Moths and Butterflies

Chapter 9 - Darius

   "And he needs more cologne because. . ."

   Addie elbowed me hard in my gut, making me hunch over and almost knock over a shelf of awful faux-French cologne. Sawyer and his girl-power posse lounged around Abercrombie and Fitch products while I seethed in the corner, Addie trying to make nice with me.

   "Shut up, Darius."

   "Well, I'm just saying. . ."

   Addie sighed. "Why do you hate him so much?"

   Because you're falling for him.

   "Because he just seems like a fake guy," I said, swallowing my pride. 

   "Fake?" Addie scoffed. "Darius, he's blind. Maybe that's why he wants to, you know, enjoy life."

   She didn't get it.

   "Look, I just. . ."

   "You don't what?"

   "I feel like he's not being g-genuine."

     I squeezed my eyes shut. Stuttering? Toughen up, idiot.

   "He is being real. You promised that you would give him a real chance. A one hundred percent, no prejudice chance."

   "Are you accusing me of being prejudiced against the blind?"

   "No, I'm accusing you of being an obnoxious jerk," Addie mocked.

   I scoffed. "Fine, let's go."

   Addie frowned. "Go? Where?"

   "I don't know, but when you finish an argument, you really need somewhere to make a dramatic exit."

   Addie rolled her eyes and reached up to comb her fingers through the hair on the back of my head. At any given moment, it would've been cute, but the height difference in between me and Addie made it kind of awkward. "Okay, whatever you say, dude. You wait outside while Sawyer finished up shopping."

   No response.

   "Oh, come on, Dare-Bear. We can get some ice cream afterward."

   I realized that I was pouting like a 5-year-old and stopped, blushing.

   Dare-Bear. Cute.

   "Fine. I will leave on one condition."

   "And what's that?"

   "One scoop of mint Oreo and one scoop of cookies-n-cream."

   Addie smiled. "Of course."

   One Week Earlier

   "I cannot believe you, Darius."

   "What? It's not my fault!"

   Addie shook her head disapprovingly. "This is absolutely ridiculous; we're going right now."

   I even saw Elliot, who was sitting in the front seat, shake his head along with Addie. "Dude, you're so dead; Addie loves them."

   Addie held my hand all the way until we reached the front of the diner; Scoop of Joy. 

   Held. My. Hand.

   That itself was the best part of the entire trip.

   Every time I glanced past Elliot's curly nerd-ish brown hair and broad shoulders, my hands got sweaty again. How long had I obsessed over this? Elliot was the closest thing to a boyfriend that Addie had in her life. I'd understand if she had feelings for him.

   I wouldn't like it, but I'd understand.

   I still got jealous after Addie had told me that there was no romance there. I still was jealous after she told me they'd been friends forever (even more jealous, in fact). I was jealous when Addie told me about Elliot's. . .

   Preference.

   And even though yes, I could feel Elliot's slight attraction towards me, I still got jealous. There's nothing that Addie could ever say or do that would make me not jealous of other boys.

   Except, of course, "Yes, Darius, I would love to go out with you."

   Elliot smiled as the car rolled into Scoop of Joy's parking lot. "We're here! Darius, this stuff is gonna blow your mind."

   Addie slid the car door open, unclasping her hand from mine. "Come on, Dare. Let's go."

   I froze. "Dare?"

   Addie rolled her eyes. "If you're gonna question every nickname I give you, we're never gonna get anywhere. Come on, hurry up, Big D."

   Both mine and Addie's mouths clamped shut as an uncomfortable wave of silence passed. "Let's go back to Dare," I said quietly, making Elliot chuckle.

   "Are we leaving now or what?" Elliot whined impatiently.

   "We're coming!" Addie squealed, grabbing my hand again (thank God) and leading me through the front doors of Scoop of Joy.

   Instantly, a nice warm rush of air greeted us as we walked in. The smell of vanilla and freshly baked cookies (my favorite) danced in the air, beckoning us to come over to the counter.

A woman with curly brown hair appeared at the other side of the counter and smiled. "How can I help you kids today?"

Addie was the first one to speak up. "I'll have a banana split, please!" her tone of voice was extremely high and enthusiastic, completely different to her usual one. The change almost startled me a bit. 

The woman smiled and nodded as she put the order in. "I'll have a strawberry malt." Elliot said next, smiling a bit at Addie as she stared at the different types of ice cream on the menu. 

I realized it was my turn and cleared my throat, already feeling like an idiot for not speaking up right away. "O-one scoop of mint Oreo and one scoop of cookies-n-cream, pl-please."

Of course I stuttered. Elliot looked over and gave me a sympathetic smile. It only made me feel more like I didn't even know how to order food. Which was actually kind of true considering my dad and I barely even gt in the car together to go anywhere, especially a place like this. Probably also why I'd never heard of such a good diner like Scoop of Joy.

The three of us sat down and started to ate our treats. I took a small bite of my bowl and instantly fell in love with it. I never tasted ice cream this good in my life.  

"Well? You like it, Dare?" Addie asked, looking up from her huge bowl.

I nodded eagerly and went back to eating, which got a laugh from both of them. "I knew you'd love it." 

"Can we come back sometime?" I asked as we finished and got in the car. Addie laughed and nodded. I smiled wide, this was probably now my favorite ice cream place of all time.