The Richardson List

That afternoon Audrey had skilfully orchestrated a hang out for the three of them, making it clear that she didn’t want any visitors like Tiffany or Lily. She chose to meet at the Marble Slab Creamery near her house, a place that wasn’t anything new to Carer, even with their incredibly high prices. And even though Carter would’ve much rather gone to McDonalds for an ice cream she agreed anyhow, knowing that Audrey didn’t do this just for the cone.

Audrey was of course already there when Carter had arrived. She sat on the bench outside, chewing on her thumb nail while taking glances at the people walking by. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled up into a messy looking ponytail, something she somehow managed to pull off, and a pair of glasses was nestled on top of her head.

When their eyes met Audrey instantly grinned, shooting up from her seat and scaring off a seagull in the process. Carter laughed as it flew away with a squawk, Audrey now staring up at the terrified bird. She started to giggle too before sitting back down on the bench, beckoning for Carter to come join her.

Carter did just that, planting herself on the wood beside her friend.

“So, has Cole come yet?” she asked, craning her neck to peer into the little shop to see if Cole was ordering his ice cream already.

He wasn’t and Audrey shook her head no.

“Nah, but he’ll be here soon. Well, unless he ditched.” As she said this worry lines creased in her forehead, the new found thought plaguing her mind.

Audrey’s gaze was now searching for any sign of their friend, hopeful eyes looking for that familiar head of blond hair. Carter comforted her by telling her that he would be there, in time and to be patient. Then again, it was quite hypocritical of her seeing as she wasn’t a very patient person herself and was already wanting her ice cream badly.

As if on cue Cole finally made his appearance. He smiled and waved at the two, calling out a greeting to the pair. Audrey let out a sigh of relief and Carter smiled back, throwing her own hand up in the air. He quickened his pace to a jog and passed the girls, jogging right through the door.

Carter stood up and rolled her eyes, chuckling slightly.

“Great to see you too!” she called out right before the door shut closed, sarcasm laced in her voice.

She pushed the door open and was met with the cool air conditioning from inside. Carter shivered while Audrey trailed after her, a satisfied grin on her face. Cole was in the midst of ordering when Carter slipped behind him, poking his two sides. He jumped and turned around to be met with a broad smile.

“Don’t touch me, or else,” he warned, lifting his hands threateningly.

Two girls entered the store, a small bell ringing to signal their coming in.

“Oh yeah?” Carter taunted, poking him in the arm with a mocking smile. He glared jokingly and was about to show her what his threat meant but the cashier had his ice cream ready in hand already.

“You’re lucky,” he told Carter while turning back around to get his frozen dessert. Carter rolled her eyes and Audrey giggled before walking over to Cole to beg for a lick.

Carter took her money out of her pocket, the money that she had swiped off the top of the refrigerator since her parents weren’t home, a ten dollar bill ready in hand. As she was about to order, she heard the conversation of the two girl’s behind her. “… It was literally, the best sex I’ve ever had in my life!” One girl squealed delightedly.

Carter turned to the cashier and smiled. “Can I have a vanilla waffle gone with sex on top?” she ordered.

He gave her a strange look and her words sunk in, blushing furiously when she realized what she had just said. Everyone went silent after the words left her lips, the quiet instantly being replaced with hysterical laughter.

Audrey and Cole were both clutching onto their sides, ripples of laughter polluting the air. Carter stood with her ten dollar bill in hand, stumbling over her words. “I mean M&M’s!” she quickly corrected herself fruitlessly, the cashier now smirking.

“Well, I usually wouldn’t but, you’re kind of pretty,” he said suggestively, leaning his elbow onto the counter with a seductive look in his eyes.

This only brought a fresh round of laughter for the both of her friends, the two girls behind her now giggling also. Her blush was still burning up her cheeks as she averted her gaze.

“Can I just have my ice cream please?” she mumbled embarrassed, pushing the money across the counter towards the boy who she assumed was around her age.

He chuckled and took the bill, ringing up her order. Audrey placed a hand on Carter’s shoulder, trying to catch her breath. “A vanilla waffle cone with sex on top! Oh, how I love you Carter!” she gasped, giggles still passing through her lips.

The boy handed her the ice cream before helping that other two girls who were giggling amongst each other, at this point Carter didn’t know if it was because of her or not. She stalked towards the table where Cole sat, smiling at her approaching figure. She glared at her creamy treat, switching from the ice cream to Cole and then back again.

She didn’t know who she was angrier at.

Audrey followed suit behind her, attempting to grab Carter’s ice cream because in her excitement had forgotten her money. “Can we go outside?” Carter muttered with a pleading edge to her tone, at this point she wanted to be anywhere but in the store where everyone was still casting secretive glances her way. The cashier was still smirking at her too, making her feel kind of uncomfortable.

Why did he even care? She was a six point three.

Cole got up from his seat and agreed to go outside, noting Carter’s uneasiness, for which she was grateful. Once she was outside again she plopped down on the wooden bench, licking her ice cream that was improving her mood the longer the delicious taste mingled on her tongue.

“I’m so glad to get away from all the chaos at school,” Audrey sighed relived and stole the seat to the left of Carter, pushing her bangs back before letting them fall back onto her forehead.

Cole remained standing, leaning against a cement-potted plant, also enjoying his ice cream. “Yeah,” he mused, looking uninterested in the subject.

Carter nodded her head too, thankfully glad to get away from it all and just to relax with her friends. “Mhmm,” she hummed absently.

“Hey, Carter, did you ever even find out your rating?” Audrey asked with interest, settling on a piece of gum to chew on instead of trying to steal her friend’s ice cream cones.

As the question left her lips Carter instantly tensed, the devastating number once again burning through he mind. She nodded but didn’t answer right away, slowly taking licks and trying to overcome the unbearable silence.

But it seemed with no prevail as Cole now too stared at her with curiosity, hazel eyes sparking with wonder.

“Well, it seemed you were wrong Audrey,” Carter said light-heartedly, “Because he rated me a whopping six point three!” She finished with a forced giggle, attempting to look like she could care less and actually believed it was somewhat funny.

She didn’t know if they saw right through the act or not but they were both deathly silent.

“Oh,” the word fell limply from Cole’s mouth dejectedly as he seemed to scramble for something better to say. Yet nothing came to mind and Carter watched him struggle with a slight amusement, Audrey’s reactions similar to his.

While they frantically tried to find conjure something, Carter listened to the noise around her. The seagulls were squawking at each other loudly, scavenging for any food they could get their claws on. There was the regular hum of cars driving passed, a honk breaking through every so often. Conversation fluttered about in the air, whispers and laughs, tears and screams. The shrill bell would ring, indicating that someone had either entered or left the ice cream shop.

With a raised eyebrow she looked over at Cole who was rubbing the back of his neck and nibbling on his lower lip, a habit that he could never break.

“Well, this guy knows shit. You’re cute as a button,” he tried to console her rather awkwardly, his eyes softening but a small reassuring smile was placed on his lips. Audrey didn’t say anything but just simply nodded her head, agreeing with Cole’s statement whole-heartedly.

Hearing their comforting words Carter cracked a smile, giggling slightly.

“Cute as a button?” She cocked an eyebrow. “You guys are acting as if someone died. It’s just a stupid list, right?” She heard herself echo the words that had been running through her mind the entire time.

They nodded, seeing this as their way out of the awkward tension threatening to appear. Carter stood up from the bench and wiped her face with the napkins that she had grabbed from the counter, erasing any remnants of the ice cream off her face before she threw it in the trash.

When she lifted her gaze there was a girl waving her hand in the air, directed towards her. For a moment she narrowed her eyes, attempting to fathom who the figure signalling her was. The more she stared she thought she could make out what looked like Tiffany, out of uniform of course. Curly brown hair, tied up into a ponytail that was similar to hers.

Going with her gut, she lifted her hand in the air and returned the greeting with a smile. As she did this the girl stopped her wave and kept walking closer. When she was near enough Carter saw confusion presented on this girl’s face, for the main reason that she wasn’t Tiffany.

The girl’s gaze shifted and Carter turned to see a guy waving back at her with a broad grin. This made Carter’s cheek flush quickly, causing Audrey and Cole to once again burst into laughter.

Her gaze fixated on the ground as she sat back down on the bench, delighted laughter sounding in her ears. The couple passed and quickly disappeared but the embarrassment they caused still lingered, causing Carter to curse herself for doing such stupid actions.

“She was completely not waving to you!” Audrey giggled, a hand coming up and covering her lips, the laughter still slipping through her fingers. Cole started another round of laughter at this comment, all at Carter’s suspense.

She crossed her arms and glared with no real passion behind it, finding herself straining to repress a smile with no prevail.

“Okay, okay, we get it,” she tried to calm them down, her two friends now gasping for any air to reach their lungs.

Cole was the first one to regain his breath, slinging his arm around Carter who was trying to hide her face beneath her hair. “Oh come, you know we love you!” he chuckled, giving her a little squeeze.

She sighed and smiled slightly, looking up into his eyes.

“Yeah, I know,” she mumbled with a grin. He retracted his arm and Carter took this as her chance to stand up. “Come on; let’s go over to Audrey’s to watch of movie or something.”

Audrey scoffed while she stood up, brushing off her pants. “Of course! Let’s just go to Audrey’s! Let’s not ask her first,” she said with a sarcastic edge, agreeing nonetheless to the plan. Carter turned and cracked a smile at her.

At that moment Carter tripped, stumbling in an attempt to regain her balance. She managed to, but the ice cream on the top of her cone unfortunately slipped off her cone, plummeting to the ground.

With her mouth slightly ajar Carter stared down at her frozen treat, splattered across the tar underneath them.

“My ice cream,” she mumbled in horror as she gaped at the highly overpriced dessert.

Cole chuckled at her, enjoying her dismay much more then Carter would appreciate. Audrey giggled too, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“We love you,” she repeated, “but life certainly doesn’t.” She found this funny, Carter supposed, taking the time to fully dissolve in laughter.

Carter agreed nonetheless while staring at her loss, seeing as there was no other explanation as to why all these embarrassing incidents were happening other then that life hated her with a burning passion.

“Movie, now, please?” she muttered, looking to see Cole nod his head.

“Anything for you, since you’ve completely made both our days,” Cole slung his arm around her shoulders and started towards Audrey’s house with a grin. Audrey agreed with this statement and stepped up beside Carter, a grin on her face.

And for a moment, Carter finally felt relaxed.