it was now half 6, we left the bench and walked to the nearest ice cream place. we ended up going near the beach because they had the best sorbet there.
'yo kelea i was wondering what this photos were on your wall' marcel asked as he turned around
i wasn't paying attention to him as i was looking at the sunset.
'hey what's up' he asked, walking over to me.
i stayed silent, watching the sunset whilst leading my arms against the wooden rail.
'yeah sorry i just can't help myself' i said, laughing and looking at him.
'yeah it's beautiful' he said staring back at me. 'are sunsets special to you?' he asked as he moved closer to me.
i sighed.
'when my mom and dad divorced, it was a hard divorce. it was difficult to see your parents fall out of love you know? you saw them share a bed, drive to places together and be with each other 24/7 but then learn it was all an act for you is...hard to accept to say in the least. so they split up. my dad promised me that whatever happened, he would still take me out. when i had days with him, we never agreed on what we could do together so we just say on the beach. for a long time. sunrise to sunset. but then something happened between my parents and i never saw my dad again. so now whenever i see a sunset, i expect my dad to be there by my side but he's not.' i said reluctantly, i could feel my tears race down my face and a lump bombarding my throat. 'i'm sorry, i'm a train wreck' i said, laughing at myself. 'it's stupid, honestly'
marcel held my shoulders and turned me around to face him.
'kelea, don't ever apologise for your feelings. don't bottle it up and don't ever feel ashamed of crying' he assured me and held me tight.
'abuelita says that in order to feel better, you have to feel sad'
i hugged him tighter and dried up my tears.
'well abuelita's right, thank you marcel' i said, holding his hands.
'and in order to feel better, you have to eat ice cream too' he said and laughed.
i nodded and took his hands, he lead to me the ice cream parlour and we ordered and sat down.
'banana ice cream? what the hell are you doing' i made fun of him
'well have you even tasted it?' he raised his eyebrows
'no because i know what tastes good and what doesn't.'
he looked at me with a 'bitch shut the fuck up' look and said 'just taste it.'
he pushed the ice cream towards me and before i could taste it, he pointed it to my nose.
'brooo now all i smell is crappy banana ice cream' i said as i laughed, wiping it off
'that's what's you get for making fun of me, you and your mango sorbet can go to hell'
'we'll see you there babe' i replied as i winked.
he laughed at me 'when we were watching the sunset i was gonna ask you a question'
'go for it'
'what were this pictures on your wall, i was looking at them while you were getting changed'
'i used to model a few months ago'
'how come you stopped'
'i don't know, i was being dumb and didn't wanna do it anymore but now i wanna go back to it. i mean i don't miss getting up early but i missed meeting new people and seeing myself on magazines and billboards at big stores i guess'
