Smile

Chance Encounter

I stared at him baffled. He what? You what? What?

"You're a really cool person and I like being around you", he said. Oh. My heart fell a little, why, I'm not sure. "Oh, and yes that girl was hot but she's nothing compared to you".

If it's even possible my heart got happy. My face was on fire and I'm pretty sure he could see how red my cheeks were.

A hand reached out and touched my cheek. Chris was smiling like the Cheshire cat. "It's so cute when you blush", he said pinching my already hot face.

I swatted at him, "Cut that out". It was hard to hold a straight face with him smiling the way he was.

Chris and I lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, listening to music. I was lying the right way and he was technically lying upside down, our heads only centimeters apart. The scene reminded me of a photo I'd seen on Facebook. Carefully I snapped a picture making sure not to get my arms.

"Hey!", Chris whined. "Warn me next time".

"Fine. Smile!", I said taking another picture.

I put my phone away and we lie there silently, not disturbing the other. It was an agreeable silence that I never wanted to end, but apparently my phone did. It buzzed notifying me I had a message. It was a text from Vanessa.

Go ahead and order pizza. Won't b home til l8.

Vanessa Wilks

K

Stephie

I tossed my phone back down by my side.

"What was that?".

"Vanessa. She just told me to order pizza for dinner".

"Cool".

"Yep".

The silence continued but it wasn't the same cozy silence as before. It was ruined.

"Let's do something", Chris said hopping up.

"Okay. Like what?", I asked turning over on my tummy.

"I have no idea", he said sitting on his bottom.

Just then I got an idea and of course it involved food. "You haven't seen much of LA have you?", I watched as Chris shook his head. "Come on. I'm gonna take you sight seeing".

Our first stop was a place called Bennie's. It's an old ice cream shop that my dad and I went to when we first moved here. They make all of their ice creams right there in the shop and take suggestions for new flavors and will even make a special just for you. Not many people go anymore because it's sort of out of the way but the quality is the best I've ever tasted.

The place was deserted as I expected it to be except for a two cars. One was an Audi, I'm sure, but the other I wasn't sure what it was. It was foreign that's for sure. Even the paint job was weird. It was an extremely shiny chrome that you don't see on cars.

Ignoring the cars we walked into the shop to find Gladys, a little brunette woman, mid sixties, wife Bennie and master ice cream maker was standing at the counter looking cute as ever.

"Hey, Ms. Gladys! How's old man Ben?", I said as I approached the counter.

She looked up with a smile on her face, recognizing my voice immediately. "Stephanie! Long time no see", she winked.

I laughed rubbing my shoulder, embarrassed, "I was here last week".

"That's a long time for you", she wasn't lying. She noticed Chris standing beside me and her face lit up with a knowing grin. Oh, no. "And you brought a friend!", she beamed. Oh, how embarrassing. "Ben! Stephanie's here and she brought a friend! A boy friend and it's not one those skateboarding whack jobs", the last part had to be about Euriah and Tank but she loved Ky.

I face palmed. Ben came out back wearing an apron still carrying his wooden spoon. "Old Stephanie! What brings you here?", he said pulling me into a hug. He may be old but he's strong as hell. Must be all that cream mixing.

"Just showing my friend, Chris here, the best spots in town", I said motioning to the quiet boy beside me.

Ben leaned closer to Chris and not even bothering to whisper said, "And she knows ALL the good spots to eat. Thin as a twig and eats like four grown men".

"Trust me. I know", Chris chuckled and Ben joined him soon after.

"Hey! I can hear you!", I whined. How rude.

"No one said you couldn't", Ben winked before walking back behind the counter. "So, what can I get ya, Steph?", he asked already knowing the answer.

"The usual, but make it double. This guy here has never tasted something so good in his life", I jammed a thumb in Chris' direction.

Ben gave me a thumbs up before disappearing into the back again. Chris and I sat in a booth in the corner of the restaurant. The group of guys I guessed the two cars outside belonged to were sitting in the booth next to ours. One caught my eye immediately. He had his hood up and was wearing dark designer shades and looked vaguely familiar.

It was weird because everyone else in the group were pretty much exposed like normal people. Must be some big shot.

"What are you looking at?", Chris whispered looking over his shoulder. "Oh, look it's Justin! Yo, Justin!", he called out waving.

It was Justin Bieber. Again. I groaned inwardly. Great. Just great.