The Walls Caved In

I picked up my phone, not recognizing the number, and putting it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"So, I was thinking, I should give Joy her dollar. Then, I started thinking some more, and I decided that it would seem rude to give you just your dollar back, so I've decided to take you out for ice cream."

"Um, look, this isn't necessary.." Oh. Boy from the library. Usually, I would think this to be weird. Which it was, I mean, I didn't know this boy and he wanted to take me out for frozen dairy products. I'd only been being helpful when I'd given him my dollar, and I didn't really want it back. Its just a dollar.

"Meet me at the Frosty Freeze at 5? Okay, see you there, Joy!"

I watched as he paced in front of the Frosty Freeze, his hands in his pockets and his head turning in every direction. He was looking for me.

I got out of the car, all ready to tell him that all I wanted was my dollar, this wasn't necessary, that he could even keep his dollar if he wanted to, but before I could he had his arm wrapped around my shoulders and he was pulling me to the counter.

"So, what's it gonna be Joy?"

"This isn't needed," I said, but he shook his head, gripping my shoulder and then loosening his grip. "Fine; one scoop of vanilla."

He gasped, looking at me as though I had grown a third head. "No way, you cannot have vanilla. Its way too plain, what else?"

"I only eat vanilla," I said.

"Not anymore," he shook his head, looking up at the menu board, "She'll have the fruity, berry thing, and I'll have Pistachio, one scoop, in a cone each," The lady behind the counter nodded, getting to it.

"Trust me, Joy, you'll love it," He smiled, and I realized now that he was very good looking. Extremely so, actually. It made goosebumps raise on my skin, while he stood beside me in his tight jeans and flannel shirt. A boy I didn't know.

"Tell me you're name, and I won't leave now," I said, trying to make the blush I could sense coming calm.

"Eric," he said. The lady handed him our ice cream, and he handed me mine. He raised an eyebrow, wondering if I was going to turn and run, but I followed him to an outside table and sat. I didn't need to run.

Eric was a messy eater; well, no, not a messy eater. He just wasn't good at getting his food in his mouth. Not good at getting his ice cream in his mouth, at least. Ice cream was drying up on his cheeks, but that didn't seem to faze him. He just kept smiling, occasionally taking a napkin and wiping his face in the wrong spot, and continued to ask me questions.

"You really don't mind that I call you Joy?"

I said, "No, Eric."

"Good, 'cause I like it. Joy, joy, joy," he smiled real wide, before opening his mouth again and bounding into some type of song, "Joy to the world, for Joy is here! Joy, joy, joy, joy! Joy to this place, this girl of such..." Eric looked at me for a second, his mouth open and his eyes studying my face. I wondered at him, my face asking him. He quirked his mouth, playing funny faces in my direction. I didn't know what he was going to say, or if he was going to say a thing at all. I wasn't a person to be described in adjectives; at least, not obviously.

"..of such grace." He said quietly, before eating his ice cream again, making a bigger mess.

Of such grace...