Starting from Scratch (Starting from 2)

“That’s what you always say,” he insisted pushing his blue-framed glasses toward the bridge of his nose.

“I hardly think this is a traumatic moment, but fine…we’ll go to Scoops. Let’s just cut to the other side of the street.”

I put my hand on Oliver’s shoulder to steer him in the opposite direction. He wiggled out of my grasp with an irritated huff, then did a quick double take and pointed at the couple standing on the corner.

“Hey, that’s Ky.” Oliver’s cloudy expression brightened. He waved his arms above his head and grinned when Ky called his name and motioned him over. “Come on, Char!”

Fuck.

I was trapped. Unless inspiration struck fast, I saw no way to avoid faking polite conversation with the guy I’d put on my short list of people to erase from my life…and his new gal pal. I pasted a smile on my face and trudged forward, swallowing back an awkward emotion that felt vaguely like envy. What could I possibly be jealous of? Ky’s ability to rebound from one attractive partner to another? Unlikely.

“Hello,” I said cheerily. “Funny running into you again.”

“Yeah, real funny.” Ky chuckled, tucking a skateboard I hadn’t noticed until now under his arm before draping his free arm over the young woman’s shoulders. “Hey, Char, this is Karly.”

And there it was again. A sharp sting of ugliness I didn’t understand.

I extended my hand politely without really looking at the pretty blonde, then hooked my thumb toward the ice cream parlor. “Nice to meet you. We were just heading to Scoops, so we’ll let—”

“Whoa. Hang on a sec.” He inclined his head toward me and smiled. “This is the guy I was telling you about. Charlie is Zero’s manager-slash-social-media-expert.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Karly said warmly.

“Don’t believe a word,” I quipped.

She snickered. “Since my brother tends to be painfully honest, I’m going to assume you really are amazing.”

Oh…okay.

I studied the siblings closely. Ky was taller than his sister, but they shared the same coloring and general California beach look with sun-kissed golden skin, green eyes, and blonde hair. Karly’s hair was lighter and much longer, but it was easy to see the family resemblance. Heck, they even dressed kind of alike. Karly’s cute pink skirt with palm trees and flip-flops complemented Ky’s board shorts and Vans aesthetic.

“Amazing?” I repeated, raising a brow.

“Yeah, that probably wasn’t the word I used,” Ky corrected with a playful wink before turning his attention to Oliver. “Something’s different about you, dude. Did you get a new shirt?”

“No.”

“Did you cut your hair?”

“No. You really can’t tell?” Ollie asked, widening his eyes hopefully.

“I can’t put my finger on it.” Ky flipped his sunglasses to rest atop his head and set his skateboard on the pavement as he bent to give Oliver an up-close once-over. “New shoes?”

“Nope.”

“Are you gonna tell me?”

“You have to guess,” Ollie insisted. “It might take you a while, though. Wanna have ice cream with us? They have really good mint chip here. Charlie doesn’t mind. He likes you. He talks about you all the time.”

“He does?” Ky asked with a half laugh.

“I do not,” I huffed incredulously.

Oliver ignored my pointed look and turned to Karly. “You can come too.”

“Thank you for the invite, but I should get going,” she replied.

“Yeah, I gotta run too.” Ky kicked his skateboard to vertical and hiked it under his arm before offering Oliver a fist bump.

“Okay.” Oliver’s bottom lip trembled slightly, but he nodded as he raised his fist to Ky’s and even attempted a wobbly smile.

The silent exchange was so quick, it would have been easy to ignore. But I was extra sensitive to all things Oliver-related, so I did what I always seemed to do when confronted with minor disappointments. I overcompensated and oversold.

“Nice to meet you, Karly. See ya, Ky. We have an ice cream party to get started. Let’s change that double to a triple scoop. Ready, Ol? We should—”

“Wait up,” Ky intercepted. “I’m in.”

“Really?” Oliver scrunched his nose and pushed at the lens on his glasses.

“Yeah. Triple scoop ice cream is hard to resist,” he replied.

Oliver punched the air and whooped triumphantly. “Yes!”

Ky chuckled at the exuberant welcome, then hugged his sister. He gave her a lopsided smile before continuing in a low tone I wouldn’t have heard if I hadn’t stepped toward them to let a yoga mom pushing a double-wide stroller pass. “Don’t worry. It’s gonna be okay.”

He caught my stare and held it for a moment while Karly said good-bye to Oliver. When she walked away, Ky set his skateboard back on the ground and told Ollie to hop on. My usually reticent little brother obeyed. He soaked in Ky’s tutorial about balance before letting Ky pull him by the hand across the rainbow-painted crosswalk toward Scoops.

The line was always long, but I was a regular here and I had a connection. Kind of like VIP access at the hottest club in town, only better because this was ice cream. I could bypass the crowds and move directly to the side counter where a tiny woman with short raven hair named Coco would magically appear to take my order. She was the store manager and my social media contact. We’d developed an easy rapport based on ice cream flavors and trends. I kid you not. There were days I’d happily engaged in long debates ranking salted caramel versus the salted licorice flavor while trying to shake celebrity favorites from her for added content to my Instagram page.