Falling For Mr. Sundae | ✔

23. Fireworks

My phone dinged with another text from Kells. I stopped fussing with my hair to read it.

Ur ass is too soft, the message read.

I'd told her about what happened with Adam yesterday and she wasn't at all impressed with how I handle it. It'd be pointless trying to explain why I did what I did and why I decided not to hold a grudge. So, I deflected.

My ass is tight and firm
I do my squats

She didn't have anything to say that. I smiled smugly to myself as I continued to get ready. The barbecue was tonight, but it felt like a firework show was going off in my stomach. Just the thought of seeing Julian sent my heart racing.

"Lisa," Jaiden called from the other side of my door before knocking. "Can you take me and Otis to the park?"

"No," I barked out of habit.

I could hear him smack his lips through the door. "Come on. Why not?"

Finally satisfied with my hair, I pulled my door opened to face my brother. He was nearly taller than me, which wasn't surprising considering I stopped growing in eighth grade.

"The last time Otis was in my car it smelled like Frito's for a week."

"Damn." I poked my head further out of the room to see Otis leaning against the wall. "It's not my fault. It's a medical condition."

I was a little embarrassed for blurting it out like that. If I'd known he was there I would've been a little nicer about it.

"He'll keep his shoes on this time," Jaiden said. "Look, I'll even give you gas money." He pulled a ten dollar bill out of his wallet and I immediately plucked it from his long fingers.

"I'm leaving in a hour," I said. "If you're not out there you're getting left."

+ + +

It didn't take long to get to the park, it was located near the edge of town. The thing that took the longest was finding parking. The park was packed with families, local vendors donating their time and food to the event, and an abundance of red, white and blue.

Jaiden and Otis ditched me as soon as I parked the car. It was my first time being at one of these things alone. Aside from faces I vaguely remembered from school there wasn't anyone around that I really wanted to talk to.

That was until I saw him. Julian. Cornered by two older ladies that I immediately recognized as the neighborhood gossips. They knew everyone in the neighborhood which meant he was fresh meat. Julian looked highly uncomfortable. I felt bad for him, despite the fact that I was smiling so hard.

When his deep brown eyes met mine he relaxed, his lips curling into a small smile full of relief. I started towards him as he turned back to the nosy women, saying something to them before walking away despite their protest.

"I see you met Dee and Adrian," I said once we were together.

"Yeah." He glanced at them once more. They turned away, acting like they weren't watching us. "There are less questions on a college application."

"Come on," I said, tugging gently at the sleeve of his hoodie. "I think you could use a snow cone."

Once we had our snow cones we wandered around the park, briefly watching games of potato sack races, two legged races and touch football. We weren't doing much, just walking and talking, but it was probably the most fun I've had all summer. Even if being around him was slowly killing me.