Sweeter Than Summer

11 | candy crush

"I remembered a few more," she said, once the couple had settled down at one of the tables. I watched as he offered his wife the first bite of his ice cream, and she reached out to interlace their fingers together. When he yanked the spoon from her mouth a minute later, she laughed.

Poppy nudged me with her elbow. "You didn't hear anything I just said," she stated.

"Something about remembering something?"

"I don't need to help you, you know."

"I appreciate it." She still looked doubtful. "I do! Really. I'm listening now. I promise."

"I asked if fluffernutter sandwich was on the list."

I grabbed my pencil. "Not yet."

"I liked that one."

"Me too."

I added it, then looked up again. The woman was kissing the side of her husband's mouth, and he smiled, turning his head just slightly so their lips met.

"Funfetti?"

"I thought that one wasn't as good," I said.

They were still kissing. I didn't mean to stare – it was probably definitely coming across as creepy, but, thankfully, they couldn't look away from each other. They were in love, you could tell; they had to resist the urge to smile whenever the other one did something normal, like wipe their face with a napkin or dribble ice cream on their fingers.

"Stop zoning out on me."

"Right." Poppy was watching me. "Sorry."

Wyatt stepped out of the freezer, and, even from my distance, you could tell that he had goosebumps everywhere, on his wrists, and his forearms. It had taken me this long to notice that Wyatt's forearms were attractive, even when cold.

"Uh," he said after a moment, "inventory is done."

"Thank you," I said, smiling.

Wyatt seemed surprised. "No problem."

The couple started to throw away their trash, and, seconds later, walked out. That's when I finally realized how strange it all was, the staring and the watching and the noticing. I must have been feeling a little unloved – that was the only explanation for the sudden stalkerness and my random bout of finding Wyatt's arms very, very nice.

"Pomegranate," I said suddenly.

Poppy raised her eyebrows. "Huh?"

"Pomegranate ice cream. I liked that one."

"Oh yeah, add it."

"And organic coconut vanilla bean?" Right after I said this, I took it back. "Nevermind, now that I think about it, that one was a dud."

"I liked it."

"But you also like salads and avocados and putting spinach in smoothies."

"At least I won't die of a vitamin deficiency."

Wyatt, from behind us, cleared his throat. "I liked it too."

Poppy pulled the pencil from my hand. "Majority rules."

I laughed, and let her add it to the end of the list in her short, neat letters. "Just because it's on the list doesn't mean it'll make the final cut," I pointed out, "and, besides, I already know that no matter what it is, it's getting a name change."

Poppy slid the paper back towards me. "Why?"

"Because I already came up with an award winning name," I said. "Sweeter than summer."