Tangerine

taiyaki butterflies

"The wind today is particularly strong don't you think?" I mumble to Rae, a cute dollish girl with idealistic ideas about the world. Bits of hair fly around my face and get caught in my mouth while the wind keeps blowing harder and harder. Soon it's hard to see with a sea of black hair floating in front of my eyes. 

"Hair tie?"

 I could barely recognize the voice echoing from behind me among all the noise and with my vision half blinded, but this particular voice was not something I could easily forget. 

"Jay!" I reach out my hand and gently a elastic hair tie is placed upon my hand. Quickly but carefully, I tie my hair up into a high ponytail and brush away my bangs. Opening my backpack, I take out my wallet to pay for the bus fare

 "What are you doing here? Don't you usually walk the other way?" I ask while sorting out my wallet. 

"You forgot your own party? You sent out a text yesterday saying we could all come over for a study session at your house at 3pm tomorrow," He answered, speeding up to catch our pace. 

"That's right! You don't mind if I come over too right Alina?" Rae shouted, trying to make her high-pitched voice louder than the wind. 

"Oh! Of course, I don't mind! Rae, your definitely welcomed. Jay on the other hand ~ I smile and look over to Jay. His face is pulled in a pout, but his eyes sparkle with laughter.

 "You mean I walked all the way here only to get rejected?" Jay teases, throwing his arm around my shoulder.

"Ha-" I pause mid-sentence. His arm...it smells like peaches? Wow...where did he get his cologne? Suddenly my cheeks are a very mild pink. I've never really interacted with any guys despite my popularity. Oh, and he definitely goes to the gym. 

"Alina?" Rae pokes me gently in my forearm. 

"Ah-! Oh no, I was just kidding, of course you're welcome," I stammer. Gently I push his peach-scented arm off my shoulder and cover it up by saying

 "What cologne do you use? I definitely have to try it," I smiled cheekily, and thankfully, he didn't see anything off about me and he starts talking about the brand he used, and the flavor. Truthfully, I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying and to get my mind off what just happened I interrupted him very gently and proposed we all get ice cream before heading to my house. 

"Sure! I'll pay since you're hosting the study party anyway," Jay says, as he turns to smile at us. 

"No takebacks!" We shout in unison before running along to ice cream vendor around the corner. We can hear him laughing, a comfortable and soothing sound as we run further up the street. Of course, it only takes him a few long strides to catch up to us as we turn the corner. 

"Mr. Joy! One strawberry, taro and black sesame please!" I shout, a wide smile plastered on my face. His cheeks are rosy from the blazing wind, as he waves a hi to his regulars. The familiar white cart with a pink and yellow striped umbrella greets us while we wait impatiently for each scoop. He slides the white refrigerator door smoothly and scoops out a glob of pink, purple and gray ice creams on a cute taiyaki cone. I can feel the swift coolness from the fridge as he tops each desert fish with a scoop of cool ice cream before he closes the door. "Well, I'm surprised to see you all here on such a cool and windy day!" He hands us each of our deserts, black sesame for Jay, strawberry for Rae and taro for me. "Well we couldn't miss out on our favorite ice cream spot!" Mr. Joy smiles, his lips spreading from ear to ear. My taiyaki is topped with shiny white pearls and a matcha pocky stick. Rae's is topped with a few gummies and a chocolate piece and Jay left his taiyaki plain. Keeping his taiyaki in one hand he pulls his credit card and inserts it smoothly into the cashier. $12.35 reads the machine in a bright red light. 

"Receipt?" 

"I'm good thanks, have a nice day Mr. Joy," Jay says, smiling politely. Together, we walk in silence, enjoying the sweet, creamy treat. I had only taken my eyes off my taiyaki for a few seconds to check the time, but before I knew it a bite was taken out of it by Jay. 

"HEY! Your so mean!" I whined, in the most annoying voice ever. Without thinking, I reached down and took a huge bite out of his taiyaki. Surprisingly it tasted pretty good, but only after I had taken the bite had it occurred to me what I just did and what it meant. 

"Taste good?" Jay says smirking. 

"Horrible, abominable," I reply, focusing on my taro taiyaki with an intense focus on that black speck I could kind of see. It must be the wind getting to me, causing my face to sweat and blush. Author note: Hold up....is that even possible? Anyway... 

"Hate to ruin your little cozy cuddles but...the bus is here; we are getting on or not?" Rae says, interrupting my focus. How could I not even hear the bus coming up?! I think I need to drink more water; the weather is really getting to me. Rae's the first to sit up from the blue bus bench and start walking towards the bus's entrance doors and Jay quickly follows without hesitation. Lastly, I walk up the bus stairs and pull out my bus card and tap the card on the scanner with a satisfying click. Rae takes the window seat, so I sit next to her, with Jay in the front of us. For the rest of the ride, I close my eyes gently and let the gentle bump and white noise lull me to sleep.