Love is Etched in the Ice

Lunch was good, except for the waitress we had. A pretty girl, about twenty-ish with red hair, kept flirting with Apolo. She laughed at everything he said, hit his shoulder and ‘accidentally’ spilled Pepsi all over me, making me go to the restroom for ten minutes to get unsticky and whatnot. I came back to see her walking by, hitting his head and walking off, shaking her hips.
I sat down, “I swear if she doesn’t knock it off, I’m gonna,” I clenched my hands together and rung the air.
“Well don’t because then you’ll get us kicked out. And I’m hungry.” He smiled and reached across the table, taking my hand.
Our waitress (her name tag said Kelli) came down the line, carrying two plates. She set the lasagna in front of Apolo, “Hope it’s hot enough for you.” She smiled flirtatiously. She turned to me and set down my ravioli, “Here.”
“Uh, could I get some more Pepsi? Please.” Apolo held out his empty cup.
“Right away,” she snatched the cup and walked off.
He took a bite of lasagna.
‘Kelli’ walked back down the isle. I saw her coming.
“So, what do you think are some good names?” I rubbed my bump.
He looked up at the ceiling. “Hm. I like the name Christopher.”
Kelli walked over, setting the cup down. “Is there anything else I can get you?” She had her back turned to me.
“Yes. We need two names. A boy and a girl name.” Apolo’s eyes flinched to me.
“Can I ask what for?” Kelli bit her lip, raising her eyebrows.
He looked at me, “Show her.”
I stood up and smiled at her.
She looked down and then back at me. “All I see is a ring of fat.”
“That’s it. Can I talk to your manager? Please?” I tried not to get angry.
“He’s not here.” She walked off, examining her nails.
Apolo stood up, “Come on.” He put his hand on the small of my back and grabbed my purse.
“Um, excuse me. You need to pay.” The cashier looked at us, holding up a receipt.
Apolo looked at me, “I’ll be out there in a minute.” He gave me the keys and handed me my purse. He walked over to the cashier and started talking to him.
I walked out to the car and started it. It wasn’t snowing anymore, but it was still cold. I turned on the seat heaters and huddled in my jacket.
Ten minutes later, the music on softly and the car nice and cozy, Apolo walked out, with our food in carry out boxes.
“I talked to the Manager. He said he would talk to Kelli. He also wants to apologize for her being so rude. He also gave us these,” he held up the boxes, “for free.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I smiled small-ly at him.
He sighed. “Hey.” He set down the boxes and lifted his hand to my face. “Look at me.”
I didn’t respond.
“Avery.” He moved some hair out my face that created a curtain in between us.
I looked at him, probably looking like crap. My throat hurt from holding back tears and my eyes were stinging. “What?”
“Don’t let her get to you. She doesn’t matter. You’re beautiful. No matter what.”
“Thanks,” I turned to him. “So are you.”
He smiled and sorta rolled his eyes, backing up and driving away.
We got back to the Village and found Iris sitting in the stands watching Shaun practice.
“Good you guys are back. Time for pictures!” Iris held out her camera and took a picture of us walking up the stands.
“Really? More? Ugh, okay.” I sat down, shivering. “It’s so cold out here.”
Apolo sat down and looked at his watch, “Um, it’s thirty-four. So it’s not that cold for Vancouver.”
I looked at him, “Yeah, well you don’t have to heat two other people do you? Didn’t think so.” I patted his abs and looked back out at the snow.
Unbeknownst to me, during this forty-five second conversation, Iris was snapping away.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet or not, but I don’t much like pictures. They say the camera adds an extra ten pounds to you, well, being pregnant doesn’t help. I looked like a beached whale. An extra giant-pregnant-with-twins beached whale. Yeah, it’s that bad.
“Hey, did you leave the boxes in the car?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Well, I didn’t remember if you did or not. I was just wondering.” I set my head on his shoulder.
Iris went in front of us and told me to look out in the distance. She instructed Apolo to look at me and smile. We did so and she snapped a munch of pictures.
We stood up, sat down, lay in the snow making snow angels, and danced in the next four hours. By the time six thirty rolled around, I was dead tired.
“Time for night, night.” I hugged Iris and waved to Shaun, whom was sitting next to Iris looking through pictures.
“I like that one. Night guys.” He went back to inspecting.
“Night.” Apolo put his arm around my shoulders and started stepping down the stairs.
At six, it wasn’t dark, but it wasn’t light. It was more… illuminated by light. It looked cool, the colors of the sunset bouncing all around on the snow. The crystals sparkled with pink, orange, red and yellow. The moon was already out, low in the east.
We got to the dorms, after trudging through the snow. Once inside, I shook my jacket and took it off, happy for the sudden rush of warmth.
I shivered again, yawning.
“Well, put your jacket back on if your cold.” He took it from my hands and started walking towards the elevator.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” He pushed the up button.
“Because you have it.” I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Oh. Well, do you want it?”
“No, you can keep it.”
The doors opened and we stepped in. He pressed the ‘15’ button. The doors closed and we started moving up slowly.
“I hate elevators.”
“Why?”
“They are too jerky.” I hiccupped. “Oopsie.”
“Now, Avery,” he got his stern voice on. “I told you that that is bad for the babies.”
I smiled, “But it’s so gooood.”
The doors opened, we stepped out and into our dorm.
“I need to shower.” I got sweats, a tank and clean underwear and stepped into the bathroom, stripped and got in, turning the hot water on high.
The bathroom door opened and closed.
“There better not be an axe murderer out there. Or I’m gonna have to… uh… squirt shampoo in your eyes.” I grabbed the shampoo and peeked out the curtain.
Well, it wasn’t an axe murderer, it was Apolo. He was shaving. Why? I don’t know. Maybe to keep his mustache trimmed. Or to not have one at all. He knew how I felt about it.
“It’s not an axe murderer. It’s just me,” he turned around, holding his arms out.
I grabbed a towel and wrapped myself in it. “Well, good, ‘cause I wouldn’t want to waste my shampoo on someone trying to kill me.” I pressed myself against his bare chest and wrapped my arms around him. “You’re so warm.”
“And your hair is so wet.”
I looked up at him, “I did just get out of the shower.” The water ran in the background.
“Whatever,” he smiled warmly and pet my dripping hair.
I pulled away, draped the towel over the toilet and got back under the water. I washed and rinsed, dried and dressed, left and crawled in bed, next to Apolo, already asleep. I smiled and kissed his jaw, snuggling down and falling asleep almost instantly.
It was only seven thirty.