“Hey, how's it going?” Suki asked her wife, who was running around the bap van on her own, looking like she was trying to do a million things at once, while the queue for the van was growing longer and longer during the height of the lunchtime rush.
“Hi, love. Errr… busy!” She shouted, while trying to quickly assemble several baps at the same time and keep an eye on what was cooking on the griddle.
“Come on, Eve. I've been waiting ages." Shrimpy said, impatiently.
“Yeah, it's coming, Shrimpy!” Eve shouted, getting flustered and wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her forearm.
“Can't you see she's on her own?” Suki said, defending her wife.
“Yeah, I know, but I ain't got all day. I need to get back to my stall.”
Suki rolled her eyes, and then looked at her watch, having an idea. She rooted around in her handbag, and then found what she was looking for: a hair tie.
“What you doing?” Eve said, as her wife took her by surprise by joining her on the bap van, her hair swept back away from her face and up into a messy high bun on the back of her head now, and she had taken her coat and blazer off and hung them on the side door to the van next to Eve's and put on Stacey's old apron that was still hanging up there, too, over her black floral blouse.
“Helping you.” Suki said. She looked around, assessing the situation. From where she was standing, it looked like organised chaos. “Right, I'll cook; you serve.” She instructed.
“Yes, boss.” Eve flirted, with a salute. She loved it when Suki took charge. “Where's Shrimpy's bacon?” She asked Suki, a few minutes later, who was now wearing plastic catering gloves like Eve and keeping an eye on several burgers, sausages and pieces of bacon on the griddle, turning them over every so often with some tongs when they needed it.
“What do you mean?” Suki asked, confused.
“He likes it extra crispy!” Eve explained, and then she clocked some bits of bacon in the bin. “Oh, Suki, no!” She panicked.
“They were cremated!”
“That's how he likes it!” Eve shrugged her shoulders. Suki tutted and rolled her eyes, and then picked up two pieces of cooked bacon with the tongs and placed them inside Shrimpy's bap that Eve was making. She put the tongs down and leant over her wife, quickly put the top on the bap and pushed it down, then wrapped it up swiftly but neatly, in the paper it was sitting on, and picked it up.
“Shrimpy?!" She turned around and called him, holding up the bap. He stepped forward to claim it. "Your bacon will have to be limpy, today, okay?”
Shrimpy shook his head and let out an annoyed sigh of disapproval, but took the bap anyway because he was terrified of Suki. Suki heard Eve giggling behind her as Shrimpy walked off and turned to face her wife. “What?” She asked, shrugging one shoulder, completely unaware of what was so funny.
“Oh, I do love you, wifey.”
Suki let out a long exhale of relief as she joined her wife, who was sitting on the steps round the side of the bap van after the lunchtime rush had finally died down. They both shuffled closer to one another so the sides of their bodies were touching. “That was…”
“Intense?” Eve finished, handing Suki a veggie bap, which she gratefully accepted, and then took a bite out of her sausage one.
“I was gonna say fun, actually, once we got into a rhythm.” Suki said, licking her lips, before taking a bite out of her own bap. Eve's mind instantly wandered to naughty thoughts at hearing her wife say the word ‘rhythm’, which Suki had intended, and they gave each other knowing smirks and giggles.
“Yeah, we make a good team, wifey.” Eve said, pleased that Suki had enjoyed helping her. ”I am never gonna tire of calling you that.”
Suki giggled. “And I'm never gonna tire of hearing you call me it.”
Eve giggled at a memory, suddenly. “Remember when I threw you a bap as a peace offering and you caught it and then immediately threw it in the bin? And look at you now!” She pointed to Suki enjoying her veggie bap, and she looked down at it. “How far we've come!”
“Dunno what you're talking about.” Suki said, shrugging and looking off into the distance, before taking another bite out of her bap.
“It was very wasteful of you.” Eve teased.
“I'm sorry.”
“So you do remember?” Eve bumped shoulders with her wife, gently.
“I remember everything.” Suki said, passionately, turning to Eve and staring into her eyes, lovingly.
Eve hummed in agreement. “So… all those times when you were mean to me, what you were really thinking was, I want to kiiiiss her, I want to huuuug her.” She teased, singing playfully. Suki shook her head, rolled her eyes and giggled with her wife, bashfully, leaning into her, naturally. “Yeah, you did; you did!” Eve teased her wife further.
“I think I loved you, even back then. I just didn't want to admit it.” Suki said, seriously.
“Really?” Eve asked, surprised.
“Yeah. It's okay, I know you hated me back then. I don't blame you…”
“Well, there can be a very thin line between love and hate..."
"True."
"I didn't know you back then, Suki, the real you. I still thought you were ridiculously hot, though.” Suki smirked, smugly. “Like, I'd never seen anyone so hot in my life, and then I got to know you, and…”
“So when did you fall for me?” Suki quizzed.
“Our first date.”
“At McKlunky's?”
“No! Walford East!”
“What, when I slapped you?!”
“It was still our first date! And you did that thing with your foot under the table.” She got all hot and bothered just thinking about it. “That's it; I was hooked. Before that, well, I thought you were straight, and homophobic, and take it from me, you do not let yourself fall until you know for sure they ain't straight.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” Suki said, and then immediately regretted it. It just slipped out.
“But Ayesha was gay. Well, I guess you didn't know that at the time-”
“I'm… not talking about Ayesha.”
“Oh…”
“I'm sorry, I know we said no secrets-”
“It's okay. I mean, you don't know about every single woman I've ever fancied or every relationship I've ever had.”
“It was Honey.” Suki blurted out.
“Oh, okay.” Eve tried to hide her shock and just listen to her wife, and let her open up, as she knew she still struggled to do that sometimes.
“She used to work for me in the Minute Mart, and she was just so… nice and kind, no matter how horrible I was to her. I started to let my walls down a bit, let her in. We grew close, and she was there for me, after Jags. I blamed myself, but she… always tried to see the best in me. One night, after a bit too much wine, I made a pass at her.”
“And how did she react?”
“Well, she didn't slap me. She was really sweet about it, actually, and understanding. She let me down gently, which just made the whole situation even worse. I was so embarrassed; I think I would've preferred it if she’d slapped me, to be honest!”
Eve nodded and let out a little, understanding chuckle. “Thanks for telling me.” She paused, and they both took another bite out of their baps. “What else don't I know about you, eh? I guess I've got the rest of our lives to find out.”
“I slept with Peter Beale. Twice.”
Eve nearly choked on her bap. “Okay, I wasn't expecting that!” She said, coughing and punching her chest lightly a few times to help clear her windpipe, and Suki laughed at her wife's reaction. “It's all coming out now! You need to work on here with me more often. It's like bap van confessions! Wait, I tried to invite him to our engagement party, but he made some lame excuse.”
“Yep, and he swerved the wedding, too. He still looks like he wants to run a mile in the other direction everytime he sees me. I don't think he's ever made eye contact with me since.” They giggled.
“God, talk about fragile masculity!” Eve said, and then she heard someone clearing their throat loudly to get her attention round the front of the bap van. She turned and got up to see that it was Winston and Shrimpy. She groaned and rolled her eyes at her wife, and then came round to the front of the van to where they were standing, ready for battle. “Look, if you've come to complain about the bacon-”
“No, no, I just wanted to say the bap was really nice.” Shrimpy said.
“Oh.” Eve said, pleasantly surprised.
“Yeah, best bap I've ever had!” Winston agreed. “My compliments to the chef.” Winston said to Suki, who'd just joined them, ready for battle, too.
“Oh, well, thank you very much, boys.” She said, chuffed.
“My wife is an amazing cook. I am a very lucky lady.” Eve said, proudly, resting her hands on Suki's shoulders and squeezing them, and Suki reached up and held both of Eve's hands.
“I still prefer my bacon extra crispy, but-”
“I'll remember for next time, Shrimpy.” Suki promised.
“Oh, so is this gonna be, like, a regular thing, then?” Winston asked, eagerly.
“Er…” Suki and Eve said in unison, looking at each other.
“Sorry, I'd better get back to my stall.” Winston apologised, seeing a customer.
“Yeah, me, too.” Shrimpy agreed, and they both walked off.
“That's it. You're stuck here now!” Eve laughed.
“Well, I suppose I could help you out with the lunchtime rush, just until you find someone new.”
“Would you, really?” Eve said, excitedly.
“Of course, anything for my wifey. I'll make it work.”
“Aw, thank you so much. You've really saved my bacon!” Suki shook her head and giggled at Eve's terrible pun, and Eve wrapped her arms around Suki's neck and hugged her, swaying them gently, as Suki rubbed and squeezed Eve's arms.
“Bap Van Wives.” Eve nicknamed them, kissing Suki's cheek and making her giggle again.
“Yeah.” She said, in agreement. They sighed happily, and then Stacey's absence hit Eve suddenly, and she felt a sadness wash over her.
“I'm missing Stacey so much already.” She said, glumly.
“I know.” Suki said, sympathetically. She came out of her wife's embrace and turned around to face her and stroked one of her frowning cheeks with her thumb, trying to cheer her up. Eve couldn't help but smile at the tender gesture, though her smile felt bittersweet.
“I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss her, too.”
Eve chuckled, softly. “I mean, how am I gonna replace her on the van? It's Stacey's Baps!” She gestured to the name on the van.
“Well, you could always change the name…”
“No, it'll always be Stacey's Baps, and anyway, what would I even change it to?”
“Eve's Baps?”
“How about Suki's Baps? It has a better ring to it.” Eve suggested, glancing down at her wife's breasts and then back up into her eyes, a menacing grin on her lips.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no.” Suki shook her head and her finger quickly, and Eve burst out laughing.
“Don't worry. Your baps are safe.” Eve giggled, wrapping her arms around her wife's waist and giving her a chaste kiss on the lips. Suki rested her hands on her wife's arms and touched their foreheads together, both of them smiling at each other, widely.
“Newlyweds, eh?” Alfie quipped, lightly, and then tutted, rolling his eyes.
“Yeah. It's the honeymoon period. It won't last!” Kat joked, before letting out her trademark cackle. Suki and Eve turned to see them both leaning on the front of the van.
“Oi!” Eve exclaimed, bantering with them.
“If you can prize yourself away from your wife for five seconds, we'll have two bacon baps and two sausage baps, please.” Kat demanded.
“I'll see you later, love.” Suki said to Eve, and they held both of each other's hands before parting, not wanting to let go at the end, before Eve jogged back onto the van to make the baps for Kat and Alfie.
Suki admired her wife in action for a few moments, before taking her apron off and hanging it back up on the door to the van and putting her blazer and coat back on. She looked up at her wife and caught her eye as she was making the baps, and she grinned and winked at her.
“See you at home.” She said.
“Yeah.” Suki cooed, and gave her a little wave, before walking away with the memories of a fun afternoon on the bap van with her love. She was pretty sure all of her makeup had been sweated off, her hair was a mess, and she stank of bacon fat, but she wouldn't have it any other way, and she couldn't wait to do it all again tomorrow afternoon, she thought, as she headed home to have a quick shower and change, before going to her meeting.