Cake.

Their week had been full of the makings of a very long week. It certainly could have been longer; afterall, they could have been apart from one another. So, really, it wasn't that long of a week. Well, maybe just a little long. How often were you attacked by an army of ants, turned green, confronted by The Terrifying BM, and subsequently lost your best talking, fur-covered companion to that same Terrifying BM? It was that long of a week.

Craig and Lacey strolled down the rustic, yet quaint, main street sidewalk of a small and rustic, yet quaint, country town. It was a pleasant evening for strolling; it felt almost like a Sunday evening, but the shoppes and eateries were still open and drawing fairly large crowds in this fairly small town, and Craig and Lacey had forgotten what day it was anyways. For the record, it was a Tuesday evening.

"I needed this," Craig said, breaking the long silence that had fallen between them. Lacey looked over at him and smiled agreeably. They both greatly missed Stanley and were lost in thought with what they would do next. Also, they were enamored with the rustic, yet quaint, charm that this small, country town possessed. Lacey let go of his hand and, instead, put her arm around the small of his back to cling to as they strolled. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. As tough as it was to walk like this, both welcomed the snugness that the other offered.

Ahead of them, some of the shoppes were closing up, which meant shutting off the marquee lights and locking the front door. No gated or barricaded storefronts in this rustic, yet quaint, country town.

"Do you think we should turn around? I remember there was a bed and breakfast above the ice cream parlor I pointed out back there," Lacey offered.

Craig stopped walking and turned around, holding on tightly to Lacey so she'd turn with him. Most of the shoppes in that direction were still brightly lit. Turning back around quickly, they saw that only one marquee light remained lit. Turning back around once more, Lacey laughing, Craig shook his head. "Nope," Craig said as he swung Lacey and himself back around, "looks like we're going to..." He ran with her out into the empty street so they he could get a better view of the one lit-up sign. Lacey beat him to it. "Reggie's," she said, rolling her eyes at the irony of the name. "Beat you there," Craig shouted as he darted off. Lacey followed at a leisurely pace.

"What have I always told you, Craig?"

He stared at her blankly and shrugged, opening the door for her as she approached. "First is the worst, second is the be-" Lacey trailed off. A delicious aroma had caught her off guard, but that was nothing compared to the lavish decorations surrounding her. From outside, Reggie's was your traditional bakery, pastries and pies lining the display cases in the windows. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Craig asked. "Everything's chocolate," Lacey replied in absolute wonderment. "Chocolate?" Craig asked. "Yeah, it's all chocolate." She breathed in the air, a heavy chocolatey scent swirling around her - she could almost taste it.

"I don't see chocolate," Craig said, "I see marble. Lots of marble, everything's marble. The countertops, the chairs, the clock, that cat... it's all marble." Lacey broke her captivated stare to look at him in a puzzled manner. Instead, she gasped. "GASP!" gasped Lacey. Craig jumped when he heard her gasp. Then, he looked at her to see what she was gasping about. "GASP," he gasped, although louder and in a much deeper voice than she had gasped. Lacey was marbled too.

"Welcome to Reggie's," a voice shouted from a back room behind the counter, "first timers, I'm guessing?"

Craig and Lacey took a moment to recover and then replied in unison, "uh huh." A man- no. A woman- umm, no. An androgynous person walked out of the back room and approached the counter. Besides the fact that neither Craig nor Lacey could tell the gender of this person, the person, wearing a name tag that read 'Reggie' was absolutely normal. Normal meaning that the person was neither completely chocolate nor completely marble. He... she... it pointed at two bar stools, obviously wanting them to sit. They cautiously obliged. "A slice of chocolate and a slice of marble for you, then?"

Craig and Lacey looked at each other and nodded. "Coming right up," Reggie shouted, disappearing into the back room again. Moments later, Reggie was back carrying two plates. The marble was placed in front of Lacey and the chocolate was placed in front of Craig. "Enjoy!" Reggie smiled enthusiastically and left the two of them alone once again to continue whatever he/she was doing in the back room.

Lacey eyed Craig's slice of chocolate cake. It was astonishingly beautiful for a piece of cake. The icing glistened and the sprinkles shimmered. Lacey's mouth watered.

Craig slid the plate towards her knowingly, exchanging it for her slice of marble cake. This slice also looked good, but he could see what Lacey saw in the chocolate cake - it really was beautiful. Lacey raised her fork and proceeded to take the first bite. She began to tremble slightly. A short, yet satisfied, moan escaped from her. Craig looked over in awe. "That good, huh?"

She laughed and nodded ecstatically. "I needed this," she said, taking another bite. Craig picked up his fork and speared a bite of spongy, yet soft-as-a-pillow, marble cake. This was easily the best piece of cake he had ever eaten, and it showed. He pulped a bright shade of crimson. Lacey was too involved with her cake to take notice.

Reggie came out from the back room and walked towards the front door. "How do you like it?"

Again, Craig and Lacey nodded, very satisfied with their cakes. "How did you know our cakes?" Craig asked. "You had marble eyes; she had chocolate eyes. I've been doing this for centuries; I guess you learn to recognize peoples' tastes." Reggie locked the door, then returned to the back room. It must have been past closing time.

They continued to eat and take in their surroundings, interrupting the sounds of chewing with the occasional "thi-ths-good" or "oh- oooh, mmmmm." Suddenly, Craig's fork fell to his near-empty plate. Lacey looked up.

"What's wrong?" Lacey asked. Craig sat frozen, his chocolatey complexion turning to white chocolate with fear. "Lacey..." he breathed deeply, "if we look like our favorite flavor, why does Reggie look like that?"

"Like wha-" Lacey dropped her fork too. Normal, human-looking Reggie walked out of the back room, "something the matter?" Craig and Lacey shook their heads quickly and picked up their forks, shoveling more cake into their mouths. Because their mouths were full, the explanations that followed were completely incomprehensible. Puzzled, Reggie disappeared again.

"We have to get out of here," Lacey demanded. "Yeah, let's move," Craig said, standing up and brushing the crumbs from his shirt. "Wait," Lacey took one last bite of her cake, put her hands over Craig's shoulders, and kissed him passionately. "Mmmm, what was that for?" Craig asked after finding his breath (she had taken it away with her kiss). "Just in case we don't..." She stared at him.

"What, do I have crumbs?" he asked. "No, your mouth, it's not chocolate," she answered. "Your lips are pink and not marbley anymore!" Craig whispered loudly. "You must have had crumbs then," she added. She took his hand and sat him back down on the bar stool. "Open up," she requested, scooping the last large bite of her chocolate cake onto her fork. "You too," he said, picking up the last morsel of marble cake between his thumb and pointer finger.

"Ah-one, ah-two-hoooo, ah-three."

On crunch, they tried one another's cake.

No longer was Craig and the rest of the shoppe made of chocolate. Lacey, the countertops, the chairs, the clock, and that cat weren't marbled anymore. Well, the cat and the countertops were still marbled, but that's just how the fur pattern went and that's just what Reggie wanted for the countertops. It still didn't look quite like a bakery, everything was still pretty lavish, but by the time Craig and Lacey had got up and let themselves out, neither of them cared what their surroundings were. They were both smitten with one another, and they had just had an incredible piece of cake. Reggie smiled as she walked to the door, locked it, and watched them walk back down the rustic, yet quaint, main street.

Craig held Lacey close as they strolled along. "So, bed and breakfast?" she asked. He stopped, turned her towards him, and kissed her like she had never been kissed before. She pulled away, wide-eyed and in need of breath (this time it was her breath that had been taken away). He squeezed her close to him and whispered into her ear "beat you there" before racing off.

Trampoline.