Veni, Vidi, Vici

“Let’s go somewhere.”

Grace looked up from the cup of lukewarm tea nestled between her palms, startled by the break in silence. They’d made small talk, about this and that, the weather, his favourite food, school, pets and then they’d melted into a peaceful stillness that was so delicate and strangely beautiful that Grace didn’t dare to ruin it.

“Where?” she asked, it was hard to hide her interest.

“The convenience store, yeah?”

“What? Um... okay I suppose.” Grace tried to conceal her confusion, she’d been expecting something a lot more interesting, something wild and adventurous like the beach or Disneyland or well, anything but the convenience store.

Marc beamed with childish excitement, and stood up, stretching out his body. “C’mon.” He encourage, taking the lead and walking through the hallway towards the front door.



The Convenience store on the end of Scribblygum Road was far past its prime. The ancient building was flanked by two grand white houses with towering wrought iron gates about them, creating a most dangerous, stern appearance to the scene; the little store situated right between was a bold contrast that looked almost imaginary. The walls of the old fashioned shop’s exterior were deeply saturated in a bold red rust that glowed in the midday sun, with patches of peeling paint desperately holding onto the aging surface, creating a queer collage of red and white. The door, with a double pane of scratched, cracked glass –the only set of windows in the shop - was covered in so much grime it was almost impossible to see inside. Hanging feebly on the door was a dog eared cardboard sign, slightly yellowing, that said “Welcome, we are open!” besides the brown-red words was a picture of a smiling chicken in overalls that was defaced with blue marker mustaches. The “Scribblygum Convenience store” stood there, amidst the loud chirping of the crickets and the hot weather, crumpled and deserted, so isolated one would almost expect tumbleweeds to roll by.

Grace looked over sceptically at Marc, standing proudly in the rays of warm light and smiling with a sense of self satisfaction at their destination.

“This place looks awesome, let’s go in.” Marc stepped forward and advanced towards the fragile looking doorway. Grace bit her lips and reluctantly followed, walking quicker to try and match his wide paces.

Marc gently eased the door back and stepped into a pool of oppressive heat and the strong smell of rotten vegetables. A bell rang, triggered by his entrance and the sound reverberated into emptiness.

“Um... there’s no-one here. We should go Marc.” Grace said frowning at the vacant counter; she looked expectantly over at the oblivious boy next to her who seemed to be completely engrossed in looking at the most likely out-of-date chips.

“Hey, look! Ice-Cream!” Marc cried with over-excitement, his eyes sparkling at the small freezer in a dark spider ridden corner of the shop. “That’s so sick, let’s get some. You like vanilla right? You seem like a vanilla kinda person.”

“You won’t be able to pay for it.” she said, tugging at the hem of her shirt and eyeing the exit anxiously.

“I’ll leave them a note, with a really good tip, I promise.”

Grace sighed as he tugged his wallet out of his back pocket and pulling out some crumpled notes, left them on the counter table. He forced open the freezer and retrieved two small cups of ice-cream, chocolate and vanilla.

“Let’s go, hang on, let me get a spoon.”

They walked back outside, where the air seemed so much cooler in comparison, but was still causing beads of sweat to form on Grace’s forehead. Marc opened the car door for her, the childish, excited smile still plastered on his face. Getting into the car himself, he instant turned on the air conditioner and moved his seat back until he was almost lying down.

“Eat your ice-cream.” He ordered, passing her the vanilla cup and plastic spoon that was probably more than fifty years old.

Grace tentatively took the ice-cream from his outstretched hands. She held the cup close to her face and peered at it as if it were completely alien to her, Marc laughed loudly at her expression, catching her attention.

“Live a little.” He murmured, prying the ice-cream out of her hands. Looking at her like a father instructing a child, he slowly peeled the cardboard paper away from the top and licked the ice-cream off it. Grace laughed at his childish behaviour and he smiled back, a mischievous grin, challenging her.

“Now you do the same.” He said, the grin ridiculously wide on his face. He held out his own cup of ice-cream expectantly, the top still on.

Grace’s eyes widened and she shook her head, but he was persistent, bringing it closer to her face. She sighed, and took it. The condensation on the cup dripped down her fingers, she looked over at Marc who nodded at the dessert in her hands. Grace signed, the boy was relentless, so she gingerly picked at the paper with the tip of her fingernails, and slowly peeled it away. Holding it an inch away from her mouth, Grace poked out her tongue and licked the remnants of ice-cream off. The ice-cream melted the moment it touched her tongue, the cool chocolate mixture spreading across her tastebuds, sweet sugar, bitter cocoa, it was invigorating. Grace looked up at Marc, he was smiling, wider than before, if that was even possible, it was contagious, and she could feel the edge of her mouth tugging up on their own accord. So they sat there, in the cool air inside the car, eating their ice-cream and conversing about nothing in particular. Grace had never felt so liberated in her entire life up until then.



“Why did you do it?”

Marc stiffened. He focused his gaze straight ahead, and suddenly, the car didn’t seem so cool with the AC on. He’d gone the whole day, hoping that she wouldn’t bring it up, maybe even forgotten about it.

“Sorry, um, I was just curious.” Grace mumbled, lowering her head.

“Wait, no, it’s cool.” Marc exhaled, closed his eyes, and then opened them again. “Look, I um... I don’t know why I did it really. I was annoyed I guess, I was annoyed at the fact that I couldn’t have her, I was annoyed that she didn’t want me. So I just wanted to prove to myself that I had the ability to get her. And I was a selfish bastard and decided to use Sam to make her jealous, and it worked. I ended up spending two minutes making out with Vera Vermont and it wasn’t worth it. So now I just really hope that Sam will be okay with this, I know that she said she was going to forget about it in like a week, but I just hope that’s true.”

Marc peered over at Grace to judge her reaction to his speech. She seemed expressionless, and he couldn’t really tell if that was good or bad.

“I really regret what I did.” He added, hoping to gauge a reaction.

“I know.” She responded, a sad smile lingering on her lips.

Marc breathed out, slowly. “I’m gonna drive you home, okay?”

Though the drive was only five minutes, it felt like an eternity to Marc. The whole way, a deep gnawing pain sat in his stomach, heavy like a brick, an endless irritation. He didn’t dare to look at Grace; he didn’t want to see her disappointment in him, the shame that clouded her eyes. He parked the car directly in front of her house and stayed silent.

“I’m sorry I brought it up.” She whispered with a small frown on her face.

“It’s cool.” He murmured, a waning smile settling on his lips.

Grace opened the door and stepped out. Marc watched as she made her way through the front door of her house, disappearing. It was a harsh reminder of what he’d done and despite the fact that Grace and Sam both seemed to have forgiven him, he had yet to forgive himself for his deeds.