A/N: hi guys! two new chapters are up! sorry it's been a while... i haven't been in the best writing mood – for a while there, i couldn't think of the right way to continue this fanfic, but i hope you like it though! thank you so much to everyone who reviewed.


CHAPTER EIGHT - Ice Cream Sundae

I watched Craig with disgust as he shoved one end of his second 30 centimetre hot dog slathered with ketchup, mustard and sauerkraut into his mouth. He looked up at me and said in between chews,

"What?! A guy can't eat in privacy?" I was in full view of the already chewed food in his mouth. Gross. I slowly slid a paper napkin over to him. "Thanks," he said, grinning. Splurts of mustard formed at the corners of his mouth. SUPER gross.

I had to look away and pushed my half-eaten hamburger to the side. I definitely could not have another bite with Craig sitting in front of me.

We were at Hercules' Hot Dogs later on that day, planning a Saturday night out on the pier for the rest of the evening.

Due to the events that transpired at the beach earlier that morning, I had strategically planned to avoid Byron as much as possible or, in the worst case scenario, put of a front and pretend nothing was different – pretend that I hadn't fallen for one of my closest friends. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

I looked up at Byron, who was sitting a couple of seats away, across from me. He was laughing at something Karen had said.

I found it weird that I hadn't noticed before that exact moment, how cute his smile was or how addictive his laugh was to me. I found myself smiling, despite myself, despite of the new and confusing emotions I was feeling inside.

Byron suddenly looked up in my direction and smiled when he saw me looking at him. I quickly looked away, flustered and blushing. I attempted to compose myself, picking up a random conversation with Vanessa, who was sitting next to me.

This was all too weird for me.

---

We spent about an hour and a half at Hercules' Hot Dogs and spent another couple of minutes looking around in the souvenir shops before heading for the pier.

In the third store we stopped at, as I picked up a cute little dolphin made up of shells from it's display case, I heard my stomach do a little rumble. I realized then that I was getting pretty hungry, after only eating half of that burger at Hercules'.

I peered outside the shop window and saw that the Ice-Cream Palace was just a couple of stores away. I told my friends that I was going to go and quickly pick up something to eat and asked if anyone wanted to come with me. To my luck, everyone was still full – except, of course, Byron, who wholeheartedly accepted my offer. I groaned inwardly.

"Great," I thought to myself. "Awkwardness, here we come!"

We decided to all meet up at the arcade entrance in thirty minutes.

Byron and I walked along silently, dodging people on the crowded sidewalk. The Ice-Cream Palace was fairly busy, so we stood around for a while, trying to get a good look at the posted menu before deciding what to get.

"One brownie fudge sundae, please," I said as we reached the front of the line. The blonde girl on the other side of the counter, with the name tag that read 'Kaye,' asked if there was anything else. "Do you know what you want yet, Byron?" I asked, turning around. Those were probably the first eight words I had spoken to him the whole afternoon.

"Yeah. The mango swirl sounds good," he replied.

"Okay, so one mango swirl, too. Thanks," I added, facing the cashier. We stood around for a while longer, waiting for our orders to be filled.

Dear lord, the awkward silence was killing me! Though I really didn't know what else there was to say.

Why was it that just a few hours ago I could talk to this guy so freely and without hesitation – and here I was, searching my head for something half decent to say??

Thankfully, the waitress came back not a moment too soon with our orders. My eyes looked longing at the mounds of chocolate ice-cream drenched in hot fudge.

"Here's your brownie fudge sundae -- and your boyfriend's mango swirl," the blonde Kaye said casually, handing Byron's order over to him. I blushed a bright red. "Will that be cash or credit?"

"He's – He's not...," I started, getting flustered.

"I'll get this one, okay? My treat," Byron offered, interrupting me and taking out his wallet. I was so caught off guard that I couldn't do anything else besides nod my head.