Parfait

22: Sopa De Fideo

I'm walking in the streets of Washington with my friends, our bellies full after our lunch at one of our favourite Mexican restaurants in the city. The sun warms my skin in the same way the Sopa de Fideo brought warmth to my core. The passersby are walking mostly slowly, and so do we, as if we have all the time in the world in our hands. The air is filled with the scents of the various restaurants and bakeries, wafting together to create one pleasant aroma

My eyes fall on a small piercing shop and an idea pops into my mind. "I'm going to get a piercing."

Alex stops in his tracks. "Now?"

I nod. "Yeah, and it's going to be the first time I'm not going to need my parents' permission."

Olivia pats my shoulder. "That's a great idea, go ahead."

I slide my pink sunglasses a little lower down my nose. "You mean you're not getting one with me?"

Her fingers fly to her ear. "Yeah, my cartilage still hasn't fully healed and I want to wait before piercing my tragus."

"Cool, that means you can walk with me to your car, right?" Alex asks. "I was thinking I could take a nap before we leave."

Olivia nods. "I could use one, too. Kal, are you coming with?"

He sucks in his lips before shaking his head. "No, I'll stay with Sum."

I side-glance at him, certain he's only doing it to avoid Alex, but I don't say anything. We walk into the shop and a cool breeze greets us, feeling revitalized as ever after being under the sun for hours. There's a small lounge area with dark green leather couches, occupied by three people flipping through the pages of what looks like a portfolio.

"May I help you?"

My eyes shift to the left of the room, where a girl with pretty lilac hair is sitting behind a desk.

"Oh, yeah." I walk closer to her. "I'd like to get an ear piercing."

"Are you over eighteen?"

"Yeah, here's my ID," I say, looking around in my bag for it. I hear fingertips tapping against wood as I burry my hand to the bottom of my red bag, smiling when my fingers brush over the plastic material. I take my ID out and place it on the desk with a smile.

"Okay, cool," -the girl takes out a paper from the printer- "tick the place you want the piercing, then sign and you're done."

I look over at Kal. "Any ideas?"

He looks down at my ears, his olive-green eyes traveling from the one to the other.

I don't have many piercings, nor am I planning to. Not currently at least. Apart from the traditional lobe, I have one extra in both ears and one more on my left.

"How about one here," Kal says, his fingertips brushing over the middle of my right ear. "Are you cool with a cartilage piercing?"

I tick at the box next to cartilage as a response and hand the slip back to the girl.

"You can look at the earings right over there," she says, nodding towards the display in the space between two green doors.

I stand before it, my eyes scanning it for anything I might like. As endearing as the bigger glittery studs look, I search for something small.

Kal points to a plain black stud. "How about this?"

I shake my head and keep looking, until my eyes fall on a small pink diamond.

"This one," Kal and I say simultaneously.

"Yeah, it goes with your glasses," he agrees.

I go to the girl, show her the earring and pay. There's only one guy waiting by the time I'm done. Soon, both of the doors open so that guy and I share a glance before choosing our piercers. Mine is a pale guy with absolutely no piercings.