- I wonder what you think of me when you see me.
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"Whiskey, wait!"
But of course, he doesn't listen and runs away with his leash still attached as soon as I open the car door. He moves a little further and then stops, turning around. He looks at me, then at Ridge. Then, he starts walking back towards us when he realizes that we are not coming with him. Ridge, from beside me chuckles loudly.
"Is he always this enthusiastic and energetic?" he asks, petting Whis who comes and stands in front of us.
"Oh, you have no idea," I mutter, grabbing his leash in my hands, tugging at it. "Let's go, buddy."
Together we walk inside the small ice cream parlour called Scoops. On the outside, it looks like a regular ice cream parlour but on the inside, damn, it's the cutest place ever. The walls resemble the cones of an ice cream, lights are dangling through the ceiling attached in ice cream cones. There are small stools tucked under the island, right in front of it is a glass refrigerator covering the delicious ice cream flavors. As we go further inside we see tables shaped as cones with white chairs around them. Wow.
"Your smile tells me that you like this place." Ridge's voice brings me back to reality.
I give him a big grin, sighing in satisfaction. "I love this place already. It's heavenly."
He chuckles, kissing my cheek softly, taking me by surprise. "Come on, Whiskey is getting very impatient."
Ignoring that kiss, I follow him, with Whis moving fast. We take a seat on one of the tables, tying Whis' leash to my chair. "So what do you wanna have?"
"You tell me what you want. I'll get yours for you along with mine," he suggests, shrugging. "I'll pay."
"Hell no, I'm not letting you pay for mine. We'll split up the bill," I narrow my eyes at him, showing that I'm not joking. "And I'm not fighting you on this."
He holds his hands up in surrender. "Okay, Ms. Herrington. I'm sorry. You pay for your ice cream."
"Good. Now take this," I pause to take out the money from my pocket and hand him a few dollar bills,"here. And keep the change."
He gives me a look that says 'seriously'. I just chuckle and shoo him away. "Get me my ice cream, peasant."
"Without you telling me what you want?" He asks with raised eyebrows.
"Oops. Sorry. I'll have hot chocolate fudge ice cream," I reply, smiling at the thought of tasting heaven after a really long time.
"Interesting choice. I'll be right back," he comments and walks to the counter. A paw rests on my thigh, making me aware of Whis' presence.
"Sorry buddy, you can't have ice cream. But, I'll treat you when we get back okay," I ruffle his cute little head. He just barks at me, sitting down in a relaxing position.
"Here, your hot chocolate fudge ice cream." Ridge slides in his seat, putting my ice cream in front of me. I take my take looking at it, savoring it with my eyes. I take a spoonful and put it in my mouth, moaning as the coldness of the sauce tickles my taste buds. "Aaaah."
I hear chuckling from front of me, which disrupts my fun. Looking up I see Ridge laughing at me, shaking his head.
"What?" I raise an eyebrow, after swallowing the ice cream.
"Nothing. You can carry on with your moaning. I'm not sure everyone heard you yet," he smirks, putting his spoon in his ice cream. Then I realize that I don't know what flavour he got.
"Whatever. What flavour is this?" I ask, pointing my spoon towards his cup.
"It's called Coffee caramel with a hint of chocolate," he answers, taking a spoonful in his mouth.
"It is good?"
"No. I like ice creams that taste terrible." He rolls his eyes at me.
Note to self - I'm an idiot for asking stupid questions!
"Shut up. I wanna taste it too. Pass it here," I mutter, taking another spoonful of my ice cream.
"Wait. I'll feed you, baby boo," He gives me a sweet smile, which looks more like a sarcastic smile but takes a spoon full of ice cream anyway.
"Ew, cringe. Don't ever call m-" Before I can complete my sentence, he shoves the spoon in my mouth. The ice cream melts in my mouth, slowly. I close my eyes, relishing in the sweet taste of caramel and the bitter taste of coffee mixed together. "Hmm."
"This is my second favourite flavour from now on," I exclaim, licking my lips.
"See, I have a good choice." He shrugs his shoulder, his lips curling up in his signature smirk.
"Of course, otherwise, why would you choose me?" I flutter my eyelashes at him dramatically, giving him the biggest smile possible. I probably look like a fool but who cares? I'm enjoying myself.
He starts laughing loudly, attracting the attention of else present in the parlour. He bangs his hand on the table, then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Everyone else just look at him like he's insane.
"You people can carry on with your business. He just escaped from a mental facility so he's happy. That's why he's laughing so much." Now everyone looks at me like I'm the weird one.
"Please don't make that face ever again. Please. You looked like you were having a seizure," Ridge mutters after he's over his laughing fit.
I stick my tongue out at him.
He just shakes his head. "So, you up for 20 questions?"
"Okay."
"What Is your favourite season. And why?"
"I'd say winters because I love hoodies and snow," I answer, smiling. "Now my turn."
"What's your favourite item of clothing?"
"Would you like it if I say being naked is much better?" He snickers, but recovers when he sees me glaring at him. "Okay, it's a beanie. I love them."
"What are you afraid of?"
"Heights. I have Acrophobia." I reveal, shrugging my shoulders. I've never really been confident around heights. It's something that's stuck with me ever since I was born. It's not like something happened to me or in front of me, but still, me and heights just don't go well together.
"Well, that's good to know." He nods, giving me a small smile. "If it makes you feel any better, I have Aquaphobia. I cannot swim or go near a water body because of that."
"Oh, that's unfortunate," I mutter, giving him a sad smile. "Okay, now it's my turn to ask you a question. If you can watch only one movie forever, what would it be?" I take a spoonful of ice cream in my mouth.
"The Fight Club, definitely."
"Really, I haven't seen that movie yet."
His face morphs into one of astonishment and shock. "Seriously?! That's unacceptable. We'll see it together. I promise. I'm not letting you not see that movie."
"Okay." I chuckle at his enthusiasm. "Your turn."
"If you had one superpower, what would it be?" He asks.
"Reading minds, for sure," I reply, satisfied with my answer. Unlike most people, I'm very bad at reading faces so I definitely need this superpower.
"Interesting but dangerous." He smirks, taking a bite of his ice cream. "What's your favourite T.V show?"
"Teen wolf." I exclaim. My attention goes towards Whis to see that he has fallen asleep on the floor. I rub his head once then put my attention back to Ridge.
"Hey, that's my favourite too," He replies, grinning from ear to ear.
"Finally someone who loves teen wolf as much as me." I exclaim happily, wiping a fake tear from my cheek. "Are you my soulmate, Ridge Meanders?"
"Maybe." He winks at me, which causes my heartbeat to rise a notch. Damn.
"But wait, you asked two questions together. Now, it's my turn." I say, then begin to think of something. Something different.
Yes. "Any secret talent?"
He grins mischievously, wiggling his eyebrows. "Yep. I can touch my nose with my tongue."
"No way." I've tried it so many times, but failed to do so every single time.
"You wanna see it? Wait," He says, taking his tongue out, stretching it until it touches the tip of his nose. He then removes his tongue, then smirks. "See, my tongue can do wonders."
I roll my eyes at his innuendo. Boys will be boys. "That was gross, but impressive."
He chuckles. " I get to ask you a question now. If you find a large sum of money on the road, say $100,000, what will you do with it? "
Hmm. What will I do with that much money? Shopping, food maybe? Excuse me guys, I'm not that evil, I'd rather give to a charity. So, I voice my thoughts. "As much as I would feel tempted to use that money for food or shopping, I won't. I'd rather give it to a charity or to someone in need."
His lips turn up in a proud smile.
"So, what's your ideal date?"
His eyebrows quirk up in surprise. Then, he thinks about it for a second before responding. "My kind of a date would be just chilling. You know when two people do anything and it is just considered a date. You don't have to put so much pressure or efforts into a date. It's supposed to be fun, not formality."
"That's very descriptive." I nod slowly, my mind replaying his answer again and again.
Our preferences are so similar.
"You know, talking about dates got me thinking about the fact that we never had our first official date." He smiles, resting his elbows on the table.
I turn my attention towards him, forgetting my scary thoughts for a few minutes. Surely, I can freak out at home. "Yeah, right. But we are not actually dating, you know?"
He just shrugs his shoulders, smirk not falling off his lips. "So? Who says that only people who are really dating get to go on dates?"
"Okay." I chuckle, then continue. "So, Mr. Ridge Meanders, would you like to go on a date with me?"
"Shouldn't I be asking that question?" He arches an eyebrow.
"Who says that only guys get to ask a girl out on a date?" My lips curl up in a crooked grin. I bend a little forward, leaving a little space between our faces.
He holds his hands up in surrender, shaking his head. "Okay okay, I'd love to go on a date with you Ms. Herrington."
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"Dad, where's Martha?" I plop down on the couch, next to my dad who is is busy on his phone. After we finished our ice creams and the twenty questions, Ridge dropped us off. Then I ran upstairs and finished my history assignment as fast and as neatly as I could and then got down to see that Martha was nowhere to be found. So now here I am, with my dad, doing nothing. Whis is currently sitting by the fireplace, busy admiring the flames like always.
Dad drops his phone on the table, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, pulling me to his side. "About that, Martha had to take a few days off. Her daughter gave birth to a baby girl so she had to rush to the hospital to meet them. She'll be back in a few days."
"Oh. Then I guess I'll call her to send me pictures of her grand daughter." I smile, resting my head on his shoulder. We just sit like that, in comfortable silence.
"Sweetie, I wanted to talk to you about something." My dad breaks the silence, clearing his throat. I sit up straight, turning my body towards him to let him know that he can talk to me,
"Yes dad?"
"It's about a business trip. I have to go to India for an important case for a week and since Martha is not here I wanted to ask if that was okay with you. I know you don't like to be alone," He tells me, then goes silent, waiting for my reaction.
"Of course dad, It's fine. Your job is more important right now. I'll be fine, don't worry," I assure him, giving him a thumbs up for extra effects.
He chuckles, then shakes his head." Are you sure?"
"I'll push you out of that door right now if you ask me that again." I point my finger at him, narrowing my eyes.
"Okay, okay. Please don't do that to your old man. It's cold outside."
I chuckle at him, shrugging my shoulders. "No promises."
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A little surprise visit by some special people coming soon. Excited?