Falling For Mr. Sundae | ✔

16. Beer Goggles

I expected the movie theater to be packed on Saturday, but not this packed. And not this early in the evening. I hoping to avoid the crowds.

I found the shortest line--which was still pretty long--and tried to figure out if I wanted to watch a comedy or a drama. My game of eeny-meeny-miny-moe was interrupted when a boy, who looked to be about six, ran into me.

"Excuse me," he mumbled, shyly, looking up at me through his long eyelashes.

"Donnie," someone called out, grabbing the boy's attention.

When I glanced in the same direction I was surprised by who I saw. "Julian?"

His lips twitched into a smile, as did mine. I wondered if his was accompanied by a sunshine-y feeling in his chest.

"Hey, Elisa," he greeted once he was in front of me.

"Hey," I greeted back. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, it's a movie theater," he pointed out.

"Right," I said, slightly embarrassed.

That's not the first time I'd made a fool of myself in front of him--while sober, that is. Yesterday at work I kept messing up the simplest of tasks.

A family of four came in and ordered a sundae with no nuts. Absolutely no nuts, the woman said, Kasey's allergic.

Everything was going fine until Julian handed me the jar of sprinkles and our fingers brushed. It was like a tiny zap that wipe my memory clean. Causing me to forget the warning about no nuts. Thankfully I caught my mistake before the dessert got to the family.

It was so out of character for me. I've had crushes on guys before, but none that ever made me this crazy. Maybe this time was different because I was trying so hard not to get caught up. It wouldn't be fair to bring him to my mess.

Quickly recovering from my slip up, I asked, "Is this one of your brothers?"

The kid was almost completely hidden behind Julian, poking at the peeling cartoon character on his shirt.

"Yeah," Julian said, placing a hand on the boy's head. "This Donnie. The other two are up there,"--he pointed to two twin boys who looked to be about thirteen, standing in the next line--"Chris and AJ."

Donnie perked up when he heard their names and went off to stand in line with them. That left Julian and I alone.

The air between was awkward and I couldn't help but feel like it my fault. I was usually the talkative one, yet I couldn't think of a single thing to say. My mind was too busy thinking about nice he looked with his fresh haircut.

"What are you here to see?" He asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. The muscles in his arms tensed and I didn't like that noticed. I also didn't like the feelings I got when I noticed.

Everything was so mixed up in my head. It was like not being able to tell the difference between being hungry and being bored. Did I really like him or was I just lonely?

"I don't know yet," I replied, finally. "You?"

"The cartoon about the dragons." He pointed vaguely at the movie selections. "It was Donnie's request."

"Don't try to act like you don't like cartoons," I teased.

He chuckled. "Funny."

There was another beat of silence I didn't know how to fill. Surprisingly, he took the lead.

"Are you going to the party tonight?"

My brow creased. "Are you?"

"Why do you look so shocked?"