Page 12 of All at Once

“Why?” he says with a cocky smirk. “What if she’s exactly like me?”

“There’s no way,” I reply. “My luck can’t bethatbad.” On second thought, maybe it can be? With the way things are turning out so far.

He looks like he wants to say something but refrains himself.

Instead, he mockingly asks, “What’s so important that you couldn’t have waited for Enrique to take you to get it?”

I exhale, realizing that this is going to be a long day. “I forgot to pack my underwear.”

“You brought everything with you except for your underwear?” he asks, his eyes narrowing.

“It must have slipped my mind.” I mock both of us, adding, “I know that might be hard to believe with thethreewhole days I had to pack.”

“I’m finding other thingswayharder to believe right now.”

Ignoring his comment, I ask, “When are we leaving?”

“I was going to go now. I have to meet my sister in an hour. So no worries if that doesn’t work for you,” Luca adds sarcastically.

“It works for me,” I say without hesitation, glaring at him with an annoyed smile.

Forgetting how I also haven’t even had breakfast yet, I manage to take one slice of toast with me before we hastily leave the restaurant.

_________

From the way Enrique had to abruptly leave to the shocking realization that these two are best friends has left me a little speechless. To the point where I don’t even bother asking Luca where we’re going to meet his sister. All I know is that we’ve walked for way too long, and it doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. My legs already feel sore, and the grumbling from my fairly empty stomach isn’t helping the situation either.

“Luca, where did you park your car?” I finally ask. “We’ve walked three blocks already.”

“We don’t drive just to go a few blocks like you do over in America,” he replies dryly.

I argue, “This seems like more than a few blocks though.”

“It’s not. We’re almost there.”

A few minutes later, I comment on his previous point, “And I don’t drive everywhere.”

“Really?” he says mockingly.

“Yes. Really,” I sneer back.

Luca pauses his steps, making me grateful for this few-second break. “Do you drive to go to a shop literally down the street from where you live?”

“No,” I hesitate.

“Wow. That was convincing,” he deadpans before continuing to walk.

I don’t even have the chance to roll my eyes at him when we approach an ice cream stand a few steps ahead. I could easily have twenty scoops with how warm it is and not to mention the 10 miles it seems like we’ve already walked. Wiping off the sweat from my forehead, I turn toward Luca and say, “Do you mind if we stop for a moment?”

He sighs when he notices the dessert stand. “I guess.”

I smile so wide that he probably thinks I look delirious. While I scan through the flavors practically beaming, I glance over my shoulder to see he’s looking at me with an expression of confusion, but also a trace of amusement. “I’ll have pistachio please,” I declare, taking out my wallet.

Luca takes out his and gestures, “It’s fine. It’s not that much.”

“Thank you,” I say, feeling a bit surprised.

“Yeah,” he says.

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