Autumn Anecdotes

Pumpkin Spice (Pt. 1)

"UGH!" Oriana exclaimed, slamming down two pumpkin spice lattes onto our desks, "You will not BELIEVE what Steven did today."

Every Friday during Autumn, she brings me a pumpkin spice latte. I hate pumpkin spice lattes, but it's from her, so I choke it down.

She explains how her brother stole her phone and texted random contacts, one of them being her crush, Paul. She said she texted him apologizing, but he hasn't responded yet.

"He asked me out on Wednesday," she said, absentmindedly stirring her latte, obscuring the foam art I know she loves so much, "I told him I'd think about it."

"But you said you had a crush on him? Why would you not say yes?"

"Oh my dear darling Ayla," she jested, "Ye of little knowledge of love, I must keep my suitors on their toes!"

"Uh huh, sure," I mumbled, taking a sip of the gross sugary concoction.

"You'll understand one day when a nice boy comes along and courts you and you fall in love and-"

"That's never gonna happen."

She turns in her seat, grabs my shoulders, and forces me to look at her.

"Listen to me you wonderful beautiful girl."

I tensen up. She's so close to my face, but I don't want to be weird, so I look around the room at anything that moves.

"You are wonderful and beautiful and perfect and amazing and a guy will fall in love with you. Period."

She still doesn't get it. I give her a reassuring smile and nod as the teacher comes into the room, closes the door, and starts her lesson.

At lunch, we sit together in the courtyard. She packs a lunch for me every day in addition to hers. She knows that I don't always have time because of my jobs, so she and her dad help me out.

"Do you have work today?" she inquires while digging into the strawberries.

"No, I'm actually off for once." I say, opening my pack of Reese's.

"Do you wanna hang out then?" she asks, "My mom's at work and my dad's bringing Steven to a parent teacher conference, so I'm completely free AND my mom gave me food money, so we can eat wherever we want."

I swallow my last bite of Reeces, "Yeah, sure."

"Jesus Christ, at least eat your actual meal before your desert. Or at the bare minimum chew your food."

"Make me," I laugh.

After school, we walk into the parking lot and get into her grey Subaru Forester and make the five minute drive to her house, blasting Panic! At the Disco the whole way there.

I really like her neighborhood. As long as we've been friends, her house has been a beautiful peaceful safe haven and her neighbors are nice and the old woman across the street brought over a pie one time. Everyone seems to get along or mind their own business. In my neighborhood, out next door neighbor and my mom get into fights every other day about the tree overgrowing into our yard. I offered to trim it for them, but they harshly rejected that.

The blue, two story house had a perfectly manicured lawn with a little banner flag thing that said "Welcome Home." Gnomes littered the rose decorated flowerbed and little pinwheels stuck out of the ground.

"So, what do you want to eat?" Oriana interjected, interrupting my thoughts.

"Um," I stumbled, quickly coming back down to earth, "Marticello's?"

"Ask and ye shall receive," she declared, quickly whipping out her phone to call the italian restaurant. 

An hour later and the food finally arrives. We sit in her room, eating our fill of pasta and pizza until we're just laying on her bed, absolutely stuffed.

"So why do you even like Paul?" I ask.

"I mean, he's cute, I guess," she responded absentmindedly, "Abagail and Marylin kinda just sent him my way."

"Wait, so you only like him because someone told you to?" I laugh.

"No, no! That came out wrong!" she laughed, regrouping her thoughts, "I mean, I think he's nice and I think he's cute, and fate just happened to push him towards me, so I guess that's worth something."

"You know, you've been dating losers since forever."

She insultedly snorted and snapped her head to look at me.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, I mean, David was always talking to other girls while you were together, Joseph hardly gave you the time of day, and Paul takes forever to respond to your texts."

She sat up, readjusting her ponytail and her off the shoulder shirt.

"I mean, every guy comes with a price, right?"

I wished I could tell her everything I was thinking just then. I wish I could tell her that flaws in a partner should be acceptable. Something you could bare. Not something that makes you call your friend crying at two in the morning. She deserves someone who would treat her as their one and only. Who would put in as much effort as she did. Who would pick up the call at two in the morning because they turned her ringtone to the loudest level because they know that if she's calling, they need to be there for her because she never calls unless it's important. She deserves someone who would give her the world. She deserves someone who would give her the universe. She deserves me.

But I didn't say any of that.

All I could say was, "I guess."