Lucas
After leaving the restaurant I want to end our not date date on a sweet note so I take Scarlett to my favorite ice cream by campus called The Waffle Bowl.
It's this little hole in the wall place that's easy to miss if you're not from here. The sign read TE WFL BL and the little waffle bowl logo hasn't been lit up since I was a kid. It has this fifties diner feel with its red and white checkered linoleum floors, red and white vertical striped walls and red stools at the counter. It actually used to be a diner that had a variety of meals and a small selection of ice cream but when the owners noticed that they were selling more ice cream than the actual food they rebranded as an ice cream shop that serves sandwiches, soups, and salads between noon and three. The waffle bowl proudly boasts about having more than 100 flavors of ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, and frozen yogurt. Not mention all the toppings. It's an ice cream addicts heaven.
I order cookies and cream and Scarlett orders cotton candy. Right before she eats her ice cream I watched her pop back two little pills and as much as I wanted to ask why- I didn't. Like at the restaurant we just eat and talk about nonsense. I couldn't help but notice that somehow she still manages to look good under the harsh fluorescent lights.
Once I drop Scarlett off back at her dorm, I make my way up to my door and silently pray that my roommates are either out partying or sleeping. I sorta kinda told them that I was going out with a girl and they lost it. They know my reputation and my no dating rule so of course, they made a big fucking deal out it. I just know I'm walking into the lion's den with this one. They'll swarm me, demanding information on the mystery girl that's got me breaking my number one rule. I'm not in the mood to be interrogated.
Don't get me wrong I love the guys. They're my best friends. I couldn't have asked for better roommates. I get to live with my best friends 24/7 and do wild shit with them, but that doesn't mean they don't still annoy me at times.
When I walk into the house it's pitch black and eerily quiet.
Great, they're still out.
After running my hands against the wall in search of the light switch, I finally find it and flick it on. There sitting in the living room are my roommates, each in a different chair obviously waiting for my arrival.
What is this? An intervention?
"Lucas, glad to see you could finally make it," Liam says.
Liam Fitzgerald and I have been friends since we were nine. He moved to Boston from Malibu and everyone picked on him because he looked different. He was the tannest kid in an elementary school full of pasty white kids, and he had hair longer than most girls, so of course, he was a target for grade school bullies. Even though he's lived here longer than he's lived in California he still managed to retain that "surfer dude" vibe and his "Californian" accent. The ladies love him and I know for a fact that it solely because he's so different from Boston guys. I always tell him if it wasn't for his somehow always tanned skin, long golden hair, and ability to always smell like the ocean even when he hasn't gone surfing in months, he wouldn't get nearly the amount of girls he gets.
"Uh huh. Yea I'm back" I don't bother stopping and indulging in whatever game that they're trying to play with me. I just want to make it up to my room without getting the 3rd degree.
"Why are you running? We just want to talk about your date." Alex another roommate/best friend says from the seat closest to to the stairs.
Alex (real name Alejandro Sanchez), is a first generation American citizen born to wealthy Spanish parents. Papa Sanchez is a Spanish diplomat and Mama Sanchez is a neurosurgeon. Although Alex was born in raised in Boston we didn't meet until 8th grade in remedial Spanish. Most people think that because his parents are from Spain and speak Spanish fluently, that he too is gifted with the ability, but they are extremely wrong. Alex's Spanish speaking abilities are about as good as mine and I can barely speak it. He can string basic sentences together but that's about it. Good thing for him is that his Spanish speaking abilities don't deter the ladies. They see this tall tanned and toned guy with dark features who just exudes the word "exotic" and whom they think can speak Spanish. They usually ask him to and he just strings random Spanish words together and ladies swoon all while dropping their panties. It usually works for him no problem but he once had a girl slap him because he allegedly called her a "beautiful, wet, dying dog (Hermosa, mojado, perro moribundo.)" Now he usually just sticks to calling them beautiful.
"It was not a date. Just two people getting dinner."
"But did you pay?" Alex leans forward in his seat ready to hear my damning reply.
"Yeah but only bec-"
"Then it was a date, my friend," Liam interjects. Alex leans back in his seat with a self-satisfied, smug grin on his face.
I roll my eyes done with this game and ready to just go and be alone in my room but the guys have other plans.
"So where's the lucky lady? Is she hiding in the shadows somewhere? Is she already upstairs in your bedroom waiting for you to ravish her?" Jeremiah another member of the friend and roommate combo says.
Jeremiah R. K. Cooks, is my only black friend and one of the few blacks on campus, in the city, and in the state. Son of legendary basketball player Jeffery Cooks and Fashion mogul Catrina Campbell Jeremiah really has it all. The money, the talent, the looks, and the brains. He's a walking pussy magnet, which is ironic considering that he's in a long term, long distance relationship with this girl from high school. I don't remember how we became friends. It just happened one day in 9th-grade gym. He was the missing piece to our group and helps to keep us on track.
"She's back at her dorm."
A collective gasp and a "What?!" in unison erupts.
"What? So you're telling me that you, the Lucas Bellini wined and dined someone and didn't bring them home for dessert? There's no way in hell that's possible. Come on man. Where is she hiding?" Jeremiah's facial expression says it all. He doesn't believe me.
"She's not anywhere. I dropped her off before I came here. Honestly."
"Really? Huh. She must be really damn special than."
"She's just a friend. That's it."
"Mhm sure. I'm not buying it but let's move on. How was your "dinner"? " Sarcasm is laced in Liam's voice.
"Fuck the dinner. How's the girl? What she's like? Better yet who is she?" Alex says.
"I'm not saying anything."
"We're basically brothers. You have to tell us. It's in the bro code." Jeremiah quickly says.
I think for a second. "Fine." I hold my hands up in defeat. "I'll tell you about the dinner and the girl but I won't say who she is. "
"But bro-" Alex whines
"Nope that's my only condition. Do you want to hear about it or not?"
"Fine."
I spend the majority of my night telling the guys everything about my not date date and the mystery girl who has me breaking all my rules.
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Alejandro "Alex" Sanchez up above!
