Anti Blue Skies

It’s been a couple of days since Quinn had her few people over. Yeah right, it was a party filled with booze, drugs, cigarettes, and a tattooed, curly-headed, playboy. I hadn’t seen or talked to him since that night, Harry ended up taking Quinn to her room to make her grow quite religious. The walls were paper thin, something I knew since I moved in, but my clueless roommate had never used it against me in that way before.

I had always steered clear of Quinn, but I avoided her more now than I ever had before. I guess, when I really stopped to think about it, she hadn’t done anything wrong, she didn’t know my past with Harry. Even if she did, who am I to think that would stop her? But avoiding the problem was better than dealing with it, so that’s what I was going to do.

I was absolutely ecstatic to receive the call from Manny that she got back home safely and was ready for some girl time. I was in dying need myself, things just haven’t been working out in my favor.

“So, you refrained from cutting off his penis?” Her dark brown eyes were wide with astonishment, like cutting off Harry’s manhood was obviously the only solution to my problems.

We spent the day shopping and spending money I didn’t have, but it was worth it to have my best friend back. In high school, after every girl rebelled against me, she stood strongly by my side. Sure, dad was a great listener and was basically a professional in the sport of distraction, but Manny was my rock, and she could always see the bigger picture.

We casually took a seat at a table in my favorite gelato shop, La Gelatiera served the best gelato in London, dad used to take me and my sisters here every sunday after church, sort of like an award for behaving.

“I thought about it, but that would make me the bad person.” She giggled, the waiter shoving menus in our faces. “That’s him remember?”

I was thankful that the shop had waiters instead of lining up at the front because shockingly enough, it was pretty fancy. We had been shopping all morning, my legs couldn’t carry me any further even if I desperately wanted to, my only motivation to leave would be if Harry, Quinn, or Jennifer walked through the door.

The waiter was definitely not hard to look at, and by the way Manny watched him reach into his shirt pocket for a pen, she wasn’t complaining either. He had short brown hair and sparkling blue eyes, the natural lighting from the over sized windows might have had something to do with how movie-like he came across.

“Ladies,” He bowed his head like a gentleman, introducing himself. “I’m Louis. What can I get for you two?”

I shared an awkward glance with Manny from across the table. She shot me a knowing look, smiling from ear to ear. Why did I have to be so obvious when I thought a guy was cute? Maybe because I haven’t been with anyone since Harry, I dated all the time before him, but now was just different. I didn’t have as much interest.

She ordered her favorite coconut passion fruit, and I scrunched up my face, wondering how anyone could like coconut anything, let alone for a gelato flavor.

She flipped her ombre dyed hair to the side, giving me a coy smile. “And she’ll take three scoops of you.” He quirked an eyebrow, looking over his white notepad. “Maybe one for later.”

I blushed what I could only assume was a deep red because of how hot the room suddenly felt. My boobs even started sweating a little bit.

Louis laughed, leaning more towards me than he had before. I shyly looked up through my lashes, only smiling because his was contagious.

“What would you really like?” He asked lightly, his voice had no problem being loud, which told me he was very outgoing, but it also had a soft quality. A gentle tone, not like a certain someone’s whose was rough and husky.

“One scoop of peanut butter chocolate swirl,” I pointed to cursive words on the menu. “And one scoop of roasted banana cashew heath.”

He scrambled to write the long names, then stuck the pen back in his shirt. “That’s it then, yeah?”

I nodded my head, tucking my hair behind my ear. Once again, I found myself smiling as he walked away. When I looked to Manny, the smile fell from my face when I saw the look of disgust on hers.

“Gross. You mock me for liking coconuts.”

I shrugged my shoulders, watching in the distance as Louis scooped our gelato into small styrofoam bowls and joked around with his co-worker.

“Write your number on this.” Manny slid a napkin across the table, breaking my focus.

“Peer pressure much?”

She reached for her purse, pulling a marker out of it. “I knew you wouldn’t cooperate. Looks like I’ll have to do it.”

Before I had the chance to stop her, she aimlessly scribbled down my number as Louis approached with our desserts. I wasn’t completely sure which one I wanted to eat more.

He placed the gelato in front of us, thankfully right on top of Manny’s napkin, blocking my number from his vision. “You know, you must be the only person ever to eat this crap.”

I giggled, knowing fully well that bananas, peanut butter, chocolate, and cashews didn’t look like a great combination of choice, but the taste was a completely different story.

“You wanna try some?” I asked, holding a spoon full of gelato towards his direction.

He was contemplating the idea, resting his elbows on the edge of our table. “That’s a tempting offer.”

“Better decide fast. Lydia eats that shit like a girl back from fat camp.”

It was true. I could eat for days and days without stopping as long as it was unhealthy and sweet. My habits were wrong but I couldn’t help my sugar cravings. Last year for my birthday, my sister Leslie shoved my face in the cake as a prank, but the prank was on her when I cried tears of joy and bounced up and down. Not my proudest moment, but a good meal nonetheless.

Louis chuckled, giving me a once over. Immediately I felt subconscious because it was like he was checking to see if the story added up. The spoon started to drip as I grew more and more uncomfortable.

“Fine. I’ll try it.” I relaxed a bit, slouching in my seat as he went to bite my spoon. He held up his finger suddenly, taking me by surprise. “Under one condition.”

I sighed playfully, wishing he would just give it a try already, but to my dismay he continued to speak. “If I actually end up liking this, you have to give me your number.”

Manny laughed loudly, I gave her a stern look while reaching across the tale to shove a spoonful of coconut nastiness down her throat. Sometimes she needed to be taught when to shut up.

“And what if you don’t?” I questioned, my heart fluttering as fast as a humming bird flaps it’s wings.

“Simple, I’ll give you mine.” He snatched my spoon out of my hand and put it in his mouth. I could see his mind working, debating whether or not he preferred the flavor, his tongue clicking in the process. His brows furrowed and Manny and I leaned closer, waiting for a response from him. He made a quiet humming sound like he was enjoying it, right before he swallowed with a gulp.

“So?” I pestered. “Like it?”

He reached in his pocket and slammed a small piece of paper down in front of me with his number on it. “Hate it.”

He winked and walked away, getting back to work. Another blush crept onto my face, and not because I was embarrassed, but because he actually wanted to give me his number, a gesture that made me feel wanted and I hadn’t felt that in a really long time. Did he really hate the flavor? I’ll probably never know, but the attention felt nice, so I welcomed it with open arms.