A Flower in War

Chapter Five: Vanilla and Pickles

"How's the arm?" Cal asks Robby over the phone.
"Better, you're a good doctor."
"My dad was one. He used to bring me to the hospital when my mom would go on her benders."
"Yeah my dad just up and bounced so don't know about that sort of thing."
"I bet he regrets it. You're a good guy Robby."
"Again, delinquent Calanthe."

"Just for now. You could be more you know? I'll help you."
"You've known me a month!"
"Feels like longer."
"Gee thanks."
"In a good way!" Cal giggles, making Robby smile at the other end of the phone. It did feel like longer. He felt comfortable around her. He didn't need to pretend or lie or steal. He could just be himself, however imperfect he was... she didn't care.

"Come on, let's go out! We can get ice cream or something!"
"I don't know Calanthe... I'm pretty booked solid... but I guess I could try to pencil you in."
"Oh well thank you so much Mr. Keene." If eye rolls were audible hers would have been loud and clear.
"Send me your address. I'll come pick you up."
"You don't have to do that Cal." Robby looks around the small dilapidated apartment worriedly.
"Nonsense. I don't have to come in, just you come out the front door and meet me! Okay?"
"All right, okay." Robby nods, grabbing his board.
"Can I put my board in your car?"
"Only if you teach me how to ride it!"
Robby chuckles, "Deal sweetheart."

-

"Who just gets vanilla ice cream? What is wrong with people?" Cal laughs softly, trying not to eyeball the couple that ordered before them.
"People who are boring as all hell. I mean not even any toppings! Just straight vanilla!"
"I would honestly take anything over straight vanilla. I would take freaking bubblegum over plain vanilla!"
"Hey! Don't knock bubblegum! It has its moments!"
"That is disgusting. Nope, I don't want chewy ice cream that stays with me for hours." Cal shudders.
"You gotta live a little! It's not so bad. Well some of it is pretty horrible, but the one here isn't bad at all. Not my first choice but definitely not second to last!"

"You are deranged." Cal smiles, taking another spoonful of ice cream to her mouth.
"And yet you're still here!"
"Because I was promised a skating lesson by a sociopath that can actually enjoy bubblegum ice cream."
"This coming from the girl who told me she used to eat pickles and chocolate! Now that is sociopathic behavior!"
"I told you that in confidence! I was a kid!"
"And you enjoyed it! You actually said and I quote," Robby takes out his phone scrolling through their many messages, "'the brine offsets the sweetness of the chocolate. Oranges taste good with chocolate and they're acidic just like pickles!' Except, dear Calanthe, an orange is a freaking fruit!"
"Whatever dork!" Cal laughs, waving her hand.

"You start classes soon right?"
"Yep! Not really excited."
"Could drop out? That's what I'm gonna do."
"I need to go to school to become a doctor so I don't think that'll work."
"You want to be a doctor?"
"I mean... yeah kinda."
"Nope, 'kinda' is not the right answer. What do you really want to do?"
"Promise you won't laugh?" Cal says softly looking around the parlour.
"Cross my heart!"
"I've always wanted to be a singer... it was the one thing I had that no one could take away from me... my songs." She shrugs, looking away from Robby's face out of fear that he thinks it's stupid.

"If that's what you want - you should go for it." He smiles at the girl, watching her blue eyes finally meet his, a soft smile making its way to her features.
"You haven't even heard me!"
"Pretty sure you're good. But indulge me! What does Calanthe Lane-Guerrero sound like?"
"I am not singing for you here! Not in public!"
"If you want to be a singer you're going to have to sing in public!"
"Yes, but this is not a proper setting. I don't want to ruin anyones day if I suck."
"Fine, but I want to hear you sing sometime soon!"

"Well what about you? What would you want to do?"
"Never really thought about it... can't afford college, probably couldn't even afford trade school... It's not like I come from any place of stability." Robby shrugs.
"Well, what makes you happy?"
"Skating."
"Be the next Tony Hawk! He's amazing!" Robby laughs, nodding in agreement.
"Haven't even seen me skate yet!"
"You look like you can skate! Have that vibe." Cal gestures to him with her spoon.

"Yeah the grunge vibe?"
"Exactly! Grunge chic! Still don't know how you're wearing jeans in the summer. I would be dying."
"Honestly I kinda am." Robby laughs.
"Then why are you wearing them?"
"Just grabbed the first thing I saw! I don't have a lot of shorts!"
"Need to invest in some good shorts."
"Yeah with what money?"
"Well I have a job, you could get one too!"

"You have a job?"
"I'm going to be working at my Uncle Dan's auto shop! Bet I could get you in!"
"Is he actually your uncle?" Robby prods, his brain working overtime trying to remember everything his mom or dad had said about the LaRussos.
"No, no. He just grew up alongside my dad. They had the same sensei, lived in the same shitty complex. They were best friends."
"Did he do Cobra Kai?"
"No, no. Um he did Miyagi-Do? It's not super well known here or anything. The guy who spearheaded it passed away a few years ago. He was an amazing man, treated my dad like his own child and me like a grandchild."
"He was good to you?" Robby questions confused.
"Very. He helped teach me before we moved. Uncle Dan said he never forgot my dad or me... I was really worried he did or thought we forgot him. I couldn't forget him if I tried." Cal says wistfully, twirling her spoon around the now soupy ice cream.

"I'm glad you had good people in your life." Robby states, truly impressed that the people he was told were villains actually cared for a young girl who wasn't even blood.
"Me too. Well what about you? Any good people that helped you?"
"Nah. My mom sometimes brings back random dudes off the street, but they never stayed very long. My dad wasn't really around much either, still isn't. I've been on my own since I was like six." Robby guffaws.
"Well, maybe we can change that? Find you some good people, good memories, something to keep you from feeling so alone."

"I like being alone."
"I thought I liked being alone too. But coming here, I realized I only liked being alone because it meant there was no screaming or beating, not because it made me happy... it just made me feel safe."
"You're pretty smart for a teenager." Cal laughs.
"I'm not. I just... I just see things people don't want to see or pretend they can't."
"Yeah but you can also articulate those things."
"Well, being that I had zero friends I spent a lot of time reading. So that could be part of it."
"Yeah? What do you like to read?"
"I'm a sucker for Harry Potter, Narnia... god I even... don't laugh at me but... I used to just read dictionaries and encyclopaedias front to back." Cal admits giggling.
"So that's what I need to do to be smart!"

"I think you're probably quite smart. If my experience is anything to go off of... well I didn't try at school because I internalized everything my mom said to me... that I was stupid and useless. Why would I try if that was all I would ever be?"
"My mom isn't around enough to say shit like that."
"But you still hear it don't you? Even if it's not said aloud... you see it over people's faces, the way they speak to you, or don't..."
"Yeah... yeah I do." Robby nods, chuckling unhumorously.

"If it's any help, I pretty much run purely on spite. People can think anything they want but I'm not going to fit their idea of who I am. They can go suck an egg." Robby laughs truthfully this time, nodding his head and clapping like a performing seal.
"Go suck an egg! That's great!"
"Thank you, thank you! I'll be here all summer!" Cal bows, watching Robby's laughing die down, but the smile stays, genuine, wide, dazzling.
"You're a pretty cool girl Calanthe."
"Oh I know! And I'm about to be even cooler once I learn to ride a skateboard!"
"Let's get to it then!"