"C'mon. Get in." She said. Get in? Is this girl crazy? For all I know, she could be kidnapping me. However, I step in, followed by her. The person driving the car looks over at me.
"Hello, Aline." He says as he nods and smiles. He wore sunglasses and a black suit yet he looked very genuine. This guy's sending me so many signals!
Then, I look back to Cara.
"So, where are we going?" I ask politely.
"Oh, we're going to an ice cream parlor out of town." She says, smiling. Wow, she had everything prepared. I thought I could have some control over this date, but she has it covered. I don't know how I could have planned this. I can barely shop for people out of fear that they'll hate it. Forget about getting ready for a whole date before the other person even says yes.
For the trip there, we stayed relatively silent. I don't know why but I always get quiet when there are adults around. It just feels weird. Even if I'm not doing anything wrong, it worries me. And on top of that, my mouth is still tied whenever I look at this girl! Do I really like her? No, I'm messing with myself. I barely know her. I've always just been a little cautious about liking girls because my mom is very strict with loyalty to my significant other and whatnot. And that just makes it all worse! I still can't believe I'm doing this. Cheating on Akako!
"We're here!" Cara says cheerfully.
"Oh, alright!" I say as I open the car door and step outside. The shop looks very classy from the outside. I look back at her and we walk together into the shop. She finds a table and we sit down.
"So, hey!" She says.
"Hi," I say, clearly nervous.
"We haven't met in a while. It's funny to see that this is the next place we do meet." She says, closing her eyes and smiling innocently.
"So, where've you been for these three years?" I ask.
"I remember seeing you last around 6th grade."
She starts, "I moved for a while."
"We had to move in with my grandparents until my mom could find a job and then we moved back somewhere around our house so I could get to meet my friends again."
"Oh, that makes sense. The last time I remember seeing you was-" I pause and think. We both scootch to the edge of our seats and exclaim,
"-the night of the play!" at the same time.
"Yeah, I loved that play." I say.
"I really wish I could talk to you more," She said.
"I'm really glad we could chit-chat today."
"No, yeah! I really-hup-enjoy this whole thing." I say, still quite nervous.
"Stop tensing up, you know I can feel it right?" She says. God! I underestimated this girl. She is the most clueless person in the world when it comes to love, but the sharpest girl I probably ever knew.
"Really, though. Chill." She says.
"Yeah, sorry." I say, still nervous.
"Alright, what flavor do you want?" She asks. I look up at the screens in the room. I've always liked butterscotch. Ever since that day when I was six. I was with my sister and we got a cone together. I got whatever she was getting which was butterscotch at the time. She said it was amazing and I couldn't agree more.
"Butterscotch." I say confidently.
"Oh, I'll get a dulce de leche." She says.
"Come on!" She stands up and bounces cheerily up to the front of the store. I run after her.
As she opens her mouth, I start.
"One butterscotch ice cream, one dulce de leche ice cream; both in cones. Oh, and with cherries." I say, all in one go. I heard it was good to be sharp on dates. Even though I've had a girlfriend for a while, I never had a date, really. I turn to look at the girl; see if she was amazed at my insistent attitude. She just stares at me; mouth shaped like a tiny O. We walk over to the place where we take our foods and wait.
"So, where did you move?" I ask.
"California." She says.
"It was pretty nice, though. The weather was a slight issue from here but it was great."
"That's nice. I've actually gone to California once. Maybe when I was around six." I say. I try to catch her glance again only to see her being incredibly unimpressed.
"I also went to Cancun," I say.
"That's cool," She says.
"I swam with dolphins and did a bunch of crazy stuff. I even stayed in a resort!" I exaggerate. That all really did happen though. I would say it was pretty fun.
"That's pretty nice," She said, looking down; probably in pity.
"Two ice cream cones, dulce and butterscotch," The person says, throwing his hands out to show our ice cream cones. They look beautiful.
"Cash or card?" They continue.
"Cash," I say, quickly. I open my pocket and nestle my hand inside. I pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. My mom gave it to me saying I could share a few things with my friends. Look where that's going.
"Thank you," they say as they swipe it from my hands and Cara picks up our cones. As we walk back to our seat, I puff up my chest in utter confidence and look beside me expecting her to start blushing and holding my arm. Yet, she wasn't. She was still looking down like the glossy tiles on the floor were her date. Why do I even care? I don't even like her. I don't know. I sit down, kind of expecting her to look up at me with this devious grin. However, she just looks up at me innocently.
"You seem mad," She said.
"Did I do anything?"
"No, of course not," I say, starting to lick my ice cream. Guilt surges through me. I hate this feeling. I have to tell her, don't I? But- she'll think I hate her! Maybe. Either way, I can't see her. There's no way.
It starts to feel purple again, in the left side of my stomach. I gulp. Really hard.
"Um, hey." I say.
"Yeah?" She says, cutely. I massage my forehead, trying to calm myself down.
"Sorry to tell you so late, but I have a girlfriend." I say.
"Oh," She says, sounding more interested than disappointed.
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to go now." I say.
"Awww. Well, I'll see you later." She says, now slightly down.
"Listen, it's not your fault. It's just-" I get cut off.
"What's not my fault?" She asks. Does she even care? Does she? Or even worse. Was this not even intended to be a romantic date?
"Oh, it's nothing. Bye." I say, opening the door and taking another lick of my ice cream.
"Wait, Aline!" She says.
"You don't have a ride, do you?" She asks.
"No, I don't. I was going to check if I could get a taxi." I responded.
"I'll get you one. Until then, do you mind if we chill here for a while." She asked. Yeah! I-WAIT! What's happening? I don't really like this girl do I? She's obnoxious and she thinks she's so cool-I HATE HER! I think.
I sit down at the table, quietly.
We don't really talk until the taxi comes. I keep licking my ice cream. I want to talk, but I don't know what to talk about or how. I sit there for a while longer until the taxi comes.
"Alright, see 'ya!" I say, heading out the door.
"Bye," She says quietly. I think she thought I didn't hear.
I walk into the taxi and chirp him my address. I'll just tell my mom I was with my friends. This is such a weird first day of school, but it honestly wasn't bad.
My house is around 20 minutes away from the ice cream place. Oddly enough, I really enjoy being in a car. I almost feel sad when I have to leave, usually. I don't know why. I think it may be because I like to reflect, but I'm genuinely not sure. Or maybe it's that I don't like going outside much. Who knows? Who cares? All I know is that I was genuinely upset to leave that ice cream parlor.