Page 47 of Through My Window
I shake my head. “No.”
“Ice cream?”
“No.”
“I know, how about all of them? Ice cream, strawberries, and Nutella?”
I just shake my head again, and Yoshi adjusts his glasses.
“I give up.”
We’re alone in an empty classroom. The last class just ended, and Yoshi is trying to cheer me up. It’s Friday, and I’ve spent the week dragging myself around school. I haven’t had the courage to tell anyone what happened, not even Dani. I’m so disappointed in myself. I don’t think I’m capable of talking about it yet.
“Come on, Rochi. Whatever happened, don’t let it bring you down. Fight,” he advises me, caressing my cheek.
“I don’t want to.”
“Let’s go get some ice cream. Give it a try, okay?” His pretty eyes plead with me from behind his glasses, and I can’t say no to him. He’s right. I can’t do anything to turn back time.
Yoshi extends his hand to me. “Shall we go?”
I smile at him and take his hand. “Let’s go.”
We buy ice cream and sit in the town square. It’s a beautiful day. Even though it’s after four o’clock, the sun is still shining as if it were noon.
“Remember when we used to come here every afternoon after elementary school?” Yoshi asks.
I smile at the memory. “Yeah, we became friends with the lady who sold candy.”
“And she gave us free ones.”
I laugh, remembering our cheeks filled with sweets. Yoshi laughs with me.
“That’s the way I like it. You look prettier smiling.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Are you admitting that I’m pretty?”
“More or less, maybe with a few drinks in me I would try to win you over.”
“Only with a few drinks? Nah!”
“What about Dani? I haven’t seen her at school,” he says as he eats a spoonful of ice cream.
“That’s because she’s missed two days. She’s helping her mother with a project at the agency.”
Dani’s mom runs a very prestigious modeling agency. She’s a total badass. She started her own business when Dani was a kid, and it has only grown since. Now her modeling agency is one of the most important in the state. Dani’s dad on the other hand is more of a relaxed and go-with-the-flow type. He’s a college professor in the art department at a nearby community college. I feel like Dani got a good combination of both her parents’ personalities. She’s fierce like her mom, but also empathetic and relaxed like her father.
Yoshi shakes his head. “It’s the first week of school, and she’s already missing classes, typical Dani.”
“It’s good that she’s smart and can catch up superfast.”
“Yeah.”
Licking my ice cream, I notice Yoshi staring at me as if waiting for something.
“Rochi, you know you can trust me?” he asks, and I know where this is going. “You don’t have to deal with things alone.”
I exhale sadly. “I know, it’s just . . . I’m so disappointed in myself, and I don’t want to disappoint anyone else.”
