holy grail / liam payne

iii.

three

"So then, you just kept dancing as if he wasn't there?" Mel asked in disbelief, sending a lick to her dripping strawberry cone.

"Well I wasn't ignoring him. I just...didn't want to embarrass myself," Meah mumbled, repeating Mel's actions.

"Smooth," Mel said, nudging her friend who fumbled with her cone at the abrupt action, followed by a quick scowl.

Mel wore a colorful spaghetti strapped dress that contrasted well with her olive skin tone and she wore her hair up in its signature 'Mel Bun', as Meah liked to call it. Meah's dress was a similar styles but was only a solid navy blue. The two were downtown for today, walking down the streets of Tampa with ice cream cones in hand.

"Anyways, that's not the point." Meah looked down at her feet, adorned with tan sandals that crisscrossed on the top. A part of her regretted the shoe choice, knowing she would have an awkward tan on the top of her foot afterwards.

"Then what is the point," Mel pushed. Meah opened her mouth to respond but she was interrupted when Mel spoke up again. "The point is that I'm not really ready for a relationship. I wanna focus on dance and finding a new job," she stated, mocking the famous words of Meah Cooper.

"How did you know I was gonn-"

"And finding myself in this big world!" Mel continued, slowly and carefully kneeling on the concrete and spreading her arms out, "There's so much out there for me and I want to live my own life!"

Mel through her head back, thrusting her arms out wider which caused the top scoop of her ice cream to fly off the waffle cone and fall to its melting death on the scorching cement of the side walk. She whimpered, bringing her cone closer to her as she looked down mournfully at the fallen strawberry scoop.

"Man down!" Mel cried as she watched the delicious treat begin to melt.

"Alright, alright! Get up!" Meah said, tugging at the crook of Mel's elbow to pull her up. She sent an apologetic smile at an elder lady that passed by them with a look of disapproval.

Mel stood up and Meah scowled at her best friend, proceeding to tug her along the sidewalk.

"Remind me to never bring you out in public again," Meah grumbled. "But do I really sound like that?"

"Yes, you do. And you'll grow up and be just like Mrs. Widow Peep next door to you if you continue trying to find yourself or whatever. Meah, you need a man," she said, stopping and grabbing her friend by the shoulders.

"First of all, her name is Mrs. Dean. Second of all, I don't need a man. I can show you and everyone else just what an independent black woman can do."

"Not to rain on your parade or anything, but you're not an independent black woman. You're a semi-independent biracial woman with needs. Intimate needs! And I'm not saying you need a man to be happy, but I'm saying you need a man to be happy, Meah. You've been single since Lincoln was president and I think you should give it a shot. No pun intended."

"If you're gonna lecture me every time we have this talk," Meah started, making Mel send a series of nods her way, "then fine. I'll do it."

"Yes!" Mel shouted, releasing her friend and stepping back to celebrate. It died down quickly when she nearly dropped what was left of her ice cream.

"But," Meah said, making Mel freeze in place. "You have to ask out that Zayn guy from the auto shop."

"What! Me? I'm not supposed to do it, he is!"