That Should Be Me

That Should Be Me - Chapter Two

Recap:

“I’m sorry… she thinks I’m cheating and-“

“Jason, it’s fine. Really. I can walk home from here.” I assure him, hiding the pain with a small smile.

She has come between us again.

He picks up his cell phone and stands. Walking over to me, he opens his arms. I stand and give him a quick hug.

“I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” He says before he turns toward the door.

I sigh, sit back down, and start to eat the rest of the slightly melted ice cream.

As I slowly raise the spoon to my lips, I watch Jason’s retreating figure.

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Instead of walking home, I sink back in the seat I've been sitting in.

I can feel the familiar sting of tears in my eyes, and blink them away slowly. Reaching blindly for my phone, my hand brushes against the icy bowl of ice cream.

Without thinking, I move my hand to grab my phone, and my arm connects with the bowl of ice cream.  Before I can reach out and grab it, the entire plastic bowl of ice cream slides right off the table.

It’s like slow motion. The bowl glides out of my reach, teeter-totters on the end of the table for a split second, and goes crashing down on the tile floor.

I gasp, and a few other people do as well.

The ice cream splatters on the floor, the bowl spinning around the mess.

Immediately, I see Emma, a worker, rush over. I grab a few napkins anyway, already on my hands and knees, mopping up the spill.

“Katie, it’s fine.” She assures me, smiling sympathetically. It takes me only a second to realize she saw the whole thing with Jason.

“I’m so sorry,” I apologize, grabbing a few more napkins.

She stills my hand, picks up my cell phone that I dropped in my haste to clean the spilled ice cream, and places it in my open hand. She curls my fingers around it, smiles, and repeats that it’s fine.

“I can clean it, really.” I say when she nods that it’s okay for me to go.

“Get out of here.” She tells me gently.

“Do I really look that bad of a mess?” I mutter to her.

“I saw what happened. With Jason, I mean. I saw that. And you need to relax. Don’t worry about this, people spill ice cream all the time, it’s no biggie.”

I smile. Emma had always been one of my favorite workers. I’d grown to be somewhat friends with her when Jason and I started coming here so frequently.

I stand up, smile to her, and make my way outside.

When I get outside, a soft, gently breeze hits me. It blows my hair around slightly.

I take a deep breath, and another. I find myself just standing there, in the middle of a parking lot, taking deep breaths for a few minutes.

A car honk startles me and I flick my eyes open.

There is a car about two feet in front of me. It isn’t long before I realize I’m blocking the entrance to the parking lot.

I blush, mouth “Sorry!” and walk away.

I grip my phone in my hand while I walk.

As a tear slips from my left eye, I remember Callie saying something along the lines of, "When you cry, if the tears come from the left eye first, you're crying from pain. If it's the right eye, you're crying from happiness."