Blue Flower

Chapter 33

-Chester-

“Hey, wanna have some ice cream?” Naomi said while we were on our way home. She was riding at the back of my bicycle, and I was the driver- just like the old times.

I didn’t answer for a while and kept driving. She was also silent. Somehow, little bits of awkwardness still remained between the two of us. I wondered if her “quits” thing really meant that it was over. I doubted it, while my other side didn’t.

“My treat.” she added. She always treated me a large cone of ice cream when she rides on my bicycle.

 “No, I’ll pay it myself.” I said.

“Okay, if that’s what you want.”

We stopped at a coffee shop down the road. Aside from hot and fresh coffee, they offered delicious ice cream. I parked the bike outside and we both hopped off and came in. Naomi rushed to the counter, leaving me alone to hold the door open for a mother and her child to come in. I followed her to the counter.

“One strawberry cone and one vanilla cone please.” Naomi said.

“Right away, ma’am.” the staff said and went inside to get our orders.

We sat on a table near the wall, and still, we were quiet. Our large cones were served after a few minutes. We quietly ate it as time passed by. I watched the mother and her son eating small cones of vanilla ice cream. The scooped ice cream accidentally fell off from the cone held by the small boy and made its way down the floor. He cried, and her mother scolded him that made all of the heads turn to them.

I rushed to the counter while the child kept on crying, and ordered a small cone of vanilla ice cream. I gave it to the crying child.

 “Here. I bought one for you. Stop crying now, honey.” I smiled to the child. He took it and I ruffled his hair.

A smile lighted up his gloomy face. “Thank you.” he said. His little voice added to his cuteness. I smiled and went back to my seat. The mother walked up to us and thanked me.

“It’s no big deal, ma’am. Your son’s cute.” I said.

She laughed and went back to her son.

Naomi gave me a devilish grin. “You did a pretty good job. Are you ready to become a father?”

“Shut up.” I answered. She chuckled and finished her ice cream.

We headed home after that, and what made me stop while driving halfway from the coffee shop was Naomi’s sudden outburst.

“Oh my god!” she exclaimed. I pulled the brakes and we looked at the car moving its way to the coffee shop.

“Did you see someone?” I asked.

“Yeah. Liam Collins. Do you remember him? He was our classmate from kindergarten to elementary. Oh god, he’s so handsome.” Naomi answered happily, which I found odd.

“Whatever.” I snapped and continue to drive.

“He’s my long time crush, do you know that?” she said matter-of-factly.

I shrugged. “Like the hell I care.”

I tried to remember who that Liam Collins was. His face was vaguely familiar to me. If he was my classmate, I knew we weren’t that close. We barely talked during the time that we had together. And the funny thing is, Naomi developed feelings for him since kinder until now, unfortunately.

“How could you say that? I love him ever since he laid his eyes on me.”

“Ew.” I said.

I couldn’t sleep that night. The kiss that I shared with Naomi kept on replaying involuntarily on my mind. I was starting to take it seriously, savoring every move of her lips on mine. It was kind of special, and it was my first kiss. My cellphone beeped once, cutting my wild imagination of a fateful event.

It was a text message from Naomi.

Liam is a transferee at our school. I heard it from Sam. I love it! Good night.

Damn. She talked about her crush again. I got irritated and fed up with it. Or was I jealous? No, it can’t be.

I fell asleep after reading what she sent.