psycho

"beautiful"

The girl glanced out the window and finally noticed the car next to her. She stared inside and boy was sitting on his phone probably texting someone. Best guess, a girlfriend.

The girl admired his cheekbones and somewhat short hair. She turned away, slowly checked her phone and turned back. They made eye contact and the boy quickly turned back to his phone, obviously blushing.

What for? The girl thought. If anything I should be blushing..

She directed her attention back onto her phone pushing the thought towards the back of her head.

It seemed to feel like only two minutes until she heard a tap on her side of the car. She looked up to find the boy. She pulled out her earphones and stuck her head out of the window.

"Can I help you?" she softly said and stared into the stranger's eyes challengingly.

"uh yeah. I mean sure." The boy stuttered a bit, trying to get his words together.

"With?" The girl shot back. The girl realized how intimidating she was coming off as to the boy and smiled to herself in satisfaction.

"Uh..." He started to stutter again. "I mean you're very beautiful and uh I uh.." The girl nodded for him to continue his sentence. "I'm Vernon and you are?"

The girl laughed. "Nice effort Vernon," she stretched his name out as she said it. "But if you must know, I'm Marisol." She laughed and smirked in satisfaction. She was making him so nervous and she enjoyed every single minute of it.

"Marisol," he repeated. "Beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Vernon breathed.

Marisol rolled her eyes. What was so 'beautiful' about her especially to him? Sketchy.

Vernon, on the other hand, took in every feature of her that he could see through the window. Her tanned caramel color skin, chocolate colored eyes, and hair that was plopped promptly on her right shoulder. Her soft eyebrows and naturally plumped lips. He could tell that she wasn't wearing makeup, and he loved every minute of staring at her.

Marisol noticed his continuous staring and gave him a confused look. She felt this was skeptical. What would a guy with breathtakingly dangerous looks want with a troublemaker who drove from the rough patches of Chicago to a suburban part of an even larger city?

"Well," Marisol let out a sigh. "Anything else?"

Vernon cleared his throat. "I came over here to see if I could, uh, get your number?" He choked out.

Marisol smiled a little bit. "Sure, why not?" She gave the boy her number and he lit up.

"Thank you, I mean I'll be calling you" Vernon said ending with an awkward wink. Marisol burst out laughing.

"You're funny too." She said and he let out a breath in relief. He was serious, but he silently thanked God that she didn't realize it.

"Um, since I'm so funny, why not let me tell you more jokes, in my parents' ice cream shop?" He said and a big grin creeped on her face.

"I'm guessing your parents are the ones talking to my mom?" She asked and he nodded. She took out her phone and starting texting who he guessed was her mom.

"Ok, back up." She said and the doors to the car unlocked. She got out of the black escalade and closed the door behind her. "ALRIGHT MOM, I'M OUT!" She screamed across the parking lot and earned a curt nod from her mother. The doors locked behind the two and he led her into the shop.

"Get anything you want. It's on me." He said firmly.

"Ooh, it's on you huh?" She smirked. Vernon nodded and she looked at all of the choices.

She pointed at one. Birthday cake. "This one on a waffle cone please." She grinned and he nodded.

"Coming right up." He went over to where the desk opened and jammed in a pin. He went behind the counter and picked out a big waffle cone. He scooped some birthday cake ice cream into the cone and handed it over the counter to Marisol. He took a twenty dollar bill, opened the register and put it in. He shut the register and grabbed another cone. This time he put plain chocolate in the cone. He closed the ice cream freezer and came from behind the counter.

"Mm," Marisol hummed. "Damn good ice cream. Exactly what I needed." Vernon nodded along and continued to eat his own.

The door jingled and in walked in his parents and her mom.

"So I see you've met already," His mother says and both of them nodded and continued to eat. "And helped yourself to ice cream." They all laughed a bit.

Everyone was awkwardly standing there for a brief moment until Vernon's mother broke the silence.

"Go on upstairs," his mom continued. "Marisol, make yourself at home. Don't worry, your mom and I have been friends since college. I won't mind you being over as much as you like. Just don't make a mess up there okay?" She said and Marisol smiled in gratitude.

"Thank you Mrs..."

"Chwe." Vernon's mom finished the sentence.

"Yeah, thank you Mrs. Chwe." She said and Vernon led her upstairs.