Mistress Honeycomb And The Bad Gentlemen's Club

N // Posh, Smart, Anything In Between

I didn't meet Nivelton until after the school week was over. It was the weekend. More precisely, Saturday morning.

●●●

I was walking on the sidewalk, only to be startled by a rather familiar voice.

“Say, Mistress Honeycomb, what are you doing out here?”

I jumped a bit and turned to see Nivelton sitting on the bench, reading a book. “Oh, hey Nivelton!”

Nivelton glanced over from his book to look at me. “You do realize that you're only a few inches away from me. Do, come sit.” He motioned his hand over as I walked on over to the bench.

He scooted himself over a bit, so that way I was able to sit next to him. It was silent between the two of us, but then I decided to speak up.

“What are you reading, Nivelton?”

“Oscar Wilde. De Profundis.” He bookmarked the page he was on with a little doggy ear and handed it over to me.

“Oh, wow! I've heard of this book before! Um, what's it about again?”

“It involves Oscar Wilde writing a letter in prison to Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas. Wilde got two years in jail and was guilty due to homosexual offenses.” Nivelton explained.

I couldn't help but look at him. He seemed quite serious when it came to talk about him. Almost like he felt pity for Oscar Wilde.

“Wow. But, Oscar Wilde is dead.”

“Even though he's dead Mistress Honeycomb, his works and prose are still remembered and lives on.” Nivelton looked me in the eyes as he said this.

“That is true.”

“Exactly!”

There was silence between the both of us. I gave Nivelton the book back and got up from the bench, only for me to sigh and look back at him. “Want to go for a walk with me?”

“Sure, I don't really have plans at the moment.” He got up from the bench, tucking the book underneath his left arm as he began walking. I followed behind him.

●●●

As we were walking, Nivelton was reading Wilde’s De Profundis aloud. I was trying not to cry while we were walking because the book is quite emotional.

“Um, Nivelton?” I was rubbing my fingers quite nervously as he looked up from the book and looked at me.

“Yes, Mistress Honeycomb?”

“Want to get something from here?” We had stopped in front of a gas station as he closed the book and took notice.

“Sure, let's go inside.” He walked up to the front entrance and opened the door, I quickly followed from behind.

The cashier greeted us with a friendly “Hello” as Nivelton went to the back of the room, probably searching for snacks.

I walked on over to the fridges, each of them stacked in rows with any kind of drink you can imagine. Sodas, Iced Teas, Water Bottles, and plenty more.

I opened up the fridge and grabbed a bottle of Sprite. When I closed the fridge, I kept the drink in my hand and turned around, only to get startled.

“s**t!” The sprite fell out of my hand and onto the floor.

“Let me get that,” The guy bent down and picked it up. “here you go, Bartleby Honeycomb.”

That voice. It was Gravsny.

“Thanks Gravs.” I took the bottle right out of his hands, and Gravsny just scoffed at me.

“Really? I have a nickname now?”

“Says the one whose club calls me Mistress Honeycomb. Although you seem like one of the very few people who call me Bartleby.” I walked past him and Gravsny caught up to me.

“That's because it's your real name, and it's quite a lovely name if you ask me.” Gravsny stated.

I felt a light blush of pink rise to my cheeks, but I quickly shook it off. “Thanks for the compliment Gravsny.”

“No problem.” Gravsny chuckled a bit. The two of us kept walking until we had reached the front of the register. Nivelton took notice of us as he walked on over.

“Gravsny. Hello.” Nivelton did a casual wave and Gravsny waved back. It felt a bit awkward.

“I'll take the next person please!” The lady stated at the register.

“Looks like it's us!” Gravsny had a cheerful tone in his voice as we all went up to the register and placed our items onto the counter.

As she scanned them, she asked if we needed anything else.

“Um, yeah! I'll take a pack of-” Nivelton got punched into the arm by Gravsny, who glared right at him. Just what was going on?

“Cigarettes?” The cashier questioned. “Look, I need to see some I.D to make sure that you're over 21 and are able to purchase the ite-”

“You know what? It's fine! Just forget it, it was a joke!” Gravsny chuckled as Nivelton and I went silent.

“Are you sure? Because it seems like your friend here wanted to get some ci-”

“I said it's fine.” Gravsny voice dropped an octave lower, sounding angry and menacing. He did a harsh glance at Nivelton with his eyes, and Nivelton’s face looked like he was going to cry.

The cashier rang up the price for the items. Thank goodness Gravsny brought his wallet, as he paid for our items. I grabbed the bag from the counter as the lady thanked us, and we headed back outside.

By the time we got outside, Gravsny took out his car keys and offered us a ride. A ride back to his place. We both accepted it.

“Well, there goes my ride!”

I was in awe of the car itself. It was a dark red with black comfortable seats on the inside. Gravsny unlocked the door and went into the drivers side. Nivelton went onto passenger, and I sat in the back.

The sound of the ignition came on once Gravsny turned the key. He backed away from the parking lot and started to head onto the road.

●●●

I was sitting in the back, drinking my sprite and dwindling with my fingers. I should've brought my cell phone with me next time.

“Here, take this.” Nivelton put his left arm out with the De Profundis book in his hands. I immediately thanked him as I grabbed the book, placing it onto my lap.

I opened the book and was reading it. The words were so immersive, emotional, and beautifully poetic. I guess Nivelton was right about Oscar Wilde still having his works being remembered.

“We're here!” I looked up from the book and saw Gravsny pulling towards the front of the house. There was a nice small garden on the left side with a tree sticking out and the house was pure white with some blues on the windows and the door as well.

He stopped in front of the garage, turned off the car and took the key out. The doors unlocked, all three of us getting out with ease.

I gave the book back to Nivelton, and he placed it back underneath his arm.

“Let's go in? Shall we?” Gravsny stated as he walked up the garage platform and to the front door, Nivelton and I followed him from the back.

When we reached the front door, Gravsny kicked up the carpet with his foot to reveal a shiny gold key. He bent down to pick it up and placed it inside the bronze door handle.

It went with a “click” as the door opened and we headed inside.

Gravsny asked us to take off our shoes, and we did, placing them onto the brown hardwood floor that was located beside the carpet.

He motioned us to come on over to the kitchen. We walked on over and I took notice of the pack of cigarettes laying on the counter, as well as a lighter.

“Oh, Nivelton,” I pointed at the pack with the tip of my finger. “is this what you were asking for at the gas station?”

“Yep. But don't worry, I only smoke a little bit, not that much.” He stated this as Gravsny opened up the pack and pulled out the cigarette, sliding it over to him as Nivelton caught it under his palm.

“It's true.” Gravsny took a cigarette out as well. “Nivelton doesn't smoke that much, he does it when he feels like it.”

“So you mean like now?” I watched them, my facial expression had anger and annoyance written on it.

“Well, yeah. Now.” Nivelton gave out a nervous chuckle as he past the kitchen and towards the glass door, where the lush green patio was. “Also, I pretty much have say the American English terms for these things.”

I was quite shocked a bit. Nivelton is from England, but why the American English term. “How come?”

Gravsny walked over to the glass door, the lighter in his pocket and cigarette in between his two fingers on his right hand. He looked back at me. “The British English word for cigarettes is known as ‘fag’, which is considered offensive and derogatory here in the U.S. I told Nivelton and the other Bad G.E.N.T.L.E.M.E.N’s Club members from England, Leander and Ezekiah, not to use the word in the club. Sadly, it did happen last week when Eliezer got into that right with Netmun.”

“That's true.” It made sense now as to why Nivelton is saying cigarettes.

Gravsny asked me if I wanted to smoke with them, but I turned down the offer. Nivelton opened up the door to the patio and stepped outside, Gravsny followed him out, and so did I.

●●●

There were some white chairs located outside onto the patio as I sat down onto one of them with care. Nivelton and Gravsny were both smoking in their chairs, inhaling the smoke and then exhaling it out. I couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable.

I sighed as I casually asked, “So, Nivelton, how would you describe yourself?”

“Well, you could say that I'm a mixture of posh, smart, anything in between really.” He took the cigarette out of his mouth and placed it on the ground. Thankfully, the ground was rock and not grass.

There was still some smoke coming out of it, so I walked over to where the cigarette was a stomped on it with my right foot. However, I realized that my shoes were still inside the house. So when I stepped on it, I felt it singe through my sock and burn my foot a bit.

“OW!” I felt myself go back a bit, which resulted in me slipping and falling onto the concrete ground with a thud.

“Are you okay?!” Gravsny immediately came running over, cigarette still in his mouth.

“N-no! I think I burned my foot!” I yelled, holding my right foot with my hands.

“Sorry about that!” Nivelton stated.

“It's fine.” I replied, but I noticed Nivelton feeling kind of bad. My foot did get a bit of a burn.

Gravsny moved closer to me, and he picked me up bridal style. He looked at Nivelton then back towards me. “Let's get you inside and bandaged.” He motioned Nivelton to goes towards the door, which he did.

Nivelton slid open the glass door as he, along with Gravsny carrying me, walked inside.

Gravsny carried me inside and placed me down onto the stairs. I looked as he walked over to the kitchen sink, right where a gray bowl was sitting. It was an ashtray, I could tell because he placed the cigarette inside, smudging it with his fingers.

Nivelton had a surprised expression onto his face, since he never knew that it was there the whole time.

Gravsny walked on back over to the stairs and picked me up bridal style once more. His feet started moving, taking me up the stairs.

“Where are we going?” I questioned, slightly wincing because my foot is still in pain.

“To my bedroom. So we can patch your foot up.” Gravsny replied as he continued up the steps.

●●●

By the time we had gotten upstairs, Gravsny took me inside his bedroom and laid me down onto his bed.

“Stay there, I'll got get some first aid stuff.” He walked out from his room and to the bathroom that was located a few doors down from his bedroom.

My right foot was still in pain. As I was waiting, I heard footsteps coming up, it was Nivelton. He mouthed the words “Sorry” once more across his lips, and I replied mouthing back “It's fine”.

Gravsny came back a couple minutes later, first aid kit in his hand. He squatted down to look at my foot, whilst doing so, he placed the first aid kit onto the chair beside him and opened it, revealing all of its contents. He asked me to take off my sock, which I did. I placed it beside the bed so it wouldn't get lost.

He grabbed a small white towel, which must've had cold water on it because when he touched it, some of the water got on his hands. He placed it onto my foot, dabbing it gently. I was repeatedly saying “Ow” in a rather quiet tone.

“So, what kind of burn is it?” Nivelton asked, having a rather rude look on his face.

“First Degree Burn. Nothing too bad, just putting a wet towel, some petroleum jelly and a bandage on it will do.” Gravsny replied as he looked at me, smiling.

I smiled right back, but still winced a bit. “Hey Gravsny, mind putting the petroleum jelly and bandage on now? Cause that seems like a good time.”

“Right, sorry!” Gravsny took out a small container that was labeled “Jelly, Petroleum” and a cotton swab. He dipped it inside and stirred it around a tiny bit. He placed it onto the burned spot of my foot gently. After he finished doing so, he placed a bandage on it.

“Thanks for doing this, Gravsny.” I grabbed the sock from beside my bed and put it back onto my foot.

I got up from the bed and Nivelton told Gravsny he was hungry. Honestly, I was too. The only thing I had was a Sprite and Nivelton had got some chips.

“Okay then, let's go get something to eat and hang out, shall we?” Gravsny rubbed his hands together as he got up from where he was and walked out of his bedroom door. I followed right from behind.

The three of us walked downstairs and put each of our shoes on. Gravsny opened up the door as we followed from the back.

We got outside to the driveway, Gravsny had his car keys in his back pocket. He took them out and unlocked the car with a click.

I walked on over to the car and got in the backseat, Nivelton and Gravsny got back into their same positions. The sound of the ignition came on once more, as Gravsny placed his hands on the wheel and backed away from the driveway and out onto the road again.

As Gravsny was driving, I was wondering just where the De Profundis book was.

“Hey Nivelton, where did you-” My eyes went to see that the book was underneath his space, it was placed onto. I gave out a relieving sigh.

“Hmm? What'd you say Mistress Honeycomb?” Nivelton turned to look back at me and I quickly waved my hands in my face.

“Sorry! I was just wondering about your De Profundis book! Glad to see that its it's safe and sound in the car!” It went completely silent in the car. Talk about awkward.

●●●

We had arrived at the restaurant, which was Applebees. Gravsny turned off the ignition and unlocked the doors. I got out of the backseat and looked up at the sky. It was sunset, quite beautiful in fact.

“Well come on, let's go in!” Nivelton happily walked on over to the front of the restaurant and opened the door. He held it for Gravsny and I as we walked in.

There was also another door before truly heading inside the restaurant. Gravsny held the inside door for us as we walked inside.

“Welcome to Applebees! How many will be dining with us today?” We took notice of the woman standing in front of the podium with menus on the left side of her.

Gravsny held up the number “3” with his fingers as the lady grabbed the menus and told us to follow her.

We had gotten to our seats and sat down. She gave us the menus and Nivelton kindly thanked her.

First round were drinks. Gravsny got Coke, I got Sprite, and Nivelton got water. After that was round two: Appetizers. We all shared the cheesy mozzarella sticks, pretty much each of us took one or two and then finished them off. Round three came, being the entrees. Gravsny had a salad, same with me, and Nivelton had salmon.

While I was eating my entree, I got to know more about the two of them, both Gravsny and Nivelton. Nivelton told me that he was able to help Gravsny with his algebra, which I found that to be quite sweet.

“By the way,” I took another note of my salad and looked at them, “how long has the Bad G.E.N.T.L.E.M.E.N’s Club existed for?”

Nivelton and Gravsny both looked at each other. They told me to look away for a moment, so I shut my eyes and turned my head to the side. I could hear whispering falling from both of their mouths. What's so secret about it anyway?

Nivelton told me to open up my eyes, and when I did, Gravsny straightened himself up and looked at me.

“The club started back in our 9th year actually. We pretty much had anyone who wanted to come, come in. So it's been going on for 4 years now.” Gravsny explained.

There's no way that's it. There has to be more to the story than just that. “You're joking, right?”

Nivelton gave out a nervous chuckle. “Well you see-”

Gravsny quickly punched Nivelton in the arm, and was looking very frantic in his eyes and face.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?” Nivelton had his hands waved up into the air in calamity.

“Look, Nivelton,” Gravsny gritted his teeth as he pulled Nivelton by the arm, “we don't want Bartleby here to know abou-”

“Hey!” The server came back and looked at us with a confident smile. “Would you guys like to have some dessert?”

“Yes, we sure would!” I pushed the plate of my empty plate towards the server. While doing so, I turned to motion Gravsny and Nivelton to do the same. They did just that.

“Thank you so much!” She grabbed our plates and stacked them, then told us she would be back with the dessert menus.

●●●

The final round came, being the dessert. I pretty much ordered a brownie and vanilla ice cream. Gravsny got a blondie, along with Nivelton as well.

My eyes looked at the both of them, being quite happy and content with their dessert. I was happy too, even though there was the awkward situation revolving around me asking them about the whole G.E.N.T.L.E.M.E.N’s Club.

By the time we had finished our dessert, the server came by with the check. Gravsny was able to pay for us at the table. We had thanked the lady and got out of seats, leaving the finished desserts behind.

“Alright Bartleby, let's get you home!” Gravsny stated as the three of us walked out of the restaurant and headed towards the car.

Gravsny unlocked the car doors once more as Nivelton went over to open the passenger side and hopped in. But he quickly poked his head out to see us, standing on the side in front of Applebees.

“You guys coming in?” Nivelton shouted.

Gravsny cupped his hands and shouted back towards him. “We will Nivelton, just give me a second!”

I looked at Gravsny and let out a bit of a laugh. “What are you even going to tell me about? And at this late?”

A grin fell upon his face. “You never saw my eyes yet.”

He's right. I never did see his eyes yet, his hair always kept getting shadowed by them.

“Think I'll ever what they look like?”

“Yeah. Maybe, but who knows?” He combed his fingers through his disheveled dark blonde hair. I was hoping to actually see what they look like, but it was only for a brief moment as they went away once more. He then looked back at me again. “Anyway, let's get you home shall we? It's been a long day anyway.”

I walked down from the sidewalk and headed over to the car. “Sure. I'll have to give you directions with where to go though.”

“Okay then, Bartleby.” Gravsny grinned as he opened the car door from the driver’s side and hopped in.

Gravsny put the key in, turning on the ignition once more. While it was on and running, Nivelton looked at me then back at Gravsny.

“Were you two chatting it up out there or what?” Nivelton questioned.

“You mean flirting right?” Gravsny replied, backing up from the parking space.

“You know what I mean Gravsny.” Nivelton had rolled his eyes a bit. “I'm just saying it seems like you two were flirting out there.”

“No, we definitely were not. I was just asking Gravsny about his eyes.” I looked to see if Nivelton would understand what I was saying, but his expression seemed to be slightly annoyed.

I started to feel a bit frustrated with this.

●●●

We had spent fifteen minutes being out on the road, going back to my place.

“Which to next?” Nivelton turned to look at me and I had jolted my head from the window and took notice.

“Make a right, and go straight.” I made arrow directions with my fingers while Gravsny was following my direction.

He turned right and kept going straight. He kept going until I told him to stop. We had parked at my house. Gravsny turned off the ignition and unlocked the doors.

I got out of the car, closing the door from behind me. I was about to walk up the walkway and to the front door, until Gravsny pulled down the window.

“You don't want Nivelton or myself to come inside?”

I walked on over to the open windowed driver’s side and looked at him. “No, maybe some other time if you're down for it. I guess.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Okay, that's fine with us!” Nivelton yelled from the passenger side. I gave a thumbs up.

Gravsny and Nivelton both waved goodbye to me, and I heard the car ignition start again. I backed away and headed on over to the walkway of my house and opened up the garage door. I looked back to see the dark red car driving away from my house, and back onto the street.

I definitely was curious to know more about those Bad G.E.N.T.L.E.M.E.N and the club. A whole lot more.