Caramel Sundae

Three

~THREE~

I waited at a table outside, just looking around at the bustling street. It was easy to pick out the tourists from the locals; the tourists were wearing bright colours, shorts and T-shirts, carrying backpacks and ice-cream comes and spades, stopping to look around and jabbering away to their families, while the locals walked on purposefully, not looking around too much because they had seen it all before, occasionally stopping to have a conversation with another person on the middle of the street.

The boy set a tall glass roughly in front of me.

"Enjoy," he said gruffly, clearly not meaning it. He spun around on his heel and walked back into the café before I could think of a good comeback.

What was his problem? Didn't he care if he lost his job? Besides, I wasn't even standing there that long! Why did he care if I was holding up the line, if the woman behind me didn't? God, he was rude. And arrogant. I mean, I knew I was rude back to him, but if he hadn't been so rude in the first place...

I sighed, deciding to just let it go. I looked down at my sundae, oozing with caramel. Grinning, I dug in.

Five minutes later, I was scraping the last drop of ice-cream from the glass. If everything at Dana's was that nice, I would definitely be coming back. Besides, I really wanted to try that lemon meringue pie.

I brought my glass back inside, thinking how it would probably be more sensible to charge the customers before giving them their orders. Maybe Dana just trusted everyone? Not the best policy if you ask me; I mean, someone could run off without paying- but most people in Newbrooke were trustworthy. The annoying guy took my money grudgingly and handed back the change without a word.

"Thanks," I smiled brightly, hoping to infuriate him. Okay, I will admit, I could be pretty rude and quick-tempered at times, and I didn't take crap from anyone.

He glared at me, but before he could retort, an older feminine voice rang from the door behind the counter.

"Chase! Can you come help me with the orders?"

After shooting me another glare, he spun around and disappeared behind the door.

Chase. Huh. I guessed that was his name.

Not that I cared.

Except that at least I wouldn't have to refer to him as 'the rude, infuriating, arrogant guy'. Buy whatever.

I walked home and felt my phone vibrating in my pocket.

"Hey Zara!" One of my best friends Keelan greeted in her bubbly, cheerful voice.

"Hi Kee," I answered, manoeuvring my way around a large pack of tourists. "What's up?"

"Well, it's so sunny today, but apparently the waves are alright, you know, good for a sunny day, 'cause usually on warm days they're pretty bad- it's so annoying, you get either a sunny day or really good waves, right? I mean, what-"

I rolled my eyes. Keelan liked to talk- a lot. "Your point?"

"Oh- right!" She laughed. "So, d'you wanna go surfing in an hour? We're going to Katie's afterwards for a barbecue and bonfire, you know, like a start of summer party? And I'm pretty sure she's inviting Jordan- who will invite some of his friends, winky face!"

"Okay, sounds good." I ignored the comment about our other best friend, Katie's boyfriend bringing his friends, one of whom was Shay, who I might've liked- just a little bit.

"See you there! Ex-oh-ex-oh, smiley face!" She hung up with her usual over-exuberant goodbye.

It was half three now. I wandered home and lay in the grass, which was freshly mowed and smelt sweet and cool.

My mind turned to Chase. I seriously couldn't figure out what his problem was. Was he like this to everyone? It was like he didn't even care. Was I that mean? Talk about holding a grudge.

But still, there was something about him; it wasn't exactly attractive or repulsive. It was just kind of... strange. I mean, why would he dislike me so much? He had to have a reason, right? You can't just go around and decide to hate total strangers. I hadn't done anything to him! Being a naturally curious person, I was kind of curious about him..

But that would have to wait. Mom strolled down with a blue towel over her arm. She spread it out beside me and lay down, putting her hands behind her head and putting a pair of sunglasses on to protect her eyes.

"Tanning?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mom turned her head to me. "Not everyone can be naturally tanned, Zara."

I shrugged. "Don't blame me, blame Dad! I got his genes!"

Mom just smiled. "How's your day been so far?"

"Fine. Pretty uneventful. I went to get a sundae, that's about it. How was the club meeting?"

She grinned and launched into a long-winded story about how her hot-headed friend Belinda was arguing about how much they paid for club members' gear, and the head of the club and her got into a huge argument. The head, who was a primary school teacher, told Belinda to stand outside the door until she calmed down, and apparently Belinda was really insulted about being treated 'like a child'. She sure liked telling stories, just like Keelan.

"I'm going to head down to the beach to go surfing with Keelan; we're going to Katie's afterwards," I told her.

She offered to drive me down, and I was thankful, because otherwise I would've had to carry my surfboard down. Let me tell you, that thing is not light.

We drove through the Main Street, passing Dana's. I saw Chase serving someone outside. He looked up as we drove by and glared. I stuck out my tongue tauntingly and we drove away.

~*~

A/N: Sorry, I think this chapter is pretty short; shorter than the other chapters, anyway. I'll aim for longer next chapter!! What do you think of Chase? Oh, and you see that pretty little 'vote' button? I think you should press it, if you like the story!;) Vote comment fan!! Love ye lots :D

elsross xxx:)