Baby Fever

Cookies & Cream Death Threats

"What flavor would you like?" The lady behind the counter asked. 

Jeremiah had taken me to an Amish Market I didn't even know existed. It was the cutest thing ever. 

"Vanilla." I smiled.

"A wholesome flavor for a beautiful girl." The guy at the other register commented. 

Jeremiah met the guy's eyes and glared at him. Sweet little Jeremiah was squaring his shoulders, staring a cashier down, and winning.

I shook his shoulder. "Stop." I scolded. 

He rolled his eyes. "Can I have three scoops? One chocolate, one mint, and one cookie and cream. And I'll also have a salted caramel ice-cream sundae with cinnamon-sugar almonds." 

"Woah, talk about exquisite taste." I mocked.

"Don't ask me for some then." He said as he paid. 

We found a little booth in the corner and sat on opposite sides. 

"You realize if their ice-cream doesn't live up to my expectations, I'll never trust you again?" I asked.

"I can live with that." He said. 

I glared at him, and he put his hands in the air.

"I'd just force you to trust me."

"You can't force trust," I said.

"Yeah okay." He said.

"What does trust mean to you?" I asked.

He groaned.

"I don't know." He shrugged.

"Bullshit," I said.

"Trust fluctuates as much as the weather. You're programmed to trust your blood until they shit on you. And as for friends, you just hold your breath and wait for them to do something wrong. Once they do, you're instincts go into attack mode and that relationship is scarred. Getting hurt is inevitable, and trust is just a matter of stalling the inevitable." He crossed his arms behind his head, and I saw his muscles flexing under his shirt.

 Was he annoyed?

"That's not what trust is at all. It's not loving someone until they hurt you, it's-"

"Spare me with the bull shit." He said.

I put my palms on the table. "I wasn't done. Trusting is living. If you spend every day waiting for everyone to turn on you, then you're basically in your own suspense film. "

"Look, I'm just a realistic person. I hang around the same three people, have the same possible three outcomes, keep them in the back of my mind, and enjoy my life. So, if one of those outcomes do become real, I'm prepared." He said.

"It sounds more like you have your walls up. So you don't trust them?"

"Those three know me better than anyone else in the entire world. I'd go to jail for anyone of them. You're just twisting my words." He said.

"I'm just calling it as you said it."

"Please just drop it Victoria."

He didn't call me pom poms. Why did that feel like a jab to my chest?

"You tell me to trust you, but do you even trust me?" I asked.

Before he could answer, the door rang and a couple walked in. A woman that looked exactly like him, a handsome tall man, and an adorable little girl walked in. That was his mother and stepfather? He had a little sister?