lacuna (lah-kyoon'-uh) n. a blank space or a missing part
Lacuna
by Pwnguin
l i l l y & o l i v e r
5 years old
8 P.M. The sun makes purple lines appear across the clouds. Lilly Truscott and Oliver Oken play on the swing set in the Okens' backyard. The green-blue metal makes creaking noises everytime the two reach incredible heights on their swings. "I feel like I'm flying!" five year old Lilly shouts. Oliver responds with a smile to his best friend. The sounds of "Pop Goes The Weasel" ring through the neighborhood and Oliver shouts, "Ice cream!"
The two jump off their swings and run towards the gate. They stand in front of the house under the lamppost that hasn't come on yet. They spot the white truck and jump up and down to get its attention. Lilly digs through her pink skirt's pockets in search for coins. She pulls out three quarters. Oliver pulls out a whole dollar.
The truck stops in front of them and a kind lady pokes her head out, "What can I get for you, youngins?"
Oliver holds out his dollar and says, "I want a chocolate popsicle." She takes his dollar and hands him the sweet morsel that would give dentists headaches. She then looks to Lilly and asks, "How about you, young lady?"
Lilly holds out her three quarters, "Um, can I have a chocolate popsicle too?"
The ice cream lady shakes her head, "I'm sorry, hunn, but those cost a dollar. I can get you a cherry popsicle, though. How'd you like that?"
Lilly looks down and says, "Okay, I guess." She trades her quarters for a bright red popsicle. The white truck drives away, singing its bright and merry tunes as Lilly stares at her "stupid, cherry popsicle". She stares at Oliver who is still struggling to open the wrapper to his sweet treat. "Here, I'll help you."
"Thanks," Oliver says as he hands her his popsicle. She opens the wrapper and reveals the chocolatey goodness. Her mouth opens a little, almost taking a lick, but she resists. When she hands it back, Oliver notices the sad look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"I didn't have enough quarters for the chocolate popsicle," Lilly says.
"Oh," Oliver says. He stares at his chocolate popsicle, then at Lilly's cherry popsicle, "You... you wanna trade?"
"No, it's okay, I ... I like cherry."
"Liar," Oliver teases. "You hate cherry. Come on, trade with me."
"But you love chocolate," Lilly persists. "It's not fair."
"Yeah, but it's not fair that I'm happy and you're not. Besides, I've never tasted cherry." He takes her cherry popsicle and hands her his chocolate treat. Before Lilly can argue, he pulls off the wrapper and licks the popsicle all over, "Mmm, yum." He smiles at Lilly.
She takes a bite out of the popsicle and a huge smile appears on her face. She gives her best friend a big hug and says, "Thank you."
"No problem," he says, and slurps up his cherry popsicle. Then Lilly giggles. "What's so funny?"
"You look like you're wearing lipstick.
l i l l y & o l i v e r
16 years old
The Okens' swing-set is traded for a swinging lawn chair. Lilly lays in the arms of her boyfriend as they swing slowly to the rhythm of the crickets' chirps. He runs a hand through her long, blonde hair, as her hand lays on his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat. They don't say a word for the longest time, until the familiar sounds of a children's song rings through the neighborhood.
"Hey," Lilly says. "That's an ice cream truck."
"Mhm," Oliver mumbles. "Pop Goes The Weasel, I believe."
"Wanna go get some ice cream?" Lilly asks.
"At 8:30 in the evening? We'll be up all night, Lilly-pop," Oliver says.
"Aw come on, Ollie. You were so eager 11 years ago, remember?" she says, teasing.
He rolls his eyes, "Okay, fine." He gets up and opens the gate to the front yard.
The white truck rolls closer as Lilly and Oliver walk the steps to the sidewalk in front of the lamppost. Oliver waves his hand to the truck to get its attention. Lilly digs through her pockets and finds a dollar. She smiles as she recalls the memory of her cherry popsicle. This time, she could pay for her own chocolate popsicle.
"Hey there," the lady says to Lilly and Oliver. She gets a closer look at the two and says, "Hey, I remember you two."
Lilly looks to Oliver. Could it be...?
"You're the same kids I gave ice cream to 11 years ago. Chocolate popsicle and cherry popsicle, right?"
Oliver's mouth drops in surprise, "You remember?"
"'Course I do. Lil' lady here didn't have enough money for a chocolate popsicle, so you traded your popsicle for her cherry."
Lilly eyed the woman suspiciously, "How did you know that, we're you spying on us?"
"Kind of. There was another kid not too far from here that wanted some ice cream and I couldn't help but notice you guys," she smiles at Oliver, "That was a nice thing you did there, young man."
Oliver blushes, "Yeah, can I just have my chocolate popsicle?" He hands her two dollars.
Lilly looks at the two bills, shocked. Two dollars? Stupid inflation.
"Here ya go," the woman says, handing Oliver his chocolate popsicle. "And how about you?"
"Um," Lilly says, staring at her dollar. "I only have a dollar."
"No worries," the woman says, and she hands Lilly a chocolate popsicle as Lilly offers her dollar, "Enjoy."
Lilly smiles at the woman, "Thank you!"
The white truck drives away as Lilly opens her popsicle. When she takes a bite, she reaches disappointment, "What a rip off!" she says.
"What's wrong?" Oliver asks.
"There's like, no ice cream inside of this. It's just a chocolate shell," Lilly says, and she shows Oliver the missing ice cream. Oliver grabs the wrapper from her hand and reads it off.
"It's a Lacuna-Pop, Lilly-Pop," Oliver says.
"Lacoonah-Pop?" Lilly reads off the wrapper.
"Lacuna. It's pronounced Lah-kyoo-nuh. Basically, it's a blank popsicle," he smiles at her. "Guess it's what you expect when you pay a dollar for a chocolate popsicle."
"That's hardly fair," Lilly says, throwing her empty popsicle into the street. "You got a chocolate popsicle for a dollar 11 years ago. 11 years later, for a dollar you get an empty chocolate shell."
Oliver laughs and puts his arm around his girlfriend as they walk back into the Okens' backyard, "Sorry, Lil." He stares at his chocolate popsicle which hasn't even been opened yet. Then he looks to Lilly, "Hey, you want mine?"
"No!" Lilly yells. "I am not letting you give that to me. This time I don't have anything to trade for it."
"Are you sure about that?" Oliver asks.
"Yes. I'm sure. Now eat your popsicle before I punch you in the arm," Lilly says.
Oliver sighs and then looks to his popsicle again. Then he looks to Lilly and smiles, "You could kiss me for it."
"Oh, so tempting," Lilly mocks. Then Oliver's lips crash onto hers, and she smiles.
"Chocolate popsicles are lacuna-pops compared to your kisses, Lilly-pop," Oliver says when he releases her.
"You are so corny, Ollie-pop," Lilly laughs.
"I know, right?" Oliver says, and kisses her again.
A/N:
I'm never revealing the results of the poll. Totally disregard it, it never existed. I'm putting the fics up in the order I want them to. =P
I got the idea after blow-drying my hair at around 8:45 at night, and I heard an ice cream truck driving around outside. I thought, "Why the heck would anyone want ice cream at night."
Yes, it was originally a Moliver fic, but thanks to a beautiful promo, my Loliver love has been revived. I can't write Moliver after seeing that. Who could?! Plus, I haven't written a Loliver in a while. Weird, right?
As for the title, I looked up "cool words" in google and chose "Lacuna". I know, awesome right? xD
Thanks for reading! Review, please? ;)