“I’ll think about it,” I smirk. The previews come on and the lights dim. We eat all the popcorn and drink all of our sodas by the end of the movie. It was pretty funny and Drake enjoyed it. “Now what?” I ask when we are back outside.
“We are going to spoil ourselves and eat ice cream as a late lunch,” Jake says checking at his watch.
“There’s a Cold Stone by the road,” I tell him remembering the first time I took him there on our first date.
“We have to go there,” Drake says with excitement.
“Well, let’s go.” We walk across one of the roads and down the strip to the end where Cold Stone’s was waiting for us. I never eat a full ice cream from this place so me and Jake shared the birthday mix ice cream and Drake ordered a chocolate ice cream with sprinkles in a small waffle bowl. All the tables with three seats where taken. There were just tables with two seats left. Jake leads us to one.
He sits down, sets our ice cream on the table, and pulls me into his lap while Drake takes the other seat. We leisurely eat our ice cream with Jake kissing all over my face claiming I was a sloppy eater. I couldn’t help but laugh each time. I go to take a bite of the waffle bowl when I feel Jake tense beneath me.
I look at him and then follow his gaze to the person who just walked in the creamery. Conrad. With the sun shining in the windows behind him, he locks eyes with me giving a small smile, and it was if everything slipped away. A memory of a day we spent at the beach blasted forward. I was laying out and Conrad was towering over me with the sun shining down behind him.
He was dripping wet and gleamed a smile at me. “Are you going to get in the water or not,” he asked me.
“I will…eventually.”
“How about now,” he asked, leaning down to pick me up by the waist and carry me over his shoulder to the water. I laughed the whole way there and tried to get him to set me down. He wouldn’t, of course.
When he was about waist deep, he threw us both down into the water. Coming up, I playfully splashed him starting a war. In the end, he won like he always did, and claimed my lips as his prize.
The memory was torn from me when Jake spoke. I tore my gaze from Conrad and looked at Jake. “What did you say,” I ask.
Agitation flees across his eyes and he says, “If we are done, we should leave.” He grabs hold of my waist and pushes me to stand. Jake grabs our trash and walks towards the can by the door, leaving me and Drake behind.
“C’mon Drake,” I say holding out my hand.
He takes it and we follow Jake outside. I glance back at Conrad who is waiting for his ice cream and thankfully wasn’t looking. This wasn’t going to be easy.
Jake
We arrived back at Emily’s around four. I quietly steamed the whole way there. I saw the way Emily looked at him when he walked in. She didn’t look at me like that. Was he just going to show up everywhere now? Last night, I felt relief and pure happiness when Emily told me she loved me.
Today, all that evaporated when Conrad walked in the creamery. She still loved him because he was her first love. But was it stronger than our love? I was mad as hell about this. Why did he have to come back and stir up those feelings inside Emily?
>
He wanted her back. She wouldn’t go, would she? Frustration built within me as worry over losing Emily climbed. Emily and I were cuddled together on the couch. “Jake? What’s up with you today,” she asks tilting her head to look at me.
I sigh. “Nothing.”
She leans away from me and crosses her arms over her chest, pushing up her breasts. “Don’t lie to me Jake. You’ve been quiet and grumpy all the day.”
I decide to ask the question that has been bothering me. “What are you going to do about Conrad?”
Her face falls and she looses her defensive stance. She leans back on the couch and tilts her head back to stare at the ceiling. “I don‘t know. I guess I will tell him that I‘m with you now,” she says softly. “Seeing him and talking to him just brought all these memories back. I should talk to him so he doesn’t waste his time.”
“Do you want me to be there with you,” I say.
“No. That would just make it awkward. What are you going to do without me tomorrow,” she asks with a smile.
“I’ll go hang out with the guys.”
“Have fun,” she says trailing a finger over my chest.
“Let me know how it goes.”
Conrad