Page 50 of Clichés & Curses

I started humming to the song and eventually sang out the lyrics in a quiet tone as I looked out the window, not wanting to disturb the silence.

But, of course, Colton caught me. Then, he started to sing in a much louder voice than mine, instantly bringing my attention to him.

He took his eyes off the road for a few seconds and looked over at me. With a smile that reached all the way to his eyes, he continued to sing, and the next thing I knew, I was singing along with him without a care in the world.

The song ended at the same time as Colton turned on his blinker and turned into a junction.

‘Creamsicle Corner? Really?’ I exclaimed once I realized where we were, one of the town’s staples and a college students’ favourite, considering it had been open even way past midnight.

‘Nothing like homemade ice cream for a midnight snack.’

It seemed a good number of people had been craving some midnight snacks as well, based on the number of cars in the parking lot. There were still a few spots available, and Colton chose the one nearest to the building.

Killing the engine, he climbed out of the car, and headed over to my side.

‘Thank you,’ I said when he opened my car door.

We then headed inside together, as Colton held my hand like it was second nature to him.

Our midnight order consisted of two ice creams cups—one for each of us—along with some chicken nuggets and fries.

When it was time to pay, I was faster to lend the money to the cashier than Colton.

‘I win!’ I cheered.

Colton just chuckled at me.

When the food was ready, he picked up the tray, and we went to search for a place to sit. There were quite a few vacant tables,so we just randomly picked the one that was further away from the rest of the customers.

We settled into a comfortable silence as we ate our food. It seemed karaoke had got us both a little hungry.

The AC in Creamsicle Corner was cooler than I had expected, and the ice cream that I was happily eating did not help the situation. I hadn’t put my cardigan back on after taking it off at the bar, and realized I must have accidentally left it in Colton’s car.

I tried my best to not let it affect me, though I couldn’t help but give a slight shiver. I tried rubbing my arm to warm myself up, but my hands were cold from holding the ice cream.

‘Are you cold?’ Colton asked, catching what I was doing.

‘Just a little.’ I shrugged as I continued rubbing my arms. I heard movement coming from his side of the seat, but I didn’t notice what Colton was doing until he spoke up.

‘Wear this,’ he said, holding out his baseball jacket—the one he had been wearing all night—to me.

Knowing better than to reject his kind gesture when I was freezing myself, I took his jacket, and put it on immediately. ‘Thank you.’

Once I put it on, I tried to take a sneaky sniff of his scent on the jacket—the one that I had slowly gotten used to over the past few weeks.

We were back to our comfortable silence, eating our food quietly, when I noticed Colton kept stealing glances my way.

‘What’s wrong? Did I spill the ice cream?’ I asked in alarm, immediately looking down at his jacket to make sure I hadn’t accidentally ruined it.

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ he shook his head, before deciding to add, ‘you look cute in my jacket.’

My eyes widened at his words. Who needed the jacket when you had Colton Reed saying these things to you? A blushinstantly rose to my cheeks, and I could feel the warmth spreading throughout my body. I didn’t know how to react, so I just focused my gaze on the ice cream, not daring to look his way.

He was quiet for a minute, so I decided to brave myself to peek at his face, only to see he took his phone out.

A feeling of sadness came over me; I was slightly hurt by him being on the phone.

But it was short-lived when I caught his thumb pressing the same spot repeatedly.

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