Crescent

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"This is the best ice cream ever!" L exclaims, licking some ice cream off of her arm where it had dripped from the cone. The sun is just now setting and we have done nothing but shop until our hands fell off. On our way back to the car, she happened to point out a cute ice cream shop not too far out of our way, so we decided to stop and rest our feet. Luckily, the spring air is not too cold or hot so we were able to sit at one of the outside tables and people watch.

So far, I've noticed that the number of people belonging to Tom's group way outnumber those that don't. No one else tries to come at me like Tom did the first day I met him. Tom - or, more likely, Daniel - must have told them to ignore me. The thought of Tom makes me glance at my phone for probably the millionth time today, seeing all of the unanswered messages I've sent to him during this shopping trip. I can't help but fear something has happened to him.

Something like Derek.

I shake off the thought, deciding to check in on them later, and send L a look. "You got cookie dough ice cream, L. Doesn't it all taste the same?"

She gasps, "Riley June, how dare you disrespect this ice cream!"

Laughing, I throw my hands up in defeat against her serious tone. "I'm just saying!"

"Mhm, have fun with your diabetes over there."

Now it's my turn to be defensive, clutching my chocolate cone closer to my chest. The movement makes some of the dark chocolate ice cream drip onto the napkin strategically placed on my lap. "Hey! Do not talk that way about my cocoa extreme! I'll have you know, it is literally heaven in a cone." To prove my point, I take a large bite from the top, immediately tasting the brownie and fudge mixed into it. I moan in delight, but it quickly turns into a groan of pain.

"Ha! That's what you get! Well, that and diabetes." Just as L begins to gloat, the wind whips her hair into her cone, coating her dark and curly hair in ice cream. She lets out a distressed noise and quickly grabs the strands to lick them clean.

I roll my eyes at her antics as the brain freeze slowly fades. "Come on. We've got to get all this stuff put up."

We finish our ice cream and L finally asks the question that has been sitting on the edge of her tongue all day. "Are we going to the party tonight?"

The napkin catches wind when I try to throw it into the trash can and I have to scramble to snatch it before it floats off. I sigh. "I don't know if it is a good idea, L. We don't know these people or what they are capable of."

"Isn't that the purpose of being young and free? Do you remember all those hot college guys we saw today? Just imagine being at a party with them and alcohol . . . Inhibitions lowered and bedrooms available," L winks and wriggles her eyebrows at me.

I want to tell her that lashing out with hot guys at a party is not a healthy way to get over her ex, but I bite my tongue, knowing it would just cause an argument. To be fair, she and Jay have always been an on-again-off-again thing and if it wasn't him dating another woman, it was L dating another guy. The relationship never made it a few months without a giant crater in the road. Again, not something I am going to voice out loud for fear of her attitude. She and I have been roommates for two years and friends for a little over three, but every time he hurts her I' the first one she runs to for a shoulder to cry on. Don't get me wrong, I love being there for my friend, but she wont listen to any advise I have for her. She also keeps some strange tally and if she catches Jay cheating, then when they get back together, she cheats on him to even the score. It's toxic and also another reason I don't want to get on her and side. She's been known to bite harder than her bark before.