#whitaker fluff

It was over for you as soon as the "Hey Darlin" hit your ears.

You weren’t sure if you were thankful that you were the only one at the booth or not. Regardless, the blush that spread across your face was embarrassing to say the least.

Quick enough you pulled yourself together enough to return the greeting "Hi, um, are you new to town? I’ve never seen your booth before."

"Sort of?" he responded, more of a question than an answer. "I actually work at the hospital in the emergency department, the bees are just what I do for fun. We had a lot more honey than I could give out to my team so I decided to sell it to raise some money for the bees."

"Oh! That is actually way cooler of an answer than I was expecting," you replied with a chuckle.

"You are officially the first person to ever think what I do for fun is cool." Now he was the one blushing. "Do you know much about beekeeping? I’d love to give you a tour of the farm sometime." You watched as his eyes went wide at his own forwardness and laughed a bit to yourself.

"Actually no, the only thing I know about is the white suits you guys wear that apparently are enough to protect you. If I can get into a suit then I would love a tour, but I think I’ll pass on a tour of the emergency department unless I develop a bee allergy while we’re there."

"You’re not actually allergic are you?" His eyes went wide again and you knew your joke did not land.

"No! Well, I haven’t been stung in awhile so there really is no way of telling, but I should be fine." You laughed this time, trying to signal that you were joking. This time you got a laugh out of him, and thank god you did, you could listen to that laugh forever.

"I keep an EpiPen on me while I’m there just in case….and to avoid any trips to the ED." He smiled at you, bashful, almost like you weren’t supposed to see.

"So mystery man, do you have a name or should I just ask for the cute guy with the accent when I get to the bee farm?" His face went bright red at this, eyes widening again. You just smiled, polite as ever because you were being genuine.

"Oh! I…um…right sorry, my name is Dennis but everyone calls me Whitaker, that’s my last name. I’m not huge on the name Dennis so I prefer it."

"Well then Whitaker, how about I give you my number and you can give me a time and place to meet you for the exclusive bee tour." Man was this boy blushy! He handed his phone to you and you quickly put your info in. You opened your mouth to say your goodbyes - there were people hovering and you knew they would get huffy soon - but before you could get any words out he handed you a jar of honey.

"So you can sample the product before you visit the factory," he said in response to the slightly confused look on your face, "and don’t worry about paying, consider it a gift."

"Thank you," you replied, feeling the blush crawl over your cheeks again, "I’ll let you get back to your actual customers, call me later?"

"Oh yes, the other customers," he was almost giggling now "and absolutely I’ll call you later."

"Have a good rest of your day Whitaker" you said with a wave and a smile. This boy was absolutely going to be trouble for you.

Once you got home with your spoils you stared at the jar of honey for a moment. You weren’t sure what to do with it, you weren’t a tea drinker, but you figured it would come in handy some day. Putting it on display on one of your shelves you set about putting everything else away.

A few hours later and you still couldn’t get that boy off of your mind, so like any normal person you looked him up on every social media platform that you had and perhaps even Googled his name but we can’t be sure about that one.

You didn’t find much, a few photos on Instagram of the bees and some friends, and a Facebook account that hadn’t been touched for years. And because the cosmos enjoy making fun of you, he called as soon as you closed out of the tab you had been on.

"Hi, um. It’s Dennis, sorry I never actually sent you my number and then I wasn’t sure how “later” later was so I hope this is a good time for you."

You found yourself giggling already (good god girl get a grip!!) "Oh! Hey Whitaker, no you’re so good - how was the rest of the market?"

"Good, good. It went pretty quick actually, I just got back to my place, so smooth sailing over here." God he was so fucking awkward but it was so endearing you found yourself smiling as he rambled. "I was wondering - are you free Saturday morning? I could give you that tour I told you about, if you’re up for it still!"

A quick glance over to the shelf where the jar still sat and you replied "Oh definitely, will I have to buy my own bee suit or will one be provided for me?" Please GOD can he catch your joke this time, you don’t think you could handle flopping again.

You heard him chuckle over the phone "You know, we usually make people buy their own, but since you’re such a special guest I’ll make sure one is set aside for you when we get there."

A smile spread across your face at that, "A special guest huh? I’ll wear my best outfit then, I can’t look bad in front of the bees."

"Oh of course not, don’t want to offend the bees." you could’ve sworn you heard him smiling over the phone "Actually, if you have boots I would suggest wearing those just so it’s easier to walk out to the hives."

God you had never been less prepared for something. "So unfortunately the only boots I own are Doc Martens, will I survive or will the bees hate me?"

Another laugh, it was like music to your ears "As long as you can lace them up tight I think you’ll live. If it comes down to it, I am a doctor so either way you’ll be fine."

How did you already forget about his actual job. You couldn’t exactly picture him doing doctor-ly stuff but the idea of playing doctor with him did not sound bad to you.

"Sounds good Doc, text me a time and address and I’ll meet you there?"

"Oh yeah of course! Hey actually, I was thinking I could pick you up? It’s a little confusing to get there, no reason for both of us to deal with it." It sounded like an excuse but who were you to say no!

"That works for me, I hate driving so any excuse not to I will absolutely take," you said with a laugh "I’ll text you my address then, I don’t live far from the park."

You heard him let out a little sigh of relief "Perfect, I’ll see you at 7:30? It’s a bit of a drive so it's easier to go earlier."

"Lucky for you I’m a morning person, 7:30 sounds great," you just knew he could hear your giddy smile from across the phone, "Texting you my address as we speak so I don’t forget….there. Wait yay! I’m so excited, I’ll see you in a couple days then yeah?"

It was your turn to listen to his smile grow, "Yeah definitely, and I’ll text you when I’m on my way over just so you have some warning." There was that chuckle again. God you were going to die on Saturday you could feel it.

Friday absolutely dragged - of course it did. And of course everything that could go wrong at your job did, you needed tomorrow morning BAD.

You decided to make it an early night, took a long shower, and after checking the weather for tomorrow morning finally decided on an outfit. Unsure if this qualified as a date or not, you decided to keep everything simple. You genuinely weren’t sure if he was serious about having to wear a suit so you made sure the clothes were light-weight and packed a tote bag of everything you thought you could possibly need.

Setting your alarm for 5:30 you TRIED to sleep, emphasis on tried. You tossed and turned like tomorrow was the first day of school or something. Finally you fell asleep and the next thing you knew your alarm was blaring in your ear.

Dragging yourself out of bed, you slowly got ready. You knew you gave yourself enough time, but you could not stop checking your phone to see if you missed a message or call from him. By the time 6:45 rolled around he had finally let you know he was on his way.

Man, was he punctual, at 7:29 he let you know he was outside. You grabbed a few granola bars from your pantry and threw them into your bag as well before you left.

You walked up to his car waving, "Morning cowboy," you smiled at him as you got into his truck. Somehow he looked even better today than he did two days ago. Is that even possible? You weren’t sure but what you were sure of is that his forearms looked divine as he grabbed the wheel.

"Well good morning to you too," he returned your smile with a similar enthusiasm. "Did you eat breakfast before you left? I was going to stop to grab coffee and maybe something to eat."

"Um no actually, I grabbed a couple granola bars before I left but something real definitely sounds better."

"Yeah you are definitely going to need more than just a granola bar for today," he smiled at you once more before turning his eyes to the road.

After stopping at the coffee place by your apartment, you two finally hit the road.

"It’s about 45 minutes from here, but traffic isn’t usually too terrible going out at this time." He turned quickly to smile at you before looking back over the steering wheel.

"No worries, I’m good to ride along for however long you’ll have me," you replied, and there was that stupid blush again.

The rest of the drive went by in a flash of conversation, it was nice to learn about him. Growing up in Nebraska seemed VERY different from your upbringing in Pittsburgh, but of course there were some similarities.

You found yourselves bonding over your intense religious upbringings, him Southern Baptist and you Irish Catholic. It wasn’t often you found people who got it, that weird tie that you never seem to be able to break no matter how much unresolved trauma you’ve dealt with because of it. He told you about his undergrad degree in Theology and you confided about the numerous times you almost joined a convent.

You both grew up in bigger families, close but not at the same time. "The family outcasts really have a knack for finding each other don’t they," you joked with a laugh.

He looked over at you with soft eyes, "Seems like it, but I’m glad, we always seem to be stronger than everyone else."

You finally pulled into the farm where Whitaker’s bees were. It was gorgeous out here, most of the countryside in Pennsylvania is; all trees and mountains. They didn’t call the Pittsburgh area the Paris of Appalachia for nothing.

His voice pulled you out of your thoughts, "I’m glad you dressed light, I wasn’t kidding about those suits."

You turned to find him smiling at you, "Thank God, I wasn’t looking forward to a potential stinging today," you replied with a laugh.

He led you into the main barn area to suit up, softly explaining different beekeeping terms. "So from here, we’ll head up to the apiary, that’s where the hives and all of the bee equipment is. There’s usually some flying around but most of them keep to their hives this time of day, I can pull a frame out to show you how they build in there if you’d like?"

"Yeah that would be cool, it doesn’t bother them or anything?" You really only ever saw bees when they were trying to get to food so you weren’t incredibly confident in your ability to keep your cool when you got up there.

"Bees are actually pretty chill, they’re just protective of their hives is all," he replied, zipping the back of your suit up for you. "I promise they won’t try to sting you, they really are just focused on working."

You turned to smile at him while he handed you the covered hat, "Ok, I trust you."

He returned your smile and you watched the blush creep across his cheeks as he looked away. "So, the apiary isn’t too long of a walk, if you want to just follow me. We can put the head coverings on once we get a little bit closer."

Nodding your head you fell into step behind him. Thankfully it was a cool morning, the breeze just enough to keep your body temperature down under your new layer. As you walked you found yourself staring at your cowboy’s back, he was broader than he seemed, especially from this angle. You supposed growing up on a farm would do that to someone, everything seems like it would be heavier than you’d assume.

After walking for a bit he instructed you to put the bee veil on as you approached a fenced in area. "We keep the hives fenced in to keep animals out," he explained. He led you into the enclosure and even though his face was obscured you could hear the adoration and excitement in his voice as he told you about each colony. He explained that almost all the hives were bees that were extracted from residential areas or rescued from a plot of land where a developer was tearing the foliage down.

You were trying to pay attention, you swore, but he just sounded so happy you weren’t even sure that you were listening to anything aside from the sound of his voice.

"Alright," he said, startling you out of your thoughts, "I’m gonna open one of the hive boxes now, a few might fly out but if you pretend like you don’t notice them they’ll mostly ignore you."

You nodded, watching as he pried the top off of one of the boxes, reaching in with gloved hands to grab one of the hive frames. After pulling one out he propped it on the top of the box, "So this is one of the frames the bees store their honey in. Each cell here is sealed with wax for safe keeping." He looked up at you with a smile.

"So, do the bees eat the honey too? We’re not like, stealing from them are we?"

He chuckled at your concerned tone, "No not at all, their main food source is nectar from flowers, but during the winter they feed off of the honey. They produce way more than we need which is what we end up taking from them."

"Oh ok…so it’s like their rent payment for their new housing," you shot him a smirk you hoped he could see through the netting.

He gave you another one of those beautiful laughs, "Yeah something like that."

You watched as he carefully placed the frame back into the box and returned the lid. "You said that the frame you showed me was where they stored their food, do they live in a separate part of the box? I don’t think I’ve ever even thought about a bee having to sleep."

"They sleep about as much as us actually, just not all at once. It’s more like a really long blink of rest so they never get too tired out from flying." He led you out of the fenced area and back down the path you walked up prior. "Honey bees are way more intelligent than most people give them credit for, every bee in the colony has its specific job and if any of them slip up the whole hive is affected. As for sleeping, the bees that collect pollen enter into a deeper sleep than the others and that’s how they form memories of how to get to and from their food sources."

He signaled to you that you could remove the head covering and you just smiled at him. "It sounds silly but I never would’ve thought bees were so clever."

"Not silly at all, you don’t know something until you do, right?" He looked at you with those big eyes again, you could see his joy in them now without the netting in front of his face.

"You’re absolutely right, and I think you might just be the best teacher I’ve ever had," you smiled at him again and happily watched as he turned away flustered.

"You must’ve had some bad teachers in your day then," he deflected.

"No actually, I had some pretty good ones. You were just better than they were, more captivating I guess." You could not wipe the smile off your face as you talked with him on the way back to the barn.

He looked back at you, a smile of his own dancing on his lips "Well, I’ll take that compliment and store it for when one of the lower residents at the ED tries to complain about my teaching style."

"How does that all work by the way? I know you have to do a residency but every time I hear someone talk about it it seems like they’ve been a resident for like 20 years."

"It certainly feels like it’s going to take 20 years sometimes," he grumbled. "It can be anywhere from 3-7 years pulling like 80 hour weeks in whatever department you matched with. It’s an incredible learning experience but it’s exhausting."

"You’re getting paid though right? These hospitals aren’t taking advantage of you guys?"

He smiled at your concern, "Yeah they pay us, not great but it’s enough to get the bills paid."

"Well good. I’d be pissed on your behalf if you weren’t." He laughed at the comment, leading you back into the barn.

He helped you out of your suit, making sure you didn’t trip, "Do you want to see where we process the honey?"

"Yeah absolutely," you replied with a smile.

He led you to a smaller room within the barn area, "So, we extract the wax and honey up at the hives and bring it down here in big pots." He pointed over to a table with several large pots sitting on top of them. "Then, it gets spun in what’s essentially a centrifuge to get all of the debris out. After that we just let it settle for a while to get all of the air bubbles out and we jar it up. The barn manager is a master at canning and preserving so she gets all the jars ready and makes sure they’re properly sealed so they can be shelf stable."

"Woah," you breathed out. "It makes sense, all that preparation, but it’s just never something I’ve thought about you know? Honey’s one of those things that’s just always been there."

"That’s part of the reason for the booth at the farmers market, people know honey exists but it’s always just in the plastic bear bottles. This is a little more…personal?"

By this time the sun was starting to move higher in the sky, the big fan in the barn doing nothing but blowing around hot air.

"Well, if you guys ever need help with labels or signs or anything, I’d be happy to lend a hand, one of my degrees is in graphic design so I know a thing or two." You looked at him smiling again, "Definitely not as cool as an ER doctor, buuuut still a pretty cool job if I do say so myself."

"Definitely way cooler than a doctor actually, you would be shocked at some of the people I work with."

"Are you close with any of them?" you asked. "Not to keep harping on your actual job but I wasn’t sure if you guys stay in the same place for your whole residency or if you bounce around year-to-year."

"A few of them, yeah, I actually live with one of the women in my residency class. Maybe I’ll introduce you sometime, Trinity is a lot but she’s great." He shook his head fondly while he said that. "As for your second question, that's also a yes, and hopefully I’ll get to stay on here once my residency is complete."

"Good, that’s probably such an isolating experience, I’m glad you’re in it with people you enjoy. Did you know Trinity before you started or did you meet her there?"

You both sat down at one of the picnic tables in the barn to continue your conversation.

"No we met there, I needed a place to stay and she was nice enough to offer up her extra room. She’s been a great friend, has really gotten me out of my shell," he chuckled to himself. "Growing up in rural Nebraska will really turn you into a hermit if you let it."

"I can imagine, everything must be so spread out there, you really just have your family and if you don’t get along with them, I’d be isolating too." You grabbed his hand from across the table to let him know you meant it kindly.

He squeezed your hand and gave you a small smile, "Yeah, well thankfully I made it out and everything seems to keep getting better since I left so I think it was a good decision overall."

You returned his smile, "Well, I for one am glad you got out of there. Pittsburgh is much cooler anyway."

This got a laugh out of him and you hoped you didn’t ruin the mood too badly by bringing up his family.

"Definitely much cooler, and the people are way nicer. Well, at least everyone I’ve met so far."

He stood up to make his way back to the car and you followed, keeping a bit of distance between the two of you. He made his way to the passenger side of the car to open your door for you, you slipped in and buckled up ready to get back on the road.

Whitaker got in the car but didn’t start it right away, "Hey um, I know we’ve been together all morning but would you want to stop for lunch somewhere on the way home?"

You watched as a soft blush spread across his cheeks, "Of course I would, or if you would rather we could go back to mine and I can make us something?"

"That actually sounds really nice, I couldn’t tell you the last time I had food that wasn’t takeout," he said with a laugh.

"Dear lord, we have to get some fresh vegetables into you NOW. Lucky for you I grabbed a bunch of stuff on Thursday and have been meaning to get it all roasted up." You placed your hand on his bicep and turned your body towards him, "Thank you by the way, for bringing me here today. I had a really nice morning with you."

You didn’t think his face could get redder than it was, but somehow he managed it. "Oh yeah of course, I’m glad you enjoyed it, I know beekeeping isn’t the most interesting hobby."

"I don’t know, I found it very interesting, I’ll always take the opportunity to learn something new though. Like I said, you’re a great teacher." It was your turn to blush now, you were laying it on thick and you knew it, but you couldn’t help it there was just something about this guy.

He chuckled to himself as he started the car, "You say that until one day I start telling you about someone who came into the ED with half their face blown off from a firework."

"That’s what you think Whitaker, I’d love to hear all about how you figured out how to deal with that."

You chatted on the way back to yours, and you spent most of the drive trying to subtly get his favorite meal out of him so you could surprise him with it one day. He pulled onto your street and you showed him where to park at your building, leading him up to your unit.

Once you got inside you kicked your shoes off and made your way to your small kitchen. You turned and saw him standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets, "You can sit if you want," you said motioning to the table. "Unless you’re tired then you can take a nap on the couch, I don’t mind. It’s actually really comfortable."

You heard him walking closer and a chair scrape against the floor so you turned and placed your cutting board, knife, and the (washed) vegetables on the table. Talking with him was so easy, it was like you’d known him your whole life. You had more in common than you originally thought but were surprised to hear about his taste in music, it somehow made both no sense and perfect sense for him.

He watched as you put all the veggies in a bowl and mixed them with seasonings and oil before throwing them on a pan and into the oven. You turned to him again "How do you feel about chicken? I get one of those meal boxes and they send me so much chicken. I can throw that in the oven too and cook up some rice."

You watched as a smile spread across his face, "Chicken is good, rice is good, but are you sure this isn’t any trouble?"

"Whitaker I’m literally just throwing stuff onto a pan and into a rice cooker it’s no problem at all. And maybe I’m secretly making more than I need so I can send you home with some, but we’ll never know if that’s really the reason." A grin spread across your face and you motioned for him to follow you into the living room.

"You really don’t have to do that, it’s not that big of a deal," he said, sitting down next to you.

"Exactly," you replied back, "It’s not that big of a deal."

You smiled at him and he knew he wasn’t winning this one. You turned the TV on with the volume low so you could continue to talk while everything cooked.

You both sat in silence for a minute before you turned to him again, "Sorry," you both blurted at the same time. You did the back and forth dance of telling each other to go first before you finally did. "I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, please tell me if I am. I tend to come on a bit strong, but you said you hadn’t eaten real food in a while so I thought it was harmless but I’m now second guessing myself."

You saw a small smile beginning to work its way onto his face, "You didn’t make me uncomfortable I swear. I was actually apologizing because I thought I was making you feel bad about doing something nice. I really do appreciate it, I’m just not great at accepting help from people."

Breathing out a sign of relief, you nudged him with your shoulder, "Well unfortunately for you acts of service is my love language so I will always be offering to help with something."

He threw his arm around you and you leaned farther into his side as whatever was on the television continued to play. "I think I might be able to get used to it, I just don’t want to be too much trouble for you."

"Nah it’s not too much trouble, not if it’s you. Now, you might be trouble for me in other ways, but not this," you said with a smile.

"And what is that supposed to mean," he replied, feigning shock.

You craned your neck to look at him, "You are a very cute beekeeper who also happens to be a doctor. I’ve known you for barely 48 hours and I can already tell you’re one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. I didn’t say you would be bad trouble."

He laughed again squeezing your shoulder. The two of you sat like that until you heard the oven timer go off and moved back into the kitchen to eat. His phone buzzed and you watched as he read the text message. "Everything ok?" you asked, he always looked a bit concerned so you weren’t able to tell when he was actually concerned yet.

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine. It was just Trinity making sure I "wasn’t dead in a hole somewhere" as she so lovingly put it."

"Trust me, I’m like that with my friends too, I completely get it. Tell her I’m sending you home with food for the both of you. She doesn’t have any diet restrictions does she?"

"None that she’s told me about, and how did you know that food is the quickest way to her heart?" He was looking at you with those big eyes like you were the greatest thing since sliced bread.

You shrugged, "Everyone needs food, and almost everyone loves it. Wait till I send you home with my baking."

He smiled even wider at that, "Oh you might be trouble for the both of us then, you’ll have to hold her back from making requests." You both laughed and finished your meal, moving to pack the left overs up in reusable containers. You grabbed a tote bag and started stacking the containers in, handing it over to Whitaker.

"For you my liege," you said with an exaggerated bow.

This got you the biggest laugh of the day, "Well thank you kind madam, I will return your containers and bag to you, I swear it."

You giggled, actually GIGGLED, at this. You walked over to your door with him, watching as he put his boots back on and walked him down to the front door of your building. "Get home safe, let me know when you make it there," you said, pulling him into a hug.

"Of course," he replied, kissing you on the cheek. Your eyes went wide and he pulled away slowly, "I don’t know if that’s sunburn from today or if you’re blushing, either way it’s very cute."

Somehow your face got even redder, "I think we both know what it is Whitaker, now please leave before I continue to embarrass myself in front of you."

He laughed again, waving as he walked back to his car. You waited until you saw him pull away before walking back up to your apartment. Shutting the door you pressed your back against it, screaming silently as to not disturb your neighbors. God you were absolutely screwed.

Not long after your phone buzzed, "Just got home, Trin said if I don’t marry you she’s gonna kill me."

You laugh reacted to the message and replied, "Tell her I’ll think about it, I’ll negotiate your death either way."

You watched as the typing bubble popped up, "My savior :’)"