Catching Peace

Catching Peace - Eleven: Halo

Chapter Eleven:
Halo

'She came to me and I could see her halo.
We looked around, she could read my thoughts.
See yourself, and it's a shame I follow.
We looked around, I could only talk.'

Dakota was sitting behind the counter of the ice cream parlor, her usual apron on and her English textbook spread out in front of her. She wore faded out jeans and a black flannel shirt underneath her apron. She sat cross legged on the stool, her face stuck into the textbook and a highlighter swirling around on her fingertips. It was a hotter day than usual but people weren't coming into the parlor like she and Mrs. Lopez expected.

Fortunately for Dakota, no customers came after the lunch wave. People seemingly decided to stay home and overcome the heat wave with their A.Cs and their cooled drinks. Leaving Dakota by herself in the small parlor with nothing to do but take notes for her upcoming English test. She highlighted another sentence, describing a poetry that was written in 1595, by a man who is most famous for his love stories with disaster involved. But this poem, written by William Shakespeare, was something that made her cold heart glow with warmth.

She mumbled softly on how this simple poem just warmed her up when the door bell rang. Dakota snapped her head up, expecting either a small family or even a giggling couple to stubble inside with sweat beading down their skin.

Expect she found a skateboarder, a familiar one, with blonde hair and a worn out brown beanie on top of his head. She sighed softly as he approached, shaking her head at him when she saw the evil glint in his eyes. She mumbled, but loud enough for him to hear what she had to say, while she cast her head down to the counter.

"Someone save me. I don't want to speak to the devil."

"Ouch, love. Next time turn your head up. Satan is probably laughing right now at you at that mistake." Cyrus said with a handsomely devilish grin. He leaned against the counter and leaned over to see inside of the ice cream tank, dodging Dakota's swats. "Mind giving me a free ice cream?"

"Over my dead body. Mrs. Lopez would hit you with a broom if she heard you say that to me."

Cyrus winked at her and chuckled softly. "It would be our little secret."

"No thank you, Cyrus buddy. What do you want other than to pester me?" Dakota asked as she flipped her textbook close and slide it into her bag that was stashed underneath the register.

"A man can't come to see a gorgeous young lady work at such an amazing establishment?" He said with a smile that seemed somewhat pretty on his face. It showed off his laugh lines as well as his deep ocean blue eyes.

Dakota chuckled and shook her head at him, hopping off of the stool. She smoothed her hair off and crossed her arms, staring at him. "What do you want, Cyrus?"

"I was hoping you were free. I was around the neighborhood and decided to hang out with the lonely ice cream lady."

Dakota stared at him warily when he finished, uneasy with the fact that he was here, wanting to hang out with her. Wasn't there a code between guys with liking girls? Didn't he follow the guy code? Dakota continued to stare at him, which seemed to put Cyrus on alert. He glanced around the parlor, hoping there was something to distract her from staring at him.

"You don't have to agree. I just wanted to know if you wanted to. If you don't, you don't have to say yes." Cyrus hurriedly said, a small blush of embarrassment spreading onto his cheeks.

He cast his head down to look at the floor and Dakota felt a pang of something in her heart. She didn't know what it was but it sure forced the next set of words out of her mouth. "Alright."