twinArmaggeddons [TA] began trolling apocolypseArisen [AA] at 10:26 am
TA: hey aa.
AA: hey steven
AA: whats up
TA: not much.
TA: ii was actually wonderiing iif you were doiing anythiing today.
AA: besides hanging ar0und d0ing n0thing
AA: i w0uld specify hanging ar0und the library
AA: but it cl0ses in half an h0ur
TA: well, ii wa2n't really planning on doiing anything eiither
TA: and siince iin a half hour you wiill have nowhere else iintere2ting two go
TA: you want two do 2omethiing together?
TA: ii know thiis great iice cream place riight around the corner from the liibrary
TA: we could 2pliit a 2undae or 2omething
AA: steven are y0u asking me 0n a date
TA: uh, kiinda ii guess.
TA: ii mean, iit can be a date iif you want iit two be.
AA: i d0nt have a pr0blem if y0u d0nt want it t0 be a date
AA: i was just curi0us
TA: doe2 iit even make a diifference whether iit'2 a date or not
AA: kinda
AA: i mean sh0uldnt it make a difference
TA: ii've never really seen the dii2tiinctiion personally.
AA: y0u kn0w what
AA: h0w ab0ut we just g0 with its n0t a date
AA: since thats what y0u intended in the first place
TA: 2ounds liike a plan two me.
AA: y0u were talking ab0ut the st0re on crestview right
TA: yeah.
AA: uh i d0nt really have any m0ney with me
TA: don't worry about iit.
TA: ii'll pay.
AA: are y0u sure
TA: of cours2e.
TA: iit's the gentlemanly thiing two do.
AA: since when are y0u concerned with being a gentleman
TA: ii'm alway2 a gentleman.
TA: iif 2iimply for the rea2on of makiing kk look liike even more of an a22hole next to me.
AA: youre terrible
TA: ii'm aware.
TA: anyway, meet you there in liike, fiifteen miinute2?
AA: s0unds good
TA: 2ee you then.
twinArmaggeddons [TA] ceased trolling apocolypseArisen [AA] at 10:43 am
Aria closes the chat window, laughing to herself. That certainly was one of the most awkward conversations she had had in a long while. She closes her programs on the computer down, and packs up her school bag. The librarian looks up from her typing at the sound of zippers. "Is it time to go already?"
Aria grins. "No, sorry Ms. Fitzgerald."
"Then where are you heading to, Missy?" Ms. Fitzgerald laughs. "I usually have to fight tooth and nail to get you to leave at closing, and today you're leaving early?"
Aria smiles sheepishly, pulling her backpack onto her shoulder. "I'm meeting someone."
"Oh?"
"Yes."
"Would this someone happen to be a boy?"
Aria tries to shrug nonchalantly. "It's not a date, if that's what you're asking."
Ms. Fitzgerald grins, shaking her head. "If you say so, dear." She waves her off.
Aria rolls her eyes, and walks out the door. She has only been coming to the library since she got placed in this home midway through the summer, and she's already great friends with the librarian. She's not completely sure what that says about her personality, but she does know that it says she spends a hell of a lot of time there.
She walks down the street, thoughts running through her mind. She still hasn't really decided whether this counts as a date or not. She had just told Steven it didn't, but if he doesn't see the difference, did that mean that it counted? Why is she even still considering the thought that it is a date? Does she want it to be a date?
"It's not a date." She mutters to herself, trying to stop her thoughts. It's not that she wouldn't mind dating Steven, it's just... "Bluh." She shakes her head, spotting the store up ahead. She stands in front of the window, glancing around for a flash of familiar brown hair and glasses or at least his mom's van.
She jumps when there's a tapping on the glass behind her. Steven is there, his face pressed up against the glass and contorted into an almost frightening visage of saliva and braces. Aria rolls her eyes. He pulls back, grinning.
She walks in the door, the same half-amused half-irritated expression on her face. "You probably scratched the glass with your braces, you know that?"
He grins widely, bearing the alternating red and blue brackets. "Doubt it."
She squints at his face. Then she realizes what's different. "You're not wearing your glasses." His slightly milky brown eyes were squinted and in constant motion, obviously trying hard to pick up what pieces of vision they could.
"Your powerth of deduction are athtonding."
She raises her eyebrows impatiently. "Why?"
He shrugs. "I never wear them outside of thchool. They're heavy and annoying."
"But don't you need them to see?"
"You'd be thurprithed how eathy it is to get around without thight when you know the area." Aria kept quiet, considering the thought. Steven quickly changes the subject. "Tho, ithe cream?"
She smiles hesitantly and nods. "Ice cream."
They walk up the counter. He looks at her. "Tho, what kind of thundae do you want? They have a couple different oneth."
She looks at the chalkboard menu on the wall behind the counter. "Uh, how about a banana split? Those are good, right?"
"You mean you've never had one?"
She shakes her head, shrugging. "I don't really eat ice cream that often."
"That thettleth it then. That's what we're getting."
She smiles. "Okay."
"We have to decide on three flavorth."
"Chocolate and then we each pick one?"
Steven grins. "I like the way you think, Megido."
She smiles sheepishly. "Well I'm glad, or I just might have to leave."
He laughs. "Well, I want Coffee. What about you?"
"Give me a second." She looks through the glass case at the flavors, reading the descriptions. "Well, Pralines 'n Cream sounds good." Steven snorts in amusement. She puts her hands on her hips. "You have something against pecans and caramel?"
"No, it'th just that...You know what, never mind. I wath being immature. Pralineth 'n Cream it ith."
He steps up to order, but she elbows his side. "You should probably let me order. That's a lot of S's."
He glares at her playfully. "Yeth, but I have the money."
"You can always give the money to me."
"How do I know you're not going to thteal it?"
She put a hand to her chest and feigns outrage. "Steven, I'm offended. You honestly think that I would steal money from you?"
Steven rolls his eyes. "Never become an actrethth, Megido. You're terrible at it."
She crosses her arms over her chest. "Well you're a terrible arguer."
The man behind the counter rolls his eyes. "Aria, are you two just going to stand there bickering, or are you actually going to order your sundae?"
Aria giggles. "Sorry, Mr. Holder. Steven is stubbornly chivalrous."
"I can see that." He presses some buttons on the register, and it beeps as the total comes up on the small LED screed. "That'll be $9.34."
Steven silently pays. Aria becomes tense, thinking he is upset about something.
The shop owner smiles at them. "You two can go sit down. I'll bring it to you when it's made."
Steven smiles at him. "Thank you."
They claim the table in the back corner of the store, not visible from the door. Aria fidgets nervously, picking at a thread coming off of her tee shirt. Neither of them is really sure what to say, so they just sat in an awkward silence. The silence was broken a few minutes later when the shop owner came with their sundae.
Aria stares, her eyes wide. "Oh my." Three large scoops of ice cream were bordered with banana halves and piled high with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, caramel, nuts, and cherries.
Steven beams at her. "Thee what you've been miththing?"
"Oh, god yes." She takes one of the spoons they were giving, and carves out a spoonful of what she assumes is the Pralines 'n Cream from the color. She takes a bite, and nearly moans from the flavor. She quickly covers her mouth, her eyes already closed. "Oh my god. How did I make it to fourteen without having one of these."
He laughs. "I wath wondering the thame thing."
"Shut up." She looks at him for a second. "So are you going to eat, or just stare at me eating? I personally would suggest the former, because I won't be able to finish this by myself." He picks the cherry off the top of the coffee scoop and eats it. Aria rolls her eyes. "I meant the actual ice cream, Steven."
"I meant the actual ithe cream, Theven." He mocks her before taking his spoon and beginning to eat. They eat in silence. This silence is less awkward however, as it was filled with delicious sugary goodness. Most of the silence was spent with them alternatively glancing up at each other. When they happened to look up at the same time, they quickly looked back down at the ice cream, a slight blush staining their cheeks.
Suddenly, Steven is laughing. Aria looks up at him indignantly. "What?"
He smothers his laugh behind his hand, pointing. "You. Have ithe cream. On your forehead."
"What?" She reached up to her forehead. Sure enough there was a streak of melted chocolate ice cream dripping down into her eyebrows. "How even...?" Steven just keeps laughing. She rolls her eyes. Glancing down at the ice cream boat, she hatches an idea. She runs a finger through the boat. "Hey Steven."
He looks up. "Yeah?"
She smears the ice cream on his cheek. "You have ice cream on your face."
He mock glares at her. She laughs. He picks up a napkin, and runs it over his cheek. "Very funny, Aria."
"I'm glad you think so, because I found it hilarious."
"Hey guys!" Aria and Steven glance up to find Fathia standing in front of their table. "Fancy meeting you two here."
Steven scrubs the napkin more vigorously, and smiles at Fathia. "Hey Fef! What'th up?" Being male, he couldn't help but notice that her dress was lower cut and shorter than strictly necessary.
She shrugged. "Veronica is down at the club house. She told me there was a totally cool ice cream place up this direction." She sat down next to Aria. Aria, being the totally not incredibly jealous female that just had her not-a-date interrupted that she was, couldn't help but notice the way Fathia crossed her legs just perfectly and sat up perfectly straight so that her perfectly curly blonde hair bounced just perfectly on her shoulders and folded her perfectly manicured hands on the table just perfectly.
The shop owner walks up, carrying a tall glass of delicious pink drink. "Your strawberry milkshake."
"Thank you." Fathia smiles warmly. She plucks the cherry from the top of the heap of whipped cream and pops it in her mouth, oblivious to the two people staring at her. "So, what are you two doing?"
Aria forces a smile. Steven is legitimately smiling, leaning on the table in a conscious effort to appear casual. "Oh, nothing."
Aria keeps silent, a strained look on her face. She would never tell, but the strained look was because she secretly deep down felt like jumping up and strangling Fathia.
Fathia glances between the two. "Am I interrupting something?"
Yes. Aria breaks out in a fake smile. "No, not at all."
Fathia stares for a second, and then shrugs, gigging. "Well okay then." She takes the straw of her drink into her mouth and takes a ladylike sip of her milkshake. "This is very good."
Steven smiles absently, leaning on his elbow. "Yeah. They're the best in town."
Fathia grins. "Veronica said they would be. She hasn't set me wrong yet."
Aria attempts to bury the hot bubbly feeling in her chest and make conversation. "Oh, Veronica sent you here?"
Fathia nods. "She's doing some shopping. I offered to go with her, but she just gave me a fiver and pointed out this parlor to me."
Steven looked skeptical. "Veronica? Shopping? Is she with Kaleigh?"
Fathia shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing. "Not that I could tell. She did say she was heading to this one boutique, though. Oh, what was the name of it..." She plucks the cherry off of the top of the heap of whipped cream, twirling the stem between her fingers as she thinks. "It was something to do with an insect..."
Steven looked as if she had just given him the last piece of a code. "Was it Metamorphosis?"
"Yes, I think it was!" She smiled. "Why?"
"Because..." Steven trails off because of what Fathia does next. She pops the cherry between her lips sucks it off. Not bites it off or pulls it off. She sucks it off.
And boy, do Steven and Aria notice the connotations that the blonde Brit doesn't. Steven fidgets as Aria tries to reign in her snarl. Fathia looks confused. "Because...?" She prompts.
Steven is rendered speechless. Aria is beginning to fail at containing the urge to strangle Fathia on the spot. Giving up, Aria stands. "I'm going to. Go. Um. My little needs help with a project." She says this slowly, coming up with the most generic excuse she could think of.
Fathia sets down her drink and looks genuinely sad. "Well alright then. I'm sorry you couldn't stay longer, Aria. It is so nice talking to you."
Aria forces her smile back on. "Yes. Too bad."
Steven looks apologetically at her. "Tell Carly I thaid hi."
"I will." Aria nods. "And thanks for the ice cream. It was nice." He nods, and she walks out.
Aria walks calmly all the way home. Luckily, only her foster mother and the babies are home. The older children all go to the park on Saturdays. She smiles pleasantly at her mother, and slowly makes her way back to her room. She calmly closes the door and locks it. After this barrier is in place, she throws herself on her bed. She buries her face in her pillow and screams.
Fathia watches Aria walk out, and then turns to Steven. She puts a perfectly manicured hand on one of his, a concerned look pulling her features down. "Is she alright? She looked a bit peaky."
Steven blinks. He hadn't heard what she said. He was too busy staring at her hand touching his. "Thorry, what?"
Fathia shakes her head, looking up at the ceiling. She assumes that he just didn't understand her accent. It had happened at school before. "Never mind. You were saying something about the boutique?"
Steven shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. "Oh yeah. You probably should thtick around here and not go looking for Veronica, that'th Kaleigh and Mithth Maryam'th-"
"What about myself and my mother?" Steven turns his head to find Kaleigh, with Veronica on her arm no less.
Veronica sneers at Steven. The two sit down in the two open seats. "You weren't saying anything suggestive about me and Kaleigh to my house guest were you?"
Fathia giggles. Steven forces himself not to roll his eyes. "No not at-"
"Because I'll have you know that Miss Maryam has made it very clear to me that she will do everything in her power to make my life hell if she catches us fucking in the back room again."
Fathia giggles more loudly, her hand covering both her mouth and her blush. Kaleigh slaps Veronica's arm. "There is no need to be crass."
Steven sits in awkward silence. He glances at the window front of the store, and happens to see the familiar glint of red enameled car door. He stands. "Well ladieth, I hate to leave you, but my ride awaitth."
"Wait, Steven!" Fathia grabs his arm, and writes something in the feathery pen that seemed to appear in her hand out of nowhere. She smiles and releases his arm. "Call me later, okay?"
He tries to smile, but it comes out as a half nervous grimace as he tries to fight the flow of blood rushing downward. "Okay." He turns, and walks as quickly as he can out of the store. On his way out, he can hear Veronica whistling.
"Fef, I swear. You're almost as good at me at turning boys into pinkie rings."
Steven walks calmly out to the car. Luckily, his pants are baggy enough that his mother doesn't notice anything. He smiles pleasantly at his mother, and luckily she's too tired from work to really talk. When he gets home, he calmly walks down the hall to his room. He slowly closes the door and locks it. After this barrier is in place, he throws himself on his bed. He buries his face in his pillow and screams.