by Hotcheri
“What? Are you serious?” Joanna’s eyes widened dangerously and she put a hand on her hip.
“I gotta go do something,” I lied.
Like maybe take a long, cold shower.
“You’re really blowing me off?” God. She did not sound happy.
I reached in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Rain check, babe.”
I almost fell out of the closet in my hurry to leave and collect my racing thoughts.
Thinking about CiCi when I was making out with Joanna was strange. Liking it was stranger. But wishing it could happen was just plain weird.
CHAPTER 11
turning point.
Celsi’s Point of View
My meeting with the Financial Aid officer at school lasted far longer than I thought it would. Usually, he just told me what I needed to know, exchanged a few pleasantries about the weather, and then I was free to go. I had no idea Mr. Johnson was such a hardcore Red Sox fan. Yup, you read right. A Red Sox fan. Meaning that he had kept me in his office for a full 20 minutes after our scheduled meeting simply because he wanted to talk about the recent game. And since I could never resist a chance to open my mouth...you know the score.
It was after 4pm when I finally managed to get away from Mr. Johnson and I arrived at Central Park out of breath, hoping that Luke hadn’t upped and left. Sure, I was only 20 minutes late, but I knew from experience that some guys just didn’t like to be kept waiting. Take Ahmed, for example. One night, the El Hamed family invited me out to a restaurant for dinner. Shazia took about ten minutes to get ready in the bathroom and Ahmed practically beat the door down.
Hopefully Luke isn’t that impatient. Because the ice cream offer definitely sounded good, it could be just the thing to lift me out of the dark cloud that Mr. Johnson had set over my head. All that I could think of as I walked to the park was what he’d had to say. Tuition at Dalton was being raised but the organization that contributed to my fees wasn’t planning to increase the amount of money it already forked out. Therefore, it fell to Aunt Kelly to pay the remainder. I cringed, holding my jacket shut as I thought about it. I wasn’t relishing telling her the news. We were already struggling right now, even with Aunt Kelly working two jobs to support us. Maybe I’ll have to drop out. I wasn’t looking forward to that prospect. I’d been a Dalton student since 8th grade and while I didn’t consider myself too good for public school, I was a little nervous about making new friends and leaving my old ones behind. Change is good! Telling myself that didn’t work. Then stop thinking about it, Celsi. Happy thoughts! Unfortunately, I didn’t have too many happy thoughts to grab hold of.
I spotted Luke, who was bent over a patch of grass by Turtle Pond, immediately and smiled thankfully. He’s still here! That was a happy thought right there!
When Luke texted me in the middle of Math, asking me to meet him here, I had actually heaved a sigh of relief so loud that my teacher actually laughed at me and said that the problems on the board weren’t that hard. How was she to know that after the drama at the deli, I had stayed up most of the night, sure that Luke would never talk to me again and that he would tell everyone what an insanely overprotective cousin I had? Nobody but Shaz, Robyn and Mrs. Williams knew about Nate’s violent outbursts and I definitely hadn’t wanted Luke to witness them firsthand. I especially hadn’t thought he’d bear the brunt of one. So when I got the text I could barely contain myself.
As for the electrified eye contact at lunch- I had stored that in my mental scrap book of Luke moments (yes, I do have one) to go over when I was alone. I didn’t think Luke noticed anything out of the ordinary during that intense look (I doubt it, boys were so oblivious) but what I had felt send a jolt right through me. And even though it meant nothing, I intended to remember it. Maybe it meant something, Celsi. Maybe he felt what you felt too!
Shaking my head to get rid of these distracting thoughts, I made my way over to Luke, who was still scrutinizing the ground intently, a wooly hat jammed over his unruly hair. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts, looking unbelievably cute as a preoccupied look flitted over his face, that he didn’t even notice I was there till I spoke.
“Did you drop something?” I asked cheerfully, stuffing my hands in the pockets of my jacket as I stopped beside him.
He glanced quickly up at me, his eyes widening, and stared blankly at me for a second. Deer caught in headlights. Unfortunately, even with such a vacant look on his face, he still looked sexy. Does he ever not look sexy? How infuriating! “What?” he said, snapping out of it.
I gestured at the ground by his Converses. “Well, you’re staring at the ground so I thought maybe you dropped something,” I elaborated, shrugging. “A pen. Piece of candy. A ring.”
Once again, my inability to just stop talking got the better of me as I babbled on while Luke just looked at me expressionlessly.
He shook his head. “Nope, I didn’t drop anything,” he replied, looking down at his feet.
I twiddled my fingers inside my pockets. Okay. “So what’s interesting you over here?” I asked, moving to look over his shoulder. “You see a bunch of fairies?”
My hair accidentally brushed against his cheek and he recoiled visibly, taking a step back. I shot him an embarrassed glance. Didn’t I wash my hair this morning? “I’m sorry, I should probably just tie it back,” I apologized, searching for a hair tie. I usually had one conveniently on my wrist but today I clearly remembered thinking I wouldn’t need one. Then this happened. Only to you, Celsi.
“No, it’s okay. I’m just- it’s nothing.” Luke sighed as he finished ‘explaining’ himself. “I’m looking for a four leaf clover.”
That was unexpected.
I raised my eyebrows. “Why?”
“They’re lucky. You know what each leaf represents?” Luke asked.
I shook my head, even though Luke couldn’t see because he was avoiding looking at me for some unknown reason. I mean, sure, I had a pimple on my forehead, but it wasn’t that disgusting! Talking to someone without eye contact makes me feel very nervous.
“No. What?”
Counting off on his fingers, Luke said, “The first is for hope, the second is for faith, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck. And- I figure I need all the luck I can get right now.”
I guess you learn something new every day, huh? Still, I wasn’t sure that a single weed could give you luck, otherwise everyone would be scouring the earth for one, me included.
“It’s New York City in March, Luke. You’re probably not gonna find one,” I said slowly, hating to shoot down his dream.
Luke bit his lip, looking up at the sky. “I’m just gonna keep a lookout anyway. You never know, I might get lucky.” He finally looked at me, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “You ready for some all you can eat ice cream?”
I smiled back at him. Now we were getting to the good stuff. “For sure!”
“Let’s go.”
There was a Baskin Robbins on Madison Avenue and we started walking, heading out of the park.
“You’d think with all the weeds here that you’d be able to find at least one four leaf clover, right?” I asked Luke, who was apparently not in a real talking mood.
“Yeah,” he said. “Wrong place, wrong time, I guess.”
Nipping my bottom lip between my teeth, I tried a new track of conversation. “Ice cream in this weather, I hope we don’t get brain freeze.”
My lips were chapped from the brisk wind that whipped around my face. It was a chilly day.
“Uh huh.”
Okay, Luke was definitely acting strange. On the other occasions we hung out, he talked a lot more than this. So why the one word answers today? I thought I had an idea why and my heart sank all the way to my boots.
The Nate factor.
Of course. Bitterly, I realized that Luke had been scared off by Nate, regardless of asking me to meet him. In fact, he was probably trying to find the most tactful way to tell me that he didn’t
want to hang out with me anymore without it seeming like it had anything to do with Nate or what had happened on Saturday.
Way to go, Nate. Mess up my new friendship with a nice guy.
I sighed silently. Maybe it was for the best. Nate had practically threatened Luke, after all. I didn’t want him getting hurt just because he was my friend. I snuck a look at him while avoiding a puddle at the same time. His eyes were glued to the ground, reminding me of the intense concentration of a toddler just learning to walk.
“I’ll help you keep a lookout for a four leaf clover,” I offered.
“That’s okay. I think that even if I found one, it wouldn’t help me.”
He sounded so dejected that my heart constricted. The front that he put on to the world was just a front. I could tell he was really scared. What could I do to help him? Cheer him up.
“You know what else is considered lucky?” I asked, calling on my vast array of nonsensical facts for help.
Luke didn’t even raise his eyes up to look at me. “What?”
“Horseshoes.”
“Huh.”
Not a positive response. Undaunted, I went on. “Or you could find a rabbits foot. But be careful it’s not cursed, like the one on Supernatural.” I grimaced, remembering the episode when Sam had found a rabbits foot. Bad things happened. “Turns your good luck to terrible luck.”
“I think I’d probably have a better chance of finding a four leaf clover than those things.”
I nodded. True. I hadn’t seen that many rabbit feet lying around NYC lately. “Well, whichever comes first works, right?”
“Yeah.”
The guy really didn’t want to talk. We walked the rest of the way to Baskin Robbins in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
I couldn’t even think of anymore small talk and I wished I had paid more attention to Mr. Johnson about the Red Sox game because I would have asked Luke about it, I was that starved for conversation.
***
Once inside Baskin Robbins, I perked up a bit as I looked around at the different ice cream flavors. You can’t be inside an ice cream joint and not feel good about yourself. Even if Luke was here to dump me as a friend (and the way things were going, it certainly seemed that way) at least I’d have good memories of our last hangout. Ice cream and a hot guy sitting in the same booth. Sounded like a win-win situation to me!
Luke approached the girl behind counter, whipping off his hat and giving her the full force of the Luke Astor charm. I hung around behind him, trying not to feel jealous that he was actually making eye contact with this girl but not with me. I failed miserably.
“Hey, welcome to Baskin Robbins! Can I take your order?” the girl said perkily. We were the only people in the restaurant. I guess most people didn’t eat ice cream in March.
“Hi, yeah, we’d like to try the 31 original flavors,” Luke told her. The smile on the girls face slipped.
Looking incredulous, she said, “At once?”
“Yeah, that’d be great.” Luke nodded, resting his arms on top of the counter. “I mean, you don’t wanna come down here again, do you?” he asked me, throwing a glance in my direction over his shoulder.
I shook my head. Even if I had wanted to come back, it wasn’t likely that I would. Not with Luke, anyway. I had a strong feeling that after today, he was going to go his way and I was going to go mine. A few weeks from now, our brief friendship would seem like a dream. Therefore, if there was free ice cream to be had, I intended to have it while I could. “No.”
Luke turned back to counter girl, a smile on his face. “Yeah, so we’d like 31 scoops, please.” Counter girl looked totally baffled. I didn’t blame her. If a guy like Luke came up to my counter at the deli, asking for 31 tuna subs, I would have the exact same expression on my face. “You guys have soft serve cups here, right?”
Counter girl nodded, her eyes never leaving Luke’s face. “Yeah, we do.”
“Great, coz it’s way too cold for cones.”
I actually thought the weather was just right for cones. The ice cream wouldn’t melt. But then I thought about sitting in a booth with 31 ice cream cones and bit back a giggle. That would just be stupid.
“Let me get this straight,” counter girl started, folding her arms over her chest and cocking her head to the side. “You guys want to eat 31 scoops of ice cream at once? Really?”
“Yeah,” Luke rubbed his chin. “Don’t people usually come in here, wanting to try the 31 flavors?”
“Well, sure,” counter girl conceded. “But not at one go!”
“Me and my friend are very daring when it comes to food,” Luke said, inclining his head in my direction. “And we won’t take as long as you think.”
Hesitantly, counter girl backed away from the counter. “Can you just wait one minute? I think I should ask my supervisor.”
She hurriedly walked through a door marked ‘employees only’ and Luke leaned back against the counter, examining his fingers minutely.
“You should have told her it’s part of a publicity stunt,” I said musingly. “Like maybe for a radio show and we need to eat 31 scoops to win a prize.”
Luke snorted with laughter and despite myself, my heart raced faster. He had a very nice laugh and this was the first time he’d used it today. “Nice one. You can tell her supervisor that, I bet he’ll believe you.” His eyes flickered up to mine. “You have a really believable face.”
I’ll take that as a compliment- I think.
“Uh, thanks,” I said, wondering exactly what that was supposed to mean. What was a believable face?
“No problem.” Luke looked away, focusing his attention on the menu just as the supervisor bustled in, counter girl in tow.
“Good afternoon, youngsters,” he boomed, even though he wasn’t a day over 25 himself. “I hear you want to try our 31 flavors. At once.”
“Yeah, we do.” Luke stared at the supervisor, a slightly exasperated look on his face. “I don’t get what the problem is.”
“Oh, no!” Supervisor clasped his hands theatrically in front of him, shaking his head. Someone took drama in high school. “It’s no problem at all! It’s just a highly irregular request. Most people come in for a scoop or two, not 31.”
Luke shrugged, reaching into the front pocket of his slightly baggy jeans. “We’ll pay cash,” he said, pulling out his wallet.
Supervisor shook his head so fast that his gold earrings jangled. “It’s not about the cash, son! It’s-,’ he started.
I was starting to think that the guy had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently Luke felt the same. “Look,” he said, cutting into the supervisors monologue. “I didn’t want to tell you this because I don’t like talking about it, but I’m working on my bucket list.”
Supervisor raised one perfectly tweezed eyebrow. “Bucket list?”
Is there an echo in this room?
“Yeah,” Luke said, leaning forward and lowering his voice. “I just got diagnosed with an inoperable aneurysm and I’m trying to live out the rest of my days doing the things I always wanted to do. And eating all the original flavors of Baskin Robbins- that’s one of the things.” Luke pasted a miserable look on his face as I narrowed my eyes. Inoperable aneurysm? All for ice cream?
Counter girl gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth as she gawked at Luke. “That’s so awful, I’m so sorry,” she breathed. “My granddad had an aneurysm, too.”
“Thanks,” Luke said to her, then focused on the supervisor. “So, can’t you let a guy’s wish come true?”
I swear, Luke gave the two Baskin Robbins employees a puppy dog expression and just like that, counter girl was sold.
“Please just let them buy the ice cream, Mr. Knight,” she pleaded.
Mr. Knight flicked his blond hair back and closed his eyes dramatically. “Oh, alright.”
“Thanks,” Luke said, grinning triumphantly at me over his shoulder.
Supervisor sighed. “I must be getting soft in my old age.
” Really? “Enjoy your ice cream and good luck with your list.”
He left through the ‘employees only’ door and counter girl stepped up.
“I’m so sorry to hear about your aneurysm,” she said as she rang up the cash register and took the money from Luke. “You know what; I’ll just bring the ice creams to you.”
Wow.
“Really? That’d be great, thanks!” Luke said effusively, a laugh in his voice. I bet he loved how he was taking advantage of this poor, naïve girl. Don’t believe everything you hear, sweetie.
“Give me just a few minutes,” counter girl said, turning to the ice cream machine.
“You wanna go sit down?” Luke asked me, gesturing at a booth. I nodded and we walked over and sat down, me on one side, Luke sprawled directly opposite me. He still looked very pleased with himself, a Cheshire cat like expression on his face.
I brushed a strand of hair out of my eye and fixed him with a look, our eyes meeting directly for the first time that day. “That whole inoperable aneurysm story- that was not cool.”
Luke grinned smugly. “It worked though, didn’t it?”
A valid point, but not one I had wanted him to make. Boys and their logic. “Yeah, it worked, but now that girl thinks you could die any second.” I glanced over at the counter, where counter girl was feverishly scooping ice cream into soft serve cups. “I mean, you’ve actually got her bringing us our ice cream to our booth! They don’t usually do that!”
Luke shrugged like it was nothing. I guess to him it was nothing. He was probably so used to people being at his beck and call that he didn’t realize how rare it was that someone who worked at a place like this would offer to bring an order to the customers table. It had never happened to me before.
“That’s why I’m going to tip her,” he explained, an amused look on his face at my indignation. I subsided. Well, if that was the case...
“Oh. Okay, then.” There was an awkward silence which I decided to fill with one of my inane questions. “Did you end up beating Halo?”