A single bet. Two people. And one month of free ice-cream.
Unspoken promises, heated gazes, and an inexplicable lust for each other. Will Tyler and Brandon confess their true feelings? Or will their playful banter and awkward moments dissolve into n...
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"Two ice-cream cones, please." I rubbed my hands together and blew on my palms as the chilly sea breeze blew through the open area. It was past midnight and there were only a few people around the beach. My body had warmed up after the two-mile walk from the hotel to find an ice-cream vendor. There was a cause for celebration tonight and what better way than to have ice-cream for dessert?
The man behind the counter yawned and stood up. Tyler was waiting for me back in the hotel room, and I tapped my foot, hoping that he would hurry up. His face reflected the neon lights decorated on his stall. At last, he took waffle cones out from the packet, picked up his scooper, and asked, "What flavors?"
Ah, the most difficult part. I looked at the assortment of flavors—vanilla, choco-chip, coconut, bubblegum, and on and on. There were so many flavors, yet after staying with Tyler, I'd tasted almost all of them. I smiled and shook my head. Each flavor brought back a different memory. From confessions to misunderstandings, ice-cream had been our companion all these months. Perhaps, all I needed was a new flavor. And from then on, it would always remind us of this night.
"Cookies & Cream," I said and handed him the money.
The cold weather ensured that the ice-cream didn't melt by the time I reached the hotel. I hurried into the lobby and took the elevator. The tiredness from the day caught up to me and I leaned against the elevator wall. I waited for the elevator door to open and stepped out into the hallway. As usual, there were sounds of laughter and loud conversations coming from behind the closed doors. It was almost like deja vu. Their party was going on nonstop from yesterday.
I turned the corner to the hallway that led to our rooms. My eyes were half-closed as I stifled another yawn. It took me a moment to register the figure standing outside my door at the end of the hallway. I opened my eyes wider and tried to make out who it was from the distance. It wasn't Tyler—the person was definitely taller than her. A baseball cap shadowed the face so it was hard to make out who it was. I quickened my steps towards the door and called out, "Hey?"
The person was visibly startled at my voice and snapped their hand back from the door. From that short flash of movement, I understood what they were holding. A phone. I glanced at the door to the hotel room, and as I suspected, it was slightly ajar. Tyler hadn't locked it when I'd left to get ice-cream. It had been open all this while. What was this person doing by holding this phone next to the door?
Hot anger swept through me. They pulled the baseball cap closer to their face and started to back away. "Stop!" I fisted my hands. Then I remembered that I was holding the ice-cream cones in my hands and loosened my grip.
I tried to see their face but it was useless. I couldn't even make out anything from the clothes—it was a basic black tee and blue jeans. And who owned those? Fucking everyone on Earth. It wasn't any of my friends—I would have figured out from a glance—it was someone I didn't know. Slender fingers, slightly feminine body...could it be a girl? I wasn't sure.
