Paper Hearts

37

"Me, too," I said, from behind them, and the bride-to-be beamed at me.

"How about you two go treat yourselves?" she asked. "There's an amazing ice cream place down the street; I'll get you my credit card-"

"No, it's okay," I said quickly. "I'll pay."

Victoria shot me a somewhat concerned glance as her mother smiled and walked back upstairs, and I waved her away.

"Come on, Hemmings, it's ice cream. I know you don't have enough willpower to say no."

She rolled her eyes but conceded anyways, and I smiled to myself as we headed out the door and set off.

_________

The shop was called Two Scoops, and it was potentially the best ice cream I'd ever had in my entire life. I ate so quickly my stomach hurt, but I didn't care, because anything that tasted this good had the right to give you a stomachache.

Victoria, however, took her time. She dipped her spoon into the dessert, taking slow, deliberate bites, and I watched her, waiting for the consensus.

"Well?" I asked, after a while, "What are your thoughts?"

She shrugged. "It's fine."

I couldn't help but frown; this was completely unlike her.

"Just fine?" I asked, through a laugh. "Victoria, in the time that I've known you, you've never called ice cream just-"

"It's spectacular," she said then, her voice sharp and heated. "It's fantastic. Splendid. This ice cream is a goddamn gift from heaven. What else do you want me to say, huh? Do I have to justify every single action? Do I have to make up for something? What does it matter to you?"

I leaned back a bit in my chair; people all around us were beginning to stare.

"Whoa," I said, quietly, "Victoria, I'm sorry, I-"

"Forget it." she snapped, getting up and tossing her ice cream away. "It's fine. I...I'm just going to head back, okay? Thanks for paying."

With that, she swung her purse over her shoulder and stormed out, leaving the entrance bell ringing long after she'd left. The old lady in the florescent-pink T-shirt just stared at me, open-mouthed.

"Thanks for having us," I told her, getting up from my seat and placing a dollar in the tip jar. "See you soon."

And with that, I exited.

_________

It didn't take long for me to catch up to her-I was by her side in a few quick sprints-and when she saw me, she stiffened, slowing down ever-so-slightly.

"Hemmings, come on," I said, placing a careful hand on her shoulder. "What's up with you?"

"What do you think?" she retorted, and I was surprised at the fact that I didn't have to weasel anything out of her. "My mother's getting married to the man she cheated on my dad with."

"You've known that for a long time, though," I told her, and she nodded, gulping.

"Yeah, but now-" she paused, inhaling sharply. "Now it feels real."

Suddenly I understood, and I wanted to hold her more than anything else in the world, but the warning look she gave me was reason enough to hold myself from it.

"I'm sorry," I told her, not quite sure what else I could possibly say. "I'm so sorry, Victoria."

Her arm wrapped around my own, and she pulled herself into me, but then froze up against my chest and extracted herself again, and I couldn't hide the disappointment that resonated in my chest. I cleared my throat, and she shook her head.

"It's okay. It doesn't matter. I'm happy for her; I really am. I just-it's kind of hard, you know? I've only just seen her house for the first time, and it's so big and fancy and expensive, and she spends all the money she wants, and suddenly...it's like I'm just beginning to realize why she left us in the first place."

"For the money?"

She nodded, and my stomach lurched.

"Victoria, that's not true. That can't be true."

"Then why hasn't she talked to me in three years, Luke?" she demanded. "Why couldn't she go out of her damn way to even communicate with me? Why did she leave without a trace, and why did she only invite herself back into my life because she's getting married, and everything is about her?"

She was more upset than I'd ever seen her, and my entire chest ached at the way she looked at me, the agonizing pain in her gaze.

"Why, Luke?" she asked softly, a tear running down her face, and I held out my arms to her-this time, she stepped into them, nestling her head in the crook of my neck as I whispered,

"I don't know, Victoria." I rubbed her back, trying to convey that I knew what she was feeling, I knew it to the point that I felt it myself. "I don't know."

And we just stood there on the sidewalk as she cried into my shirt and I simply held her, breathing her in, holding her closer to me, so tight that if we were any closer we wouldn't be able to breathe, and we both silently cursed the world for what it had done.