My Summer Of Untold Truths

FIVE

 We approach the door to the sandwich shop. Ezra runs in front of me and holds the door open. Again. "After you," he says, waving his hand in the door. "Thank you," I say.

I walk inside and the smell of toasted bread overwhelms me. I walk up to the counter and look up at the menu. Ezra walks up behind me and stands at the till, ready to order.

"You already know what you want?" I ask. "Of course. I'm here all the time. I've practically memorized the menu," he says. A young girl in a hair net and a baseball cap walks up to the till.

"Hi! What can I get you," she asks. "I'll get a number five please," Ezra says. The girl taps away at the screen attached to the register. "And for you," Ezra says, looking at me. I walk up to the counter "Hi, can I get a breakfast sandwich with egg, swiss cheese, bacon, green peppers, and black olives," I say.

Ezra looks at me with a wide-eyed expression. "Yeah, for sure," the girl says. "Quite the order," Ezra says. "Don't judge," I defend. "No no I'm not judging that you have a weird sandwich taste," he teases. I scoff and smile.

I start to pull out my debit card as he takes his out. He looks over at me and sees my attempt at paying "I'll get it," he says. "No. You already bought me that drink and candy the other day. I'll pay." "Please, let me buy it. Besides, that was a prize for winning" he says. "You sure," I ask. "Yeah, of course," he smiles. "Okay, fine," I smile.

Ezra pays and we grab our sandwiches from the girl. Ezra pushes the door and we walk out. “Thank you,” I smile. “It's no problem,” he says. "Where do you wanna go eat these?”  "Skate park," I suggest. "Yeah I'm down," he says.

We walk all the way over to the skate park and Ezra and I sit on the skate ramp, both dig into our sandwiches. I take a bite, now knowing how hungry I've been this whole time.

"Okay, I don't understand how you think that tastes good. Like, black olives? C'mon now," Ezra says. "What? It's good," I say. "Don't insult this delicious food item," I add. I take a bite of the sandwich, glaring at Ezra. "There's no sauce," he says. "It's not that bad. You try it then," I say. "Fine," he says.

I hand him my sandwich and he takes a bite. "Okay, nevermind that's pretty good," he says. "Right? And here you were judging it," I say. "Yeah, okay my bad," he says, lifting his hand up. I take a bite of my sandwich and scratch my ankle with my foot.

Ezra watches me a take a bite. I'm not a clean eater and I know that. I'm trying my best not to get the oil from the bacon all over my face. “What,” I laugh. “Nothing. Nothing,” he chuckles. “What,” I say a little louder. “Do I have stuff all over my face?” “No. No you're good,” he says, looking away. “Okay,” I say suspiciously. e He looks like he wants to say something, but doesn't and looks at me with a smile on his face.

I finish off my sandwich and crunch my sandwich wrapper into a ball and throw it across the skate park, aiming for the trash can. It lands directly into the hole in the center, plummeting into other trash. "Nice one," he says. "I don't have a very good throwing arm but I do have good aim," I say.

"My turn." Ezra crunches is sandwich wrapper into a ball and throws it across the skate park. It lands perfectly into the trash can. "Well now you make my throw look stupid," I say. "I have good aim and a good throwing arm," Ezra shrugs. “You do. That was a perfect shot,” I say.

"Can I show you something," he asks, changing the subject. "Sure," I smile. We slide off the skate ramp. I follow Ezra down the street, across the crosswalk, and down a bike trial.