Chocolate milk, in my opinion, solves a lot of problems.
Maybe not death. Or world hunger. I mean, it could solve world hunger. No. World thirst.
I try to imagine living on chocolate milk for the rest of my life.
I shake my head when I can't fathom ever doing that. I love chocolate milk, I do. But forever? No way Jose.
But chocolate milk solves enough problems. Which is exactly why I'm getting some for one of my best friends.
I lean my bike against the side of the cafe, kicking up the stand for extra measure.
No one's going to take my bike, right? I hope they won't. No one's that mean though.
I mean, come on. Taking someone's bike? Not cool.
I pat Tilly, my bike, on the handle bars where tassels hang from it. "Be right back."
I spin around on my heel and make my way over to the door.
I push through the glass door that leads into Classy C's and the cold air hits me like my best friends room stench whenever I go in there. Goose bumps pop up all over my arms and legs and I shiver as I look around.
Classy C's is very packed. There's older people everywhere. I keep forgetting that I'm one of those older peoples now.
I mean, where has the time gone? 19 years. I'm nearly ready for my deathbed!
A girl runs up to me. A little girl wearing a pink tutu and a big smile on her face. Those princess heels that my mom used to get me from Walmart every Christmas on her feet. The left heel on the right and the right heel on the left.
"Hi Thea!" She smiles, her two front teeth missing.
"Hi Soph-" she scrunches her eyebrows "I mean princess Sophia!" She smiles real big and bounces on the balls of her feet.
With a big lisp she says "I brought you this!" she holds up a big ice-cream cone with melting pink ice cream plopped right in the middle.
I smile and take it from her hand and she looks up at me with expectant eyes. I turn the cone over in my hand. Two tiny sharp bites about an inch and a half apart are imbedded into the soft pink ice cream.
I can't eat this. I'm gonna have the collywobbles later on if I do.
Or, if you will, a stomachache.
I pretend to take a bite on the blank side and then pretend to chew then pretend to swallow. I look back at princess Sophia to see her frowning.
What do you want from me, child!?
She puts her hand on her hip "You can't fool me. I got a 62 on my spelling test last week and I know a F-O-N-Y when I see it,"
I stare at the ice cream and then back at her then back at the ice cream then back at her.
"I can't..." I look down at princess Sophia and frown at the big doe eyes she's giving me. I can't hurt her feelings, if I do my feelings are gonna be hurt.
She crosses her arms and pouts, tears starting to well in her eyes and her bottom lip beginning to quiver.
I sigh and start to take a bite of the ice cream when a women's voice calls out from behind princess Sophia.
"Sophia! Stop bothering Thea. Come over here" I look up to see Mrs.Cameron sipping her coffee and talking to Mr.Cameron, every now and then glancing at Sophia.
I already bit into the ice cream.
I'm lactose intolerant.
"Mommy! I told you to call me princess Sophia!" She whines, stomping her little heel on the ground.
I drop the ice cream into a trash bin next to me and scoop princess Sophia into my arms. She wraps her little arms around my neck and buries her head in my hair, hiding her face.
I rock her back and forth "Shh princess Sophia before the wicked witch gobbles you up."
She sits back in my arms and stares at me wide eyed, her hands on my shoulders. " Gobble me up?" She sniffles and wipes her nose with the back of her hand.
I close my eyes and nod, pointing behind her. She turns her head to look where I'm pointing.
Her mom.
She turns back to me, jaw almost on the ground. She leans in real close to my ear and whispers "I knew she was a witch when she told me she flies people around the world in a big white bird" she shakes her head in disbelief.
She may be thinking of an airplane. Or maybe her mom really is a witch?
"Your mom flies people around in a big white bird?" She nods "your moms a witch" I say, feeding into her big imagination as I turn to stare at Mrs.Cameron.
I look back at princess Sophia and furrow my eyebrows. "Do you think..." she trails off. She holds up her hands and stares at them and I do to.
She suddenly twists in my arms and pushes her hand out towards the Classy C employee trying to fix the coffee machine, banging on it with his fist and cursing under his breath.
His face is red and his eyes narrowed in concentration. The coffee machine starts to make a low humming noise.
Then...
Boom!
Something flies off of it and smacks Mrs.Cameron right in the head.
She slaps her hand to her forehead and lets out an inhuman noise that I can't even begin to describe.
I look back to the red faced guy who's eyes are now as wide as circles, staring right at Mrs.Cameron.
I look down at princess Sophia who's already looking at me.
I set her down on the floor when she starts going limp in my arms.
I'm pretty sure she's faking but I keep watching.
She puts the back of her hand on her forehead and slowly makes her way over to her mom as if she were drunk, tripping over her own two feet and swaying whenever she stops.
She looks back at me every now and then to make sure I'm still watching and I stare at her, concerned.
She stands next to her mom, looking at her. Mrs.Cameron must have been given an ice pack because she holds one to her forehead.
Mr.Cameron is off to the side talking to the manager, the guy who caused the breaking of the coffee machine next to them, looking down at his feet with a face as red as a strawberry.
But we all know who caused that coffee machine to break and it wasn't a prepubescent teen with pimples for days. No. It was the witch Sophia.
I glance at the once princess now witch who's long forgotten about what just happened and is now playing on her moms phone.
I shake my head in disbelief and walk over to the counter.
Chiara, my bestie or at least one of them, stands behind the counter looking bored out of her mind. I hadn't noticed her here when I walked in but considering all that magic I just saw, can you blame me?
"Hello Miss Chiara Noor!" I wave when I make it right in front of the counter that separates us.
Her chocolatey brown eyes light up when she sees me and she smiles "Hey there Miss Carder! Same as usual?" She starts typing into the screen before I even nod.
"A chocolate milk please!" She shouts out to the back. Chiara turns back to me, that big smile that I love so much plastered on her face.
"Love your outfit, as usual" she says, scanning my outfit from top to bottom.
I look down at my outfit. I'm not wearing anything cute. Just my flare jeans and a pink sweater. There's a pink spiral bracelet on my wrist and I had pulled my hair back with a pink headband to math my heart converse and my sweater.
I look back at Chiara and smile "Stop the press" I wave her off and she laughs. "I can say the same thing to you".
She looks down at the green collared shirt and black jeans she has to wear for work. "Oh you mean this? Just sum sum I threw together. Nothin special".
Someone sets my chocolate milk on the table and I grab it. (Of course not drinking...duh).
I'm really dreading later on when my tummy starts hurting. I don't regret taking a bite of that ice cream though because it put a smile on princess Sophia's face. To bad she's a witch now though.
"Have a good day bestie! See you at Elyse's house later?" She raises an eyebrow.
I nod absentmindedly and then turn around with my chocolate milk, looking down at the bubbles. I blow on them, watching as one of them mixes with another bubble and creates one big one.
I start to walk over to the table with the straws and napkins when my shoe gets caught on an uneven flooring and I start to loose my balance and fall forward, the cup flying from my hand. I catch myself with my other foot and grasp my chest, letting out a deep breath.
Whew! That was a disaster waiting to happen. I look back at the uneven floor and glare. "That was not nice" I wag my finger at it and turn back around.
I look down at my hands when I realize I don't have anything in them. "Huh" I scratch my head and look around, bending down to look under the tables. I walk forward, scanning the floors with my eyes when suddenly, I crash into something big.
Their hands grab onto my biceps and I sturdy myself by putting my hands on their chest.
I start patting their chest, my eyes widening. "Rather...well built if I do say so myself." I pat their bicep "muscles" I snort "your like chef from total drama island..." I trail off when I look up at the face that belongs to the person I'm currently bicep squeezing.
"Holy mother of all strawberries" I gasp.
This man is no ordinary man, no. He's better. He's gorgeous. Little rougher around the edges but other then that, gorgeous.
He stares down at me with his dark eyes and furrowed eyebrows. His lashes are long and thick and sorta lye on his cheeks. His tanned skin stands out in the afternoon sunlight and his floppy dark hair falls into his pretty eyes. He's dressed in all black except for his shirt which is white. He's also wearing Black sweats and black nikes. Little diamond studs are in his ear and silver rings are on some of his fingers along with a silver chain dangling from his neck.
His beauty is enough to cover up the heavy bags under his eyes and his chapped lips. You can only see it when your up close but he looks like he's loosing weight by the way his cheekbones sharpen and slightly look sunken in.
I lean in closer to read some of the teeny tiny tattoos on his neck. He puts his finger on my forehead and pushes me back.
I blink once. Twice. Thrice. Before looking up into his eyes which are filling with so much annoyance I have to take a step back before he infects me.
"You got chocolate milk on my fucking shirt." he grumbles lowly.
I look down at his shirt. I didn't even notice the big dark stain on it.
I should've pulled out my sarcasm and said something like 'nah, I got water on your shirt' or 'way to be captain obvious.' but that may have not really defused the situation.
"Oh," I cringe "that's gonna be hard to get out" I shake my head, thinking about all the quarters he'll have to use to completely get that stain out.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to though. I jus tripped and fell and then BAM! Chocolate milk all over your shirt. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't actually going to drink it."I say, nodding.
He raised his eyebrow. "How would that make me feel any better?"
"I dunno. I just thought if you knew that I wasn't actually going to drink the chocolate milk, you'd feel better about me spilling it all over your shirt," I say, squinting at the big stain on his white shirt.
"Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth? Did you stop to think about what you just said?" He said calmly, looking into my eyes as if trying to find something.
I look down and start to pick at my nail. "I'm sorry. I know I sound like a real dumb-butt and I'm sorry I spilled chocolate milk on your shirt...I really didn't mean to. Like seriously. I would give you my shirt but ya know..." I gesture towards his muscles.
He just continues to stare at me.
It's not creepy or anything but it's making me feel awkward so I continue talking.
"But I can go get you an apron or something from the back to cover it up?" I tilt my head, looking up at him.
"It's fine" he mumbles, looking down at his stained shirt.
"I'm going to help you anyways. Can't have you walking around with a poop colored stain on your shirt." I say, already rushing over to the mini stand and grabbing the brown paper towels. I start to unravel them quickly, the feeling of his eyes on me real intense, but I loose my grip on them and drop it. It starts rolling away from me, unraveling more paper towels as it moves and I race after it.
Then a shoe reaches out and stops it. I'm relieved until I see who it is. The muscled guy I spilled chocolate milk on.
"I said it was fine," he says slowly. He picks the roll of paper towels up and rips some off before holding it out. I don't at first realize what he wants me to do until he shakes it a little bit and clears his throat. I rush forward and take it from his hand, rushing back over to the mini table.
I almost trip again when I step on the plastic cup but hands grab my waist and pull me back. I tilt my head back and stare up at the guys eyes void of any expression.
I laugh nervously and step out of his reach. When he doesn't laugh I feel the awkwardness of this situation.
I don't let my eyes water even though they really want to. Takes a butt load of strength to hold back tears when you really just want to let it all out.
I blame my period. Not that I'm on it. But I should be soon. Is there a such thing as post sensitivity before it's actually your time of month?
If there's not, then...well...that's a dang shame now anit it?
"I'm sorry. Okay? You don't have to be so mean. It's really not my fault, if you ask me. I blame global warming."
I blame everything that's a small inconvenience in my life on global warming.
No more toast left? Global warming.
Tripped and spilled chocolate milk on some random hot guy? Mhm. Gotta be global warming.
It's raining on my birthday instead of snowing? Well. Since my birthday is in December that might just be global warming...
"What are you even talking about?" he questions, tilting his head to the side.
I shake my head and stare off into space, trying to think of an answer to that question. "Bupkis," I eventually say.
I look down at my feet. Bupkis? Come on now, Thea! You could have at least said zilch! Or nada! Or...or...diddly-squat!
Come on, Bupkis? Do I even know what that means? Oh right, nothing. Absolutely nothing.
...maybe goose eggs.
No that wouldn't work...
I wonder what he would do if I just fainted. Maybe he would be so kind to walk away and leave me to lay sprawled on the floor with my leg bent at an awkward angle.
I sigh. Only a girl could dream.
I heard that a good way to get out of an awkward situation is to start laughing so that's exactly what I do.
Until I realize he's not gonna laugh with me and just stare with that blank expression of his.
I stop laughing.
Have I blown it with my weird words already? And my weird sudden laughing?
I peak up at him only to see the corners of his lips trying hard not to turn upwards and his eyes soft.
If he can smile this off then I can to. A smile touches my lips as I say "Althea Henry Rose Carder" I hold out my hand.
His eyebrows shoot up and I scrunch mine and tilt my head. I'm confused.
"The government name huh?" At first I think he's making fun of me to be mean and I frown, slowly retracting my hand but then he smiles an actual genuine smile and I know he's only messing with me. Playfully.
I smile real big as he takes my hand in his and when he releases it the heat of his touch still lingers.
"Lorenzo Keanu Alveraz," he says then adds "if we're using government names,"
"Well you can call me Thea if you really want to" I say, acting as if I was really thinking about it.
"Oh yeah?" He raises an eyebrows
"Oh yeah" I smile.
"Well you can call me Enzo...if you really want to," he raises one of his thick dark eyebrows, running his tongue over his bottom lip.
I smile, trying to play off the feels I'm getting. I try real hard not to look at his lips and thankfully, I succeed.
Then suddenly...
My eyes widen and my lips part when my stomach starts to grumble then hurt. Super super bad. I put my hand on my belly and rub it, squeezing my eyes shut.
Enzo quirks one of his eyebrows in confusion. "Althea?"
"Oh lord. " I shake my head and bite my lip, bending down to rest my hand on my knee. That ice-cream is starting to kick in.
"You good or...?" He trails off.
Dang this hurts like the dickens. I knew I shouldn't have ate that darn ol ice cream. But then again, it would have hurt Sophia's feelings.
I look up at him breathing heavily.
Then stop.
I stand up straight and start to walk pass him when he grabs my arm. I look back at him, wondering why he looks so confused. My stomach doesn't hurt anymore so I have no idea why he's looking all
bumfuzzled for.
"Hm?" I tilt my head.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"To get another chocolate milk of course" I say. He nods slowly then rubs the back of his neck. "You want to sit with me over there?" I point to an empty booth and he nods.
Maybe he just really wants a friend. I love making new friends.
I smile and grab his hand as we walk over to the counter to order another chocolate milk.
♡︎♡︎♡︎
First chapter done woohoo!
Im glad I wrote the first 9 chapters on paper so the first couple of chapters will be posted back to back although I like being three ahead.
I was looking up funny words just to add to Althea's vocabulary. Most of them won't be in this book but I thought I could share with y'all a word I found or something so the word I found is....
Bumbershoot: Umbrella!
Unedited
Word Count: 2957