Page 54 of Semi Sweet
“So what’s the plan?” Sean asked as he started to do the dishes.
“This is my last early day for a bit,” I explained. I was headed back to my classes, as the end of the semester was approaching and I’d worked too hard to give up now. “I was going to see if you wanted to go on a weird little Hale sister adventure. Or at least a version of it.”
Sean looked at me like he didn’t understand. He still put on his coat and followed me out of the apartment, but not before cleaning the kitchen and giving Bear his dinner so he wouldn’t be too unhappy while we were gone.
“What’s a Hale sister adventure?”
“When I lived at home, whenever we were about to do anything new or potentially nerve-wracking, my sisters and I would try to celebrate the night before. Make happy memories so you’d feel less nervous in the morning.” I explained as I recalled. “The night before the first day of school. Before Allie went to college out of state. The day before the SATs.”
“If that’s the case, why didn’t we do this yesterday before your internship began?” Sean asked.
I found myself blushing. “It’s dumb….”
“I doubt that.”
I let out a sigh. “Tomorrow I will resume the part of my life that was there when I was still living with Evan. I’m sure it will be fine, but I’m nervous. I thought maybe an extra cheesy burger and my favorite convenience store ice cream would help my anxiety slightly.”
Sean seemed to reflect as he walked beside me. I wondered if this was where he finally decided I was nuts.
“You know you are incredibly strong, right?”
I scoffed. “You know you are incredibly biased, right?” My face went red as I added, “You’re trying to woo me.”
“Excuse me?” I risked a glance at him to see that his voice sounded serious, but his face was flushed, though amused. “I have not even begun to ‘woo.’" He used air quotes. “As I have been saying, I am a gentleman. You just say the word and I will show you the meaning of woo.”
I was so tempted to ask him for the specifics of what he had in mind, but knew that would not help the situation at all. Instead, I replied, “You have so much confidence in me. I’m not used to it.”
We arrived at the fast food restaurant and I offered to pay for our triple cheese burgers and fries. I explained that you didn’t eat it in the dining room, you took it home and ate it once you bought the ice cream at the convenience store.
“We used to eat it on our front steps. Makes the fries mushier and I’m obsessed with mushy fries,” I explained once we were back on the street.
“So what’s the deal with the convenience store ice cream?” Sean asked. “There are a lot of places where you could buy a pint.”
“We could walk there and back without my dad getting too nervous. Plus, their cherry chocolate chunk is the stuff dreams are made of.”
I was prepared to pay for the sweet treat when we found the same chain as the one near my childhood home, but Sean insisted. We walked back to the apartment and decided it was too cold to eat everything outside, so we were back on the couch with a singing competition show in the background. I was content eating my mushy fries and cherry chocolate chunk ice cream. I was happy that while I was reliving a tradition of my past, I was changing it, making it new. I’d eaten two macarons, too.
“You know what is the most frustrating part about this college thing?”
“What’s that?” Sean asked while he savored his burger.
“I didn't want to be a marketing major. Evan had his hand in that, too.”
Chapter Twenty-Four: Should Have Left a Long Time Ago
“Whatareyouropinionson vampires?” Tasha broke the silence, looking up from a query letter. She and I were going through a new day's slush pile. “It depends, are they the pretty brooding type or the spawn of Satan type?”
“I’m getting a spawn of Satan vibe,” Tasha replied.
“Keep it!” I proclaimed before going back to the letter in my lap.
“Knew I liked you.”
I was trying to figure out if the space opera someone was pitching was interesting or too close toStar Wars, and I was getting confused. I kept putting it down and coming back to it.
“Ready for lunch?” Tasha asked.
I’d decided to put the space opera pitch in my yes pile after much deliberation.
