Along came Avery

1 9 . t h e d a t e

He sticks his hand out for me to take, and with a gracious smile, I place my hand in his and let him lead me to the ice cream shop. Apparently they have really nice ice cream, but I can't say for sure.

We stand in line, holding hands like lovers would, and very much happy to be with each other. When we get to the front, he points out which ice cream taste best with what combination, so I end up having hazelnut with salted caramel.

We end up sitting at a dark grey booth, facing one another and right next to a window that displays what takes place outside the building. It's a lovely Friday morning, and considering we both didn't have a morning session, I took it upon myself to ask him out on a young hang out date session or whatever.

The first scoop into my mouth melts so tenderly, I have to hum in satisfaction.

"Good?"

"Very." I grin. "I never took you for a bubblegum flavour type of person. What is that, bubblegum and chocolate?"

Nate grins right back, proudly holding his cup of ice cream up as if it's some trophy. "Listen, you cannot judge unless you've tried. I'm the type to mix things up to find what tastes good with what, and this was something I found tastes very good."

"I can imagine." The boy rolls his eyes playfully at me before diving into his dessert.

Nate looks cute today. A simple orange and pink neon button up with black knee shorts, followed by an orange beanie. I mean it's quite warm these days — considering spring is around the corner — but perhaps it was for style or a fashion sense than for the warmth. Besides, he doesn't look like he is dressing in winter anymore. These days, he's full on prepared for the warm weathers soon approaching.

I, on the other hand, have simple blue jeans as well as a white long sleeve turtle neck. I do have another top underneath just to keep warm, but perhaps one could say I'm not exactly dressing for winter either. My short braids are up in a half-hair do. It's now been about a month since I've had these, so the thought of redoing them or perhaps just going natural lingers at the back of my mind every time I see myself in the mirror.

"It's kind of weird, isn't it?" My eyes lift to Nate's question. He smiles softly, placing his ice cream on the very small wooden table between us. "I mean, the both of us hanging out without the group. It's not awkward, is it?"

"Not at all, no. I mean it's new, but I don't think everyone in the group should hang out with everyone every time we want an outing. We can do solo hang outs. Like how Katlego and David do it."

"Except, we all know the two are secretly dating." We both giggle at that.

"Or how you boys can hang out at times with no girls, and vise versa. I don't think it's a problem."

"You're right." He nods slowly. "Well, I did want you— us, rather, to hang out more together. I mean, every guy in the group has their own girl friend to go to, like David to Kat, Nathan to Qailah. Amber is just everywhere, no offense to her." I chuckle, taking a spoon of ice cream and placing it on my tongue. "And I think you're interesting. We've been friends for over a year now, right?" I hum. "So yeah, I don't know."

I giggle, nodding once again. "I hear you, Nate."

"Out of pocket question. You don't... have a boyfriend, do you?" I freeze, pinching my lips together before shaking my head. "Okay! Great. I didn't want to seem imposing, come off strong or something."

"Don't worry about it. I don't have a person so, you don't have to worry about any of that."

"Okay." He smiles. He then takes his ice cream and starts eating again.