorators that he decided to hire. 

   I make my way over to the booth. “Wow, Justin how much did you have to pay for this?” I say with my arms crossed and I feel the smirk on my face that I often have when I say something smart. “Shut up Harmony, I did this myself.” He said putting an antique like cash register on the top of the booth. “No you didn’t.” I said laughing. “Your right, Linda did this.” He said, starting to giggle. Even though I hate him, He is cute when he isn’t a full on jerk. “So you're stealing recipes now?” I say to him looking him up and down like I usually do when I come in contact with him. “What could you mean?” He said batting his eyelashes like he is a puppy getting scolded. “Oh come on, you've never been a good liar.” I say giggling. He ignores what I had just said and acts like he is tidying up the station. “Besides Linda told me, If you're gonna get someone to spy for you, maybe find someone that's not one of my closest friends.” “She told you” he said looking up from whatever he was looking at. “Dang it.” He said with a sarcastic tone. “Come walk with me” He says as he puts a rag down and for some reason, I do.

   We sat on a bench after we picked up 2 subs from Subway, I ordered my typical. “So why have you always hated me?” I asked him as he took a bite of his sub. “What do you mean?” He said looking at me with his mouth full. Gross. “Well you have tortured me for as long as I can remember.” I said looking back down at the sandwich that lay on my lap. “I have not,” He said, turning his whole body toward me. “Yes you have” I can’t believe him. “When?” “When haven’t you. Let's start from the beginning when you first met me, you put gum in my hair, you threw my lunch away, you made me break my leg. I couldn’t walk for almost a year.” I said kinda getting flustered. “Oh that stuff, they were just pranks. I didn’t know they upset you.” He said laughing and taking another bite. “Of course they upset me, I can’t believe you think it's funny.” I said turning my body this time. He looked up at me with those gorgeous eyes. “You're cute when you get mad.” He said smiling. His smile was perfect. Absolutely perfect. 

  I caught myself starting to smile but I stopped myself. I couldn’t help myself but stare into those ocean blue eyes, I want to dive in so bad. So I did. His smell infused my body like I was walking through a cloud in the middle of the woods. His eyes filled my soul with the night sky, every star fluttering in and out of my heart. I could feel myself melting as his hand touched my face, his fingertips on the surface of my skin. As his lips touched mine, I melted. Every part of my body, syncing to his. It was over too soon.

  We look at each other trying to figure out what had just happened. He picks up his sandwich and continues eating it. How could he not say anything about what had just happened. But then I realized I couldn’t say anything either. So I just took a bite of my sandwich in awe. “So why are you even running the bakery this year? I have a valid reasoning but last I checked your parents didn’t die in a plane crash.” He said as he swallowed another bite and looked at me. “Why should I tell you?” I say, he probably wants to know so he can black mail me or something. My parents had always taught me to be nice but to not be friends with the enemy. “Come on, I'll tell you something if you tell me this.” He said, maybe he actually cares. “Fine. Well after my birthday, my dad was having awful headaches so he went to the doctor and it turns out he has an inoperable brain tumor. They said it will probably kill him before next summer.” I said as a tear fell down my cheek, I haven’t talked about this much since they left. “Oh” He said, actually looking concerned and scooting closer to me. “Yea, but then this talented doctor in Paris got in touch with us and told us she could probably take it out, but I couldn’t go since I am the oldest. This bakery is so important to them so it is the least I could do.” I said, shrugging and looking up at him. He placed his arm on my shoulder. 

   “When my parents died, it was difficult for me. The bakery was so important to them. At first I couldn’t even go in there. My mom was always there especially when she was stressing about a meeting or something. Even now when I go in there I think she will be sitting at the stupid desk in the back, but she never is.” I saw the once blue bright eyes fade to a rainy river. “You didn’t have to tell me that but thank you.” I said as I leaned in for a hug. His warm touch filled my body once again as we sat there what seemed like forever, tears streamed down my cheeks and as a larger puddle pooled on his shoulder, he hugged tighter.

  “Well, here we are. See ya around” He said letting go of my hand as we approached my front door. I just smiled and saluted. I turned the knob of the door and stepped into the empty house. The house that once was filled with people was now just filled with 1. I didn’t even bother to turn on the lights. Too many thoughts filled my head as the front door closed. As my steps on the stairs grew, more and more thoughts filled my head. I jumped in my bed. I breathed and all I could think about was him. I have never experienced something like that kiss. It made me feel whole… important even. But I can’t be with him, he's the rival, it's just so bad. Even though it feels so good.

   Ugh, what time is it? I turn the clock towards me and the big red numbers read [9:30 AM]. CRAP! I slept in, oh no and now I won’t have enough time to make a good looking booth. The festival is tonight. I jump up and run to my closet. A white sweater and leggings will have to do for today. My feet get caught in the leggings as I rush to put them on. I smear red lipstick on my lips perfectly, I can’t believe I woke up so late. I rush down stairs as I shuffle through my purse to locate my phone. When I reach the front door, I smell waffles. Who would be making waffles right now. I peeked around the kitchen doorway which was hard because of these creaky wooden floors. And there he is. I should have known. “Justin what are you doing here?” I say walking in on him dancing to Christmas carols. He stops in his tracks and smiles at me. “Well, it's festival day and I just thought we should take a break, especially you. You work so hard at that bakery.” “No, I can’t take a break.” I say sitting at the island. “You can and will” He said, putting a waffle on a plate and pushing it over to me. “Wipped cream?” He said smiling. “Of course” I say giggling as he moves the bottle in a circular motion. “You're unbelievable” I say, shaking my head and taking a bite. “You like me though” He says giggling and begging to wash the dishes. 

   “Don't tell me you're wearing that to the festival, go get a dress or something and I'll meet you there later.” He says as he grabs his coat. He doesn’t even let me get a word in because he walks out the door and leaves his dewy smell behind. Did that just happen? This is crazy but I guess I could afford to go by the mall for the day. 

   “Linda, can you somehow build my booth? I'm in grand rapids shopping right now and I totally forgot about it.” I say rushing to pay for the gorgeous red sequin dress. “What do you mean? You already have a booth up, it's so cute I thought you must have set it up last night or this morning.” she says in a shock that I would have even asked or offered. “What? But I didn’t set anything up.” “Well someone did” She said. “Ok thank you bye” I say hanging up. Who would have set up my booth? 

   I stare in the mirror. Is that me? I look amazing. I shine like the sand under the ocean water holding the mysteries of another life. I hear a car pull into my driveway, as I look out the window I see a long black car. A limo? In Ann Arbor? I walk slowly down the stairs, My hair bouncing on my sholders, my heels hitting the hardwood floor. “Is this for me?” I ask the man standing next to one of the millions of doors on the limo. “If you are Harmony Radclaw, then yes.” He stares straight ahead. “Yes, that’s me.” I say in shock looking at the glossy finish. “Come on now, it's time to go, they are waiting for you.” He says opening the door. I climb in and LED lights shine down on me. Is this happening? I have asked myself frequently lately.

   I feel the limo come to a stop, suddenly the door opens and there is an aisle made of white cloth and surrounded by people. I climb out and I see him. Justin standing in the middle of the aisle with his hand held out for me to grab. Music is playing and everyone has their eyes on me. I walk over to him elegantly. “What is going on?” I whisper in his ear. “You look gorgeous,” He whispers back. Everyone is watching us and begins to clap. But I only see him. His eyes shimmer in the light. And I begin to melt once again.