tiny mushrooms

vanilla with rainbow sprinkles.

[ EIGHT. ]

ever since we spilled our feelings into that poetry project, the four of us have started to connect.

we've been going to the park a lot more recently—either we stole the swings like the rowdy little teens we are, or we disrupted the usual serene setting with our incessant yelling during badminton games.

once we were finished with our badminton game, i took out my flask of lemonade and drank from it while looking at jisung.

"lemonade again?" jisung shook his head in fake disapproval as he drank what was obviously his orange juice.

"orange juice again?" i mimicked.

"we're both disgraces," jisung joked, "we should've just said 'screw it' and packed lime juice."

"lime juice?" minjung asked.

"they're both as bitter as they look," hanyu laughed at us.

"one of them hates lemonade," she responded, "that one's extra bitter."

"it's not my fault i don't want food poisoning, minjung!" jisung said defensively.

suddenly, i turned my head to the direction of an ice cream truck i heard.

"do any of you want ice cream?" i asked excitely.

everyone agreed to buy some except for jisung, who was only partially on board.

"i don't have any money..." he tapped the badminton table nervously.

"i'll buy you some!" i said.

"no no no, i feel bad enough!" jisung buried his face in his hands.

"don't! it's my offer!"

"it's fine, lia," he remained modest, "i don't want to cause problems."

"no problems! it's on me."

"if you insist," he gave in, knowing i would drag this on until the trucks left.

"okay, what flavor?"

"vanilla, i guess."

"what colored sprinkles?"

"sprinkles—ah, it doesn't matter as long as they're not chocolate."

"alright, i'll be back!"

vanilla with rainbow sprinkles, i chose the sprinkles for him.

vanilla. rainbow sprinkles.

i repeated the order back to myself, which i didn't really see the point when i was going to get the same thing.

by the time i got to the ice cream truck, minjung and hanyu were already there.

i simply waited somewhere in the back; i would've cut the line and gone towards them but it wasn't worth walking through at least five other people who got there before me.

i was three people away from the truck eventually, but hanyu and minjung already paid for their cones and walked over to me.

"you really want to use your money on this boy?" minjung asked me.

"i was trying to be nice," i sighed.

"because you like him," hanyu whispered under his breath.

"i don't like him like that," i insisted, "or at least i don't think i do...but i will say that something is just...different about him."

"that's what girls say when they like someone!" minjung teased.

"no, i mean...i feel like i've known him before."