Recklessly I grab hold of my hair and transfer it from one hand to the other as I messily wrap my brown hair into a high pony. I pace in place for a few seconds to get myself pumped up as I look into the mirror.
“You are gunna go out there and you are gunna run. You’re gunna run the best run of your life, and you will not give up at the end of the driveway to come back here and eat that vanilla ice cream you have in the freezer” I stop suddenly and stare at the freezer, hmmm “ No! No, no ice cream! You don’t even want it! Let’s go! See you later Timmy” My pet fish just stares blankly at me while I leave the apartment and lock it behind me.
I start running, and continue for a good amount of time, Hmmm you seem a little tired Sabrina, How bout some ice cream? “No, no, no inner voice, and besides, we are miles from home” I whisper breathlessly Well that shaved ice place you’ve always wanted to try is right there. I look up and find my inner self wasn’t lying to me, there it is, Get Shaved. “Okay damn it, you broke me down.” I whisper as I stop running and get in line. The line moves rapidly and I still have no idea what I’m going to get, oh god.
“Next” the lady calls. Next? What? Next, is that me? I point at myself and she nods, I turn around to make sure she isn’t nodding at someone else. Behind me is a boy with long hair and he is pretty tall. His hazel eyes shine at me, I can’t stop staring into them, they have taken me captive. He smiles at me and leans down to my ear.
“I think that’s you” He whispers, poking my shoulder and then pointing at the small window.
“Oh!” I slap my forehead “I’m such a ditz, um, I’ll just—“ I finish off my sentence by pointing to where I’m going to walk to next to the window.
“Hi—uh let’s see. Wha—what do you have?” I ask nervously
“Well we have everything in the board up there, or you can make your own, OR we have a secret menu with a ton of different selections like, Eye of Earl, Fireball, Funky Monkey, Vanilla Monster, Aloha Rainbow, Strawberry Fields Forever, Don’t Eat Yellow Snow, Dragons Breath, etc etc.” She lists them off nonchalantly smiling. I laugh a little, nervously leaning against the counter while looking behind me at the line of impatient people. The boy behind me raises an eyebrow questioningly, I just send him a little wave. Slowly I turn around with a forced smile on my lips.
“Could you, um, possibly tell me what’s in all of those?” I whisper to her. She kinda steps back a bit.
“Well yes ma’am I could, but I’m afraid it might take a while you see—“ I feel a hand on my shoulder and I turn to see the boy.
“What’s the problem?” He asks lightly.
“I’m kinda overwhelmed with all these names, I can’t decide what to get” I whisper nervously. He eyes me up and down for a second.
“Hmm, you look like a Monkey Brains kinda girl to me” he says while tapping his lips, he then quickly turns to the woman while grabbing his wallet out. “Two Monkey Brains please”
“Oh no, no” I say realizing what he’s doing “let me pay for myself”
“Don’t worry I got this” he holds his hand up to silence me, it doesn’t work.
“But we don’t even know each other’s names!” I make up an excuse.
“Well I’m Ellington”
“Wow… fancy name. I’m Sabrina” I smile at him and chuckle. I now allow him to pay since he had to be so persistent. We talk and hang out for a while. El was right, I am a Monkey Brains kinda girl.
“So...” I begin “I really loved getting to know you today El” I say as I finish typing my contact info into his phone.
“Oh I know you did” he smiles as he grabs his phone back.
“Hey!” I say kinda hurt.
“Haha what? It’s totally obvious you’re vibe-ing on me.” He smirks.
“Oh thanks…” I say sarcastically
“Well, I also thought it was kind of obvious that I’ve been vibe-ing on you too.” He smiles as he lightly places his hand on my jaw and he begins to lean in and close his eyes. OH SHIT NO. I duck out of the way and wind up at Ellington’s side. I can’t kiss El… at least… not right now, we should be dating first.
“Oh man it’s getting late, I should probably get home” I shed a fake smile at him as he realizes I’m no longer in front of him.
“Let me walk you home?” He questions.
“Sounds fantastic” I grin
El and I begin walking for a while, talking about everything… and I mean everything, Ellington brings up weird subjects… like chicken toes. Anyway, we hadn’t talked about one thing yet, until I eventually brought it up.
“What was your last relationship like?”
“Oh, well it was pretty serious…” he says pausing “we were together for four years” he stops by putting his hands in his pockets.
“What happened?”
“Well, she broke it off about a month ago… she thought I was in love with my best friend”
“Are you?” I ask eagerly but awkwardly.
“No! Not at all!” he looks over to me while shaking his head furiously and waving his hands in front of him. “And besides…” he calms down “I like someone else”
“Oh…” I say disappointed, I figured since he tried to kiss me he might like me, but I guess not.
“And since I brought it up—wait Sabrina, you’re not dating anyone right?”
“No” Cool, he is able to assume I’m not dating anyone, am I that terrible?
“—perfect, so do you think maybe you would want to be dating some one?”
“Well of course, doesn’t everyone?”
“Well then what would you think about dating me?” Someone get a defibrillator because I think my heart has stopped.
“Are you asking me out?”
“Basically… Yeah”
“That would be awesome” I smile and we intertwine our fingers just as we get to my apartment. I let go of El’s hand to find my keys, I feel around my hips for a while till I realize I have no pockets… wait shit I have no pockets?? I turn to El and smile nervously and chuckle. I walk up to my door and begin praying under my breath “God, Karma, Zeus, every one of you up there, please just like this door be open” I whisper while grabbing the handle and shaking it, locked damnit. I turn and see that questioning look on Ellington again, anxiously I lick my lips and turn back around discreetly shaking the handle furiously. “You guys couldn’t do this one thing for me?!” I whisper yell at the gods. I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to see Ellington.
“What’s the problem?” he asks lightly, woah Déjà vu.
“I kinda uh—forgot my key in my apartment” I laugh nervously “And my landlord is usually asleep by this time”
“Well you can stay the night at my place” he suggests smiling
“Really? You’d be cool with that?”
“Yeah! Definitely”
“Thanks El” I smile while holding his hand. He smiles back and begins to walk away, but I quickly stop him and pull him back to me.
“What are you doing Sab—“ I shut him up by kissing him tenderly on the lips. “Well I guess we could do that instead” He says once we part, and he goes back in for another.