24. Shared milkshake
Alicia Blade
365 words
"Broken? How can the milkshake machine be broken?" Usagi cried, face and voice full of desperation.
"I'm sorry, Usagi-chan, but it just stopped working. Mamoru got the last one, and even that only got about half full."
Usagi glanced at the dark-haired man who had his coveted milkshake pulled protectively toward him. For a brief moment she considered kindly asking if he would share with her, or let her buy the rest of it off him. After all, she'd had a really hard day at school and had been looking forward to this since second period. On the walk to the arcade she could practically taste the cold chocolate ice cream melting on her tongue and feel the sweating glass in her hands and the straw snugly between her lips. The thought of not having a milkshake nearly broke her heart, and there was Mamoru faking ignorance at her plight, his eyes guiltily attached to some spot on the ceiling while his knuckles turned white on the glass's stem.
She sighed. No use asking him for anything—he would just taunt her. "I thought you only ordered coffee," she said gloomily and started reading the dessert menu, hoping something else would catch her eye, but even the chocolate mousse cake and triple-flavor banana split couldn't compete with one perfect chocolate milkshake.
"Man cannot survive on coffee alone," Mamoru answered, sucking the thick beverage slowly up through a lime green straw.
Scowling, she kept her eyes glued to the menu. "Don't get philosophical on me right now." Hmming and Haaing awhile longer, hearing her stomach rumbling unsatisfactorily—she wondered if it was aware of the man so selfishly depriving her of her deserved afternoon treat—she was finally about to order a plain vanilla sundae, when a milkshake glass one-third full was slid in front of her.
With a gasp, she blinked down at the lime green straw, the little bits of whipped cream and sprinkles still floating on top, the goop of darker, unmixed chocolate sauce drizzling messily down the side, then turned to face Mamoru.
He wasn't looking at her, but he was smiling as he called Motoki over. "One cup of coffee, please."