Give Me Time Now You Know I'm Gonna Be That

Annabelle’s POV

“Order 188, your ice cream is ready!” I heard the cashier lady say. I quickly threw my flowing natural red hair into a messy bun. The heat was seeping into the small ice cream shop, and despite the blasting air condition, it was still hot. Los Angeles was beautiful, but summer could be too hot.

I stayed in my seat, looking over to Melanie. Her curly dark brown, almost black hair was in a neatly swept ponytail, unlike mine. “Was that our order?” I asked, feeling like an idiot.

Lexi and Maggie, my other two bestfriends, laughed at my silliness, but the giggles quickly died down. Their amused faces were soon replaced with ones of confusion.

“Wait,” Lexi said, as she put her hand throw her dark brown hair. She squinted her light blue eyes in confusion. I swear she looked like Selena Gomez, except Lexi was much prettier. “What is our order? Belle, I thought you had the receipt?”

I shook my head guiltily. “Um, I sorta kinda threw it away by accident?” I shrugged. This kind of thing happens all the time to me. “I’m sorry that I’m the redhead that acts like a blonde! Gosh.”

Four guys, who were sitting in the corner, got up and went towards the register as my friends started to yell at me for being stupid.

“Hey! C’mon now, give me a break. I’m not the smartest cookie in the Chinese restaurant,” I said. “No offense, Mel.” I smirked at my absolute bestfriend. She playfully hit me. “But seriously, look those guys are order whatever number! We’re probably next.”

Maggie laughed at me, “Okay, Belle. You’re so forgetful.” She was sisters with Lexi; both of them had those striking blue eyes.

“Order 189!” I heard the lady call. I got up, knocking into Melanie. She shoved me away. I felt abused. We walked up to the counter, and the lady gave us completely different orders.

Lexi, the most assertive one in the group, said, “Excuse me, Miss. But these aren’t our orders.” They obviously weren’t. I was upset. I really wanted my strawberry and mint chocolate chip cup of deliciousness.

“Well, if you show me your receipt, I will scoop the ice cream again,” she said plainly, giving us a look like “Really? Leave me alone, you teenagers.” Lexi shut up because she knew I lost the receipt.

She shook her head no and took the ice cream. “Okay, nevermind. Thanks.” We took our ice cream and walked outside.

As soon as we walked out, Maggie yelled, “Belle! Why are you so stupid? I want my ice cream that I paid for! Whose ice cream do we haveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?” Her voice involuntarily squeaked at the end, and she pouted.

Melanie and Lexi began to yell at me also. I tried to run away but the three of them surrounded me. I felt as if they were walls closing me, and I was about to be squished.

Suddenly, I heard a voice that saved me from inevitable death. “Um, excuse me? I think we switched ice creams.”

We turned around to see the four guys that went before us. They were all wearing sunglasses and baseball caps. I spotted my strawberry, mint chocolate chip mix in the hands of the guy that spoke.

“Oh my gosh,” I said, breaking free of the circle. “Thank you so much! These savages were about to kill me for messing up the order.” The girls glared at me but proceeded to say nothing. We all switched ice creams, getting our right order.

Melanie said, happily licking her ice cream, “Well since you guys were so nice and Belle here is an idiot.”

“Hey!” I exclaimed. “That isn’t nice!” The guys and my friends laughed. I stood there, blushing from embarrassment.

“Anyway, I’m Melanie. This is Maggie and Lexi,” Mel said, pointing to each girl as they waved hello. “And this ‘blonde’ redhead is Miss Annabelle.” I stuck my tongue out.

“Call me Belle. Annabelle is so formal,” I said, smiling.

The leader of the guy pack nodded. “Well um. I am. . .er Keith. This is Carl. Here is . . um Liam. And this last guy is . .Jay.” The guys laughed nervously, eating their ice cream.

I was too happy to meet boys to notice their sudden awkwardness. “Well, we were going to head to the beach because it is soooooooooooooooooo hot. Would you guys like to join us?” I smiled my one hundred watt smile, hoping to convince them.

Lexi said, “Yeah! It would be fun. C’mon. It is the least we could do for you guys being so nice.” Lexi eyed Jay, like he was a prize to be won.

“Oh gosh,” I thought. “Lex knows she wants something. . .or someone for that matter.”

But Liam shook his head. “I’m sorry, girls, but we can’t go to the beach today. We have to go someplace else.” When he spoke, he emphasized the word “someplace else”, secretly hinting to the guys.

“But Lo-er Liam!” Carl whined. “I want to go to the beach!” Melanie giggled but quickly composed herself.

Liam shook his head. “No, Carl. We can’t.” He glared at Carl while the other two boys were silent.

I felt the need to speak up. “Oh c’mon, Liam.” I touched his arm gently. He flinched at my warmth, but I knew how to deal with difficult boys. “Please, come. It’ll be fun. I promise you guys don’t have to be there long. Just a little bit. Please?” I looked at him through my long eyelashes, knowing my emerald green eyes were piercing through him. For a second, I thought he wasn’t going to crack, then a flicker of change was visible through his sunglasses.

“Okay,” he said slowly, regretting the decision as soon as the words came out of his mouth. Carl jumped up in excitement, and Keith cracked a smile. “We can go. But only for a bit!” He grumbled something incoherent. Probably something about cute girls and how it was a bad idea, but we were already dragging the guys towards the boardwalk.

“It’ll be fun!” Maggie said, walking next to Keith. We all seemed to pair up. Lexi was standing very close to Jay, and Melanie sauntered next to Carl. I found this odd because Mel didn’t date or even deal with boys in general. I smirked. I was walking next to a cranky, Liam.

“Oh c’mon, Liam,” I said, bumping into him. “It will be fun! Stop being a party pooper.” He glared at me.

“This is all your fault,” he grumbled under his breath. But he said louder to me, “Yeah, fun. But only for a little bit. We really need to go somewhere.”

I walked away, rolling my eyes. “What a jerk,” I thought to myself. “Well, this should be interesting.”