harry.
they chose a booth near the window to eat their ice cream. hazel-grace had gotten vanilla, and harry got the mint chocolate-chip(not that he'd had much choice in the matter).
"vanilla's so plain," harry said.
hazel-grace frowned. "didn't ask for your opinion."
"mint chocolate-chip is better."
"is not."
"why'd you order it for me, then?"
she smirked. "because you're not cool enough for vanilla."
he gave her a playful grin. "you can't call me uncool. you're my counselor. that's not a very nice thing to do, hazel-grace."
"i don't really care, harry."
"hazel-grace."
she looked up at him. "yeah, harry?"
he wasn't really sure why he'd said her name. he liked saying her name; it was pretty and simple at the same time. sort of like gemma's--only not really...
he was confusing himself.
looking down with a pained expression, he began playing with his ice cream, mashing it up with his spoon. "nothing. i- never mind."
she frowned. "you can tell me anything, harry. i'm your counselor."
counselor.
harry cringed. "i don't want to call you my counselor, though."
she laughed a little. "okay, then. call me your friend."
doubtfully, almost suspiciously, he said, "you want to be my friend?"
"why not?"
boy, could harry think of a lot of reasons. so many reasons he couldn't be friends with someone like hazel-grace.
his mouth moved, betraying him before his mind could stop it.
"okay. friends then."
"friends."
harry ate another bite of ice cream to hide his thoughts. "you should've let me pay for all the ice cream, hazel-grace. it was my idea to go for a walk."
"but it was mine to come get ice cream," she retorted. "besides, i don't take favors. i'm your counselor- i mean, i'm your friend. you don't have to pay for my ice cream."
rebelliously he said, "it's not even that much money."
"then it's no big deal that i paid for my own," she scoffed.
"hazel-gra-a-ace," harry whined.
"i'm beginning to regret agreeing to be your friend, harry," hazel-grace warned.
he chuckled. "you can't get out of it now."
"damn it all."
harry blinked repeatedly, trying to force down the thoughts that were telling him he shouldn't let hazel-grace befriend him. he didn't deserve a friend like her.
selfishly, he didn't say it aloud. instead, he made excuses. she'll probably ditch me in a few days anyway. i don't need to make her do it right now. besides, in some part of him, harry found himself wanting to be friends with this girl. to be able to walk down the street and say 'oh yeah, the girl with the soft brown eyes and curly hair? she's my friend. she like, talks to me.' or even to just be able to say 'hi, hazel-grace' and have her smile at him. wasn't that what friends were for?
god, he was pathetic. harry glared sullenly at the puddle of melting ice cream in his bowl, as if the sugary treat was to blame for his state of emotional disrepair.
"maybe we should head back to the clinic," hazel-grace finally said, and harry jolted a little bit.
"yeah," he agreed, pushing his curls out of his face.
she tapped a spoon on the edge of her bowl, creating a ringing noise. "we really should head back to the clinic."
"we really really should, yeah," he echoed, wondering if she was planning to break the bowl by beating it to death with a spoon.
abruptly ceasing her tapping, hazel-grace straightened. "i could go for seconds of ice cream, yeah? what do you think, harry?"
a helpless smile tugged at his lips, and he leaned back in the booth chair, thinking to himself that a) gemma had loved ice cream and b) they'd probably get in trouble if they dilly-dallied here any longer. like seriously. they needed to go back to the clinic. now.
then he abandoned both those thoughts and pushed his elbows onto the table, eyeing the forlorn remnants of melted ice cream in his bowl. "i think yeah, hazel-grace. let's go for seconds of ice cream."
"cool."
his face hurt from smiling so wide, and he didn't even know why, because it was stupid, and both of them were stupid--not to mention they'd both probably be unfortunate victims of brain-freeze, as well.
this is so stupid.
but hazel-grace was smiling too, as she ordered two more bowls of ice cream. and suddenly it was all okay, because harry knew they were stupid, and he didn't care. not right now, anyway.
(or maybe he just... maybe he just didn't want to care?)
this is kind of supposed to be short :)
dedicated to @wonderrland because she's an amazing writer and i cried over the fact she read this i
I LOVE YOU GUYS, I WANT TO GET YOU ALL ICE CREAM K BYE.
