Super

Chapter 5: You Too, Honey!

"Hi! Welcome to 'Swirls and Twirls', the best soft serve ice cream in the city! May I—GASP! Andrew, you're back!" Sophie exclaimed cheerfully, the current server/cashier at my favorite ice cream shop.

And yes, she did just say the word 'gasp' as she gasped.

"Did you guys miss me?" I teased, smiling.

"Are you kidding? We were so worried! You didn't come in for a week, not even for free samples! Then, finally, one of us picks up a newspaper—actually one of the customers read it out loud, but anyway—and we find out that you fell off a cliff! Are you okay? And where the heck are your cute nerd glasses?!" She demanded, seeming quite offended by the absence of my glasses.

"Relax, I'm in one piece and I feel fine. And the fall fixed my eyesight"

"That's good—wait, what?"

Oops.

"I mean, I'm wearing contact lenses", I quickly corrected.

I'm going to have to be more mindful about that.

"Oh, okay. I'm going to miss you with glasses, though", she pouted.

"What about you? Last time I was here, your hair was only one unnatural color; now it's three"

"No, look closely; it's the colors of the bisexual flag! We tend to be invisible, so I decided to make it more obvious. So, who's paying for your ice cream this time? Your mom, your dad, Peter, Wade—oh, you're new!" She said, smiling brightly, when she finally noticed Adrien next to me.

"Uh, nice to meet you too", he replied, clearly confused.

I probably should've given him a warning beforehand; I'd been coming to "Swirls and Twirls" for years, pretty much since I'd moved here, and I was well acquainted with its personnel. Actually, Flor, the manager, practically treated me like her own son. Once, she even got into an argument with my mom about who knew what was best for me.

I can't remember how it ended since I was pretty preoccupied with the ice cream in my hand—they had a new flavor that day: passion fruit—, I just know that after that they didn't quite see eye to eye, until they found friendship in their mutual dislike for Wade.

How many people dislike Wade at this point? What would happen if they suddenly formed a group?

Pushing the anti-Wade group possibility aside, I patted Adrien on the back to reassure him a bit.

"Adrien, this is Sophie. Sophie, this is Adrien—as I'm sure you've figured out from the previous sentence, but formalities are formalities and this how everybody introduces people in movies, so..." I shrugged.

The custom of introducing people twice (just in a different order) has always boggled me, but that doesn't mean I don't follow it.

I mean, has anyone ever introduced someone without doing it?

Maybe I should try it out someday.

Anyway, moving on.

"And Adrien is actually the person I fell down the cliff with", I continued.

"Oh, I see! So now you guys are best friends because you survived a near-death experience together, right?"

"Exactly!" I said.

Then we fist bumped and said "bah-a-la-la-la" as we wiggled our fingers, simulating an explosion; it was what we always did when we understood something about each other or when we agreed on something.